<p>The Financial Aid office at my daughter's school suggested that she have a parent apply for a loan even if they knew they would be declined because the decline would increase her Federal Aid. </p>
<p>Anyone else ever hear of this? If so does anyone know of a quick and easy loan application?</p>
<p>Do they mean that you can apply for a parent PLUS loan? If this is declined I believe your daughter would be able to take out an additional 4,000 per year of unsubsidized Stafford loans.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t assume that you will be denied for a parent loan. I have a co-worker that was told the exact same thing last year by her daughter’s school and now she has a 14k parent loan. The approval process was very fast and she too was surprised that she qualified for a loan.</p>
<p>hutch, is that 14k for just one year?</p>
<p>As northeastmom said, being denied for a PLUS loan makes the student eligible for an additional $4000 in unsubsidized Stafford loan. I guess that is an increase in federal aid. If a loan at a not very good rate (6.8%) can be considered financial aid. Other than that, there is no additional federal aid for people who can’t qualify for a PLUS loan.</p>