Important Things to Know About Losing Student Loans in College

If you are preparing to enroll in college and have your financial aid in place to pay for it, you should primarily be looking forward to the fantastic opportunities your hard work has afforded you. Something to keep in mind, however, is what you have to do in order to make sure your financial aid serves you throughout your college education.

Here are important things to know about potentially losing your financial aid in college.

Dropping Below Half-Time As A Student

Private and federal loans both require you to be registered at least as a student half-time in order to qualify for financial aid each semester. Typically, this means registering for at least six credits per semester when you are getting a four-year degree. The primary danger of falling below half-time when you are using student loans is that your repayment deferment will end and your repayment period will begin. That can be a lot of trouble if you do not have the money to make your monthly payments.

Getting Bad Grades

While the vast majority of private loans do not care about your performance in school, your grades can impact your federal student loan eligibility. To stay eligible for such student loans, you will typically be expected to maintain a GPA of at least 2.0, which is also known as a C average. If you are worried about what your GPA is and if it could impact your eligibility, it is often a good idea to find a trusted college GPA calculator so you can keep tabs on where you currently stand.

Losing Your Legal Status In the United States

If you lose your green card status or are no longer considered an eligible legal citizen, you will also not be eligible for federal student loans. If you have private loans, you will have to find an eligible cosigner to help you borrow for future semesters.

Becoming Incarcerated

You will not be able to receive federal loan aid while you are serving in prison. Beyond that, once you are released, you will very likely have trouble getting a federal loan, especially if you were convicted of a sexual or drug-related offense.

Failing A Course

Just like an unsatisfactory GPA can impact your eligibility for federal aid, so too can failing a number of courses. This could lead your lender to conclude you are not making satisfactory academic progress, which is an important requirement for federal loans. Failing too many courses could not only set you behind on your degree progress, but it could also lower your GPA to an unsatisfactory level.

Having An Illegitimate High School Diploma

This is likely not something that you have to worry about, but some students have certainly been scammed into paying for illegitimate high school diplomas thought online courses that claim to offer an official diploma, but actually offer quite the opposite. If you ultimately find out you do not have a GED or legitimate equivalent, you may no longer be eligible for the financial aid you need to continue your education.