Grad Plus loans - when to apply?

I'll be leaving for Belfast in early September, and my MA course starts the end of September. I'll be using Stafford & Grad Plus loans to finance tuition and subsistence, is anyone else in the same boat? It's been very very difficult for me to get any answers from the International office at my university (someone always picks up the phone but then says "oh just send us an email!", to which I rarely receive responses). So, if the credit check from the Plus loan request is only valid for 90 days, but I need to use the Plus loan as proof of maintenance for the visa application (which I intend to send in in June), when will I apply for the Grad Plus loan? How quickly are they processed/does anyone know when you find out how much you are approved for - or does that vary by university? I know it would really help if they would answer my emails.... haha.

Thanks everyone!

Hi there! 

I just had a look through my old e-mails (I hoard them  ) and it appears that, the year I started my course, I had applied for my Stafford loan on May 22nd and my GradPLUS loan on May 29th.  I faxed the information to my uni on May 26th (for the Stafford) and on May 29th (for the GradPLUS).  Each was processed and ready to go the same day that I sent the information.  Your mileage may vary on how quickly the loans are processed, as it can depend on the school, but also because the way the loans are processed now is somewhat different from the year that I did it.  I applied for my visa in mid-July.

I applied for the Stafford first to see how much I would get and once I knew the amount I was awarded,  I applied for the GradPLUS, since that would supplement the Stafford.  Your uni can certify enough to cover whatever your fees are (I found my Stafford covered that easily as it was the max amount they'll give you for a Stafford), and up to a certain amount of £ for Cost of Living by the US government, so check with them to see how much the limit is for COL.  I found that it was more than enough to cover the visa maintenance requirements.

I sorted all of this out by e-mail with my uni's registry office, so maybe contact them if they are the ones that do all the processing.  They might be of more help than the international office.

I hope this helps a bit! 

Thanks so much for the info! It's great to hear straight from experience. I am wondering what you mean by applying for your Stafford though - I do know that the loan process has changed since last year, but I filed my FAFSA last month and received notification that I was eligible for the full amount of Stafford, $20,500. Did you do anything else besides this, and filling out the MPN for your university and such? Also, when handling both Stafford & Grad Plus, does the university automatically give you the amount your eligible for/the cost of attendance, or do you specify the amount that you need? I'm sure they'll get around to giving me more info about this soon, but in the meantime, I really appreciate this info, thanks so much!

It's been almost 2 years, so I don't remember precisely, but with the Stafford I'm pretty sure just did FAFSA/SAR thing first, then the MPN and entrance counseling as required by my uni.  There are old posts of mine floating around here somewhere, so I might go have a look-see to check. 

I'm not sure exactly how the process has changed, but when I did it, it was my responsibility to specify the amount that I needed for the the loans, at least for the GradPLUS (I think the Stafford automatically gives you the most that you are eligible for).  I believe when you are applying for the GradPLUS, it asks you how much you would like to receive, so you would have to specify the precise amount that would bring you to the max.  So essentially, you have to do all the math with the conversion rates and stuff to make sure you're asking for the right/max amount in $ for your Cost of Attendance in £.  UKBA uses oanda.com for the conversion rate for visa applications, so I used that when calculating my loan amount.

Kind of annoying, especially with the fluctuations in the exchange rate, but I think I just asked for slightly less in $ than I could, just in case it jumped around at all between the time I applied and the time it would be processed (since I didn't know how long it would take).

Ok, I dug around a bit and there is this thread from last year: http://talk.uk-yankee.com/index.php?topic=62005.0. 

Note that not all of the information in that thread will be relevant in terms of applying for the visa, some of that stuff has changed and will continue to change over the next few months (for one, you can't use expediters anymore).

However, the loan stuff should pretty much be the same as in that thread, and if anything you have samples of timelines from various people.