Does Student Loans Or Financial Aid Give You Enough To Survive College On?
One big concern of many students planning on attending college is if their student loans, scholarships or federal loans such as Stafford loan or Pell Grant or PLUS loans or Perkins loans will be enough to live on during college or if they will need to look at other sources of income while studying.
As far as federal aid is concerned, it really depends on the EFC that you enter in your FAFSA application. If your EFC (Expected Family Contribution) is really low then your student loan should be enough. If not, then you have to wait and see. Plan your student expenses wisely. Your room and boarding will be your biggest expense. If you can manage to do this wisely then your student loan or aid should be enough. Your other expenses such as commute and education related expenses will generally be taken care of by your student loan since they are all educational related expenses.
That said, some students do plan on working part time to cover any shortfall. Your city of education will determine a lot of your living expenses. Studying in a more economically suited state might work for some. Always remember that apart from your scholarships or grants of federal aid, there will be programs at your university that are specifically created to help out students facing a shortfall of income. Do explore these options once you enroll.
Below are some of the questions we get around this subject
- “Can I live on my student loan while I’m studying in college?“
- “Will my student loan be enough to see me through college financially“
- “Should I take an additional loan apart from my Pell Grant to cover my education costs“
- “Will my Stafford Loan cover all my expenses when I’m studying in school?“
- “I’m a really good student and plan on going to college but my family cannot afford it. My goal is to do my Masters degree at the very minimum and so I’m looking at many years of college. Will my student loan or financial aid be enough to get me through to my degree? Will I have enough to hold me and sustain me or not?”
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I am from a very low income family and just graduated college myself.
If your FAFSA EFC is 0(if you are very poor it should be and if you are middle class you’ll have to wait and see) then you will definately get enough money to live off of.
* EFC is Expected Family Contribution
MY EFC was 0 and I got between 1,000 and 2,000 to live off of per term. This was enough to pay rent, bills, get school books, and eat. Sometimes it was tight and sometimes I had plenty left over.
One tip is: do not live in the dorms. They are much more expensive than regular housing and bills.
Another tip: pay your bills 3 months in advance if your on 3 term system because that’s how often you get your loan money (after you get your loan money back pay all 3 months of that rent).
Additional tip: summer can be hard because financial aid differs at this time. If you attend only half time during summer you can make enough money back to live off of but it’ll be tight.
About Grad. school: I went 5 years undergrad and got all the loans possible including plus loans and had just enough, wouldn’t have had enough to go another term but just perfectly enough. Then I enrolled in Grad. school, more money is available to you when you enroll in Grad. school, it pretty much starts all over so you don’t have to worry about that.
And don’t worry about paying it back. Two reasons. Reason one is they tailor your payments to how much you make after you get out of college so if you end up working at McDonalds you’ll be paying a small amount back per month. Reason two, there are some government programs that’ll help pay back your taxes if you do certain work after you graduate.
Another tip: Once you get to college there are LOTS of programs to help low-income students, seek them out.
If you need more help go ahead and email me. I volunteer at helping people get into higher ed.
it really depends i think on your income. you can ask the financial aid department on your school for help. or visit fafsa.ed.gov
I would suggest getting a job on top of financial aid. Mine is on campus a low stress. It doesnt hurt my schooling and Im just there enough to make some money on the side. But I also live a pretty good life. If you can get by living a bargain life, then youll probably be fine. Make out a budget and find out how much money you will realistically need and start from there. It also depends on what state you live in and what school you go to….different states/schools offer different financial aid packages.
I survived undergrad on scholarships, work-study, loans and grants and now in graduate school with a graduate assistantship (small stipend and tuition paid for by school) and loans so yes it is possible to live off of financial aid. In some cases you might have to get private educational loans in addition to the government loans.
That depends. They will count your parent’s income until your 23, married or a parent. You can ALWAYS take out unsubsidized loans EVEN if you are not eligible for anything else. IF you plan on attending an out of state or private college, GL.. you will not get enough aid for that.. As you advance in grade level, you will qualify for more aid. You must re apply every year so just because you may not get much as a freshmen, you may get more as a sopho. GL
I attend college at College America and I was told that they never cut a student loan check. I am struggling so bad, and I live off campus. All my classes are online, and I don’t even receive a book for my classes! (The books are embedded in the classes). Is this right? Has anyone else heard of this?