How much financial aid will my wife and I get?

Question

I have already filled out my fafsa. I am in Graduate school and have used about 40k in financial aid so far for grad/undergrad. My wife owes about 5k but she is still going to be freshman starting over at Rose State (a junior college). We are married filing jointly and EFC was about 980. What can will we receive for the 2008-2009 school year?

Answer 1

Caps for financial aid are on an individual basis and do not matter if you are married to another person attending school.  

As a grad student you are likely looking at receiving Stafford and Grad Plus loans up to your total cost of attendance, which is determined by the school you are attending.  The max you can receive in Stafford lending in an academic year would be $8500 in Subsidized Stafford and $12,000 in Unsubsidized Stafford funding.  If you are eligible for institutional grants or merit awards that would only be determined by the school you are attending.  The Grad Plus loan would be available to fill any unmet need up to your total cost of attendance.  

Your wife would be eligible for Stafford loans as well.  The maximum for a freshmen entering college is $3,500 Subsidized, and $4,000 Unsubsidized for Independent students.  If your wife has not already earned a bachelors degree she would also be eligible for Pell Grant in amount of up to $3,781 if she is enrolled full-time and the CoA of the school exceeds $4,241.  She may also be eligible for other forms of aid, but most of those are based on institutional policy, such as institutional need-based grants, merit awards, or SEOG grants from the government.

Hope that helps give you an idea.

Answer 2

The aggregate limits are on the individual, not a couple.

For your wife:  

with an EFC of 980 she would qualify for around $3,781.00 a year in Pell grant if she goes full time.

She may also qualify for OTAG at 1,000 a year... depends if she made it in by the deadline and state funding (I'm assuming you are in Oklahoma and residents).

The max she can borrow as an independent freshman is 7,500 in federal Stafford loans a year. However, at a junior college, she may not qualify to borrow this much depending on the schools cost of attendance and her other aid.

She may also qualify for a Perkins loan (the best loan she could get because of the lowest interest rate at 5%).  If she is offered one of these, take it over the Stafford.  Since she is likely eligilbe for the Pell and possibly OTAG you might lay off the loans for her.  She shouldn't take out loans for junior college anyway.

For you:

Grad students don't get Pell no matter how low your EFC is, however you might get OTAG.  Grad loans are harder to calculate for me so I could be WAY off so...  All I can tell you is the max grads can borrow per year in Perkins is 6000.00 (again take these if you are offerd) and 20,500 a year in Stafford. Aggregate Stafford limit is 138,500.

Read this book on loans and max amounts here:

Good luck.  So Sooners!