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Just confirming that there is nothing stopping you from adjusting how much you take out in loans each semester of law school..

ie my pre-LS savings reduce my 1st semester loan, bigger 2nd semester loan, 1L summer savings reduce 3rd semester, 2L SA reduces 5th semester etc...

Schools don't make you take equal 1st and 2nd semester loans do they?

tyia

SaintsTheMetal wrote:Just confirming that there is nothing stopping you from adjusting how much you take out in loans each semester of law school..

ie my pre-LS savings reduce my 1st semester loan, bigger 2nd semester loan, 1L summer savings reduce 3rd semester, 2L SA reduces 5th semester etc...

Schools don't make you take equal 1st and 2nd semester loans do they?

tyia

You can adjust. What you accept will be sent in equal disbursements. So just accept 2x what you need for first semester, then you can ask for more loans second semester sometime over the semester (dont forget).

BigLawer wrote:

SaintsTheMetal wrote:Just confirming that there is nothing stopping you from adjusting how much you take out in loans each semester of law school..

ie my pre-LS savings reduce my 1st semester loan, bigger 2nd semester loan, 1L summer savings reduce 3rd semester, 2L SA reduces 5th semester etc...

Schools don't make you take equal 1st and 2nd semester loans do they?

tyia

You can adjust. What you accept will be sent in equal disbursements. So just accept 2x what you need for first semester, then you can ask for more loans second semester sometime over the semester (dont forget).

I think I'd take out the whole amount for the year and pay a little more in origination fees, and then pay off however much I can for fall term before any interest accrues (within 60 days or something?), rather than jump through the hoops of requesting more and hoping it doesn't get denied for some reason.

rinkrat19 wrote:

BigLawer wrote:

SaintsTheMetal wrote:Just confirming that there is nothing stopping you from adjusting how much you take out in loans each semester of law school..

ie my pre-LS savings reduce my 1st semester loan, bigger 2nd semester loan, 1L summer savings reduce 3rd semester, 2L SA reduces 5th semester etc...

Schools don't make you take equal 1st and 2nd semester loans do they?

tyia

You can adjust. What you accept will be sent in equal disbursements. So just accept 2x what you need for first semester, then you can ask for more loans second semester sometime over the semester (dont forget).

I think I'd take out the whole amount for the year and pay a little more in origination fees, and then pay off however much I can for fall term before any interest accrues (within 60 days or something?), rather than jump through the hoops of requesting more and hoping it doesn't get denied for some reason.

This is a horrible idea. Are you an 0L? If you do that you either 1) pay it back yourself and get hit with a high origination fee (aka throwing money down the toilet) or you have to go through the schools fin aid office to give it back (an even bigger hassel than asking for more money).

To receive additional funds second semester (which is what I did) you can literally do it online and it is a no hassel process. If you need to return money (which I am also trying to do) it is a huge pain.

BigLawer wrote:

rinkrat19 wrote:

BigLawer wrote:

SaintsTheMetal wrote:Just confirming that there is nothing stopping you from adjusting how much you take out in loans each semester of law school..

ie my pre-LS savings reduce my 1st semester loan, bigger 2nd semester loan, 1L summer savings reduce 3rd semester, 2L SA reduces 5th semester etc...

Schools don't make you take equal 1st and 2nd semester loans do they?

tyia

You can adjust. What you accept will be sent in equal disbursements. So just accept 2x what you need for first semester, then you can ask for more loans second semester sometime over the semester (dont forget).

I think I'd take out the whole amount for the year and pay a little more in origination fees, and then pay off however much I can for fall term before any interest accrues (within 60 days or something?), rather than jump through the hoops of requesting more and hoping it doesn't get denied for some reason.

This is a horrible idea. Are you an 0L? If you do that you either 1) pay it back yourself and get hit with a high origination fee (aka throwing money down the toilet) or you have to go through the schools fin aid office to give it back (an even bigger hassel than asking for more money).

To receive additional funds second semester (which is what I did) you can literally do it online and it is a no hassel process. If you need to return money (which I am also trying to do) it is a huge pain.

thank you both for the input...

he is definitely not a 0L, but just being in law school doesn't make someone money savvy,, or I guess some people may just not care about $$<1000. BUT i could see it being possible that rinkrat's school's financial aid office is in the stone age and a pain in the ass to deal with... i guess this is something that I should be sure of for my particular school (Penn in case anyone can shed light on them particularly.) But yea, if I have several thousand dollars to put down, taking out 10k in extra loans just to pay it off immediately is gonna be $400 flushed down the drain that I'd rather not if I don't have to.

SaintsTheMetal wrote: thank you both for the input...

he is definitely not a 0L, but just being in law school doesn't make someone money savvy,, or I guess some people may just not care about $$<1000. BUT i could see it being possible that rinkrat's school's financial aid office is in the stone age and a pain in the ass to deal with... i guess this is something that I should be sure of for my particular school (Penn in case anyone can shed light on them particularly.) But yea, if I have several thousand dollars to put down, taking out 10k in extra loans just to pay it off immediately is gonna be $400 flushed down the drain that I'd rather not if I don't have to.

Thats the big issue, the loan disbursement is 4%, which is actually A LOT of money when you think about it in the long run. You are right, maybe he just hasnt had to deal with this stuff, my bad Rinkrat, but you definitely want to take as little as possible. It seems (may be different for you) that giving money back is harder than getting more money. So, in my opinion, take as little as possible then ask for more for next semester and avoid the 4% fee. Also if you ever give money back, make sure to do it through the school, they can get your loan origination fee back for you and any interest that has accrued.

Most (maybe all) schools will allow you to request to adjust the amount of loans you receive for the second semester. If possible talk about it with them the first semester to find out how your fin aid office handles it and if you will need any info/forms. It will be fine and should be relatively easy.

presh wrote:Most (maybe all) schools will allow you to request to adjust the amount of loans you receive for the second semester. If possible talk about it with them the first semester to find out how your fin aid office handles it and if you will need any info/forms. It will be fine and should be relatively easy.

thank you all for putting my mind at ease on this!

BigLawer wrote:Also if you ever give money back, make sure to do it through the school, they can get your loan origination fee back for you and any interest that has accrued.

Wow I wasn't expecting this, this is interesting. Any idea how long you typically have to give money back? I take it it would probably be a couple of weeks at the most, and not just before the end of the semester right?

SaintsTheMetal wrote:

presh wrote:Most (maybe all) schools will allow you to request to adjust the amount of loans you receive for the second semester. If possible talk about it with them the first semester to find out how your fin aid office handles it and if you will need any info/forms. It will be fine and should be relatively easy.

thank you all for putting my mind at ease on this!

BigLawer wrote:Also if you ever give money back, make sure to do it through the school, they can get your loan origination fee back for you and any interest that has accrued.

Wow I wasn't expecting this, this is interesting. Any idea how long you typically have to give money back? I take it it would probably be a couple of weeks at the most, and not just before the end of the semester right?

I am not sure about how long, I want to say close to 60 days, but I could be wrong. I did it about 4 weeks after my loans were disbursed.

SaintsTheMetal wrote:

presh wrote:Most (maybe all) schools will allow you to request to adjust the amount of loans you receive for the second semester. If possible talk about it with them the first semester to find out how your fin aid office handles it and if you will need any info/forms. It will be fine and should be relatively easy.

thank you all for putting my mind at ease on this!

BigLawer wrote:Also if you ever give money back, make sure to do it through the school, they can get your loan origination fee back for you and any interest that has accrued.

Wow I wasn't expecting this, this is interesting. Any idea how long you typically have to give money back? I take it it would probably be a couple of weeks at the most, and not just before the end of the semester right?

I discussed this with the fin aid office at my school at one point, and I think they told me you needed to do it within 1 month of getting the money, but I'm not sure if that is standard or not.

BigLawer wrote:

rinkrat19 wrote:

BigLawer wrote:

SaintsTheMetal wrote:Just confirming that there is nothing stopping you from adjusting how much you take out in loans each semester of law school..

ie my pre-LS savings reduce my 1st semester loan, bigger 2nd semester loan, 1L summer savings reduce 3rd semester, 2L SA reduces 5th semester etc...

Schools don't make you take equal 1st and 2nd semester loans do they?

tyia

You can adjust. What you accept will be sent in equal disbursements. So just accept 2x what you need for first semester, then you can ask for more loans second semester sometime over the semester (dont forget).

I think I'd take out the whole amount for the year and pay a little more in origination fees, and then pay off however much I can for fall term before any interest accrues (within 60 days or something?), rather than jump through the hoops of requesting more and hoping it doesn't get denied for some reason.

This is a horrible idea. Are you an 0L? If you do that you either 1) pay it back yourself and get hit with a high origination fee (aka throwing money down the toilet) or you have to go through the schools fin aid office to give it back (an even bigger hassel than asking for more money).

To receive additional funds second semester (which is what I did) you can literally do it online and it is a no hassel process. If you need to return money (which I am also trying to do) it is a huge pain.

I'm not sure about other places but this is actually pretty easy at my school. They even tell you that you have a period that you can refuse/return the money.