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Say I take out up to the full student budget via Stafford and Grad Plus. But I live on less than that amount. Can I choose to keep the difference in savings or spend it? Or, do I have to give the unused portion back?

Once you take out a loan its ur money. Do what ever you want with it.

But really what you should do if that happens is take that excess and pay it back immediately, so that you aren't paying interest on loans you don't even need.

Is it also fine if you never cash the excess checks they give?

merc280 wrote:Is it also fine if you never cash the excess checks they give?

One check per semester, but most people use direct deposit now that we're in the modern era.

5ky wrote:But really what you should do if that happens is take that excess and pay it back immediately, so that you aren't paying interest on loans you don't even need.

+1 I would think so

If you're doing unpaid work this summer, the excess loans can help with your living expenses. At least, that's what I hope to do, if I can learn to be frugal.

You don't have to give it back, it's your money but you will have to pay it back sooner or later.

What I would do is I would pay off any other debt I have such as if I had a car payment or mortgage. Otherwise I'd put it in my roth IRA or stocks or 401k. The interest on the loan should be low enough that you could afford to pay it off later. Besides, I would want my money to work best for me. The greatest return will likely come from investing it earlier rather than paying the loan back immediately. After I get a higher-paying job I would start paying off the loans aggressively if I had no other debt.

If you're getting firm work, you should save it and take out less next time to avoid the fat origination fee/accumulating interest.

If you're doing PI and have good LRAP, I would take every fucking penny plus some and sock it away.

is the interest accumulating on it?

if youre investment savvy at all you could try to turn a profit. definitely did this one semester.