What if I refuse the loans on the fafsa? What if i just dont want any debt even if its need based loans?
If you don’t want loans, then you don’t have to take them. It also does not mean that loans will not be part of your financial aid package. As long as you/your family have the monies to cover the loan portion of your financial aid package, then there is no problem.
What will not happen is that the college will give you more institutional aid because you do not want to take out loans.
You need to sit with your parents, run the net price calculators at schools that you are looking to apply to and see if your parents can pay the bill with out taking either student or parent loans.
After you submit the FAFSA, you have the OPTION to take out loans. The FAFSA is also used to determine PELL eligibility. Some schools may require you to fill out the FAFSA for any institutional scholarship/merit aid.
If you actually want a loan, you have to complete additional steps, like entrance counseling and a signing a Master Promissory Note. If you don’t want to take out a loan, you don’t have to. Simply submitting a FAFSA does not mean you are taking out a loan.
You will get a financial aid package from the school and you can accept or refuse any part of it. But, they’re not going to replace the loan part with something else if you turn it down.
@oscar2345 does this question relate to the previous thread you started on this topic?
You can decline loans offered to you in a financial aid package. Just make sure you have enough money to pay your college bills without those loans (the freshman loan is $5500). If you decline the loan, and you actually need that money for college costs, you will have to make up the dollar amount some other way. The college won’t give you more grant money if you decline a loan.
You asked this question in August. I think people were pretty clear. You won’t get more grants just because you refuse loans. You and your family will have to come up with the money to cover any gaps in funding.
You may be thinking that if you decline the loans that the school will give you grants instead. No.
So, unless your family is going to pay enough so that you won’t need loans, then you’re going to need the loans.
If you get enough other aid, and can afford to pay the rest of college costs, then you don’t need loans.
But you can take any amount of loan, up to $5,500 in freshman year.
You can take just the subsidized loan, if you are offered one (up to $3,500).