Borrowing Limits for Stafford Loans (2010-2011) | 03.10.10
One question we often receive is how much a student can take out per year in federal Stafford loans. I’ve gone ahead and compiled all that information for you here.
Note that these figures are the totals, including subsidized and unsubsidized Stafford loans. They must also obey the lifetime limit for federal loans:
- Dependent Undergraduate: $31,000
- Independent Undergraduate: $57,500
- Graduate/Professional: $138,500
- Medical: $224,000
Borrowing Limits
Dependent Undergraduate
- $5,500 – First-year Students
- $6,500 – Second to third-year students
- $7,500 – Third-year or later students
Independent Undergraduate
- $9,500 – First-year Students
- $10,500 – Second to third-year students
- $12,500 – Third-year or later students
Graduate / Professional Students
- $20,500 / year
If you have any questions about these numbers, head over to our Financial Aid Forum, and make a post. We are really good about answering questions within a day or so.
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Can you get a raise in the cap if needed to finish your degree?
@Shari- You can appeal if you max out your lifetime loan limits. Talk to your school’s financial aid officer for more information on how to go about doing this.
How can they go to college for free? They still have to repay after they graduate don't they, aside from receiving a higher pell grant I would assume I don't see much more benefit? I don't know how that works to be honest because I don't have children, however I know what you mean swimming in debt, trying to work full time and be a full time student can be a pain, so if those 'women who can't keep their legs closed' (lol) can get a free education as you say then more power to them. It's a shame we're seeing all these increases and I know I'm not alone when I say the 24% increase is RIDICULOUS! Just when they were talking about providing more benefits for people in and going back to school for some sort of debt relief. My tuition increased 6% which worked out to be 20dollars more per credit and I thought that was a lot until I read about the 24% geesh I hope it works out for you disappointed student, though it may not seem like it due to all the debt a higher education is well worth it at the end of the day so hang in there
Our wonderful governor of the state of Virginia let VCU's tuition increase by 24% starting in 2010 Fall ! Great, now I can just swim in more debt. Gee, Thanks, McDonnell. It couldn't even have been a graduated increase. I didn't get a 24% increase in my wages nor did my parents get a 24% increase in their salaries. I'm already working 40 hours a week and I'm a full-time student. I ask you, Governor McDonnell, WHERE IS THIS MONEY SUPPOSED TO COME FROM????? OR IS HIGHER EDUCATION JUST FOR THE RICH???????????????????????????????
No, higher education is also for the females that can't keep their legs closed. All the pregnant girls get to go to college for free. I also am swimming in debt, but if I would have had my son before graduating from college; I would be debt free. Instead I have loans I can't afford and support myself and my child. Sometimes you pay for making the right choices. Good luck to you!
Being one of "those women that can't keep their legs closed" has not gotten me a free college education. I have two children, I work full time, and I am working on my Bachelors degree. I am also swimming in debt. When I was pregnant, I had to take out student loans and this debt did not disappear when I had either one of my children nor will it disappear if I have another child before I graduate. Having a baby certainly does not erase any debts, and child bearing is, in itself, very expensive. These women are most likely drowning in debt, not just swimming in as you and I are. I pray you do not have a daughter – I would fear you might have her get pregnant under the false pretenses of a free education.
Amen brother!
There is a limit to the time a woman can receive welfare, at which time most women are forced by their states to work at below-livable wages.
I was fortunate to be allowed to attend school and am now a contributing member of society, but that option is no longer available to those that followed me. And we aren’t all on welfare because we can’t keep our legs closed. What do you have to say to all the dead-beat dads out there?
Aside from a few small grants there wasn’t any free money. Ten years later and I am still paying off my student loans. In addition to attending school full time, I volunteered, worked 20+ hours a week, raised my two children, and burned the midnight oil because I didn’t crack open a buck until after they were asleep. I would spend what I could squeeze out of my financial aid package on heat and coats and shoes for my kids (because there wasn’t enough money on welfare to do so), while I watched my classmates brag how they used their loans to finance ski trips and dates…
Because I was able to make it through college and gain a career, both my children are now attending college. I am very grateful to my country for the assistance I received and am sad that the opportunity to rise up and out of poverty through education no longer exists for those who strive to do so, in large part because of the unfair and wrongly characterized stigmatization of women we read like that of “guest” above, who can’t see beyond their own self-pity to recognize that some people really do work hard and really are disadvantaged.
Investing in the education of women and children makes our country stronger and stops the cycle of poverty. But if we allowed that to happen, then who would we blame?