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is anyone else flat out broke? i didn't take any grad plus loans and my funding was like $7k last semester and $6k this semester. my school estimates like...$450 a month for rent and i'm paying double that before a whole crap ton of utilities...

can i apply for grad plus loans now? this blows

Might be screwed bro. Our school at least has a policy against subsequent disbursements after the initial disbursement for the term. Call your college's financial aid guy.

Ask your school. Michigan let me do a disbursement partway through 1L. They don't want to do a ton of paperwork so don't want you using it like a line of credit...but so long as you have a decent excuse.

You can get Grad Plus now if you had eligibility but did not borrow. You will get the money maybe in a week after you go through the credit check/sign the MPN.

r6_philly wrote:You can get Grad Plus now if you had eligibility but did not borrow. You will get the money maybe in a week after you go through the credit check/sign the MPN.

TITCR

TTH wrote:Might be screwed bro. Our school at least has a policy against subsequent disbursements after the initial disbursement for the term. Call your college's financial aid guy.

Say what now? If this is true, that's ridiculous. At our school, all you have to do is shoot an email to the financial aid lady and she'll process the disbursement. It's my money, and I want it NOW!

romothesavior wrote:

TTH wrote: It's my money, and I want it NOW!

Lawl

StarLightSpectre wrote:

romothesavior wrote: It's my money, and I want it NOW!

Lawl

Haha, it was a joke, but definitely some truth to it. I don't see how a school can tell you that you can't borrow more of the money that the federal government has approved you for and will give to you. So long as I am still eligible for more loan disbursements, it shouldn't be the school's place to tell me I can't take any out.

r6_philly wrote:You can get Grad Plus now if you had eligibility but did not borrow. You will get the money maybe in a week after you go through the credit check/sign the MPN.

Up to the maximum amount allowed to borrow.

spoke to them today. i can borrow up to an absurd 20k...for the next 3 months... if only this were fake money.

bartleby wrote:is anyone else flat out broke? i didn't take any grad plus loans and my funding was like $7k last semester and $6k this semester. my school estimates like...$450 a month for rent and i'm paying double that before a whole crap ton of utilities...

can i apply for grad plus loans now? this blows

You can apply for grad plus now. I had to take out a little extra $$ last year (and I didn't take grad plus initially) and it wasn't a problem at all.

Dude, I've been doing incremental loan increases since I got here. Why let the extra couple thousand dollars rack up interest from the time of disbursement? I added an extra $3,000 at the end of the semester to cover security/first/last on my new apartment, and a few other times. Is it messy that I have 5 small loans instead of 2 big ones, sure, but it's going to save me about $2.5k in interest.

romothesavior wrote:

TTH wrote:Might be screwed bro. Our school at least has a policy against subsequent disbursements after the initial disbursement for the term. Call your college's financial aid guy.

Say what now? If this is true, that's ridiculous. At our school, all you have to do is shoot an email to the financial aid lady and she'll process the disbursement. It's my money, and I want it NOW!

+1

When I was taking Kaplan for the LSAT prep course, the legal economy was booming and my instructor advised me to max out all my loans so as never to be stressed about money during finals. I took her advice, and fortunately for me the gamble worked and I have a high paying job that more than covers my debt payments. (However, if I hadn't done so well, I'd be on an income-based repayment plan.)

While obtaining a high paying job is no longer nearly as certain as it once was, I still advocate for maxing out your loans. Screw it, you went to law school to do well, so either go full throttle or go home. The stress of studying and class alone are enough to make you completely stressed out, but then when worrying about eating and rent are added into the mix, your grades will suffer, and along with them so too will your job prospects. You have ONE SHOT to do well in law school, do everything you can to ensure you ace your finals.

IF YOU DON'T THINK YOU HAVE ENOUGH CASH TO GET THROUGH THE SEMESTER AND ARE COMMITTED TO COMPLETING LAW SCHOOL, MAX OUT YOUR FEDERAL LOANS.

Some might disagree - such as Above the Law bloggers - but come finals time you should be worried about memorizing the elements of adverse possession, not whether you can afford to eat tonight.

i agree to a certain extent but 1st semester i also spent a ton on stupid stuff: super comfortable new bed, smart phone, cable with 300 channels and dvr. now that i'm not even a lock for top quarter, it seemed kinda irresponsible. luckily i have a paying summer job and had some money saved up but for someone who was pretty fiscally irresponsible to begin with, taking a 7k check with the excuse of being stress-free was a bad idea.

people are all different tho. i know a girl who is working 20 hours while in law school and she got around the same grades as me. might've been profitable for her to take max loans.

bartleby wrote: can i apply for grad plus loans now? this blows

know what really blows? not having the option of avoiding gradplus bite me

IAFG wrote:

bartleby wrote: can i apply for grad plus loans now? this blows

know what really blows? not having the option of avoiding gradplus bite me

who else is going to pay to maintain that beautiful campus

bartleby wrote:

IAFG wrote:

bartleby wrote: can i apply for grad plus loans now? this blows

know what really blows? not having the option of avoiding gradplus bite me

who else is going to pay to maintain that beautiful campus

we don't really have a "campus"

grass is always greener. nw was the one school i got into really, really late and thought about but decided i didn't want the debt. after my first semester grades and getting rick roll'd by hustlers, i can't even dream about big law no more

I maxed out my loans. Didn't really see much significance in a couple thousand per year after already being in so much debt anyway.

Cupidity wrote:Dude, I've been doing incremental loan increases since I got here. Why let the extra couple thousand dollars rack up interest from the time of disbursement? I added an extra $3,000 at the end of the semester to cover security/first/last on my new apartment, and a few other times. Is it messy that I have 5 small loans instead of 2 big ones, sure, but it's going to save me about $2.5k in interest.

You're brilliant. Wish I were that brilliant. Seriously. No one I know, self included, is doing that and clearly more of us should. But I appreciate this post because I can at least change what I do next year.

uci2013 wrote:

Cupidity wrote:Dude, I've been doing incremental loan increases since I got here. Why let the extra couple thousand dollars rack up interest from the time of disbursement? I added an extra $3,000 at the end of the semester to cover security/first/last on my new apartment, and a few other times. Is it messy that I have 5 small loans instead of 2 big ones, sure, but it's going to save me about $2.5k in interest.

You're brilliant. Wish I were that brilliant. Seriously. No one I know, self included, is doing that and clearly more of us should. But I appreciate this post because I can at least change what I do next year.

I mean, it certainly has its draw backs, and you shouldn't use loans like an ATM machine, because having several small loans out can damage your credit. But when it comes to larger purchases, like budgeting in the up-front cost for next years lease, or money to get you started at your summer job in a new city until the paychecks come, you could be looking at shaving 6 months interest on $3-4k per year. To manage it, I plan on using some of my summer salary to completely repay the smaller loans pre-graduation. This of course, is stupid, if you have the pretty interest free subsidized loans.

.

Advertise on backpages. Depending on looks, you may pull in a cool $1g in a day.

I feel you on that one. I'm broke and though I'd like a job, I can't handle both. It sucks.