Most dental students who need help paying for dental school, borrow student loans, and most dental students who borrow do so with federal loan programs like the direct unsubsidized and direct PLUS (Grad PLUS). These two loan programs often comprise the bulk of many dental school students’ loan portfolios. You can get more details on these programs in the Money Matters section of the ADEA GoDental website.
When you apply for federal financial aid, including federal student loans, you must complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, known as the FAFSA. You’re no doubt familiar with this form if you have had federal aid in the past.
For many years, there have been discussions about making the FAFSA easier to complete – and shorter! This year, the U.S. Department of Education rolled out a new version of the FAFSA designed to do just that. However, there have been delays processing the FAFSA and sending the results to school financial aid offices, which can obviously impact when students find out how much financial aid they may be receiving for the upcoming year.
What should you do?
First, stay in touch with your school’s financial aid office. They are aware of these delays, as they usually get FAFSA results several days after the FAFSA is submitted. Hopefully, they can give you some idea when as to you can expect to receive your financial aid package (the notice about how much and what type of financial aid you qualify for).
Second, be sure you have completed any additional forms your school requires for financial aid, especially any applications for grants and scholarships from the school, as this gift assistance means less borrowing. Not all dental schools have gift assistance. But, if they do, you do not want to miss out on them because you are late applying or didn’t apply at all.
Lastly, when you do get notice about how much student loan aid you qualify for, remember that, even though you can borrow up to the full cost of attendance at your school, that does not mean you have to. Work with your financial aid office to figure out your monthly living allowance, which you have some control over, and try to get by on less than that amount, as you can always borrow more later.
Remember, responsible borrowing leads to responsible repayment!
ABOUT PAUL GARRARD, M.B.A.:
Paul S. Garrard, M.B.A.
Founder and President
PGPresents, LLC
Independent Student Loan Consulting
ADEA Senior Advisor for Student Financial Services
With more than 35 years of experience in higher education and student financial aid, Paul Garrard is one of the most well-known and in-demand educational debt management experts in the nation, especially in the health professions communities. Mr. Garrard currently serves as a consultant for the American Dental Education Association (ADEA) as their Senior Advisor for Student Financial Services.
He has extensive experience in the nonprofit and for-profit sectors of higher education. In 2008, he started his own consulting firm, PGPresents, LLC, designed to help promote responsible borrowing and responsible repayment.
His specialty is helping health professions graduates, including dental school graduates, manage their student loan portfolios by helping them develop repayment strategies that meet their career and financial goals. He also uses this expertise through ADEA to help inform incoming dental students about borrowing responsibly.
He is a nationally known speaker on financing a dental education and is a regular speaker at the ADEA GoDental Recruitment Event held prior to the ADEA Annual Session & Exhibition.
He holds a Bachelor of Arts from Samford University and an M.B.A. from the University of Georgia. Mr. Garrard works out of his home in Shepherdstown, WV.