How to dig my money(less?) hole deeper?

December 4, 2008 3:57 PM

How do I get a loan, as a student?

I am 19 and in my second semester of college. I know how to get Stafford loans and that sufficed for my first year but not anymore. I am now $2,939 away from being fully paid off for this semester. Normally, I would put my work money away for that/parent's would help but because of personal reasons making that impossible I need to find another source to pay for it so I can register for classes.

So, how do I get a regular loan? I'm completely clueless.

posted by Marinara to work & money (5 comments total)

Forgive me for saying something obvious, but your college's financial-aid office would be an excellent source of information.
posted by box at 4:02 PM on December 4, 2008

Yeah, check with Financial Aid. This is exactly what they're there for, and they can give you advice specific to your school and situation.
posted by desjardins at 4:06 PM on December 4, 2008

The financial aid office at my school did almost all of my paperwork for me, when I needed a small private loan to cover a semester.
posted by muddgirl at 4:10 PM on December 4, 2008

Okay, Just ran up to financial aid and yeah, they were really helpful and in just a couple days I'll be good. Thanks for the obvious answer everyone.
posted by Marinara at 4:38 PM on December 4, 2008

a lot of financial aid offices have shady lending practices like being associated with a lender or having gotten financial gifts from them, which they sometimes don't disclose. recent NYT article: Students who call colleges with financial aid questions sometimes end up talking to employees of loan companies.

make sure to compare rates. one site I heard is useful is my rich uncle. (I have not used them myself.)

further reading / all NYT:

The A-B-C’s of Calculating Financial Aid

Cracking the Books on Financial Aid

and a billion more NYT articles from the archive.
posted by krautland at 10:27 PM on December 4, 2008