Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with loans and school

Being an adult sucks. Can I be 18 again?

lizjohn — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 17:44:25 -0800

Help me/us gain perspective about working while in school, please! My husband and I have been going back and forth about what to do about school and work.

The boring background information: I worked full-time while I put myself through my first degree. My grades were good enough to graduate with honors from a state school, but they weren't stellar. I believe in accruing as little debt as possible while in school. When my husband attended college (he didn't finish) he was in a very time consuming program and only worked at his college radio station one night a week. He essentially didn't work and took out a loan to get by. We only recently paid off that loan.

Now: We are both going back to school and both have eyes on very competitive programs. My husband in struggling balancing school and work. We both have about 50 hours of school work left until we can apply to our professional programs. We have our two school days off, but the problem lies in the rest of the week. We both work in the retail world and could be scheduled anytime between 7am and 11pm. Simply to keep these jobs, we must maintain very open availability. The job market here is poor and most job moves we could make would be laterally in pay and in requiring open availability.

My argument: It's better live off your current wages and take out loans for tuition only. No point compounding loans when we can just take out as minimal as possible. Caveat, I know that once we get into professional school we will definitely take out loans. The question lies in the undergraduate and prerequisite courses.

His argument: School loans are among the cheapest/best type of loans to take. It is better to do your very best in school to get into the best programs then to just get by and get into an OK program (if you get in at all). We could power through school faster and with the "good jobs" we could get with these degrees, the loans would be easily paid off. We could scrape by living simply for years.

Further financial details: We own our car and we rent an apartment. We have some credit card debt and we are actively paying it down. My husband receives some grants for school, which cover most of his tuition. I have 5k in bonds set aside for emergency, some of which will mature soon. In 2012 we will receive the proceeds from a moderately sized annuity which we had earmarked for a down payment for a house. I have decent health insurance through my job, for which I need to maintain full time status. Neither of us could support both on one paycheck.

What to other people do? Do most adults work through college? What about when their spouse in attending school as well? How common is it to live off loans?

Sorry if this is rambly, we'd just like some outside prospective. We've been going back and forth about the loan situation for months.

If it matters, I'm going into pharmacy and he's going into law

Paying for school

Anonymous — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 13:55:32 -0800

I have a pretty big tuition bill, even after Stafford and Perkins loans are applied. Can't pay it in cash. Should I take out another loan or take money out of the mutual funds? The thing that sucks is I had thought I could use all the money in my mutual funds to pay the school bills in the first place, and then when I started school last fall I lost nearly half of it. So far I didn't have to touch it, but it looks like tuition got raised and even if I saved every penny of my summer job I'm not going to be able to cover it with my bank account.

If I take out another loan, I have to pay interest on it. If I cash out my mutual fund, I'll basically be able to cover my bills for the rest of the year (and then I graduate) but I'll never see the money I lost in it ever again.

One other thing, so the money I have in the mutual fund now is about the same as how much I started with, seven years ago, but not accounting for inflation. So on the face of it you could argue I didn't lose any *actual* money, but if you account for inflation, I did. The question I suppose is whether I should wait for that mutual fund to recover or just cut my losses and use it so I don't incur more debt.

Sorry if this seems like a basic question. I am horribly bad with financial things, so the answer is not entirely obvious to me.

I'm stuckz. Help me figure out how to get unstuckz.

sully75 — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 12:28:08 -0800

I need to decide whether to move from Maine to Boston or not for school. (extended explanation below). As most of my recent questions will make clear...I'm planning on going to nursing school. I'm currently living in Portland, Maine, taking prerequisite classes. I'm facing a few alternative situations and wondering about how to decide between them.

Sorry for the ramble below but I do appreciate your attention

Givens: I've applied to two accelerated nursing programs, one here and one in MA, both of which start in May of next year, both of which need a lot of prerequisites that I would need to complete next semester. The one here is quite affordable, but is very competitive. My guess is that I will not get in, however, in the past I've gotten into a lot of grad programs that I didn't expect to get into (I'm a little older, and I write a killer essay...I think that's what it is anyway).

The program in Boston seems quite expensive (about $80k all together). It would require more prerequisites.

I don't find out about the Boston program till at least mid-december. The Maine program will be towards the end of december.

I lived in Boston for 8 years and have a lot of really good friends there. I moved to Portland last year after a year in rural Maine and had a good time although it was really hard to find a job last winter. It's even worse now and I'm struggling to pay my bills at all. I'm really depressed here and pretty miserable. I had a few great friends living around here, and had an ok time while they were here but they're gone now and I'm really lonely and not enjoying myself at all. I'm a musician too, and most of my musician friends are in Boston and for the obscure music I play, it's a way better scene by many orders of magnitude. I know a lot of people here, but haven't made many friendships that I think will last. That makes me sad.

But Boston is also stressful and expensive and it's really hard to find a place to live. I know the grass is always greener, but I'm finding that this place is not clicking with me at all and every day I think about how nice it would be to be back in Boston.

Although I'm broke, my parents will help me move to Boston if I so choose. There is also the possibility of a well paying full time job in Boston with a company that a lot of my friends work for.

So I'm faced with a couple of scenarios and all of them suck in one way or another.

1) I make plans to move to Boston in December regardless. If I get into the program there, I immediately register for the prereqs I need (maybe preregister even before I get down there). I take out loans to live for the spring semester, then enter the program in May.

If I don't get in, I take the full time job that I line up and take 2 classes in the evenings, and 2 more in the summer, and enter a different program in the fall (there will be a lot more options in the fall for programs, but the programs will take a lot longer at least 2 years from next september, vs 15 months from next May for the accelerated programs).

Benefits: I get to Boston soon and can get out of this period of my life. I may get done with school very quickly.
Drawbacks: I have to ask my parents to bail me out a bit, which I'm not psyched about. Not sure about the loan situation if I move to Boston. Not sure about the health insurance situation if I go to Boston (although I think I'm poor enough right now to get it for free there). I think I'm no longer going to qualify for any MA resident discounts (haven't lived there for 2 years), although if I don't get into either program, it starts my residency clock there for a different program. The program there that I'm applying to is really expensive and I'm not sure how I feel about the debt load.

2) Stay here in Portland at least until May. Get the school decisions and make a decision from here, take prerequisites at the community college I'm currently at. If I get into the program here and not the one in MA, think about sucking it up, stay here for the 15 months of the program and then go wherever I want afterwords.

benefits here: possibly the fastest scenario for finishing school. Could be very cheap too. I don't have to move on the fly to Boston and I'd have way more time to figure things out. I may have no time to take advantage of music or friendships in Boston. (Although there is so much music in Boston right now, it would be really to take advantage of it).

Drawbacks: I'm terribly depressed here, miss all my friends, dying for some more musical challenges and really feel the need to get out of here as soon as I can. If I decide to stay and then don't get into the program up here, I've kind of stayed for nothing, as there aren't any other alternatives, and I haven't built up that MA residency thing for other programs there.

3) Decide that the program in MA is too expensive, and that it's more important to take my time and be in Boston than it is to get school over with as soon as possible. Move to Boston, plan on not going to either program, get a job, work through my prereqs over two semesters and enroll in a non-accelerated program in the fall.

advantages: less harried than any other approach. Less debt (possibly anyway). Gets me to Boston and allows me to get my feet on the ground there. More choice of programs.

disadvantages: I'm old (33, I feel old). I like school well enough but really it's a means to an end and I'd like to get it done with sooner than later. The prospect of slowly working through school is not that appealing to me. Plus with the economy the way it is, I'd rather be in school right now, and in the position to get a better paying job as soon as possible.

Other details: I have almost no debt at the moment, just owe for the two classes I'm taking now. Single, no kids, pets, etc.

I really appreciate you reading this far. Thanks in advance for any advice.

Starving Artist seeks funding

whimsicalnymph — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 13:40:06 -0800

How do I pay for grad school? So, I just got accepted to Columbia University for an MFA in fiction. Which is awesome. But I don't have a lot of money. Which is, well, just the way it is.

Do you know any resources for outside fellowships/scholarships that I could apply for?

Ways to get private and government loans?

I already filled out my Fafsa. That is the first step, correct? What next?

How to get educational financial help as a truly independent young adult?

Tomorrowful — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 14:04:26 -0800

Help me help my friend convince college financial aid departments that her parents are not and never will be willing to provide any help for her, and get money to pay for living expenses. Posted, obviously, on behalf of a friend.

My friend "Sarah" is 23, and has a modest full-time desk job - not an income she wants to keep for much longer, but enough to pay rent, food, etc, comfortably... if only just barely. She is not making enough to make any significant savings, but neither does she have any debt. She is currently taking occasional classes at a community college, and has a 4.0 average there. She wants/needs to transfer to a four-year public school full-time soon-ish and get her degree.

The problem is that her parents are actively opposed to the idea of her getting an education. They aren't just refusing to provide help - they've refused to cosign private student loans. They've even refused to give her the information she needs to apply for financial aid. Please don't provide any responses along the lines of 'go negotiate with them' - she's tried, and they're totally unsympathetic. It's an extreme case of the classic "We didn't need college, therefore you don't" story, and they can be counted on to not lift a finger to help her, no matter how trivial that help might seem.

She also has no other relatives who could be cosigners - and yes, she's made sure of that.

What she needs is money both for tuition and living expenses, since she won't be working full-time if she's taking classes full-time. Currently her boyfriend is helping pay for her community college classes, but she doesn't want to be dependent on him - and obviously a four-year school full-time is a whole different financial matter than community college courses one at a time. So this question has two components:

First, as a 23-year-old, what can she/must she do to convince a large public university that she really truly is on her own, and will never see a dime from her parents? They seem to expect that up until 25, they're providing assistance, but she's not a minor trying to get emancipated.

Second, what kind of loan options does Sarah have to pay for living expenses, and for tuition beyond what scholarships will provide, given that she doesn't have a significant credit history (just one secured credit card) and won't be able to make enough money working part-time to pay for everything, and has no cosigner available?

Finding a way out of a tangled web of financial aid

dead_ — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 10:05:20 -0800

I've reached the end of the road for graduate school loans. Well, I was finally accepted to a master's program at my first choice school: Waseda University in Tokyo, Japan. Little did I know that funding my adventure in higher education would prove so ridiculously troublesome and depressing.

My situation is easily summed up as follows: no one wants to give me a loan.

In detail, it goes something like this: I cannot receive any kind of federal loan for graduate school, as my university doesn't admit many American students and as such has no relationship with the Department of Education here in the states--this means that Stafford loans are out of the question. Also, it is an impossibility for the university to get a FAFSA number through the DOE (thus allowing for federal funds) due to the length and intensity of the process and the relatively few American students at the school. I've talked with both the university, and the DOE on that one.

I also seem to have hit a roadblock with private loans. I have found many loans that allow deferred payment and disbursement of funds directly to me, yet during the application process I always encounter the mysterious "eligibility list" of universities they approve or do not approve of--which of course Waseda is not on, excluding me from the loan. After speaking with a few financial aid officers, I realized that these lists are of universities that banks have relationships with so they can determine if the student is still enrolled at full-time (and thus still eligible for the loan). So it looks like private loans are out, too. I've checked hundreds of them, with no luck.

The university itself offers no loans to foreign students, and has no relationships with any US financial institutions.

As for scholarships, I will undoubtedly get them--and have been told as much--however they are not awarded until after matriculation and the initial tuition payments, which I would need a loan to make. I also have no way of knowing how much I'm getting yet.

So what is a foreign-enrolled US citizen to do, with no one to loan him a dollar and his dream school slipping away? That's what I'm asking you.

This has been one of the most disheartening experiences of my life: a long, detailed admissions process fraught with doubt that eventually resulted in the wonderful news of admission to my dream school, and yet now I have no way to finance it--even with the almost certain possibility of scholarship.

Are there any options I haven't tried, or haven't thought of here? Is there anything I can do?

Paying for graduate school

dead_ — Thu, 10 May 2007 08:17:45 -0800

Help me figure out the best way to finance graduate school abroad. This may be a bit of a premature post (as I haven't heard back from all of my institutions yet), but here it goes anyway...

I will be attending graduate school in Japan this fall (getting an MA in international relations). Though I already have some money saved up, it isn't nearly enough to cover everything (not just tuition, but living costs, food, transport, etc).

In all likelihood, I will be getting some portion of my tuition discounted by the university, and will also be able to hold a part-time job on campus in addition to some teaching assistantships. Regardless, this is only a minor amount of money coming in, compared with how much will be going out.

So I need to figure out the best way to finance this. I'm looking for advice on specific banks and loans, as well as advice on financing (international) graduate school in general. This is something that I really want to do, and I recognize the major amount of debt it will be putting me under, so any general comments on the matter (positive or negative) would be great. I'm basically looking for advice on financing graduate school. Help!

Should I pay the collections fees on my student loan or try to get them to sue me for it?

rileyray3000 — Fri, 07 Jul 2006 15:17:24 -0800

Student Loan question: I've started paying off my delinquent perkins loans to a collection agency and discovered they're adding a 40% collection fee to my total. If I stop paying them, my school will seek a judgement, but will it be sans the outrageous 40% fee? Basically, I got out of school with hopes for a career in Hollywood. As such, I ate ramen and was forced to let my payments lapse as I lived in my car and hoped for a break.

Well I got one. And now I'm doing okay, on the road to not too shabby. So now I'm paying off the student loans at 50 bucks a month, largely to show that I'm making an effort for my credit report.

But this month I took a look at the math:

My initial 1800 has ballooned to 6400 since 1995. Again, nothing tragic. But there's a 40% fee added by the collection agency included in that number. Meaning I really only owe about 3840.

If I stop paying, my school will take me to court to get a judgement right? If so, won't I just owe them the 3840? Because, if it came down to it, I think I could actually pay that off.

What's the right course of action here?

I'm no Rodney Dangerfield...

Anonymous — Tue, 26 Jul 2005 14:02:21 -0800

I want to quit my job and go to school. I make a high salary for someone my age, which allows me to pay rent, make payments on my new car, eat, and pay for 1 or 2 university classes each semester. But all I really want to do is quit my job and finish out my degree, and then maybe go on to grad school. So far, I have a high GPA which should net me some scholarship money. Even so, how would I pay my other bills? Do I have to take out a bunch of loans, sell my car and move in to a tiny, tiny apartment?

school loan consolidation

jmd82 — Fri, 20 May 2005 10:38:30 -0800

It's the time to consolidate my school loans, or so I hear. My question is have any of you had good/bad experiences with loan consolidation companies? Are there any I should stay away from? With school interest rates at a low, will my payments be the same regardless of whom I consolidate with? I'm looking for pretty much any experience fellow MeFites have with loan consolidation so I don't mess this up.