I am currently enrolled to start uni in the fall and after all of the grants and finnancial aid I received, I was still 8000$ off of the school’s yearly cost to attend. So like a dumb 17 year old I am, I took them all out in loans thinking “meh I’ll pay this back later in life”.
However I did not know that, apparently, Fafsa will give you money every quarter (fall, winter, spring). Is this true? For example, if I was given 5k this quarter, will I be given another 5k next quarter and the next? If that’s the case, I might not need any student loans. Any assistance would be helpful please!
Fafsa is a financial aid application form. It doesn’t give out money. It is used to determine your eligibility for need based aid.
If your Fafsa EFC is $0, you would get $5800 in Pell Grant for the whole year, not per term.
You would also be able to get $5500 in Direct Loans for the whole year, not per term.
So at this point, what’s my best option? Or options?
how much are your direct cost to attend school
How much did you receive?
What $8000 in loans did you take? Are these private loans, or what?
Are you a freshman?
When you got your financial aid award at acceptance, how did you think your balance was going to be funded?
Cost per year is 30k and I only received 22k leaving me with 8k to pay, which I don’t have.
You received $30,000 in WHAT? Grants? Loans? Work study?
Did you take out $8000 in loans to cover this shortfall (you said you took out a loan in your first post)?
I received 22,000 in grants and finnancial aid which left me 8000 short of the annual cost - 30000, so I took out the rest of the 8k in loans
Was the whole $22,000 in grants? School grants? Pell Grant? State grant?
If you have taken an $8000 loan, you have this all covered!
Usually loans are disbursed by term. You should really touch base with your FinAid department to make sure you understand everything correctly. You should also make sure you understand your loans: what type (govt or private? subsidized or unsubsidized?), when does repayment start, is interest accruing now or not till you graduate/6 months grace period? etc.
There’s a lot of money at stake. Maske an appointment if you have to. Tell them you’re not sure you understand your FinAid and bill and would like to sit down with someone to talk about it.
In my state there is a foundation that will do this sort of thing too. It’s called the Student Assistance Foundation or something like that. It has an office right in the Admin building of our local community college. One of the main things they do is help students with financial aid (not by giving money out, rather by helping students with the process). If your FinAid Office seems too busy, too abrupt, too whatever (hopefully not!), see if your area has a service like our foundation.
Did you already take the Direct Loan? That would be $5500 for a freshman.
Thank you all. I think I have this figured out. Much love