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So, I called one of my two prospective schools and they said that you apply for the grad plus loan in june. Let's say I choose a more expensive school, and pay the deposit and all that, and then I get rejected for money from grad plus. I refuse to use sallie mae, so does that mean I'm screwed and I will die because I should have gone with the crappier school that gave me big scholarships?

is there a way to find out how much I'll be approved for?

Your school will include your PLUS loan amounts in your financial aid package and that money various depending on the cost of attendance. You will have enough to cover the cost of attendance at any school you attend.

From my experience, the plus loan will cover most of it, and capped with your stafford loan amount, you should have just enough to squeeze by. It seems like it's a pretty standard loan to get, just fill out the fafsa and its there for you.

Your plus eligibility is your entire cost of attendance (as determined by your school) - other awarded aids (grants + other fed loans-staffords/perkins) - your expected contribution. So unless your expected contribution is large but yet you can't come up with the cash to pay for it, you will have everything covered.

Schools even have exceptions to increase your budget on request. Different from school to school.

edit: sorry, fixed

don't stop til' you get enough

Actually I'm pretty sure you can get the GradPlus to cover your estimated contribution as well

The maximum PLUS Loan amount you can borrow is your cost of attendance (determined by the school) minus any other financial assistance you will receive.

http://studentaid.ed.gov/PORTALSWebApp/ ... udents.jsp
And from Cornell's website:

Private or Graduate PLUS Loans allow students to round their aid packages by covering the unmet need or family contribution

http://www.lawschool.cornell.edu/admiss ... ptions.cfm

Also, GradPlus is pretty easy to qualify for, so I wouldn't worry too much about getting it. Even if you don't, you can get private loans that are not through Sallie Mae as well.

What R6 said. Plus, you can borrow to cover your expected contribution if you want.

GradPlus is credit based though, so if the OP has bankruptcy, foreclosure, judgements, or recent 90 day lates on his/her credit, they will need a cosignor, at least, that is my understanding.

I have a foreclosure on my credit (divorce, long story) and I need my fiance to cosign for the grad plus.

sidhesadie wrote:GradPlus is credit based though, so if the OP has bankruptcy, foreclosure, judgements, or recent 90 day lates on his/her credit, they will need a cosignor, at least, that is my understanding.

I have a foreclosure on my credit (divorce, long story) and I need my fiance to cosign for the grad plus.

It says no major negatives within 5 years (bankruptcy, foreclosure, repo), I don't know how recent for the minor negatives.

yay, thanks!! yea, i have some hiccups on my credit from a few years ago, but I hope I should be covered. I guess my question should have been "if you'll get approved, will you get it all"

thanks everyone

solarae wrote:yay, thanks!! yea, i have some hiccups on my credit from a few years ago, but I hope I should be covered. I guess my question should have been "if you'll get approved, will you get it all"

thanks everyone

Remember they don't assess the credit score, they look at your history. So minor hiccups would probably hurt you less than for consumer credit.

I'm confused about Grad PLUS loans. They were included on my financial aid package from UVa and GWU, but not on UM or UPenn. Does that mean that I am not eligible for them with these schools?

neyaae wrote:I'm confused about Grad PLUS loans. They were included on my financial aid package from UVa and GWU, but not on UM or UPenn. Does that mean that I am not eligible for them with these schools?

It's the referred to alternative loan amount. You are not obligated to borrow PLUS, some people may opt for private loans and/or family loans due to better terms. You don't have to be awarded PLUS, you are automatically eligible for it, so it's up to you to apply and initiate the borrowing. I think Penn says before 6/1 but not before 5/1.

does LRAP cover grad plus?

neyaae wrote:does LRAP cover grad plus?

Depends on schools, but I think most if not all schools cover all Federal loans. PLUS is eligible for IBR. Private loans are not. So you may want to go with PLUS even if you can get a private loan with less origination fees and better rates.