Student Loans

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21

[quote]PharmD Pete wrote:
Couple questions for those of you who have dealt with them.

1.) What is the most you’ve taken out for your education?

I owe about 89K b/w two separate loans, 84K is federal unsubsidized and subsidized.

2.) Did you have a difficult time getting a lender to give you more for your cost of tuition plus cost of living?

Never had a problem getting money. I would apply with the FAFSA each year and receive an award based on their calculation of what I needed to live.

3.) For those of you with big loans, what kind of monthly payments are you looking at now?

I went with a graduated plan which starts with lower payments and increases every 2 years. For example I pay about $250/mo now until 9/2009 and then it increases to like $300, etc.

4.) Are there better options for lenders other than federal loans or your typical bank student loan?

I would stick with federal as much as possible, especially if you can get the subsidized loans as they do not accrue interese while you are in school.

5.) If you did take out a sizeable chunk for living expenses while in school full time, did you take out everything you needed up front? Or did you borrow it one school year at a time?

As I mentioned above, I applied every year using the FAFSA.
[/quote]

Do you really only pay 250 a month carrying an 89k loan? Unless you’re making 20k a year I can’t understand paying so little a month, you’ll be paying it off till you die. $50 increments every 2 years isn’t much either.

22

[quote]sic wrote:
Couple questions for those of you who have dealt with them.

1.) What is the most you’ve taken out for your education?

2.) Did you have a difficult time getting a lender to give you more for your cost of tuition plus cost of living?

3.) For those of you with big loans, what kind of monthly payments are you looking at now?

4.) Are there better options for lenders other than federal loans or your typical bank student loan?

5.) If you did take out a sizeable chunk for living expenses while in school full time, did you take out everything you needed up front? Or did you borrow it one school year at a time?

I’m looking at starting nursing school and clinicals full time and won’t be able to juggle any decent sort of job. I just want to hear from others if this can be reasonably done.[/quote]

  1. I graduated in 2003 with a little over $17,000 in federal loans. I consolidated my loans with AES (linked in a earlier post) at a fixed rate of 2.75%.

  2. The government seemed to have no problems with giving me more money.

  3. Required monthly payments are about $115. I send them about $250 a month if I remember to.

  4. Federal loans worked well for me. AES really helped in answering all the questions I had.

  5. I did it 1 year at a time. Payed the university first then lived off what I had left over along with my other savings.

23

[quote]Joe84 wrote:
PharmD Pete wrote:
Couple questions for those of you who have dealt with them.

1.) What is the most you’ve taken out for your education?

I owe about 89K b/w two separate loans, 84K is federal unsubsidized and subsidized.

2.) Did you have a difficult time getting a lender to give you more for your cost of tuition plus cost of living?

Never had a problem getting money. I would apply with the FAFSA each year and receive an award based on their calculation of what I needed to live.

3.) For those of you with big loans, what kind of monthly payments are you looking at now?

I went with a graduated plan which starts with lower payments and increases every 2 years. For example I pay about $250/mo now until 9/2009 and then it increases to like $300, etc.

4.) Are there better options for lenders other than federal loans or your typical bank student loan?

I would stick with federal as much as possible, especially if you can get the subsidized loans as they do not accrue interese while you are in school.

5.) If you did take out a sizeable chunk for living expenses while in school full time, did you take out everything you needed up front? Or did you borrow it one school year at a time?

As I mentioned above, I applied every year using the FAFSA.

Do you really only pay 250 a month carrying an 89k loan? Unless you’re making 20k a year I can’t understand paying so little a month, you’ll be paying it off till you die. $50 increments every 2 years isn’t much either. [/quote]

Depending on the interest rate, not paying them off fast is actually a good idea. I have about $45k left in student loans. With the benefit rate I got for on-time payments, auto-deductions from my checking account, etc. my interest rate is a little over 1.5%. At that rate, I hope I never manage to pay my student loans off – you can get a savings account for around 5%. Now granted, I consolidated mine when the federal rate was the lowest its ever been.

24

[quote]sic wrote:
Couple questions for those of you who have dealt with them.

1.) What is the most you’ve taken out for your education?

2.) Did you have a difficult time getting a lender to give you more for your cost of tuition plus cost of living?

3.) For those of you with big loans, what kind of monthly payments are you looking at now?

4.) Are there better options for lenders other than federal loans or your typical bank student loan?

5.) If you did take out a sizeable chunk for living expenses while in school full time, did you take out everything you needed up front? Or did you borrow it one school year at a time?

I’m looking at starting nursing school and clinicals full time and won’t be able to juggle any decent sort of job. I just want to hear from others if this can be reasonably done.[/quote]

1.) $5300 taken out so far, I have 2 years left.

2.) Generally no, but since I live at home I pretty much just take what I can get for tuition, textbooks, etc.

3.) n/a

4.) n/a

5.) Take only what you need to. Work for the rest in the summer. Summer savings + loan for tuition and books makes for a fairly comfortable year.

25

How can I get the most money for school? My grandma has agreed to help me pay off any student loans because of an insurance payout left to her for my education when my father died, it’s money he wanted to give to me to go to college.

I finished 2 years at a community college so I haven’t had to take out too much money, ony about 4 thousand so far, but I have transfered to university now and the cost of coming here is almost 3 times what it was at community college.

Grandma says to just borrow what I need and she will help pay the loan off after I graduate.

I just wanted to know if there was anything I need to know about getting more money. I can’t get a private loan because of shoddy credit history, so federal is the only way to go for me. Can anyone give any tips or adivce?

26

[quote]sic wrote:
Couple questions for those of you who have dealt with them.

1.) What is the most you’ve taken out for your education?

2.) Did you have a difficult time getting a lender to give you more for your cost of tuition plus cost of living?

3.) For those of you with big loans, what kind of monthly payments are you looking at now?

4.) Are there better options for lenders other than federal loans or your typical bank student loan?

5.) If you did take out a sizeable chunk for living expenses while in school full time, did you take out everything you needed up front? Or did you borrow it one school year at a time?

[/quote]

1.)I’ll have about 30k-35k when I graduate (i’m in my last year).

2.)I’ve never had a problem, but all my loans have been stafford and perkins loans (federal loans). I go to a private university, and my family is not wealthy. To offset the insane price on their tuition they offer a lot of scholarship money here. I get $7,500 just for existing, and the university pays me $4,000 to play my guitar (music major–guitar performance). Because I don’t have a wealthy family, and a family that has two kids in college, I get some sizable pell grants each year.

So far it hasn’t been a problem to find money. I had left over loans this year that have been helping me pay rent. I do teach a lot of students guitar (which is a great business to be in), and have a job on the weekends, so my income level is around $1200/month. Which is great! and more than enough to handle rent, utilities, credit card payment, and a car payment.

3.) Hopefully I won’t have to deal with this for a while. Hooray graduate degrees.

4.) If you get subsidized loans, take them. The interest is low, and the goverment will pay it until you graduate. Most federal loans are actually through a financial institution. US Bank actually lends the money for my loans, but they are all federal.

5.) My school splits everything at semesters. So, if I wanted to take out a 5,000 stafford loan, I would bet 2,500 each semester. Check out what your school offers, but chances are it’ll be the same.