Go to your school’s financial aid office. It’s great that the scholarships have helped you to not have to borrow so far, but if you now have an outstanding balance you need to pay it. If you haven’t taken direct loans for this year, tell them you need to take it so you can pay your bill.
Then in junior and senior year you can take up to $7,500 loan. That should hopefully cover the remaining years if school.
Not true.
If he hasn’t taken any of the Direct Loan for the 2015-2016 school year, he CAN take the full $6500 yearly loan for the spring term.
But he says he only needs $2000 a semester from now on to cover his bills. He can use the Direct Loan to cover that shortfall.
I was told by two different schools that we had to take the loan in the fall semester and could not wait to borrow it all in the spring because that’s what I wanted to do.
If you don’t take the Direct Loan in the fall, you can take the whole thing in the spring.
@kelsmom could you clarify?
But for,this student…it doesn’t matter either way, student needs $2000 per semester which is less than half of the Direct Loan.
ETA…students can actually file a FAFSA until June of the academic year for getting that full Direct Loan…or something like the Pell, if they are entitled and didn’t file earlier.
You CAN borrow it all in spring. As long as you were eligible to receive loans at that school in fall (enrolled at least half time, met satisfactory academic progress rules, etc), you can borrow it all in spring. I just did one like that today at work! 
Thumper is correct about being able to file FAFSA until June of the academic year, but … the loan has to be originated & the MPN must be signed BEFORE THE LAST DAY the student is enrolled at least 1/2 time. You can’t get a loan after the semester has ended (or if you dropped classes & are less than 1/2 time when you complete the loan requirements).
@kelsmom and since the Direct Loans are federally funded, this is the policy regardless of the college…correct?
Yes, this is a federal regulation. Schools that offer federal loans have to follow the rules, although they can set certain dates and deadlines … but they have to allow students to borrow money for which they are eligible at any time during the year, as long as they are eligible at the time they borrow. I encourage my students not to borrow more than they think they need, and I make sure they know that they can come request money later if they find they need it.
People get confused, because they see that “federal loans must be paid in two substantially equal installments, with one in fall and one in spring.” But if you were eligible in fall & don’t borrow until spring, you can get it all in spring … although not all schools will disburse it in a single lump sum payment, they can (other schools will break it into two payments during the spring semester, with some time in between payments). The amount you could have had in fall but receive in spring is payment for a prior payment period.
Since I was told that I could not do this (not borrow fall but borrow all of the Stafford loan in the spring), I’d imagine that at the two schools my kids attend, it wouldn’t be easy to convince the FA office that it is allowed. Since I’ve gone 10 rounds with them about other things, I didn’t want to have to fight with them about this so just took the loan in the fall.
It’s good to know that it is a Federal guideline that you could have taken the whole amount in the spring if your student was fully enrolled in the fall… At least financially you had the money.
@twoinanddone, did an actual financial aid officer tell you that? Enrollment specialists, student workers, financial aid “technicians,” and the like are not always trained in all the details. I would certainly hope that an assistant director or director, at least, would know the rules. Yikes. I know that some schools limit how often you can request an increase, and some have a cut-off date … but I frankly do not get that. Creating barriers to borrowing what a student is entitled to borrow contributes to the sort of thing you point out: Borrowing it all in fall, whether you need it or not. I am committed to doing whatever I can to help my students finance their educations while encouraging them to borrow as little as possible … and I am certain the vast majority of people working in financial aid feel that way. If I have to process a loan in spring because they didn’t know they needed it until then … maybe they added another class, or had to pay an unexpected bill … then I will do that, as long as they are eligible for that money.
Yes, it was from the FA officer who has done the professional judgment overrides and has tried to help in every way she could. Last year when my daughter took in an appeal letter with copies of my taxes (but not the tax transcript) they asked her what year it was for and daughter was unsure so said for 2015 when it was really for 2014-15. She was told it was the wrong form and they shredded all the documents. The documents were correct and it was their fault so they felt bad because I had to redo everything and bumped me up to a higher level person and I’ve dealt with her ever since.
It wasn’t a big deal, and she only borrowed the subsidized portion, but I would have preferred not to have had her borrow anything in the fall and just paid any difference, then borrow it all in the spring. I asked, she said it didn’t work that way so DD took the loan and it’s been in her bank account.
@kelsmom, you’ve been very helpful to many on this forum.
Thank you - I am glad to be helpful. I truly love working in financial aid, and I proud to be in a profession whose members are committed to helping people figure out how to afford college.