How much money could i get from a student loan?
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So it would be helpful to prepare a budget first to figure out if you can get by with borrowing less. The school should give you at least rough figures for tuition and fees, so add to that your monthly or semester expenses: rent/utilities, commuting (bus fare or gas money), books, food/clothing/laundry, and however much you want to have left for a rainy day.
Private banks will generally loan you however much you ask for, as long as it’s reasonably within the range of tuition + expenses. If you find that you’ve borrowed too much, you can always return the extra right away to avoid interest.
Your EFC (Expected Family Contribution, based on completing the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid)) and COA (Cost of Attendance) at your school will determine whether the loan is a Subsidized (need based), Unsubsidized, or a combination of both.
For illustrative purposes, say you are a dependent student and the COA at your school is $10000. Your EFC is 3000 and you are getting $5000 in various scholarships or grants. That means that you would be eligible for $2000 in a Subsidized loan and $1500 in Unsubsidized (10000-3000 = 7000 Gross Need. 7000-5000 = 2000 of Unmet Need.)
As a dependent student, in this example, if further loans are needed then your parent(s) may be eligible to apply for a PLUS loan (Parent Loan for Undergraduate Students).
More information regarding federal loans can be found at http://www.finaid.org/loans/studentloan.phtml
Hope this helps!
