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I don't think my credit score is bad or anything, but I am still worried that it is possible for me (or someone else, for that matter) to be turned down for a federal GPLUS loan for law school. Does this actually happen? Or does basically everyone get approved for these loans?

If you have a bunch of defaults, especially on student loan balances, and haven't improved your financial position I could see it happening. At the same time, I know people with less then flawless credit receive them for other grad programs.

AreJay711 wrote:If you have a bunch of defaults, especially on student loan balances, and haven't improved your financial position I could see it happening. At the same time, I know people with less then flawless credit receive them for other grad programs.

I guess I could see it happening in only the most extreme circumstances (similar to those you mention above). Does the gov't give you less than the total cost of attendance minus scholarships based on less than stellar credit or previous loan repayment? When you apply for these loans (GPLUS), is it sort of "all or nothing" in what they will give you?

No. never. Not kidding. As long as you can breathe it is no problem. I wouldn't be shocked if there are stories of dead people who have been approved for educational loans. There are no hurdles, credit or otherwise. You should ask yourself why that is sometime.

You can't be currently defaulting on any of your loans-that's the only way they can reject you. As far as how much you can borrow, like it says on their website you can borrow up to your cost of attendance minus any financial aid-scholarships you might have.

So let's say total COA is 60k. No family contribution. 10k/year scholarship. You are basically guaranteed the remaining 50k in some combination of federal loans (GPLUS, direct subsidized, indirect subsidized, etc)?

I currently work for a student account office in a small college. I see rejections all the time for graduate students and parent PLUS loans. I would say, daily. The credit decision is good for 90 days. I see people who get approved for the original Grad PLUS loan for the year, then decide they want to take out more money for living expenses, etc. and they get rejected the second time around. (The original loan is not affected though, which I find weird.)

To summarize, people do get rejected if you have defaults on your credit history.

ETA:

Judge Philip Banks wrote:So let's say total COA is 60k. No family contribution. 10k/year scholarship. You are basically guaranteed the remaining 50k in some combination of federal loans (GPLUS, direct subsidized, indirect subsidized, etc)?

So you are saying that your FAFSA say you have a $0 EFC? Every graduate student, regardless of EFC, can borrow an unsubsidized Stafford loan to the maximum allowed (I think it's $20.5k). If you have a 0 EFC, you probably can get the maximum subsidized award, so it would be $20.5k in Stafford loans total -- 8.5k sub, and 12k unsub. But you are not guaranteed any PLUS loans because they are based on credit decisions. You might be able to get a Perkins loans, you should ask because they are a pretty good deal, 5% interest, no origination fee, and are subsidized unless you consolidate (don't consolidate Perkins loans!). Not based on a credit decision.

I'm not too familiar with professional school financial aid (our college only offers MFAs and an "MBA" which I guess is a professional degree but not really because we're an art school) but I don't think there are any other special loan programs for law students like there are for health sciences.

MrAnon wrote:No. never. Not kidding. As long as you can breathe it is no problem. I wouldn't be shocked if there are stories of dead people who have been approved for educational loans. There are no hurdles, credit or otherwise. You should ask yourself why that is sometime.

This is exactly it and is pretty scary because anyone can take out loans running the gamut from Harvard to Kaplan University. But yeah, it really requires extremely minimal credit standards - no defaults, collections, etc.

mpj_3050 wrote:

MrAnon wrote:No. never. Not kidding. As long as you can breathe it is no problem. I wouldn't be shocked if there are stories of dead people who have been approved for educational loans. There are no hurdles, credit or otherwise. You should ask yourself why that is sometime.

This is exactly it and is pretty scary because anyone can take out loans running the gamut from Harvard to Kaplan University. But yeah, it really requires extremely minimal credit standards - no defaults, collections, etc.

People have to pay for school somehow.

Judge Philip Banks wrote:So let's say total COA is 60k. No family contribution. 10k/year scholarship. You are basically guaranteed the remaining 50k in some combination of federal loans (GPLUS, direct subsidized, indirect subsidized, etc)?

That is correct. You can find more info on their website, and get in touch with one of their representatives if you have more-in depth questions.

As long as you are not currently owing any money to anyone, and have been clear for the past 90 days you are fine. If they took into consideration every time someone was late, no one would ever get any loans, because you can't tell me that all students attending Law school have never been late, ever! It would be ridiculous to make that claim.