Students applying to professional and graduate school and those already attending can take a deep breath and relax. Financial aid will not be disappearing even though the United States is officially in a recession.

Both Bob Walker, Creighton’s director of Financial Aid and Dr. Ernie Goss, Professor of Economics and Jack A. MacAllister Chair in Regional Economics, say federal programs are likely to stay intact so students can get help paying for professional school.

“Ninety-nine percent of our [funding] is from the federal government and they’re not going away and they’ve actually expanded their federal aid programs in the last couple of years,” Walker said.

For students who need financial support for professional and graduate schools, there are a couple of different options.

“There’s still the federal Stafford, the subsidized and the unsubsidized, and then a new federal program, that got started a couple of years ago called the Grad Plus, and basically between those three programs, a student could potentially borrow up to their entire cost of education,” Walker said.

The Grad Plus, unlike the other financial options, looks at students’ credit history.

“You do need to not have a negative credit history because that is credit-based. It’s not like a full credit check, but you can’t have too many negative marks in order to get that loan ,” Walker said.

The only potential problem is that the government has changed the number of credit hours from 60 to 90 for undergraduate students to receive loans for graduate or professional schools, said Don Bishop for Enrollment Management.

Potentially, a student could spend three years of undergraduate instead of two to make up the extra credits.

The new administration also supports student financial aid.

“The incoming Obama administration is fairly committed to student loans. The Congress is fairly well committed to students loans. So, I’d see those as being fairly generous. At the state level that’s a different story. I think that states are going to come under fairly significant pressure to cut any loan programs and student support,” Goss said.

Those wanting to apply to health professions – schools such as occupational therapy, physical therapy and pharmacy – should not be alarmed by the recession.

For this particular area there will be a range of opportunities, including positions and job availability across a broad range of health care, Goss said.

Grant Long, a 2nd year physical therapy student, offers additional support for attending professional school.

It’s a safe place to be, because it’s always an area of need, Long said.