<p>First of all, thank you so much for your help.
This is my actual first time posting, and having an actual account on CC, after many years of being a lurker.</p>
<p>Here's the story in a (sort of) nutshell:</p>
<p>I applied for graduate school (Education).
I was accepted
I filled out my FAFSA
I just got my Award Offer.
Now here's the thing: my credit is not the best. Although I have not defaulted any college loans (nor do I ever intend to) or robbed any bank (lol) and I don't owe any child support or alimony, and I have never filed for bankruptcy, I admit that I don't have a dazzling credit history. And yet, I was offered a Federal Direct Graduate PLUS Loan (not a Parents Plus Loan, which apparently is something else). Now, as I understood it, you have to APPLY FOR THAT expressly, as opposed to them offering it to you, and I also thought that they don't offer you any of those PLUS loans if your credit history is bad. I would assume they can check your credit history just by having your Social Security #, right?</p>
<p>Why did they offer me a Federal Direct Graduate PLUS Loan then? Now, granted, the amount they offered is less than 4,000, but it's still a considerable amount of money to offer a person that doesn't fit your credit history standards. Anyone has any idea? Anybody familiar with the process? Unfortunately, the FAFSA page seems to be down for maintenance until April 14, so I cannot go there and find out.</p>
<p>Did they offer it to you or are they suggesting it? Parents PLUS loans show up on financial aid offers, which often misleads students into thinking that the parents automatically get them without applying; the same thing may be happening here. </p>
<p>‘Bad credit’ may just mean a low credit score, too much debt and that taking on more is not a good idea, but if you haven’t defaulted on a student loan (you haven’t) and you haven’t been more than 90 days late on a payment in the last 5 years (?) you may qualify.</p>
<p>As a graduate student you should be able to borrow up to 20K per year (all unsubsidized) unless you have maxed out on your loans. How much have you previously borrowed?</p>
<p>April 11 said: “Did they offer it to you or are they suggesting it? Parents PLUS loans show up on financial aid offers, which often misleads students into thinking that the parents automatically get them without applying; the same thing may be happening here.” </p>
<p>They offered it; no suggestion. When I log on to my Financial Aid page, it gives me the option to “accept” or “decline” the offer, in the specific amount.</p>
<p>What I’d love to know is this: Let’s say I click on “accept” right next to the Federal Direct Graduate PLUS Loan, what do they do next? Should I presume that they already know about my not-so-great credit history, or would they start checking after I accept the offer?</p>