Do i apply for student loans every year? or do i apply for one loan for all the years i plan attending school?

Ryan:





It wouldn't make sense to apply for one loan - in fact, you must apply for financial aid, in general, every year.





Unless you are attending school in one of the few states where they guarantee your tuition rate, your costs will probably increase, at least a little bit, every year you are in school. The tuition charge will probably increase, the school fees have a tendency to go up, and it's almost a certainty that you'll have to pay more for room and board every year.





You may decide to move from the dorms to a local apartment - and who knows - you might decide to transfer to another school somewhere along the way. I'm sure you're not concerned about flunking out, but the borrowers and lenders would have a mess if they agreed to a four-year package of loans for everyone.





What you will be able to do is sign what's known as a "Master Promissory Note". That's simply your legal agreement to repay the loan. Rather than have one for every year's loan, you'll be able to fold each subsequent loan into the original MPN agreement - as long as you borrow from the same lender. If you elect to change lenders, you'll need to sign a new MPN.





Unfortunately, there is no guarantee that any lender will continue to make educational loans - even Stafford loans - from one year to the next. If your lender does continue to make loans, the chances are good that they'll approve you for subsequent loans, but even that is not a given. A lender could decide to eliminate the program you borrowed from in 2009, and replace it with a program that you couldn't qualify for in 2010.





I'm making it sound a lot more problematic than it usually is. Most students borrow from the same lender all the way through school - using a single Master Promissory Note to define the terms of the agreement. You will, however, need to complete a new FAFSA application every year, and reapply for your loans.





Good luck - I hope that helped.
Do i apply for student loans every year? or do i apply for one loan for all the years i plan attending school?
You have to apply every year