I have been thinking about the going-back-to-college thing for a while. There’s no way I can afford to go back (even part-time) without loans to subsidize the whole endeavor, but hopefully since I’m an independent nontrad I can get all the loans I need. I have 12k in outstanding loans from my last stint, so with a lifetime limit of 55k+ I should be good, right? RIGHT?? (Even though my EFC is 8k, I think I can get Stafford loans up to the annual limit regardless. Or I hope.)
My original plan was just to fill out the FAFSA and see how much in loans I would qualify for. Then I found out you can’t submit a FAFSA without at least one school on it. Welp… to the google! I just picked 3 schools (one community, one online, one regular) that are accredited and in my area. I know I won’t have trouble getting admitted (my gpa was 3.7 before I crashed and burned in my fourth-and-a-halfth semester, so ostensibly it’s still around the 3.2-3.5 range–I need to request a transcript to know for sure though). It’s just the paying-for-it part that’s a concern.
I guess I should start applying around! Hopefully I’ll be able to add more colleges to the FAFSA later if I find someplace else I like, but it’s been a long time so I’m not 100% sure how all of this works. Last time I filled out a first-time FAFSA (in my senior year of HS) I already knew where I would be going to school, so I didn’t have to dither about it like I do now.