can I get student loans to cover not only my tuition etc. but also board for my horse(s)?
I am interested in bringing a horse (or two) to school with me. will the loans cover this, as I obviously won’t be able to work to pay for it while I am in school full time?
yes, I will be in the equine program.
yes, I will be in the equine program.
AE:
The answer is “no”, not really.
Your financial aid eligibility is determined by your financial aid need. Financial aid need is not “how much you would like to have for all the things you wish you could do with your life” – financial aid need is the amount of money that you need to pay your educational expenses.
In financial aid language, there is a very important term called the Cost of Attendance – this is an estimate of what it will cost the average student to attend a year of school.
Every school has its own it estimate – in fact, most schools have more than one estimate, because the living costs of on-campus students is often quite different than the living costs of commuter students who live at home with mom and dad. There also may be a separate Cost of Attendance estimate for students who live off-campus in shared apartments or homes.
What goes into that estimate? Tuition, school fees, books, room and board, a modest amount of spending money for school supplies and other incidentals, and allowances for transportation to and from school and for a computer. You can often find your school’s Cost of Attendance estimates hidden somewhere amongst the financial aid department’s section of the school website.
When the financial aid office determines your aid eligibility, they start with the Cost of Attendance estimate that is appropriate for your circumstance. They’ll take that number, and subtract all of the different types of funds that are already available to you – if your parents will be paying part of your costs in cash – they subtract that. If you have been awarded scholarships, they subtract that. If you have been offered federal student aid, they subtract that. Once they have subtracted all of the funds that you have available to you, the remainder is your “financial aid need”.
That financial aid need amount becomes the maximum amount of remaining aid that you are eligible for. If you apply for a private student loan – the lender will contact your school and find out what your “need” is – and they will not approve you for a loan of any more than that amount.
So here’s the thing…
You may well receive more than enough financial aid (from various sources) to pay your tuition and fees. That’s money that you owe directly to the school. Once they have taken out what you owe them, they’ll send you a check for the remaining amount of your aid. Once you have that check, you could (theoretically) do anything you want with it (though, in principal, that money is intended only for educational expenses).
HOWEVER – every penny of aid you receive is money that the school believes you will need to pay your SCHOOL expenses. If you start spending that money on something else, you’ll be spending money that was set aside to buy your textbooks, pay for your dorm and food, buy your school supplies, get you back and forth to school, etc.
So – no. Board for a horse is not included in your Cost of Attendance, and you will not receive any extra money that would enable you to pay that expense with financial aid. The only legitimate way that you will pay be able to board the horses by your school is if you are able to make those payments out-of-pocket.
I’m sorry for the disappointing news, but your horses don’t need college – they were born with their own horse sense.
Good luck!
