Federal School Loans Available for Returning Adults Too

This week's U.S. News and World Report has an excellent section on financing education during this endless recession. One of the issues they address is the availability of student loans to adults who have seen one career sink beneath the waves and want to educate themselves for another business, another profession, another set of skills that matter in today's information based economy.

Adults returning to school can qualify for student loans in much the same fashion as first-time college students do, if they aren't at the limit on student loans already, or delinquent on loan payments from a previous stint in post-secondary education. The range of Pell grants and Stafford grants that are the two cornerstones of federal school loans are available to adults. The theory behind these loans is that students qualify for a loan that will cover the costs that the student's family cannot. That figure is generated by the baseline document for all student loans, the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, popularly referred to as the FAFSA.

Adult applicants for student aid should discuss their eligibility with the student financial office at their prospective school. Adults who may have filed a FAFSA some years ago probably aren't meeting that income level today if they are returning to school in search of a new career. Some of the most adept student finance offices on this issue are found at the online schools, because they provide educational services to so many returning adults.

According to U.S. News & World Report, low-income upperclassmen who get good grades and major in computer science or other tough, in-demand subjects at least half time could also qualify for $4,000-a-year SMART grants. (SMART stands for Science and Mathematics Access to Retain Talent.) This profile fits thousands of returning students who have chosen to study for careers in the IT industry. There are other grant programs, including one for students pursuing a career in the highly under populated teaching profession.

The federal government is also intervening in the formula for calculating loan eligibility. The FAFSA formula bases the prospective student's eligibility on household income from the previous year. Because so many people who had good incomes in 2008 are now unemployed and in debt, Department of Education has asked colleges U.S. Department of Education this spring asked colleges to help those whose families have recently unemployed breadwinners be estimating a family's need for aid based on this year's lower income instead. Aid officers are also taking into account expenses that aren't reported on the FAFSA, such as medical bills.

There are some good recommendations in the magazine's report, but there is a wealth of up-to-date knowledge on student loans to be found in college financial aid offices. Accredited for-profit and online institutions know what it takes to establish eligibility for loans. If you need to utilize online coursework, you may find that the established distance learning institutions are as inexpensive, or more so than some of the traditional four year colleges. Some of those that are rolling out online class programs today are treating them as an added service subject to a surcharge.