say you have been offered a teaching assistantship with a $8000 stipend and all tuition paid (which is out-of-state ~$18,000/year) for grad school

NCSU Fin-Aid Awards Letter prior to this offer provides $20,500 in total awards for the year (subsidized and unsubsidized stafford loans)

"Total Estimated Expenses" for the year is rated to be ~$35,000

upon submitting the updated Graduate Benefits form with the offer information, how much of a financial aid check would you expect per semester?

also, stupid Q: is that $8k stipend taxed?

7/27/2009 12:53:57 AM

stipends are taxed.

7/27/2009 1:02:37 AM

8,000
~18,000
20,500
=====
46,500
-35,000
=====
~11,000 refund

Keep in mind for the subsidized/unsubsidized loans you DO have to pay them back. The refund can be damn handy if you have other expenses (wedding) and need the cash. But, you DO have to pay it back. I borrowed the maximum amount for my two years in graduate school and am paying back ~$300/month for 25 years.

7/27/2009 11:01:57 AM

$90K?!? jesus

7/27/2009 11:07:19 AM

i thought you had to pay back a Stafford loan every time

i have about 18k left on my undergrad debt

7/27/2009 11:09:20 AM

Why do they call it financial "aid" if it's just a loan that you have to pay back anyway...? I never did this for undergrad and now I have no idea how to pay for grad school. Apparently I owe ~9800 for this fall semester. I filled out financial aid and haven't heard anything back yet, but i was under the impression that financial aid means someone up there helps pay a part of your tuition...not a loan.

What's the difference between a "financial aid" loan and just getting a student loan from a bank?

7/27/2009 1:05:11 PM

There's grants and then there's loans. Grants is free, need based money. The loans you always have to pay back, but interest doesn't start accumulating until you're out of school (if it's a stafford loan, if I recall).

7/27/2009 1:07:36 PM

Lower interest rates, subsidized

7/27/2009 1:08:18 PM

So are you applying for grants when filling out your fafsa? or is that just for loans?

7/27/2009 1:09:33 PM

^^^^Scholarships or grants typically do not have to be paid back.

Financial Aid can be a loan or a work study, or a combination of the two or include scholarships.

Any kind of loan must be paid back. The difference between a financial aid package through a school, and one through a bank is usually how it's set up. Usually you'll get a better interest rate through the school (not always), and there's a pretty good chance you can get the interest deferred while your in school, or no accrueing at all. (Subsidized vs. unsubsidized loans). Federal loans (Stafford, PLUS etc,) come through a school, but usually you pick a private lender like CFNC or Wells Fargo or something.

When you fill out a FAFSA you aren't really applying for anything through a specific school. That's just there to tell the school how much you NEED. The school takes that information and decides whether to give you a grant or if you should get a loan through them. FAFSA doesn't really do anything to give you money.

[Edited on July 27, 2009 at 1:11 PM. Reason : ]

7/27/2009 1:09:54 PM

Quote :

"Why do they call it financial "aid" if it's just a loan that you have to pay back anyway...? ... What's the difference between a "financial aid" loan and just getting a student loan from a bank?"

It's aid because it helps with the costs of school, whether that's paying it for you, or a loan so that you can pay later. It's money that aids you.

A financial aid loan that you get through a school/the federal government almost always* has better terms, and interest rates. In addition, with federal loans, the interest rate can vary, and when it drops (like it did recently to the lowest possible rate), you can consolidate at that rate, and lock it in. Private banks are in business primarily for the money, so they're not as friendly to the student....and all customers

Quote :

"but i was under the impression that financial aid means someone up there helps pay a part of your tuition...not a loan. "

See above: aid != grant

Quote :

"There's grants and then there's loans. Grants is free, need based money. The loans you always have to pay back, but interest doesn't start accumulating until you're out of school (if it's a stafford loan, if I recall)."

Grants are not always need-based. There are also merit-based grants...most commonly called scholarships.
Loans must be paid back (as has been thoroughly addressed in this thread); however, interest accumulation varies. With a subsidized Stafford loan, the government pays interest for you during all eligible periods (namely, enrollment, deferment**, and the 6mos after you leave school...basically, until repayment.) With an unsubsidized Stafford loan, the student is responsible for the interest from day one, and can pay interest during these periods, or have it capitalized.

In addition to Stafford loans from the government, which is the student loan that has the loosest criteria to meet, there are various other loans, such as Perkins, and PLUS. A PLUS loan is to your parents, not you. If your parents are denied for a PLUS loan, you are automatically eligible to borrow Stafford loans in the amounts available to an independent student.

Quote :

"So are you applying for grants when filling out your fafsa? or is that just for loans?"

You are making relevant information available to the school's financial aid office so that they can determine your financial aid package. NCSU requires an institutional application in addition to the FAFSA.

The FAFSA is something you do in you even think you might possibly want/need aid. You have no obligation to accept aid by filling out a FAFSA, but doing so leaves that option open for you.

*I say almost all as a just-in-case.
**Whether interest is paid during deferment depends on the type of deferment and type of loan. For example, military deployment has interest paid, but depending on the loan, a financial hardship deferment might or might not have interest paid, IIRC.

I'm not a financial aid guru or employee. All of this is information I have learned because of my situation, or is simply information I've retained while dealing with financial aid. The Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships is incredibly helpful, and is aware that many, many students are horribly confused about financial aid. To that end, they are a great place to go for basic questions like this, as well as for very specific questions about your situation.

7/27/2009 2:15:30 PM

damn i got an email saying i have to accept the aid by this friday or it gets canceled

so i've gotta decide whether to keep looking for a job or go for this assistantship

7/27/2009 6:34:08 PM

Quote :

"I never did this for undergrad and now I have no idea how to pay for grad school. Apparently I owe ~9800 for this fall semester. I filled out financial aid and haven't heard anything back yet, but i was under the impression that financial aid means someone up there helps pay a part of your tuition...not a loan."

-The only 'free' funding for grad school are scholarships (private, public, departmental), tuition remission (departmental, school), and stipends.
(Yes, stipends are taxed.)
-Assistantships can be considered funding, but it is also a job. Therefore you earn their money.
-There is no work study program for grad school either.
-There is no point in filling out a FAFSA form for graduate school. The government will not give you any money, like they will for undergrad. Because, as my graduate school financial aid counselor put it to me, "The government doesn't think anyone needs more than a Bachelors. Any schooling beyond a Bachelors is voluntary and you are responsible for paying for, or getting it paid for."

[Edited on July 27, 2009 at 8:56 PM. Reason : ]

7/27/2009 8:53:22 PM

After filling out FAFSA, I got a $400 grant for grad school. Not much, but def worth an hour of my time.

[Edited on July 27, 2009 at 9:00 PM. Reason : ]

7/27/2009 8:59:54 PM

Some schools will go by your FAFSA and reward grants from scholarship money and such. I wonder if thats how you got one...

7/27/2009 9:02:30 PM

Who knows, but I'm at NCSU for graduate school too.

[Edited on July 27, 2009 at 9:04 PM. Reason : ]

7/27/2009 9:03:54 PM

Quote :

"here is no point in filling out a FAFSA form for graduate school. The government will not give you any money, like they will for undergrad."

Correct, they will LOAN you money, which requires you fill out a FAFSA, which if you have no other way to pay for graduate school, is better than a zero dollar amount and being unable to pay / attend.

Please go visit the Financial Aid office and talk with some of their folks.

[Edited on July 27, 2009 at 10:02 PM. Reason : .]

7/27/2009 10:01:29 PM

has anyone gotten their financial aid refund for Fall 09 yet?

8/21/2009 12:28:58 PM

Quote :

"damn i got an email saying i have to accept the aid by this friday or it gets canceled so i've gotta decide whether to keep looking for a job or go for this assistantship"

Take the aid, dweedle. You don't have to take the refund--you can apply it to future balances. And you don't even have to accept all of the aid.

8/21/2009 12:36:03 PM

using student loans to pay for a wedding is the worst idea ever.

I am fine with cheap apartments and have never spent as much as the school thinks I need.

8/21/2009 12:41:36 PM

Quote :

"Why do they call it financial "aid" if it's just a loan that you have to pay back anyway...? ... What's the difference between a "financial aid" loan and just getting a student loan from a bank?"

Aid means to help, not blatently throw out free passes. The government does not provide student educational loans and grants to make money, their purpose is to create opportunity for people to educate themselves in higher learning. If they make a small profit because you drag out your loan payments they don't care, they give you the lowest rates available on the stafford loans. Some people do not have priveleged lives and must pay for college themselves, regardless of parental situations. Those that are in real bad financial situations get pell grants and don't need to pay those back, but every person who applies to the FAFSA gets approved for the stafford loan, regardless of total income.

Financial aid provides the guarantee everyone can get the chance to go to a college whether it be community, technical, 4 year, etc. Not to mention many independent scholarship/grant foundations use the FAFSA as your official request for financial help and apply you automatically; scoring you free grant or loan money you didn't even knew existed for certain individuals.

Shop around all the banks you can get loans in and quote some of the pure loan lenders, then actually calculate how much you'll be paying toward interest alone for the life of the loan. You'll pay out the ass compared to the government backed stafford loan. Federal, military, and state credit unions are usually pretty good and close to stafford rates, but banks and lendors are horrible compared to the government rate, especially now. Stafford loans can be subsidized, or unsubsidized, and in certain situations an additional stafford loan 'booster' is available on top of the original loan each class semester if your parents cannot get PLUS loans for you. That depends on your financial situation as well.

^It's not if they are able to pay it back fairly quickly such as an engineer or physician for whatever reason want to get married early/in school, and know they will make bank in short time (read: a few months to a few years), as I said government student loan rates are not horrible compared to commercial vendors.

8/21/2009 7:21:40 PM

Quote :

"using student loans to pay for a wedding is the worst idea ever."

I would say using credit cards to pay for a wedding would be a worse idea than using student loans.

8/22/2009 12:41:42 PM

^ True.

I'd be afraid I'd get divorced after 5 years and the next 25 years of paying off the loans I'd be pissed off every month when I had to pay for it.

8/22/2009 5:48:09 PM

Quote :

"You'll pay out the ass compared to the government backed stafford loan."

Bingo. Find me a lender who will grant an unsecured loan with a rate lower than the Federal Direct Loans. Second part of your statement is also true, payback time for us was relatively quick.

This also to say, financial aid / advice on a public internet message board not always the best to take. What may work for some may not be good advice for all. Talk with a financial aid advisor to discuss how will affect you specifically while enrolled AND after graduation.

[Edited on August 23, 2009 at 12:16 AM. Reason : .]

8/23/2009 12:15:41 AM

so anyone received their refund yet

8/23/2009 11:36:34 AM