Student loan process 2010

Hi everyone,

I've been looking up student loan information and I found a really informative thread called 'Student loan process 2007': http://talk.uk-yankee.com/index.php?topic=32479.0;all

I thought it might be helpful to make a similar thread for this year.  I think most things will be the same, but some I already know are not.  For example, TERI and IEFC are no more, it seems.  Where is everyone else getting their loans?  My school recommends Sallie Mae, Chase, Fifth Third, or Regions.  I am not sure if it matters much which lender I choose as I think I will only need government loans (Stafford and Grad PLUS).

Which brings me to another point -- can I use Stafford and Grad PLUS to pay for all of my loans, or must I take out private loans?  I am pretty sure I can just use these, but I keep seeing references to private loans so I want to be sure.  I know the Stafford loans can cover up to $20,500 a year (with a maximum of $8,500 subsidized).  I have also read that Grad PLUS can cover the rest.

I am also unsure of how much to borrow.  My school will certify the cost of attendance as tuition fees plus up to £15,000.  I know for a visa I'd need at least £800 per month as I will be living in London.  That seems awfully low for me -- I was planning on budgeting about £600 for rent (depending -- I'd have to investigate flats).  I don't want to be in debt too much, but I'm really scared of not having enough money.  (I'd like to work while I'm there, but my first priority would be internships, which are often unpaid.  So I feel it's best not to count on possible employment for money, but just wait and see how things go when I get there.)  Any advice on figuring out how much to borrow would be greatly appreciated.

Also, any advice on getting the loans sorted while still in the US would be very helpful.  I know from the other thread I need to send my SAR from the FAFSA to my school and then wait to hear back from them.

As I've said elsewhere, I've not decided if I'm going to graduate school in the fall or not (I have about a month and a half to decide), but looking into student loans will definitely help me decide, as the cost is a huge part of my decision.  I'd be studying at City University in London

I'm currently here on a Tier 4 for grad school and worked out all my loan stuff in May or June of last year, so my experience is relatively recent.

I have Stafford and GradPLUS loans through Sallie Mae and haven't required any extra funds.  Of course, I'm in Glasgow which is considerably cheaper than London, but my uni certified up to £10,000 as opposed to your £15,000 which seems about right, but I've never lived in London, so maybe someone who has will come along with some insight.

I'll be honest, you'd have to live quite frugally, but it's not impossible.  If you were really worried about it, I suppose you could take out a private loan, but I would make sure you could find something that you didn't have to pay off right away.  It would sort of defeat the purpose of getting a private loan if you have to start paying it off 6 months in or something.

As far as sorting the loans, of course you'll have to start with the FAFSA form first.    As far as everything after that, every uni seems to be different but ultimately they all need the same documents for the loan application, so they're not terribly different.  Mine had me e-mail them my details in seperate e-mails so that they could access my SAR online, and had me fax the rest of my application which included a checklist, evidence of the Entrance Couseling, and the Master Promissory Note.  Other universities might have you mail everything.  This is a link of how my uni does it:

http://www.gla.ac.uk/services/registry/students/studentfinance/available/loans/stafford/#d.en.33021

I hope some of this helps, and good luck with your decision! 

I went to Sheffield Uni in 08 - 09 and was favoured by the change in the exchange rate, but even if I hadn't I found the Stafford and GradPLUS more than covered everything. I wouldn't recommend getting private loans unless you absolutely have too, they are a PIA to pay back, because they don't offer the deferment options of govt loans.

Check with the Uni as to what loan co they recommend. Although Sheffield was really good about getting me my extra money to live on (I signed the checks and they deposited the extra in my UK account), not all unis are. Make it easy for your uni if possible, because it isn't much fun waiting a month + for your US funds to go into UK funds.

If you're on Live Journal there's a community I recommend called North Americans at UK Colleges and Universities, there is plenty of detailed info there about loan processes and general UK uni queries: http://community.livejournal.com/nor_am_uk_ac/

I came in under the old rules in 2008 and have been here for two years now as a student. I am completely opposed to using private loans, as they do tend to be more trouble than they're worth. I take out just the full Stafford amount every year ($20500) and it covers my tuition (£9800) plus gives a small amount extra (roughly £800 three times a year). When I first arrived, the exchange rate was in the middle of a huge drop from $1.75 to $1.35, so my first excess checque was meagre. A GRADPlus loan would easily cover the cost of living (at least here in Glasgow). I'm here with a wife who works full-time and that's enough for us to live modestly and travel.
To answer some of the questions, I think you can get your loans from whomever, but the ones disbursed through Sallie Mae (e.g. Regions) tend to arrive first. My first year, my loan was through a small bank that my in-laws use and the money always came two weeks later than from the bigger banks. Like Cali Girl, my university handles everything (even has a dedicated member of staff for it). They send me an email when the loan checks come in, I prod my supervisor to send in a basic progress report (he has it saved on his computer and prints it out when needed, just changing the date), sign the checks, and get the excess checque a week or two later.
Your university will have a good estimate of cost of living, but it is an estimate of 'poor grad student' living. That means getting food on the cheap and probably sharing a flat with someone else. In Glasgow, we have a monthly budget of £1000 (for all utilities, food, rent, etc) for living in a furnished two bedroom flat in an average working class neighbourhood (I'd rate the neighbourhood at a 6/10). If you were living alone here in Glasgow, I'd estimate a monthly budget of around £800 for a comparable situation (around £500 for sharing a flat). Following those numbers, you'd be looking at about £1100 for living alone or £700 for sharing).
For the Tier 4 application, I'm pretty certain you need £800/month for 9 months (or was it 12?) plus tuition in your bank and loan guarantees before you apply.

Thanks so much for the information, everyone!  It's all super helpful.

I definitely would rather not do private loans, so it's great to know I could get everything covered by the government.  And it's good to hear Sallie Mae is so quick, as I'd probably go with them.  Every time I think about taking out this much money, I'm a little terrified!  My undergrad is all paid for so sometimes I think it must be insane to voluntarily saddle myself with more debt..  We'll see, I guess.  The changes in the exchange rate worry me a little.

So this is a headache already..  I filled out my FAFSA but when I got it back they said they couldn't verify my American citizenship.  After multiple phone calls, I found out that I had to go to my local Social Security office and show them my passport and birth certificate to prove I am a citizen.  When I went there, I found out Social Security thought I was not a citizen but a green card holder -- what?!  I've never had any problems with this before, so it was very strange.

Anyway, I fixed it, but I'm not allowed to get a new FAFSA apparently.  I'm supposed to send my SAR to my university and then verify with them my American citizenship.  I don't know how they'll ask me to do that, but this is annoying now -- I can't, obviously, just walk into their office and show them my passport.  I think (I hope) it will be OK, but it's just irritating, and I don't want a little thing like this to mess everything up.

I've had a look at the visa application, and it looks so much more complicated than my visa application in 2008 was.  Not looking forward to that at all.

I received an e-mail from my school's registry last week saying that student loan processing will be changing in July due to the US's Healthcare and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010.  So, you may just want to keep an eye on these and stay in contact with your uni's registry.

The e-mail said:

You will be aware that the above Bill was recently passed by the US
Congress.  I would like to advise what this means to US students
attending not just The University of Glasgow, but those attending any
school outside the USA.

1/ With effect from 1st July 2010 there will be no lenders for
Stafford/Plus loans other than the Dept of Education Direct Lending.
Please note that there is no point in applying to companies like
SallieMae, ASA etc as they will not be able to disburse these loans
after June 30th 2010.

2/ At the moment foreign schools do not have access to Direct Loans and
therefore students attending here will not be able to apply for their
loans at this time.  However The Education Department are developing the
required software specifically for foreign schools and working on how
Direct Lending will work outside USA, but the software and staff
training is not expected to ready before mid June. Foreign schools
cannot tell you how to apply for Direct Lending until we have been told
how it will work. The only advice I can give at the moment is to make
your application to FAFSA for loan eligibility, complete Entrance
counselling (If applying for the first time) and the Stafford Loan
Checklist.  This will ensure that we have as much done as possible at
this stage and I can make up a file for you until the Direct Loans
System is available to us.

3/ I can tell you at this stage that we have been advised by the US Dept
of Education that the Direct Loan Program offers loans to student and
parent borrowers with terms and conditions that are virtually identical
to loans made through the FFEL Program.

4/ This e-mail tells you everything I know at the moment therefore
please refrain from replying to me with supplementary questions.  I am
afraid the answer will simply be " we don't know yet"


Rest assured that as soon as I have any further information I will pass
this onto you immediately.

Well, this is kind of frustrating.  Are we just supposed supposed to chill until mid-June then?  My timeline in my head had me getting the student loans sorted in May/June and applying for my visa at the end of June.  I guess that will never happen now.

They'll definitely get it all sorted in time, right? 

Thanks for the information, NoseOverTail.

I got that email as well, but NoseOverTail beat me to mentioning it here. The way I interpret it is that it's more about pragmatics than about funding. That is, you'll still have the loan money, but the gov't hasn't made it public as to how us students overseas will get that money.
teatime45, I didn't apply for my visa until the very end of July and had it in hand by mid-August.

teatime45, I didn't apply for my visa until the very end of July and had it in hand by mid-August.

I'm getting way ahead of myself here, but I wanted to have the visa in my hands as early as possible so as to plan the rest of my trip.  I've heard that student visas allow you to enter the country up to one month early, and I'd like to go a few weeks early to look for flats, get bank accounts sorted &c.  But I'd hesitate to buy a plane ticket without having the visa -- and I fear buying a plane ticket a week or two ahead of time is going to cost ridiculous amounts of money.

Oh well, it's early days to be thinking about these things.. but it's still frustrating for someone who's trying to be all organized and on top of things!

Possibly someone here will be able to clarify some things for me, as well..

I have received an offer to study at the Uni of Nottingham.
I have filed the FAFSA and received my SAR.

I am now contacting (who I think is) the person who handles US Student Loans at the university.

What information will she be able to tell me? How much $$ in loans I qualify for? My EFC is 0, so I'm guessing I will be able to get the full cost of attendance covered.

After that, do I have to apply for the loans, or am I granted them automatically?  It will be for graduate study, so I'm guessing I'll be getting the Stafford and GradPlus loans like everyone else here.

I'm just not exactly sure how federal student aid works in the first place, and since it's an international school, it gets a little bit more confusing!  Any information anyone can give would be extreeemely helpful!  Thankss!

I'm just not exactly sure how federal student aid works in the first place, and since it's an international school, it gets a little bit more confusing!  Any information anyone can give would be extreeemely helpful!  Thankss!

The FAFSA loans are need-based. Considering you have an EFC of 0, you qualify for the full amount ($20,500 per year for post/graduate school, less for undergrad). Since you've filled out the FAFSA, your next step is to (1) make sure Nottingham gets it (which was one of the questions on the FAFSA), (2) wait for them to process it. In years past, the university performed some magic rituals to get the SAR and indicate the cost of attendance to the school. That's followed by you filling out a Master Promissory Note and getting a signed version to your school. While filling out the MPN, you select a lender. Your school then does more magic rituals and that's about it. Glasgow has a checklist which must be filled out and sent to the school, primarily (I believe) to make sure you do everything you need to before they do their magic. Now, as we mentioned earlier, the process may be changing this year, but nobody knows for sure as nothing has come out for us Americans studying abroad.
You won't need to apply for Stafford Loans (as that was in the FAFSA). Any additional loans, you'll need to apply for separately (including the GradPlus).

Ok i am confused by all this too! ugh this is not needed! this process sucks already.
like the OP in my mind i want loans done by may/june, visa july. So we have to wait around for them to sort this crap out?
I just mailed my SAR to my school (i dont think it was 10 pages though). Did i miss something about applying for loans? i just filled out my FAFSA thats it and mailed SAR to my uni.
I have on idea what to do next, i dont like how there changing stuff around. Hope this doesnt screw us.

Thanks impleri!  I have contacted the woman who's in charge of US loans at the school, and she said the same things you and noseovertail have said.  Since they're a foreign school, the information/SAR doesnt get sent to them directly, so I've had to give my SSN for them to pull it up.

As you probably know legislation is currently being considered by the US Congress that would move all institutions into the Direct Loan Program including, we hope, Foreign Schools.  However, as the legislation has not yet been passed, we cannot confirm how the loans programme will run and are not able to certify any loans for next year yet. As we have not previously used this system the US Dep't of Ed have arranged training sessions in the UK in June, I will be able to give you more detailed information after this.

So, for those of us wanting to apply for our visas in June, it looks like we are just going to have to wait!   Frustrating, but I'm sure everything will work out in the end.  Is it possible to use an expediter for student visas, or is that just for things like spousal/settlement visas?

Last question:
If the school's cost of attendance exceeds the Stafford Loan maximum of 20,5000, do I have to supplement the rest of that on my own, or is that where GradPlus loans come in? You said I'll have to apply for those separately.  I've looked on the studentaid.ed.gov website (which doesnt say much about GradPlus!), but it seems like the school to which I've applied will give me the specific applications to fill out in order to process those. Is this correct?

Thanks impleri!  I have contacted the woman who's in charge of US loans at the school, and she said the same things you and noseovertail have said.  Since they're a foreign school, the information/SAR doesnt get sent to them directly, so I've had to give my SSN for them to pull it up.

So, for those of us wanting to apply for our visas in June, it looks like we are just going to have to wait!   Frustrating, but I'm sure everything will work out in the end.  Is it possible to use an expediter for student visas, or is that just for things like spousal/settlement visas?

Last question:
If the school's cost of attendance exceeds the Stafford Loan maximum of 20,5000, do I have to supplement the rest of that on my own, or is that where GradPlus loans come in? You said I'll have to apply for those separately.  I've looked on the studentaid.ed.gov website (which doesnt say much about GradPlus!), but it seems like the school to which I've applied will give me the specific applications to fill out in order to process those. Is this correct?

You can use an expediter for Tier 4 visas.  Last summer they also opened up the 3 consulates for a few months strictly for Tier 4 applicants to submit their applications by appointment, sort of like a "be your own expediter" thing.  If you live near the consulate you'll be sending your application to, you might want to keep a look out on the UKBA site or Worldbridge to see if they do it again this year.

And yes, GradPLUS is meant to cover the extra.  If I recall correctly, it's applied for the same way as the Stafford except you'll have to specify a certain amount.  You'll have the 1 SAR but two Master Promissory Notes, one for each type of loan.  I don't think your school would be sending you any applications as they're not the ones giving you the money, normally you'd have to apply through whichever lender it is going to be (mine was Sallie Mae).  Then you would send the completed Master Promissory Notes to your uni to have them certified.

But of course, who knows what it will be now, my experience is old news! 

You can use an expediter for Tier 4 visas.  Last summer they also opened up the 3 consulates for a few months strictly for Tier 4 applicants to submit their applications by appointment, sort of like a "be your own expediter" thing.  If you live near the consulate you'll be sending your application to, you might want to keep a look out on the UKBA site or Worldbridge to see if they do it again this year.

Oh wow, that'd be brill -- I'm planning on visiting New York in a few months, so it'd be great to get the visa sorted in the same trip.  I wonder what they had you do exactly -- it'd be great if it's all that straightforward.