Can you tell me your experience with a federal student loan?

I borrowed my jr and sr years in college and both years for my masters degree. i would not recommend borrowing your fresh and soph years as too many folks drop out then and end up worse than when they started.

You don't have to start repaying until you graduate of drop below half time. Your loans are put on a 10 year payment plan and are roughly a bit more than 10% of the total amount you borrowed. So if you borrowed 30,000 total, your loan payments would total roughly 320 a month for 10 years after you graduate.

Loans are a great option if its a matter of going to college or not. It is not however, a method you'll find to support yourself entirely through college without working. Simply because the government puts a limit on how much a student can borrow and if you have been working full time (and have a life) then your expenses are prob more than a college student right out of college with no rent, car, insurance, utilities and such.

"How much do they give you?"

If you are a dependent freshman (reporting folks on your fafsa with less than 30 credit hours earned) then you can only borrow 5,500 a year. A year!!! Half of this amount is for the fall and the Other half is for the spring. Dependent sophomores can only borrow 6,500 a year. The max amount a dependent freshman can borrow is 9,500 a year. See link below for complete breakdown of loan max amounts by grade and dependency status.

"How are you able to spend the money? "

the money goes to the school first to pay off any outstanding charges you have with them ... if you have other aid that pays for it (like grants) then you get the excess about 4 weeks AFTER the semester has started.

"can you use fafsa grants for tuition and use loan for living expenses? "

Yes, of course. You wouldn't be a very good college student if you were homeless, naked, or starving!!. (but only if you get awarded enough aid. Schools don't and sometimes cant give you enough to cover all your tuition costs, depending on how expensive the school is you CHOOSE). So choose wisely!!

You must also remember, once you start borrowing you are COMMITTED to graduating. There is nothing worse than being a college dropout with student loans you now can 't afford to repay. Also, you can never get out of repaying them. Once you do take them out you must understand that making your payments are THE MOST IMPORTANT thing in your life for the next ten years if you ever want to own anything of any value. Even before you pay rent or a house payment or a car payment. You must make your student loan payments first.

Student loans are wonderful at the time; you get to focus solely on school, you can live somewhat comfortably, and it's free money for the time being. Watch out. You may be able to afford them with no problem when you get a job, and pay each bill you have on time, but when it comes to buying a house and you still have a bunch of money in student loans to pay off (even federal( your debt to income ratio will kill your chances, no matter what you can actually afford. Your credit score may be great, but if you have bad debt to income forget it.

When I got grants, the college took the money for tuition and gave me what was left (this was the case for the loans as well( from there you can spend it as you need. No real restrictions, just guidance. You'll have to take a little online quiz to show you can handle federal aid and spend wisely. The amount you get depends on marital status, if you have children, and if your parents still claim you on their taxes. If your parents claim you, you will get much less than if they do not. If you are married you get more, and if you have kids you get much more, and if you are a single parent you've hit the federal aid jackpot.

and sincerely good luck :D

well, if you get a student loan, they decide how much you get back from your tax info

and as far as spending the money, you will get a pell grant check which you donot have to pay back

but the subsidized and unsubsidized loans you have to pay back six months after you graduate.

and yes you can use the pell grants for living expenses like i said depending on how much you get back...so say you got back 23,000.00 , some of it would be your pell and the rest would be sub and unsub. but just to make sure i would talk to a financial aide rep. but that's just an idea of how they work

and when you first start, you will not get any money right away, sometimes you have towait six weeks, but others you have to wait until the next quarter.

i hope this helped

The government has given me roughly 10 grand in loans for my freshman year of college. I do not have to pay it back until after I graduate. I can use it for tuition or living expenses, but it goes directly to the college. I never touch the money.