Hi, I have been attending a University for the past several years. When I first started at the University, they handled most the financial aid paper work. All I had to do afterwards was to go online to FAFSA's website and renew my financial aid every year. Now however, I am in the process of transferring to a career school. Because of my experiance with the University, I really do not know a lot of the Federal Aid rules and the financial aid office at my career school will not talk to me until my application is fully accepted.

First question, I have been told that the Federal Student Loan has a limit to how much you can borrow, the limit being $10,000. Is this true?

Second question, I have also been told by the same person who gave me the above information that the federal government will help me pay for rent since I show financial need and will be forced to live away from home. I do have financial Aid as I have been getting the PALE Grant since I started at my University. So, is this true, Will the government help me pay for rent? And if so, how do I apply for it?

Third Question, I have also been told that you can not consolidate a Federal Loan and a private loan togather into one loan. Is this true? If Question 1 is true then I will need to see about getting a private loan so this question is very important to me. Or alternitavly, If my parents got the Plus Federal Loan to help me, Could I reconsolidate it with my Federal Loan even though it is in my parents name?

Any help or advice will be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Will try to answer a few things here. You didn't say how old you are, so I don't know if your 'career' school will consider you 'independent'. If your 'career school' (I'm assuming this is like ITT Tech or DeVry) treats you as a jr or sr, then you would qualify for up to $10,500 per year in student loans. If your new school considers you a freshman or sophomore, you will be limited to less than that. You have a federal max of $46,000 lifetime limit at the undergrad level so check to see how much loan money you have left.

You may also still be eligible for a Pell grant if you have not graduated from your first school. If you hold a degree, then you are considered 'post-baccalaureate' and will qualify for loans only.

If you are now independent, meaning you don't have to provide parent info on your FAFSA, your parents can no longer take out a PLUS loan. Parents cannot consolidate a PLUS loan with your student loans, nor can you include their PLUS loans in a consolidation with your own loans.

It is true, you cannot consolidate both private loans and federal student loans. You can borrow up to the costs of attendance at your school (this would include room and board, dorm, etc).

Thanks for your reply. The Career school I am currently in the process of transferring too is Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts. I don't really know how they do their class ranking system (freshmen, sophomore etc.) because they have an accelerated curriculum. If none of my classes from my Uni transfer then it will only take me 12 months worth of class work plus a three month externship before I graduate. If some of my classes do transfer (they are still trying to decide) then I will only have 10 months and three weeks worth of classes and a three month extern ship. I only owe a little over $8,000 on my student loan to attend my uni so there shouldn't be a problem there but the total cost of tuition at Le Cordon Bleu is $36,700, this includes the fee for my uniform, knives/other utensils, graduation fee, all my books and the actual tuition. But it sounds from what you mentioned in your post that the Federal Government will not give me a loan for the total amount.

I have heard that there are some private student loan companies that have a monthly minimums and you at least have to pay that amount each month. This amount is supposed to be the same regardless of how much you borrow. I believe the one I found had a monthly minimum of $50 although I can't remember which one that was. I have heard some bad things about private student loan companies and if you read this very forum for long enough, you are sure to find several horror stories of problems people are having with private student loan companies. Culinary is a funny field. When I start out, I will probably not be making much money at all and my parents are not going to be able to help me much as evidence of me qualifying for the Pale Grant so I am trying to figure out the best way to get financial aid and still make sure that I am going to be making enough money to both pay my debts and live since I can't consolidate them together, I may have to end up just getting a private bank loan after I graduate so that I can have just one bill coming in.

I am 22 years old right now but at the time I start attending Le Cordon Bleu, I will be 23. I currently live with my parents so I am sure my parents could still get the Plus loan but if they are going to have to pay it then I am not going to get it.

Anyway, any comments on this info above will be appreciated.

P.S. I don't know if this will make any difference but I beleave that the loan I have for my uni is a Perkins Loan. This may just be the standard name for a federal loan, I don't know. But Perkins Loan has appeared on several of my invoices that I get from them.