[AlwaysSAI]

I am going back to graduate school in the fall. In fact, just moments prior to posting this, I completed the MPN for my first semester of loans. I'm going back part-time and am taking out $10,000 in loans this academic year.

The first thing you have to do is fill out the FAFSA. There is a priority FAFSA date (it was Feb. 1 this past year) which basically means--first come first serve. I don't know that anyone who completes the FAFSA late goes without loans but the loan amount is confirmed much later. (This happened to my sister one year.)

The one thing I DESPISE about the FAFSA is that you are required to report the total sum of all the money in your bank accounts the day you fill it out. As a teacher, who must save two months of salary every year because I don't get paid for two months, has to report that summer savings money to FAFSA even though every cent of it will be gone by the time the fall rolls around.