Are schools required to spilt federal loans by semester?
I received two scholarships (state, and institutional) that cover my tuition and books with a little left over.
Since I have enough to cover everything, I wanted to use my federal loan to buy a car because I will be commuting and I won't have a way to get to school.
Are schools required to spilt federal loans by semester, or could a person receive the full amount the first semester?
Well, to answer your question, if you are on a semester system, there will be at least two installments. Also, keep in mind that you can't borrow more than your cost of attendance minus any other financial aid you'll get, so you may receive less than the annual maximum amounts.
I think the only time they don't have to split it by semester is when you're a Spring admit. Then you can get the whole amount in one shot....but that doesn't sound like it would work for you.
In your case, you could get your Fall loan, bank it, wait til January when you get your Spring loan, then take the combo and buy your car. But, you're only going to get $5500.
There is actually some weird rule about an awarded loan having to be disbursed in at least 2 installments even if the student will only be there one semester that school year.. I know my last semester of CC before I transferred to a 4 year college, i had to wait quite a while for the 2nd half of the loan to be disbursed in that semester. I never quite understood the rule, but it was something to do with some odd rule and I just had to take the FA departments word for it (I usually like to understand what is going on, but I never quite figured this rule out - probably because it seemed a bit silly to my rather logical mind).
You can get the full amount if you apply second semester; I've seen it done. But if you are in school for the fall semester, the school will split it in half. You can ask your financial aid office if it is possible to do it all at once, but I don't think they will.
So you either figure out a way to get to school first term and bank the amount for the car and get the car second term, or have a family member lend you the money until January when the second installment arrives.
