Why can senior only borrow $7,500 in FAFSA loans when freshman got $20,500?

The $20,500 amount is only available for graduate/professional students, not undergraduates. For undergrads, the federal loan limits are: - Freshmen: $5,500 ($3,500 subsidized max) - Sophomores: $6,500 ($4,500 subsidized max) - Juniors/Seniors: $7,500 ($5,500 subsidized max) Are you sure your neighbor's child is an undergraduate freshman? They might be in a graduate program or perhaps they're talking about Parent PLUS loans in addition to student loans.

my kid got 12k but thats cuz we appiled for that parent plus loan thing on top of the regular amount. maybe thats what ur neighbor did?

Are you ABSOLUTELY SURE this was all federal loans through FAFSA? It could be that your neighbor's kid got a combination of federal loans AND private student loans. The $20,500 limit is ONLY for graduate students, not undergrads! Freshman year federal loan limit is $5,500 total ($3,500 subsidized max). Someone is confused here - either your neighbor is mistaken or they're including private loans in that total.

As others have mentioned, undergraduate and graduate students have different federal loan limits. For your daughter's senior year, options to cover additional costs beyond the $7,500 federal student loan limit include: 1. Parent PLUS loans (you as parent would apply) 2. Private student loans (credit-based, usually requires cosigner) 3. Scholarships/grants (still worth applying for senior year) 4. Work-study if eligible on FAFSA 5. Payment plans through the university The Department of Education sets these limits - it's not something you can negotiate or appeal unless there are very unusual circumstances.

Wait, there's a bunch of misinformation here - I think y'all are conflating dependent vs independent student status. If your daughter files FAFSA as INDEPENDENT (not living with parents, over 24, married, has dependents herself, etc.), then the loan limits are higher - up to $12,500 per year for independent undergrads. The $20,500 is definitely grad student territory though.

When I was trying to reach Financial Aid about my son's FAFSA loan limits, I spent days getting busy signals and disconnections. Then I found this service called Claimyr that got me through to a real person at Federal Student Aid in about 15 minutes! Worth checking out at claimyr.com - they have a video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ. The FSA agent explained all our options clearly and even helped identify some grants we qualified for that we didn't know about.

Update: I called my daughter's financial aid office and they confirmed what everyone here said - $7,500 is indeed the federal limit for undergraduate seniors. We're going to apply for a Parent PLUS loan to cover the remaining costs. They also suggested looking into school-specific scholarships that are sometimes available just for seniors about to graduate. Thanks everyone for clarifying this!

The whole student loan system is RIDICULOUS! Graduate students can borrow unlimited amounts through PLUS loans but undergrads are restricted to these tiny amounts that haven't changed in YEARS despite tuition increasing EVERY SINGLE YEAR! My daughter graduated with $32,000 in debt which was the absolute minimum possible even with us helping! The system is BROKEN!