<p>So I logged onto my schools website where I was able to accept my financial aid award online. I’m going into my first year of grad school and it said my total Cost of Attendance for the 2010-2011 year would be about $19,000 and that I would be awarded that exact amount in loans. I accepted the full amount. But then I realized, I am only going to be a part time student. My actual tuition for the upcoming Fall semester is only going to be $3,000, and $3,000 for spring, and add to that books and other school related expeneses and it certainly doesn’t equal $19,000. I think that number is what my COA would be if I was a full time student. So what will happen to those excess funds that I won’t need? Can they carry over into the next school year? I feel like I screwed myself by accepting the full amount not realizing that I won’t actually be spending that much on school this year. What do I do now?</p>
<p>The school will give you a check for the excess amount. You can save it and use it for next year but that’s a really stupid thing to do since you can save a years worth of interest by just getting another loan next year. Since you don’t need it, you should call your financial aid office and say you only want x amount only. You get 30 or 45 day right to cancel your loan. And only the financial aid office can do it.</p>
<p>Source: personal experience
I tried calling the loan directly and they told me to talk to my financial aid to do it for me. So I e-mailed my financial aid lady saying to decrease my loan by $1k since I had an increase in my fed seog mid-semester(odd, I know) because “the school had some funds left”(My school called me during spring break to tell me of the great news) and all I needed to do was sign the new updated awards package paper. The loan was already approved a couple weeks beforehand but it takes 6 weeks to disburse so the amount was changeable and able to be cancelled. My tuition was all paid for then, so I received a check through the school for the excess amount.</p>