I have no idea how to pay for law school.

[queencruella]

Tag.

I just started filling out the Need Access form.  Does anyone know if there's a cost involved with Need Access?  ie: Do I have to pay to submit it to schools?  One of the great ironies of life is that people who need financial aid have to pay money in order to even be considered for financial aid (stupid College Board, I hate you with a passion!).  Is this the same for Need Access? (and while I'm at it, for the FAFSA?).

Need Access is by far the worst form, but you don't have to pay to use any of them.

[queencruella]

Tag.

I just started filling out the Need Access form.  Does anyone know if there's a cost involved with Need Access?  ie: Do I have to pay to submit it to schools?  One of the great ironies of life is that people who need financial aid have to pay money in order to even be considered for financial aid (stupid College Board, I hate you with a passion!).  Is this the same for Need Access? (and while I'm at it, for the FAFSA?).

Need Access is by far the worst form, but you don't have to pay to use any of them.

Need Access costs fifteen bucks a report per school.

So, for Michigan, where they say you need to prove you were independent as of 2001, that's for the year 2001-2002 right?

Since Mich won't require my parents info on NeedAccess (Unlike Columbia, Cornell, Penn and Vanderbilt who want it forever even if my parents are in an elderly care facilty, wtf?), do I have to do a separate Need access report just for Michigan, not filling in the parental info? And then do it again for the rest of the schools with my parents info? I think this is right but this process is so screwy.

And seriously, how are you supposed to figure out how much money you'll make next summer? I hate need access so much and cannot be alone in this.

Sorry about the mistake- I was just so overwhelmed by how terrible the form was that I must have blocked out the payment part. It's an absolute nightmare.

I'd suggest filling out the individual part first, send it to Michigan, and then fill it out again for the others with your parental info.

[Denny Crane]

Well at least now I know to remove schools I won't be attending from my NeedAccess list. 

[FossilJ]

This is all fascinating.  Unfortunately, I still have no idea how I'm going to pay for law school.

[Denny Crane]

This is all fascinating.  Unfortunately, I still have no idea how I'm going to pay for law school.

No worries, you're in good company <sigh>.

[FossilJ]

This is all fascinating.  Unfortunately, I still have no idea how I'm going to pay for law school.

You're Canadian, right? What do they do for loans up there? 

Pray for rich relatives, or get hosed by "international student loans" companies.  And by "companies", I really mean "company".  And not a very good one, at that.

Sigh.

[FossilJ]

Unless you mean to go to school in Canada.  To go to school here is relatively easy.  Same *&^%, really.  Government-backed student loans.  Tuition's also generally lower than in the States.

[FossilJ]

Ah, so no Canadian government-backed student loans for US schools?

Yes, but the amounts are so small, it's virtually useless.  Lifetime maximum of $70K, Canadian.  Yearly maximum (for 8 month programs) of just under $13K, Canadian. 

I can't really think of a school that an international student can attend for less than, say, $40K US per year. 

You see the problem, I'm sure.

[FossilJ]

Ah, yea

Tell me about it.   

[Johnny Stuffs His Mouth]

OP here: ok, so I fill out the FAFSA now, and it automatically gets sent to the schools I list? I haven't even applied yet! So then when and if they accept me, they also tell me what kind of federal loans I'm getting?