more college stuff/info needed

DarkSymphony

my situation is that I'm 26, going to be going to college (finally) and applying to go through using a GAP (guarenteed admissions program). This means that for the first semester (or 2 if I have to stretch the credit hours out a little), I am unable to use stafford loan as financial aid. Once I pass the GAP with a 3.0 GPA or above, then I am metriculated as a normal student. So, I tried applying for a loan for the fall of 08 and my credit wasn't good enough for a loan without a co-signer. This brought me to the situation where I needed to re-register for classes for the spring 09 semester. That was fine and it worked out, but now the time for the loan has come again and instead of not having good enough credit (I do, now), I am too late with the process. I'm going to be applying for classes one more time for the summer. Now that I have better credit, this won't be an issue. What I wanna know is, when applying for a student loan from a bank/private lender, do you apply for all 4 years with 1 loan? or do you apply once per year?

this has been a big headache for a while and I just wanna get things underway.

Frog

First off, these questions are best answered by your schools fin aid office, as they will have the most accurate information. As for your question, typically the loan is based on your income from the past year, and is given in two chucks for semesters, three for quarters (not including summer sessions/quarters).

Speaking from experience, colleges will accept your word if you are not going to be making as much money for the current year as the past year, as long as you fill out a form. If it turns out that you did earn x more dollars than you had expected, you better report it to the school asap so they can fix up your FAFSA. In order to get Stanford loans or other school loans you do need to fill out the FAFSA, which is a great source of scholarships.

Hope some of that information helps~

DarkSymphony

yes, that does help actually. And, I can't get the stafford loan because while being in the GAP program they won't allow me to accept stafford. Once I pass GAP I can then use that loan type. My options right now are FAFSA grant(s) and then a private loan. Right now, I still need to apply for a private loan for spring 09, but since the semester starts on january 12th, I'd be doing it too late and it wouldn't go through in time I don't think. So, it's time to start preparing for summer.

Elin

That may not be correct. I worked for a private loan lender for student loans and the process was ridiculously fast. The paperwork could take as little as 2 days to process and a check could be fedex'd to you within a week. Mind you I think private student loans are insane, variable interest rates starting at 15%? I think that they push them through so fast so that parents don't have time to look them over.

That being said, double check the time frame for the loan company, it's still possible. And sometimes if you have proof of a loan check being approved your financial aid office will let you register before you can pay.

DarkSymphony

excellent I shall still give it a shot then. worse comes to worse I go in the summer, I'm just getting tired of this not happening. Like, the event of going to college not taking place yet.