Stafford Loans for Your College Funding
The Most Widely Used Loan For College Students.
Stafford loans are low-interest, federally guaranteed student loans available to both eligible undergraduate and graduate students for tuition and other school-related expenses. Stafford Loans are an affordable loan option available for most students to pay for college. Stafford Loans are the most widely used, low-cost education loans available from the United States Federal government.
Stafford Loans are widely used and low cost!
Stafford Loans are available to students either directly from the United States Department of Education through the Federal Direct Student Loan Program (FDSLP, also known as Direct) or from a financial intermediary (such as Chase, Sallie Mae or Student Loan Corp). Stafford loans are given to students in the student’s own name. There is no credit check, so students don’t need to worry about finding a co-signer to get money for college or graduate school. Stafford loan rates are lower than other forms of consumer financing, and repayment is postponed for six months until you leave school or drop below half-time enrollment. Stafford Loans are backed (guaranteed) by the federal government and have fixed interest rates.
There are two types of Stafford Loans: Direct and FFEL.
Direct Loans
The US government provides Federal Direct Student Loan Program (FDSLP) loans, administered by “Direct Lending Schools”, directly to students and their parents. Many students who apply for the Stafford Loans in either category choose the Direct loan, in which the money comes right from the government and goes directly to the school.
FFELP (Federal Family Education Loan Program)
Private lenders, such as banks, credit unions and savings & loan associations, provide Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFELP) loans. FFEL loans funded by private lenders are still federally backed and the lenders must follow strict federal loan guidelines. FFEL program Stafford Loan funds can be used for education-related expenses such as tuition, fees, books, living costs, transportation, childcare, etc. Both the FFEL and Direct Loan programs consist of what are generally known as Stafford Loans (for students) and PLUS Loans (for parents). For a FFEL Stafford Loan, the lender will send the loan funds to your school.
Stafford Loan Eligibility
To be eligible for a Stafford loan you must complete a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). Simply fill out the FAFSA form through your educational institution or online at www.fafsa.ed.gov
A Student Is Considered To Be…
To be eligible for Federal Financial Aid a student must be a permanent resident or eligible non-citizen, as applicable. You must have a valid Social Security Number, be attending an eligible school, or accepted for enrollment, as at least a half-time student. If already enrolled, you must maintain satisfactory academic progress in your course of study according to the school’s standards. You must have at least a high school diploma or the recognized equivalent of a high school diploma.
A borrower may not qualify if he or she has defaulted on a federal education loan, owes an overpayment on other federal education aid, has been convicted of a drug-related offense while receiving federal student aid, or is incarcerated.
Subsidized Loans (Need Based)
A Federal Stafford Subsidized Loan is awarded on the basis of financial need and is available through the Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFELP). About 2/3 of subsidized Stafford loans are awarded to students with family AGI (adjusted gross income) of under $50,000, 1/4 to students with family AGI of $50,000 to $100,000, and a little less than 10% to students with family AGI over $100,000. The interest rate for subsidized Stafford loans first disbursed on or after July 1, 2008 is fixed at 6.0%.
Non-subsidized Loans (Non-Need Based)
All students, regardless of need, are eligible for the unsubsidized Stafford Loan. Even though the unsubsidized Stafford Loan is available to all students regardless of financial need, you must still submit the FASFA to be eligible. For all unsubsidized Stafford loans first disbursed on or after July 1, 2006, the interest rate is fixed at 6.8%. For unsubsidized Stafford loans, students are responsible for all of the interest that accrues while the student is enrolled in school.
With the unsubsidized Stafford loan, you can defer the payments until after graduation by capitalizing the interest.
Repayment
There is a 6-month grace period following graduation or when enrolled less that half-time or leaving school altogether before you must begin repaying your loan.
Both the Direct Loan and FFEL programs offer four repayment plans you can choose from, but the terms differ slightly. Please note: some colleges participate only in the Federal Direct Loan Program, which might mean you do not have a choice of lender.
Information You’ll Receive
Your school must notify you in writing whenever it credits your account with your Direct or FFEL Stafford Loan funds.
Loan Limits
The federal government under Title IV of the Family Education Loan Program sets loan limits. Loan limits vary depending on your student status.
The loan limits described below apply to both the FFEL and Direct Loan programs and are cumulative.
The limits may be a little confusing because there are two sets of limits for the Stafford loan: a combined base limit for the subsidized and unsubsidized Stafford loan, and an additional limit for just the unsubsidized Stafford loan.
The program limits are $4,000 per year for undergraduate students and $6,000 per year for graduate students, with cumulative limits of $20,000 for undergraduate loans and $40,000 for undergraduate and graduate loans combined.
Dependent Annual loan limit
· Freshman $5,500 ($3,500 between subsidized and unsubsidized, plus an additional $2,000 unsubsidized)
· Sophomore $6,500 ($4,500 between subsidized and unsubsidized, plus an additional $2,000 unsubsidized)
· Junior or senior $7,500 ($5,500 between subsidized and unsubsidized, plus an additional $2,000 unsubsidized)
Independent Annual loan limit
· Freshman $9,500 ($3,500 between subsidized and unsubsidized, plus an additional $6,000 unsubsidized)
· Sophomore $10,500 ($4,500 between subsidized and unsubsidized, plus an additional $6,000 unsubsidized)
· Junior or senior $12,500 ($5,500 between subsidized and unsubsidized, plus an additional $7,000 unsubsidized)
· Graduate or professional $20,500 ($8,500 between subsidized and unsubsidized, plus an additional $12,000 unsubsidized)
· Lifetime limits Undergraduate dependent lifetime limit $31,000 (up to $23,000 may be subsidized)
Undergraduate independent lifetime limit $57,500 (between subsidized and unsubsidized)
Graduate or professional lifetime limit $138,500 (up to $65,000 may be subsidized) or $224,000 (for health professions) for loans first disbursed on or after July 1, 2008.
Annual limits, which include both the subsidized and the unsubsidized Stafford Loan are as follows: $3,500 in the first year $4,500 in the second year $5,500 in the third year $5,500 in the fourth year.
Consolidation of your Stafford loans…
In some cases it may be beneficial for you to consolidate one or more of your FFEL Stafford Loans into a Consolidation Loan. Consolidating loans can be a great way to simplify repayment and lower monthly payments, and Direct Loans can be consolidated with other student loans. When you consolidate your Stafford loans, you are locking in today’s low rates, combining multiple payments into one and lowering your monthly payment.
Final Things To Consider…
Stafford Loans carry a low, fixed interest rate, which is set by the Federal government. Stafford Loans are federal student loans for undergraduate and graduate students. Stafford Loans are the most widely used, low-cost education loans available from the United States Federal government. A Stafford Loan is a great way for you to secure the extra financial aid you require in order to meet your needs for college, university or trade school.
Most college or university students can secure a Federal Stafford Loan to assist with their financial needs. Getting started as early as possible can be the difference between finding financing or not.
Don’t delay; your future depends on it. Prepare your college finances for a bright future.
Watch the video related to consumer finance loan
look at my blog: www.mycee.net My question, what will happen with debt in dollars? IF the value of the dollar suddenly becomes worthless, will the debt be written off? The idea is to make a loan (in dollars) and buy gold, ride the wave a little bit and sell the gold just after the wave crashes. By pushing consumer debt even higher, youll effectively be helping the collapse of the dollar and when it does collapse, cash in from whichever commodity you invested in. Can this work or is it better …
Help answer the question about consumer finance loan
Economists, do you think this is an accurate view of the crisis?Contrary to popular sentiment, we have not been in a recession until now. Since 2007, what people thought was a recession, has actually been a long, slow, government subsidized protracted crash. Instead of letting the markets crash themselves a year ago and begin to level off, government meddling has exhausted resources propping up the collapse. The results were recession-like attributes; loss of jobs, less money, contracting GDP. Up until now however, the GDP has still been slightly positive, and unemployment has been under 7%.
That is at an end. The recession is here now with a vengeance. However, due to all of the government intervention, the problem is actually now much worse. If we had the crash a year ago, as the markets wanted, those suddenly out of work would have had more money and resources to pull through a recession and even reinvest when the market bottomed. Since the government has been dragging out the crash, we've been investing resources over a year into a decline. Now that the recession has actually begun, due to the long strain on all of us, we don't have the resources, energy, or trust in the system to begin coming out of it for some long time. Some economists are estimating 10-30 years using our own history as a guideline. Also, since we're going into a recession already constrained, that greatly opens the possibility of a depression.
Look at history, look at economics. Recessions and depressions come AFTER the crash. This has been nothing more than a protracted crash complete with Friday's "dead cat bounce" (Google it), and the worst is yet to come. If this were a recession it would be good news, because we'd at least know we were on a slow road to the very bottom where the only way to go was back up. But we've only just seen the collapse of the mortgage bubble. Next is the collapse of the credit card bubble which will probably take down most consumer goods with it.
Most consumer outlets that offer their own credit cards (which are most consumer outlets these days) will collapse when the loans are defaulted due to the strain on each of us from a government subsidized crash and a new recession. Look at GM. They fell so badly last week not because of their manufacturing arm, but because of GMAC, their financing institution. Sears makes more of their money from their finance department than from selling merchandise, same for Macy's, Home Depot, many large supermarkets, and just about everything else. The credit card bubble will be much worse, because when people are unemployed, foreclosed, and evicted, they will need emergency funds. Most people use their maxed out credit cards for living expenses as well as their emergency fund.
Stores providing credit may be shuttered. Banks only slightly touched by the mortgage crisis will suddenly collapse under the credit card crisis. The effects will be compounded by the fact that we'll be kicked when we're down. After that we may even see the collapse of the student loan bubble, the collapse of lending in general, and the collapse of the dollar bubble, which would bring us back to 1970's economic levels (if we're lucky, the 30's if we're unlucky), before Nixon decoupled our dollar from the gold standard, the Dow was at less than a thousand, and before easy credit was aggressively marketed.
I say the 1970's because if you look at the DOW chart over time, the majority of growth before the 1980's was on a moderate incline. As the nation switched from a creditor nation to a debtor nation throughout the 1980's, coupled with aggressive marketing of consumer debt by banks now freed from interest rate regulations usury laws after 1978, the Dow begins growing at a much steeper rate. When the HELOC, subprime mortgage, and derivatives market opened in the 90's and gained steam in this decade, the line gets even steeper until it just couldn't hold anymore last year and began a long bear market run that wiped out billions until the Panic this October.
By the end of Friday's session, we were back at 1998 levels. Do you think it can go as far down as I've suggested here? What can a nation 10 trillion dollars in debt do to stem the collapse? When they say they will inject capital into the banks, aren't they just printing money in an attempt to inflate the debt away? How long can this broken system of leveraging a future and living beyond your means possibly hold up?
For another of my questions on this topic, please link here:
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=ArwYK6mBrtGb2KVMvXUElyXsy6IX;_ylv=3?qid=20081011092417AA3hraD
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Posted on September 28, 2009 | Under Consumer Finance Loan | 6 Comments
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6 Responses to “Stafford Loans for Your College Funding”
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Being a independent student making $4,000 per year with no other income and being a full time student, you are entitled to your full Pell grant award (around $2300/semester) and a Stafford loan no interest while in school of $1750 semester. That is the federal max for whatever school you go to, even if you stayed on campus at harvard. It goes up to $2750/semester once you get tyo be a Junior. What you can do is tell your counselor that you need as unsub loan (the interest accumulates while your in school, but you don't have to make payments until you're out). The federal max for that is $2,000/semester. By law, they have to give you that , before they let you take out a regular bank loan. Good Luck!
yeah it should be fine since they just give you money and don't check what you do with it. if you need help picking a laptop try http://www.laptopfox.com
You should be able to talk to your financial aid rep at school and look for additional funding. I am just finishing school and I was able to do many things like that to help pay for textbooks, etc. The school by law is supposed to return any unused financial aid to you unless you tell them you don't want it returned to you so I have never had trouble getting enough to cover all necessary expenses.
Brian:
The answer depends on the type of loans that you're currently in default on. If those were prior loans were government loans of any type (Stafford, PLUS, Perkins, etc.), then the answer is "no", you're not eligible for any forms of Federal Student Aid.
It doesn't matter what school you may have attended previously, because your financial aid history (including loans) is associated with you in the National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS), and those records are available to all schools, not just the one that you owe money to. In fact, the Department of Education will verify your aid eligibility, even before your school considers offering you any aid, and they'll alert your school to the fact that you have student loan defaults on your record.
If the debt to your prior school is the result of a financial aid "overpayment" – money that was extended to you in the form of financial aid that your school has indicated that you need to repay (typically a Pell Grant used by a student who withdraws from school) – it's the same thing – there will be a flag in the NSLDS, indicating that you are ineligible for future aid.
If the debt doesn't involve financial aid of any kind – you simply never paid your school what you were billed for – then it's quite possible that you're eligible for aid, but that still won't resolve your problem.
Your Stafford loan eligibility, like all other forms of financial aid, is determined by your Cost of Attendance for the CURRENT year at your new school. Your school won't certify "financial aid need" for any old debts – you'll only be able to borrow what you need for school this year.
Keep in mind that this means that you may receive more than enough aid to pay your tuition and fees for this year – and receive an overage check – but any overage amount in your aid will be based on your need for the money to buy textbooks and school supplies, and room and board for this year. If you spend $2000 of this year's aid on previous debts, you'll be $2000 short of being able to afford THIS year's expenses.
Long story short:
1. You may not be eligible for any aid, depending on the type of debt that you owe your old school.
2. Changing schools won't somehow prevent your new school from finding out about your old debt, because it's tracked in a national database used by all schools.
3. Your eligibility for financial aid is based on what you need for THIS year, and you won't be authorized to borrow "extra" in order to resolve old debts – even if they were school related.
Good luck.
The funds usually go directly to the school, and the school distributes it to the student. If you apply for a Stafford Student Loan you will also need to apply for a FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) PIN. The Subsidized loan determines your need, based upon family income and support, but anyone can apply for an Unsubsidized loan. Usually the loan is divided between terms. You might want to talk to your Financial Aid Office and explain your need. They're the ones who actually decide if you are in need of the money.
Good Luck