Qualifying for grant is good but that doesn’t mean that grants will cover your entire tuition costs, books, dorm fees and the cost of living in general. That’s why loans are needed to counter those financial needs in college. This is the main reason also for which students are knee deep in debt when they graduate.

Federal student loans are the most affordable loans for students and the Perkins Loan is a major component in the federal student loan arsenal. Perkins Loans have plenty of benefits and features that make it an excellent loan for eligible students.

Perkins Loans are having following major features:

• Low cost and interest rate
• Need based
• Available through participating colleges and universities
• There is optional loan cancellation for eligible borrowers
• Available for eligible undergraduate and graduate students
• Grace period of 9 months
• No-Fee
• No credit check is required

Explanation of Federal Perkins Loan

The Perkins Loan program is a campus based financial aid and it’s available for both undergraduate and graduate eligible students. Annual Federal Perkins Loans are received by participating in colleges and universities. The schools determine which are the most financially deserving students for Perkins funds. Money is awarded on first come, first served basis so it’s necessary for students to accept as early as possible when they qualify for the Perkins Loans. Some of schools pad the Perkins loans with their own funds so that more students can qualify. Perkins Loans are fee-free with 9 months grace period unlike other federal loans, which are usually having 6 months grace period.

When you accept the Perkins Loan then you can borrow from any campus of your choice. This is a subsidized loan; means that government will the interest that accrues on your loan while you are in school and during the grace period. An undergraduate student is limited to $4,000 per year with a lifetime limit of $20,000; and for a graduate student limit is $6,000 a year and $40,000 lifetime limit.

Most of students qualify for a Stafford Loan and not all colleges and universities participate in the Perkins program, while in the grand scheme of things the Perkins Loan may be the lowest cost loan available.

Requirements for a Perkins Loan

The main requirement for qualifying for a Federal Perkins Loan is showing exceptional financial need. However aside from income brackets there are also few other requirements you need to know about. Such as:

• You must be enrolled in school at least half –time.
• You must be enrolled in that college or institution that participates in the program.
• You must be a U.S. citizen, a permanent resident or a non-citizen that is eligible.
• You won’t be having any defaulted history on an education loan in the past.
• You must be registered with the Selective Service.
• You must be having at least satisfactory grades.

Applying for a Perkins Loan

As for all federal aids its necessary to file FAFSA, same its necessary to file FAFSA in order to be considered for a Perkins Loan. After filing FAFSA government will determine your eligibility, you can request Perkins Loan assistance. When you will submit your FAFSA then you should receive your Student Aid Report (SAR) in the mail. Your Expected Family Contribution (EFC) is outlined in the SAR. The EFC is amount of money that you will pay out of your pocket or with loans for your tuition. After few weeks you will also receive award letters from the colleges to which you had applied detailing the types of financial aid you have qualified for, may be included with Perkins Loan. You must have to return the award letter indicating what financial aid you are accepting in order to receive any money.

If you will be approved for Perkins Loan funds then you must let your school know and the sooner the better; funds are limited and often disbursed on a first come, first served basis.

Repayment of the Perkins Loan

In the last few months of your college education your school provides you with loan repayment information related to Perkins Loan. You will be having 9 months grace period so that you can get settle and get a job before your repayment kicks in.

Loan Cancellation for Teachers

Students who go into public teaching jobs may qualify for Perkins Loan cancellation on whole or a part. If you are having plan to teach in a low income public school district, teaching special education students, teach in a shortage area, or teach a subject designated as a shortage (science, math, foreign language) then your Perkins Loan will be partially canceled for every year you served.

Though the student loan application process is confusing but that’s the requirement for all students.

There will be only few students who can afford college without federal student loans and private loans.

The Free Application For Student Aid (FAFSA)

The federal Loan application FAFSA is having a long and confusing form and there is no other alternative application form that you fill out and still get federal student loans.

Anyhow help can be provided to students and parent for filling out the FAFSA.

The FAFSA can help you to qualify for federal grants like work study programs and federal loans. For different reasons millions of students unfortunately fails to complete the FAFSA. As a matter of fact failing to complete FAFSA means missing easiest college money to come by.

How to Complete the FAFSA

The FAFSA is available in an online version, which you can download and print off, or you can send for a hard copy of the application. But majority of students mostly choose to file with online version. Before completing the FAFSA it’s required to apply for a Personal Identification Number (PIN) from which you can create a virtual account.

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Financial aid award letters from the colleges where you had applied and been accepted. Now there are several different financial aid offerings. So the question is that how to know that which school package is right for you and what the terms in that package meant? Which package is better than another for you?

Features included in financial aid award letters

Here are the main features that are mostly included in college financial aid award letters:

• Cost of Attendance
• Expected Family Contribution (EFC)
• Federal Grants
• Subsidized federal loan offer
• Unsubsidized federal loan offer
• Institutional grants and scholarships
• Unmet need

Learn and try to understand each of these award letter features and compare them.

Cost of Attendance (COA)

College award letter will always give you an exact figure of the cost to attend the college. It is not cost of tuition. Cost of Attendance (COA) is comprised of following features:

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Your final college award letter will provide you some firm financial options, that will be having federal student loans for which you are approved, grants and scholarships that don’t need repayment and any unmet need.

After having that information in hand you should have to develop a solid student loan long-term plan.

Relying on the award offer you might be looking to borrow both federal loans and private student loans.

There are several factors which you should consider before determining that how much you need to borrow.

Those factors can be:

• Living expenses and tuition cost
• Limits of federal and private loans
• Present financial obligations
• Other awarded financial aid
• How much debt you can afford when you graduate

Be aware of that loans are not free money like grants and scholarships.

Try to keep your loan to the lowest dollar amount possible. Try to remain consistent with your expenses; you must use college loans only for college expenses not for partying with friends every night. Because the debt will accumulate and accrue while you are in school. It will be you who will pay it back and your future entry-level salary may not be able to cover the excessive monthly payments.

Consider Cost of Attendance

To figure out how much money loan money you need to borrow use Cost of Attendance in combination with the unmet need figure. There is Expected Family Contribution, mean that how much you and your parents are expected to contribute.

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