Student Loans

[Amanda695]

I haven't started up with the student loans yet, but I know it will put me into debt. Are there any ways to try and avoid this??

[dczech09]

I haven't started up with the student loans yet, but I know it will put me into debt. Are there any ways to try and avoid this??

There are many ways to get through college with debt:
- Work and go to an inexpensive school
- Scholarships/grants
- Military

If you do get debt, you can always opt for tuition forgiveness programs by working in "under-served" areas, if your career qualifies. For example, nurses can often work in an under-served area for a certain period of time and get forgiveness of their loans as part of their compensation.

Getting through college without debt is possible, but can be difficult. There is no way to get through college without working for out. It is best to keep your loans as low as possible. Keep your college choices modest; that will help keep expenses down.

[disneysteve]

This is kind of a duplicate of your other thread but I'll leave them separate for now.

I'll say the same thing I said in the other thread. Go to community college. Live at home or share a place with multiple roommates. Go to school part time and work. It's much better to take 6 or 7 years to get your degree and not have all of the loans than to do it in 4 years and be buried in debt.

[TheKayla]

If community college isn't an option for what you want to do, be sure to try and go to community college for any gen eds. That will be the biggest thing. Among some others are:

- Work while in college, and work summers a lot. Take community college courses in the summer especially and transfer them (off season if you're going to university).

- If moving away, get roommates, continue to live frugally, learn how to manage your money well and early. If you can live with your parents, even better! (Even though I know you probably don't want to!)

- Apply for scholarships and grants, but be choosy on which you apply to. Don't waste your money on countless application fees, be smart about which ones you have a shot at.

- This is one that I think would have really helped me: keep track of your borrowing! Put everything you can towards any loans you take out while in school, but try to save up and pay for classes ahead of time by working. If you need to, take off a semester to get caught up financially. I know at my school they really tried to push the importance of a 4-year graduation plan, but it's not that important to finish in only 4 years. If it takes you 5 or 6 with breaks and working in between, that's fine. Go part-time if it's the smart financial choice.

- I think it's important to be in a career that you'll love, but do consider what you're going to school for versus return on investment. Have a good idea of what you want to do, and look at all the alternatives. Will you be going to grad school? Do others working in your exact dream field only have a 2 year degree, or do they need something higher? Do you need a higher degree that you won't be able to afford to even make a decent living? Will you only make $30k out of school and end up with $60k+ in loans? In that case, not worth it. Where do you want to live, what type of lifestyle do you want? Look for other options or take school slower as to prepay to make your options work.

- Look into private loans as an option. Many private loans are much higher interest rates and are not worth it. However, you can find some that are cheaper than the government loans. Look for the cheaper rate, and don't blindly asume government loans are the best option -- the rates are horrendous right now! If you get to the point in school where you need take out wither Parent Plus loans or private loans at a higher interest rate, then take a break and work to financially catch up. This loan rates are way too high.

- If you have to take out loans, ONLY take out what you need to. I know my first year we were told by the counselor (and blindly listened) to take out extra for food, books, room and board, and extra spending money 'too avoid stress so I could focus on my studies'. Not the smart thing to do. Take out only tuition, ever. Pay for books and your living expenses up front. Go to a school that does not require a meal plan or dorm, and do not live in the dorms. I know it's easy to be sold on the experience, but for about $20k a year for all if it (when you could alternatively live for half that for all your expenses in college, with roommates) it is not worth the cost

- Don't just go to the school with your favorite team, or the most prestigious, or whatever. Look at tuition costs, living costs, location, etc. It's important to look at the quality of the program youre going into as well, but don't pay double as much for the lead program in the country, when another, more affordable school will do.

- Stay in state!

[asdf]

I agree with what Steve and Kayla have said. I would also add that it's very good that you are asking these questions now, before making any commitments. These are the type of questions that more people need to approach right at the beginning.

[sroot19]

I would do whatever you can to avoid taking out student loans. If I could go back and do it over, I would not take out loans.

[dczech09]

I would do whatever you can to avoid taking out student loans. If I could go back and do it over, I would not take out loans.

Ditto. When I was in college, I was one of the kids who said "once I graduate and make $40,000 per year, I will be living like a king!"

Then I graduated and started paying on my loans. It took me one year before I was make $42,000. Prior to that, I made VERY little. Even when I was making $42,000, the student loan payments seemed to eat up SO MUCH of my income.

The point is that most people do not think about the effect that student loan payments have on income until it's too late. I do not know of a single person paying on their student loans who actually likes doing it. It is a burden.

[Jerry91]

If you have already taken out student loans and cannot pay it off, you can consider consolidating them. You can also negotiate with the lender or the loan servicer and try to get an extended repayment plan or a graduated repayment plan to pay off the student loans.