<p>If I choose to accept all the financial aid that was offered to me (scholarships, grants, loans) will I have to sign up for the loans or can I not use them if I don't need them? If I accept the loans then am I binded to use them or can I possibly not use them later on if I don't need them?</p>
<p>I had the same question a couple of weeks ago, and according to UT’s finaid office it is NOT binding. If you accept them you don’t have to use them.</p>
<p>Oh ok. Thanks. So is it the same with scholarships/grants? I will of course accept all the scholarships/grant money but I don’t think I’ll need the loans but I’ll go ahead and accept them. You can cancel the loans at any time then?</p>
<p>I don’t know if you have to cancel them. The way I see it is you need to find a lender to get a loan. If you do not find a lender for your loans then…well you don’t get any. However, I do know you can make changes to your finaid package up to a certain deadline. Also, I don’t know what you mean by whether or not scholarship and grants are binding? If you mean that if you accept them you’ll definitely get them then the answer is yes, I don’t think they can withdraw their offer, unless you don’t accept them before your finaid deadline. I know that some scholarships do require you to maintain a certain GPA tho. But to answer your question yes, you can cancel the loans it’s just better to make up your mind now rather than going thru a hassle later. About the loans tho, if you got subsidized ones then I’d accept them but as far as the other loans go like the parent plus ones I’d decline. With good credit you can find a much better interest rate than 8.9%. My parents told me to decline all the loans I got from UT b/c they’re certain they can find ones with much lower interest rates.</p>
<p>About what I said about loans, your finaid situation might be different than mine so I’d make sure to talk to a finaid counselor tomorrow. Depending on your family’s income and credit rates you actually might want to take them. Also, I know UT is a very large school and you probably think that their finaid office is swamped with phone calls and such. They’re not, I called and had to wait about 1 minute tops, also, the counselor I spoke with was not impatient at all. Really, a talk with them will ease a lot of your worries and won’t be stressful or time consuming.</p>