The main difference between student loans and financial aid is whether or not you need to pay back the money you are given. Student loans generally require that you pay back the loan with interest, while financial aid packages like scholarships and grants typically do not need to be paid back.
Federal Student Aid offers three types of financial aid. Grants: Financial aid that generally doesn't have to be repaid. Loans: Borrowed money for college or career school; your loans must be repaid with interest.
If you apply for financial aid, you may be offered loans as part of your school's financial aid offer. When you receive a student loan, you are borrowing money to attend a college or career school. You must repay the loan as well as interest that accrues.
While the cost of tuition can be overwhelming, financial aid can make higher education more affordable. In fact, income and savings represent only a few of the resources families use to pay students' college expenses, according to the annual Sallie Mae/Ipsos survey How America Pays for College.
Loans are the more commonly-used type of financial assistance. The difference between loans and a grant or scholarship is that they're not “free” and need to be repaid, with interest. However, they often have fewer requirements to qualify and are in greater supply, so they're accessible to a broader range of people.
The Advantages of a Loan
There is a limited number of grants available. Loans, on the other hand, can be given by banks, private lenders, or individuals. This creates more opportunities to obtain the financing you need. More financing available: Grants are also limited in the amount of financing they can provide.
How Financial Aid May Affect Your Credit Scores | Final Exam. Generally, the only type of financial aid that may affect your credit scores is a student loan, whether it's private, federal subsidized or federal unsubsidized.
Cons: The financial aid drops drastically from the second year onward. Students who can't afford to cover their ongoing tuition from their family's private funds turn to private student loans. Private loans have higher interest rates. This increases a student's total loan debt considerably.
There are no set income cutoffs for financial aid because of the number of factors that are included in the need-based calculation beyond income. Unless parents are in a situation where they don't need money for their child to go to school, everyone should fill out the FAFSA.
The type of aid you receive after filling out the FAFSA determines if you need to pay it back. Grants, scholarships, and work-study money don't need to be repaid but have finite funding limits. You will need to repay subsidized, unsubsidized, and Direct Plus Loans.
Student loans are the primary form of financial aid that must be repaid, usually with interest on top of the borrowed amount. Federal student loans may be subsidized or unsubsidized. If your loan is subsidized, the federal government pays the interest while you are in school and during any grace periods.
What happens to the leftover financial aid money? Well, that depends on you and how you want to handle it. In general, you'll receive a refund. You can then decide whether to send the money back or keep it and use it for future educational expenses.
The FAFSA is not a loan. It is an application form. However, you can use the FAFSA to apply for financial aid and federal student loans. The FAFSA, or Free Application for Federal Student Aid, is used to apply for several types of financial aid, including grants, student employment and federal student loans.
Grants and scholarships are the most desirable forms of financial aid because they come in the form of free money, often with no strings attached. Some grants and scholarships are applied right to your bill - you often see this with federal and school-based aid.
Generally, increasing debt does not increase financial aid. It may even lead to a decrease in eligibility for need-based financial aid. Financial aid is based on financial need. Financial need is determined by subtracting the Student Aid Index (SAI) from the college's cost of attendance.
A common myth is that students from high-income families won't qualify for FAFSA funding. In reality, there's no maximum income cap that determines your eligibility for aid. Although your earnings are a factor on the FAFSA, only some programs are based on need.
Both students and their parents often think their household income makes them ineligible for financial aid. However, there's no income limit for the FAFSA, and the U.S. Department of Education does not have an income cap for federal financial aid.
But you might be surprised to learn that there are no FAFSA income limits to qualify for aid. For example, a family with a household income of hundreds of thousands of dollars could be helped by other factors in the FAFSA formula, including school costs and the number of siblings also attending school.
What are the Cons? Taking out a student loan means you are starting your adult life with debt. Student loan debt can get in the way of other financial and lifestyle goals. The penalties for defaulting on some loan payments include added fees, added interest and wage garnishment.
The Satisfactory Academic Progress regulations require that you maintain a minimum cumulative grade point average (GPA) in order to remain eligible for financial aid. This cumulative grade point average is 2.0 on a 4.0 scale.
Some colleges are need-blind, while others only consider financial need when filling the last spots or pulling from the waitlist. But colleges want to admit their best applicants, and if you need financial aid in order to afford a school, you should apply.
Students selected for verification of their FAFSA form may wonder, “Does FAFSA check your bank accounts?” FAFSA does not directly view the student's or parent's bank accounts.
If you drop out of school before the end of the program for which you were awarded the grant, you will have to pay back at least part of your Pell Grant. The government views this as unearned money since you didn't complete the program. Be prepared to pay back half of the "unearned" money.
A Federal Pell Grant, unlike a loan, does not have to be repaid, except under certain circumstances. To qualify for a Pell Grant, a student must demonstrate financial need through the Free Application for Federal Student Financial Aid (FAFSA®) form.