Hey everyone,

I had a couple of newbie question. I have read some posts by other people, but i thought posting myself would get me better answers. I am going to college at the end of the month. I am listed as a dependent student and my parent could not get a loan, so all of my loans are going to Staffard loans(If I'm not forgetting the name), through chase. My question is very general. I put in my fafsa 2 weeks ago, and corrected it 2 days later and i haven't heard anything back yet. Does anyone know if i should call fafsa or wait, or if theres another way. Also Is there anything to look out for in general about student loans and such, anything helps.

Thanks everyone,
BS3366

You were very late in submitting your FAFSA so calling them is not going to speed it up. Get in touch with the school...they generally do all the FA packaging.

Thanks for the info!

Any other tips??

Don't always believe what you hear at the other end of the line when talking to your school's financial aid office. Try to speak to the same counselor if possible every time you call (get their direct line # or e-mail) so that you'll get more consistent answers. My school's FA office is the most disorganized department I've ever dealt with, and it wasn't until I got in touch with the person who actually does the loan processing that I got a straight answer to my questions.

Also, some schools have a "preferred" lender and require you to fill out additional paperwork if you plan to use a different bank for your Stafford loans. You also have to notify them that you will NOT be receiving loans from the preferred lender if this is the case.

You need to call your school's financial aid office and see where things stand. If they tell ya, you'll have to wait or just don't seem very helpful ask who your counselor is and what his/her email address is so you can talk directly to that person and/or schedule an appointment.

Thanks for the advice, I called my counselor tonight (i've talked to him like 8 diffrent times in the last month). He told me they wont know the whole fafsa information until usally a week or 2 after i start. I'm Starting next week. I went on-line to fill out another lenders form and signed up with them through my schhols web-site, so everything should be all set with them also. I'm just worried mostly about the pell money, I should get the full grant, but its not set in stone yet, becouse like i said, he told me a week or 2 from next week. I want to make sure i'm not getting the run around. First time doing this. Thanks for all the help. Any more info would be great!

Thanks,
BS3366

Is it normal that they dont know the full details of fafsa yet, and i think i'm starting school next week?

You submitted your FAFSA late....FAFSA's for Sept are suppose to be submitted by around June 1st. This is the busiest time of year for FAFSA...so yes it would be normal for a late filer.

I did my sons FAFSA on last Tuesday and the school got notified on Thursday. Pleasant surprise it went so fast!

Good luck