filling out FAFSA

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chewy
Posts: 23
Joined: Sat Dec 05, 2009 6:13 pm

filling out FAFSA

Post by chewy » Sun Feb 21, 2010 3:46 pm

has anyone else filled out FAFSA? I am in the process of doing it, but there doesn't seem to be a place to write down your student loan debt from Undergraduate school. As it would be I would have negative equity (total Assets - Total Liabilities) but it seems they want to leave that information out. To me its a critical part of a persons balance sheet as they will be making monthly payments while in graduate school. I don't want them to think I have money when I really don't. A good idea is to get new Subsidized Graduate loans from the Fed and pay off UnSubsidized loans from undergraduate school, if that would be your situation. 5 Years of no interest and no monthly payments, can't beat that.

meggo
Posts: 43
Joined: Mon Nov 09, 2009 12:44 pm

Re: filling out FAFSA

Post by meggo » Sun Feb 21, 2010 3:49 pm

Uhh do you need to fill out a FAFSA? I never did for grad school. I only filled one out while I was an undergrad.

chewy
Posts: 23
Joined: Sat Dec 05, 2009 6:13 pm

Re: filling out FAFSA

Post by chewy » Sun Feb 21, 2010 3:58 pm

in general they do, especially for fellowships. But i would want to do because you get a interest free loan. cant beat that. and use that money to get rid of the interest-bearing unsubsidized loan. its kinda like you got to play the system. so that way during graduate years, 4-5years, interest wont be accruing and I wont have to be making monthly payments. you gotta be smart with the fed

meggo
Posts: 43
Joined: Mon Nov 09, 2009 12:44 pm

Re: filling out FAFSA

Post by meggo » Sun Feb 21, 2010 4:35 pm

Hmm that's really smart actually...I didn't even think about doing that. Maybe I should look into it...

However, sorry to be totally unhelpful...I don't know the answer to your original question. When I had questions in the past, though, I usually just found their number and called them up early in the morning right when they opened to get questions answered.

peglegjeff
Posts: 16
Joined: Thu Dec 10, 2009 3:18 pm

Re: filling out FAFSA

Post by peglegjeff » Sun Feb 21, 2010 7:57 pm

I believe the reason they don't take undergrad student loans into account is that you can defer your loans while in grad school. That is, you don't have to make any payments on any of your student loans until 6 months after you graduate from grad school. So they assume that your prior student loans are not a factor in your financial situation during grad school.

chewy
Posts: 23
Joined: Sat Dec 05, 2009 6:13 pm

Re: filling out FAFSA

Post by chewy » Sun Feb 21, 2010 9:24 pm

true, but i really don't intend to defer payments. Because unless they are the "subsidized" version of the Stafford loan, the "Unsubsidized" that is, interest will accrue over the time in graduate school and you might tend up paying back twice as much as you actually borrowed. I plan to pay a little bit each month while in grad school and hopefully get rid of it. I don't have as much as some people have, but you can get up to (not guaranteed) $8500/academic year in subsidized loan. It would be smart to take that loan out (whether you need it or not) and use that money to pay off "Unsubsidized" loans from undergraduate if you happen to have some. Essentially you switching 8500 of Unsubsidized loans to subsidized loans. that way you can defer it through grad school and not pay a monthly bill and don't have to worry about it accruing interest over 5 years or so. Again its only 8500, so it most likely only take care of only a portion of unsubsidized loan, but at least its something. This is something no one will tell you but you have to think of on your own.

Plus with inflation, you'll pay back the loans (5 years from now) with dollars worth a lot less. Economics I think is just as fundamental as physics.



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