Top Law Schools

Got approved for my request amount of Grad Plus loans about a week ago. Five days later, I got a letter telling me the loans were severely reduced (by about 40%) without offering a meaningful explanation. Seeing as how I have another two days of panic/listlessness to weather before the finaid office opens, does anyone have similar anecdotes or some kind of explanation for what just happened to me?

Update: Went through the protocol for requesting a budget increase and wrote a reasonable letter. My budget increase was quickly approved and now everything is okay.

The school only approves the amount in their tuition and fees and tells GradPlus only give you that amount. So if you asked for more, they reduce it to what the school says.

Maybe they gave you a scholly without telling you????

No, figured out what went down. I'm an idiot: I thought need-based grants affected the COA. Counterintuitively, even need-based scholarship money will not get financial aid to ultimately raise your budget, even if that scholarship was predicated on above-average present-day need (i.e., you have children and a non-working spouse).

x47point6 wrote:No, figured out what went down. I'm an idiot: I thought need-based grants affected the COA. Counterintuitively, even need-based scholarship money will not get financial aid to ultimately raise your budget, even if that scholarship was predicated on above-average present-day need (i.e., you have children and a non-working spouse).

Right, need based scholarships are on the assumption that paying back the loans is a hardship, not a need for higher COA. With your situation i would check with the fin aid officetoseeifthey can increase your COA itself to get more loan money.