Alberta loans

[justthewife]

So we're planning our budget on our bright new shiny TD line of credit, but we're not sure what to plan for: will the Alberta loans cover the full tuition and fees with money left over to help toward living expenses? Or will they fall short, causing us to have to use money from the LOC to fill the gap? The main problem is that my husband's previous line of credit when he was doing pre-med was automatically paid off with the med-school line of credit, but they didn't increase the first year disbursement amount.

Does anybody know how much Alberta/Canada typically gives?

[sixstar]

Of course it depends on your financials, but the AB loans can in some cases cover the full tuition amount plus living expenses (they have set amounts for your living expenses though, unless you provide proof that you require more). I believe if you start an application for AB loans, they will give you an estimate of the amount you will receive before you submit. I know it's not the best answer, but I'd just recommend that you fill out the application and see what estimate they give you. Good luck!

[Vidhya]

Whatever you do, make sure you apply for a "Change of Circumstance" if your mortgage/rent or utilities are higher than the student loan "maximum allowed expenses". Basically the system is automated and spits out an approved amount based on your inputted costs versus assets. However, they WILL reassess you for more money if you can prove that your mortgage/rent/utilities are higher than the amounts they have in the system.

 

They call the reassessment form the "Change of Circumstance" form. I went through this in the past, so this year, I completed both my loan application and submitted a CoC form almost simultaneously. Since an actual person needs to reassess your CoC form it can take a little time, so check online and submit one as soon as your loan amount is approved.

 

I hope this helps!

[justthewife]

Thanks Vidhya! We'll look into that. Do you know where to find out what the "maximum allowed amount" is?

[Vidhya]

Np!

 

Here is a link to the student aid page with all the forms, the CoC form is about half way down and if you open the PDF and scroll to page 8 it lists all the maximum allowed costs.

 

http://studentaid.alberta.ca/applications-and-forms/

 

For myself as married with no children, the form allows a maximum of $812 per month for rent/mortgage/utilities. However, our actual expenses are probably double that, so I sent in the form with copies of our mortgage and monthly bills and they've reassessed me in past years.

 

This year my husband is also a full time student, but also works full-time making an average income. The system has automatically approved me for 15k PRIOR to my CoC form, so I am anticipating slightly more (hopefully 20k).

 

I'm in a similar situation as yourself since I needed to consolidate some prior school debts onto my LoC this year. I really do not want to max out my LoC so I'm trying to maximize my Alberta Student Loans.

 

EDIT: I forgot to add, the form is long but you only need to fill out the areas that have changed since your original application. So if it is only budget related, don't fill out the entire form, just that section. Even on the budget form, you only enter in the information that has changed/differs.

[abcdmed]

Alberta Student loans and Canada student loans allows for 150K for medicine as a maximum. Depending on all your bills, expenses, income etc..they will dispense to a max of 150K over the 3 years of the med program.

[Vidhya]

Alberta Student loans and Canada student loans allows for 150K for medicine as a maximum. Depending on all your bills, expenses, income etc..they will dispense to a max of 150K over the 3 years of the med program.

 

One thing to keep in mind though. That 150k is cumulative from the time you start undergrad. So for example if you have 30k in undergraduate student loan debt and then 20k in debt from a masters then you would only be eligible for another 100k once in med school.

 

Frustratingly as well....federal loans has a maximum number of weeks of post-secondary education that can be funded. I've reached mine (having finished my PhD) so I'm no longer eligible to receive Federal loans even though I'm far below the 150k of allowed debt. This I wasn't expecting, then I received my student loan letter which stated that I had reached the maximum allowed number of weeks of post-secondary education...didn't think there was such a thing!