Financial aid question

[GalDisney]

Does anyone know.... I know if a student received fincial aid,(,. specifically the loans that need to be repaid). I know the loans need to be repaid 6 months after leaving school Does anyone know if you are allowed to take a semester off without having that count as leaving school and having to repay?

[CptJackSparrowsGirl]

I want to know this too O.O

[thepowellslovedisney]

Strange who you find on disboards but I am a previous assistant director of Financial Aid. If you are out of school, you will begin your grace period. Now, if you are earning credit (say though a co-op or internship) you will still be considered in-school status. If you are very concerned, you may want to enroll in an online course or two. You can also contact your servicer for your loans to discuss your specific situation. The servicer would be the US Dept. of Ed for direct loan schools at (800) 848-0979 and your lender for any remaining FFELP loan schools. Hope this helps you both out and have a great time in the college program.

[souslocéan]

On your loans you have a six month grace period after graduating/dropping out/whatever.. basically after six months of not getting any sort of credit from a school, you have to start repaying your loan.

I had to figure this out, too, since I won't be getting credit for this.. what my loan officer is doing is making me fill out an "economic hardship" form since I'll be working but not earning.. well, enough. That form will extend my grace period to 12 months, but since I will be going back to school in August I'll have to fill out an in-school deferment form so I won't have to pay while I'm still in school (one question I didn't think to ask, though, was how long my grace period will be after graduating, but my loan is so small I think I'll just save up while I'm in school and pay it off as soon as possible), but if I don't go back to school I'll have to start paying my loans by January or so.

Really though, it just depends on what your loan officer wants to do. What I did was talk to my financial aid advisor at my school who then told me to call whoever gave me my loan (I couldn't figure it out so I just called the FAFSA people and they redirected me) and I told them my situation (that I was going to be out of school for an internship for longer than six months but was planning on coming back to school in the fall.) If you're getting credit it will probably be different for you, but either way I'd REALLY just recommend talking to your financial aid people. Don't be intimidated because the people I talked to were very nice and helpful. Don't be afraid to ask them questions because EVERYONE has questions about loans; I had to restate everything the lady said about what she was doing for me so I'd understand it, and she didn't mind at all.

With all that said, good luck with everything :)

[glendalais]

Originally Posted by GalDisney

Does anyone know.... I know if a student received fincial aid,(,. specifically the loans that need to be repaid). I know the loans need to be repaid 6 months after leaving school Does anyone know if you are allowed to take a semester off without having that count as leaving school and having to repay?

If you are living in Central Florida and attending school here (per your bio), you really shouldn't have that big a problem getting credit for doing a CP, and thus maintaining your status.

I can't imagine Valencia, UCF or any of the other Post-Secondary insitutions in Central Florida not giving credit if you would like to do a CP. Disney is the largest employer in this region (and a major employer of their student populations), it would be foolhardy of them not to give credit.