Interest rates
on federal student loans are fixed, but they change on new loans disbursed
on or after July 1 of any given year. This simply means, for
example, that if you borrow four direct unsubsidized loans for each year of
dental school, you will graduate with four loans, each of which has a
different, but fixed, interest rate.
The interest
rates on new federal loans disbursed on or after July 1, 2022, were just
announced!
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No doubt you’ve
heard about the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program where the
federal government forgives your student loan debt after you work in the nonprofit
sector for 10 years. One of the questions we often get is whether payments made
during gap years prior to dental school can help a borrower qualify for PSLF.
Read on as Paul
Garrard, national student loan expert and ADEA Senior Advisor for Student
Financial Services, breaks down the ins and out of PSLF.
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“Students
enrolled in any degree program usually have many questions about financial aid,
especially student loans,” says Paul Garrard, national student loan expert and
ADEA Senior Advisor for Student Financial Services. “Over the years, I’ve
received questions pertaining to whether there could be or will be any changes
to the degree programs and if those changes will impact their finances—either
during school or later when they are repaying any student loan amounts they may
have borrowed.”
Keep reading to
see what tips Garrard has for those considering how to pay for their dental
hygiene education.
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“As an
applicant to or a student enrolled in a dental education program, you will
often hear ‘borrow responsibly and never borrow more than you need,’” says Gardner
Key, Director of Financial Aid at Harvard School of Dental Medicine.
“Why? Because
being a responsible borrower means that when you become a dentist, you are
typically not stressed about what you borrowed for dental school because you
feel confident you can responsibly repay your loans. While finances are an
important part of your decision about which dental school to attend, it is
important to remember they are only one part of this decision.”
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Did you know
the interest rate on federal direct loans is now 0%? That’s right, and that’s
only one of several ways the U.S. government is helping student loan borrowers
during the COVID-19 pandemic. Paul Garrard, national student loan expert and
ADEA Senior Advisor for Student Financial Services, provides updates and a quick
breakdown of what options are currently available for student borrowers.
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This dynamic and highly interactive student loan webinar recording, How Student Loans Work, features one of the nation’s leading experts on student loans and educational debt management for health sciences students―including dental students and graduates. ...
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As the costs of
dental school continue to increase, so too does the average dental student loan
indebtedness. Remember, tuition and fees are parts of your cost of attendance
(COA) over which you have no control, so it’s important to review your living
costs to help reduce your overall cost and to help reduce borrowing.
Financial aid
advisor, Tony Glad, has financial planning advice for predental and new dental
students.
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If you’re
thinking about going to dental school, there are some key things to consider
and questions to ask yourself. This includes knowing how to borrow responsibly
if you must take out student loans and having access to resources that help
prepare you to repay your loans responsibly after you graduate. Consider these list of questions.
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If you’re thinking
about enrolling in dental school and you’re considering federal loans to pay
for your dental education, you must complete a
Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) or a Renewal FAFSA yearly to be considered for
financial aid. Even if you aren’t sure that you are going to use federal loans
to pay for dental school, it is wise to go ahead and complete the FAFSA,
because you never know when it may come in handy. ...
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What is a gap year? A “gap year” is a span of time between the end of undergraduate
education and the beginning of dental school. It can be longer than a year,
depending on your circumstances.
When taking a gap year, there are important steps every student should
consider or take if they anticipate needing financial aid for dental school,
dental hygiene programs or any other graduate degree program following their
gap year.
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