Hello Everyone, I have a question about my federal loans, but first let me explain my situation. In 2009 I received my GED and decided to go to college so that I can have a career. I had no idea at the time about student loan limits and all those things. I attended an online school who filled my head up with “The Dream” of obtaining a position in a healthcare field. During this time I switched majors a couple of times not knowing that it was adding up and going towards my loan limit. After I completed the program I had a AS in Medical Office Administration which I still have not been able to use yet because I can’t find any jobs for that around here… Once again I say I had no clue about what was going on. After the fact I found out that I was $64,058 in debt with federal loans and that I cannot get anymore loans that I need to obtain a BS so that my loan limit can be raised, I heard that is the only way. I am now a Sophomore in a Jr college taking pre nursing courses using on pell grants so I have to take 1-2 classes at a time. I really need to get a BS degree now that I have the information to be smart about loans. By me being a sophomore does that help any as far as raising limits on federal grants or am I just out of luck because I reached my limit? Also, is it possible for me to take 1 or 2 courses just using my pell until I finish all courses I need to obtain a BS degree?
Please note there is a separate Financial Aid forum to use for such questions.
You really should read all the federal aid pages on grants and loans since they are pretty c;ear and comprehensive. Wish we could turn back time and do that before you got into this situation.
First you should know there are limits on Pell Grant too. You can only get them for 12 semesters, or 6 years:
https://studentaid.ed.gov/types/grants-scholarships/pell
The undergraduate loan limits is 57,500 so I don’t think there is anyway you can borrow federally any further.
https://studentaid.ed.gov/types/loans/subsidized-unsubsidized#how-much
It is a very sad situation, you should sue that online college or join a class action. . But of course you knew you were borrowing and I don’t know how you thought that was wise to pay so much for an AA when there are community colleges. Those people do prey on people who think it is the easy way and don’t pay attention or have any guidance.
I moved this to Financial Aid & Scholarships.
There are two kinds of loan limits: the annual ones and the lifetime limits. I’m assuming that you are an independent student (so over 24 or you have dependents or are married). So yes, your loan limits do go up every year - they start out at $9,500 per year and go up to $10,500 your sophomore year - but there’s also a lifetime limit, which is $57,500 for undergraduate loans. I’m assuming that your total is including some interest since your debt is way over that limit, unless you are also getting Perkins loans or something (I don’t know whether Perkins + Direct loans are additive).
So yes, as far as a bachelor’s degree is concerned, you are simply out of luck as far as getting any more loans. Your class standing as a sophomore doesn’t change the fact that you’ve already borrowed up to the federal loan limit. (BTW, that is exactly what some of these less-savory online colleges intend for you to do - rack up debt over the long-term.)
Yes, the lifetime loan limit for graduate students is higher - $138,500 total. But getting a BS is not going to solve your problem wrt loans. First of all, presumably the BS is your end goal anyway - once you reach that, will you need/want more education? Second of all, that’s not going to help you right now, when you need money to finish your BS. You are already over $60K in debt; you really don’t need to take on any additional debt.
Hopefully, you haven’t been taking the Pell grants since 2009, because if you have then you are probably near the total number of semesters that you can use the grant. You can only take Pell for a total of 12 semesters, so no, it’s probably not possible for you to just take 1-2 courses on Pell until you finish.
I strongly urge you to read the links that @BrownParent posted above. You really, really need to arm yourself with knowledge about your loans - this information should have been provided to you in loan entrance counseling, which is the information any school is required to give to you before you borrow federal loans. Did you read through that?
One thing that’s relevant is that your loans come due once you drop below half-time enrollment - they will be in a grace period for 6 months but after that, if you are not at least a half-time student, you have to start repaying them. Two classes might be half-time enrollment but 1 class certainly won’t be, so check on that and make sure that you haven’t entered repayment on your loans! You have to repay the loans regardless of whether or not you finish your degree or get a job, although federal loans do have provisions for hardship deferment and forbearance.
@sadie76 Upon reflection, it seems strange that you could get the loans that high with the limits. Both annually and total it seems excessive. Unless that includes interest now.