Student Loans

One dilemma that I am facing is to go to a local school vs a school roughly 5 hours away. I want to get the college experience of living by myself and socializing with other students (this will be the 30k). If I stay local I will have to commute about an hour away (60 miles) due to there being no school close by. I hate the fact that the school is soo damn far away but I guess its doable if I'm only going to college 2 days a week or so.

 

You are correct. It is shocking to me that the end price increases so much just because of interest. Maybe this is something I need to get used to. It surprised me to see that a 60k loan turned twice that amount within 25 years.

 

You can't stay in the dorms at a local school?

 

Good post!!

 

The school is so impacted that the dorms are for just freshmen, I will be a transfer student. Its not really a school to move to, more of a commuter school.

 

I say go for it if you don't have the money or the scholarship BUT..............get them in your name and don't make the parents co-signers so it falls in their lap if when you (a) quit going because you're tired of it (b) just don't feel like payin for it after the fact (c) think the parents owe it to you.
Go out and work for the grades to get scholarships up front or go out and pay your own way if it is truly what you want for yourself. The parents gave you life and taught you about life (hopefully), it is not up to them to live it for you and expecting them to pay for your play to the point it interferes with them having a retirement is selfish and they will be coming to live with you when they are too old to keep working and don't have anywhere else to go because they don't have any retirement. Just food for thought.


Private loans are great.......as long as no one has to co-sign for it. Grants are better.........

 

deadbolt..i gotta ask. are you making a truck payment? most folks wont think twice about jumping into a 5 year car loan. i think a school loan is an investment in yourself.

find as much free money as you can, borrow a bit to fill in the voids, work part time..work study, or flip burgers. that's what i did. i paid off my school loans in about 5 years. i drove a crappy car that whole time, and lived with 3 other room-mates.

 

What degree are you going for?

 

Scholarships FTW! For me:


Scholarships: 20k
Out of Pocket So Far: 3k

 

Seriously though, apply for scholarships. there are soooooo many scholarships out there that have ZERO, ABOLUTELY NONE, applicants for the year simply because no one has found them. Its money waiting to be claimed. The scholarship process [Im not going to lie] can be tedious and sometimes requires a 5 page essay and references but once you find a few you can get, its easy to get them again. I applied for over 30 scholarships my 1st year, and got 3 of them, and have applied and received the same 3 year after year. Good luck.

 

Im looking to get a degree in accounting.

Nope, the parentals helped me out on that. Thank God.

That is amazing. Most scholarships ive seen are like 500-1000 dollars. How were you able to get so much money?

 

My GPA helped alot, its at its lowest right now at a 3.83. My work has given me 5k every year. I found a Hispanic Education Fund that has given me at least 1k every year. And A local bank fund dies for applicants every year and I always win 500 from them. I tell all my friends to apply and no one applies! The way I see it is I invest 3 hours into a scholarship app, I receive 5k in return. That means Im getting paid 1,330 an hour, who is dumb enough to pass an opportunity like that up. Just look around. Heres a good start:

www.fastweb.com

Many of your former/current teachers know of many funds as well, and your school may have private funds to give away too.

 

Wow. The Pisa with the fj is good for something.

 

I'm about to send my son to the U of Lethbridge (education major) and tuition is $4800+books +Residence+food= 10K/year. I making him pay for 1/3 the first year and 1/2 of the remaining years(thru summer jobs). If he does well I will pay off the student loan at the end but if he parties and bombs then he pays it all.

 

I say those are pretty reasonable terms right there. I busted my ass throughout school to maintain my scholarship that paid 75% while my folks covered the other 25%. They had reminded me though that if I didn't keep up my end of the bargain, then it would've been 100% on me.

 

Jesus did you fail spelling 101? Its Paisa, get it right. LOL. I get that same response from alot of people who dont know me.

 

Idk how to spell it. Just say it. And they don't teach how to spell that in spelling 101.

 

DO NOT take out more in student loans than you will make yearly on average in your field. for example, it makes sense for doctors to take out hundreds of thousands in loans because they start off making a shit load of money (after all their residencies and stuff). but my gf's dad convinced her to take out over 100k in loans and the average starting salary for someone in her field is low to mid 30's. needless to say, she cant afford a new car and has to budget for food and stuff. I ended up taking out about 25k in loans and my payment is a little under 300 per month. it all depends on your field and your field average starting salary. if you're gonna start off makin 60k plus a year, hten go for it. if not, you may want to rethink.

 

I would consider a State college. The tuition in California is pretty low. No employer is really going to care where you got your degree from, as long as it's an accredited college. Why pay $30K a year if you can get the same thing for much less (San Diego State is about $5K/year).

 

I was fortunate to leave college with only around $17k in student loans. I think my loan is 15 years but I usually pay at least double my payment no sense in milking a loan of that amount for so long for me.