Magicnubs Posted February 9, 2011 Share Posted February 9, 2011 I have a question that can hopefully be answered by the gurus in this forum. I've searched the forums here (manually and automatically) and have searched around FAFSA's website and studentloans.gov; no luck. First, let me spin the threads of a story in the form of a time-line: -I will be graduating, probably in the Winter of 2012. At this time I will have open government-subsidized student loans. -I will be working to finish my required patient contact hours. This will last anywhere from 6 months to 2 years depending on my ability to procure a job with patient contact hours while I am still in school and current application cycles. -With luck I will then be entering a PA program. Scenario 1: I can make at least minimum required payments while not attending school. Scenario 2: I know there is generally allowed deference period. I make us of this and pay as much as I am able. What limits will be placed on me and my access to government loan assistance in PA school, considering the fact that I will have to leave school for two years? (consider also that with a job as a CNA I might be hard pressed to pay the minimum amount.) Thanks for any and all help offered on the subject. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
c0untingstars Posted February 9, 2011 Share Posted February 9, 2011 Well I can tell you what I've done. I graduated April 2009 and had to start making payments 6 months later in October. I believe they wanted me to pay $100 per month and I did for awhile but then I just couldn't afford it. So I put in a forbearance for 12 months saying due to economic difficulty I could only pay $50 per month. It was approved and pretty soon I believe my paperwork should go through for my deferment while I am in PA school. I also qualify to take out more loans to pay for PA school. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magicnubs Posted February 9, 2011 Author Share Posted February 9, 2011 Thanks c0untingstars! I figured that there was an option to defer my loans again while in a Master's Program, in addition to procuring additional loans. What I was worried about was whether it was only available in the case of entering a graduate program directly after obtaining my baccalaureate considering that is the way that most programs progress. Do you happen to know if the Stafford loans available for Graduate school are a completely different loan (with it's own payment every month) or if they are an extension of the terms of your initial loan in undergrad? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iain1028 Posted February 9, 2011 Share Posted February 9, 2011 As long as your credit is good, your golden. Your going to require private Sallie Mae type loans. Just put it all on the giant tab. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GREATMDPA Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 There is a difference between deferment and forbearance. During deferment, there is no interest accrued on the "subsidized" portion of your Stafford loans, while in forbearance, they charge interest on both subsidized and unsubsidized loans, so I would always apply for deferment first, and if not approved, then I would try forbearance. You get charged a little higher interest rate for the subsidized portion of your Stafford graduate loans, the unsidized portion has the same interest for both graduate and undergrad level. Once you get in PA master program, you will be eligible to borrow up to $20,500/year from Stafford, and for most programs (the private ones) you will need much more than just $20,500, so you'll borrow the rest from Grad PLUS loan which is a private loan that requires good credit and their interest is outrageous (8.5%) plus they charge like 4% initiation fee before they disburse your loans. Once you are in school, you will be able to defer all your undergrad Stafford loans until you graduate from PA school, and your new loans for PA school will be in an in-school status. So what that translates to is that after you graduate PA school, you will need to resume your paymens for your undergrad Stafford loans one month after graduation date, but you won't have to begin payments for your PA school stafford loans until 6 months after graduation because when a Stafford loan has an in-school status, you will get a 6-month "grace" period after graduation before you start payment. You will be eligible to take out Stafford and Grad PLUS loans whenever you begin PA graduate school, there is no time limite as to when you must enter graduate school after undergraduate I hope this is helpful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magicnubs Posted February 14, 2011 Author Share Posted February 14, 2011 YES! Your post was extremely helpful, thank you so much Greatmdpa! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loliz Posted July 7, 2013 Share Posted July 7, 2013 You get charged a little higher interest rate for the subsidized portion of your Stafford graduate loans, Stafford loans are not subsidized at the graduate level. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andreasmo Posted July 7, 2013 Share Posted July 7, 2013 They used to be until last May.. So when this was posted they probably were. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loliz Posted July 7, 2013 Share Posted July 7, 2013 oops! for some reason this showed up in my feed as a brand new post. Probably just because of the poll... those polls should shut down after the thread is inactive for awhile. Sorry!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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