Financial Aid: BA in the Fall, MA in the Spring

I have a question about financial aid. I plan on finishing my BA this coming fall, and begin working on an MA or MEd in the spring. Is it possible to get financial aid to two different schools from fall to spring, and from undergrad to grad? Any advice, tips, or experiences would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

Double dipping is not allowed. You finish you undergraduate studies one school at a time, when you graduated from your BA, for graduate studies mostly of your financial aid will be in the form of loans. Best to go to the FAFSA site for details.

Best of luck!

 

I am not sure what you mean. Are you saying I can't get a loan for one school in the fall and another school in the spring? OR, are you saying I can't get a loan for two school during the same semester?

 

Loans you can get all you want(what you can afford or they give you), but I don't know if you can do it for multiple schools.

 

I am talking about all forms of federal aid and private loans.

 

I would make two separate applications: one for the fall term and one for the spring term. Reason: undergraduate and graduate student loans have different limits (both annually and in the aggregate).

 

Yes, you can absolutely get aid from two different schools for two different degrees in two different semesters. You cannot get aid from two different schools at the same time (well, that's not completely true anymore, but that's for a different conversation.)

Some tips:

1. You will need to contact both financial aid offices and notify them of your plans.
2. You will only complete ONE FAFSA for the academic year. When you complete your FAFSA, you will complete it indicating that you are an undergraduate.
3. You should have your FAFSA sent to BOTH schools, even though the information completed will pertain to your undergrad studies.
4. Your graduate/spring school financial aid office will then need to change/manipulate the data as necessary for you to be properly awarded as a graduate student for spring.


Your award letter will reflect only one semester of aid, and you will receive a separate letter from each school. Every school has different processing timelines, procedures, etc., so make sure you keep in touch with BOTH offices to ensure that you're doing everything you need to do.

(Disclaimer: I am the Director of Financial Aid at a graduate school, so I have plenty of experience at this, and your situation is not uncommon. But it does require individual attention to your application, so you need to notify and follow the directions of your schools.)

 

No, never do this. This will screw up the processing of both applications. No one should ever complete more than one FAFSA per year.

Applications can be adjusted at the school level. The graduate school will advise the student of how to complete that process for their school.

 

Just wait until you graduate and file your paperwork at the new school immediately after. You do not want to overlap your terms.

 

You don't want to do that, either, as you will likely not be able to get your financial aid in place before the beginning of your spring term, and may be able to pay out of pocket to start.

Just contact your graduate school and they will advise you on how and when to handle things for spring. It's not an uncommon situation.

 

I will go with your advice and plan. Thank you.