I’m a graduate student with a financial crisis. I am examining my budget and realizing that I didn’t take out enough in financial aid for this year to get me through the summer. My research schedule is too sporadic for me to pick up an extra job (and my advisor has told me that my research is full time…) but it also doesn’t pay enough for me to make ends meet. Are there summer funding options? If I were to sign up for a summer class, would I be eligible at least for loans for the summer?
I don’t think one class is enough. I could be wrong, but I think you need to be enrolled at least half time to get aid…and I think this includes the federally funded loans.
Has your spring term ended? Did you take the full amount of Direct Loans allowed for you for this last school year?
I opted for loans from my bank because I got a lower interest rate from them, so I haven’t taken out any federal loans for this academic year. My spring term ended, but I wasn’t taking any credits (just doing research). My summer term doesn’t start until June 20th. As a grad student, I believe I only need 4.5 credits to be enrolled part time. If I were enrolled, would I qualify for federal aid?
Graduate student summer half-time can be as low as one class … the school gets to define half-time for summer, and for graduate students it is often quite low. As long as the school defines you as half-time, and as long as you have a FAFSA on file for the FAFSA year the summer is associated with, you can get a federal loan.