If my EFC is 29774, can I qualify for a subsidized student loan?

Question

I'm a pre-med student. I am planning on doing a semester exchange, but there is no way my parents can cover the expenses so I decided to get a loan. The thing is that pre-med= studying for many years, and if I get an unsubsidized loan, i'm worried I'll be buried on interests by the time i'm able to pay for it.

Answer 1

Schools use their COA (Cost of Attendance) in conjunction with your EFC to determine what type of aid you receive. If your COA is, say, $35000 and you are not receiving any other type of financial aid, then you would be eligible for a Subsidized loan for up to $5226 depending on your grade level (you can find loan amounts per grad level at www.finaid.org/loans).

If you have to rely on an Unsubsidized loan, are you able to pay only the interest while you are in school? That way it won't accrue.

You should talk to a financial aid officer at your school for more information/guidance. Good luck!

Answer 2

the only loan that is subsidized is the stafford loan.

honestly, i would review what you want to do, because if your efc is 30k for this year, you will probably need about the same each year...

a 30k loan at 8% will cost about 200 a month in interest. even if the interest was paid, you still have the original balance to worry about.

that is a gamble, but there are more loan forgiveness programs for nursing and other medical fields then there are for anything else.

some hospitals will help pay your loans off for you by having you work for them. that is something to consider when looking for work...that, and you tend to make more money, so it may work out in the end...

all i can recommend is that you dont want to go crazy with "private, or alternative" loans, because the rates are higher, and they are hard to keep up on.

if you can, talk to your parents about a parent plus loan, or if you are a professional/grad student, talk to your financial aid office about a grad plus loan to see if you are eligible for that, as the rate is fixed, and payments are flexible (both plus loans are garaunteed by the government, so they are pretty stable).

sorry if this isnt what you want to hear, but you spend more now to make more later, and you can only get so much subsidized depending on your grade level and dependancy status...

good luck

Answer 3

I doubt that you'll qualify for the sub student loan. You may have to opt for a private loan, however it won;t hurt to try anyways!