My Financial Aid Package

hellodocks
Thu, 16 Dec 2010 18:14:27 +0000

I’ll try to break it down for everyone a bit, coming from the perspective of an NYU student paying for school entirely on my own.

Facts:

If you have not filed a FAFSA, that’s on you. That’s what they base your aid package off of. Applying without doing that is as risky as driving without a license

The difference between PLUS and Stafford Loans is that PLUS must go to your parents and be entered in their name, while Stafford will be in your name. They have different interest rates and repayment terms as well

The difference between a subsidized and unsubsidized Stafford is that the government underwrites the risk of one, hence subsidized, so the interest rate is lower. You have both subsidized and unsubsidized because they can’t give you a subsidized large enough to cover the entire Stafford amount you as a teenage student qualify for, so it’s split between the two

If you have more questions, go ahead and post them, I’ll do my best to answer them as quickly as possible but most likely after the 21st, finals will be done by then.