Wise use of loan money?

[~bs]

If the fin. aid office won't let you cut your loans down, put the leftover in a savings account and don't touch it! You can always just give it back when you're done as a first payment.

I know people who took out the largest loans they could, then dumped the proceeds into a high interest savings account (back when it actually paid a decent amount of money) with this in mind. Use the 0% loans to earn interest over 4 years. The problem is that many people in this age group don't have very much experience in managing money. Then they end up drawing from the fund, and are in a bind once they graduate. The temptation is too great when a "need" arises. And it's even harder nowadays with tuition costs spiraling upwards and dealing with an overly materialistic society. What is considered a "need"? Used car? Cell/smart phone? Cable? Internet? Spring break R&R? Eating out? Nice clothes? The "starving student" has none of these luxury items in today's entitlement society that considers them all "needs"

[maryadavies]

Yeah, true. Tho with me, I grew up poor; I figured, I didn't need a car, a cell phone or all that fancy stuff. Worst I needed was a PC and a printer and a minifridge because I stayed in the dorm and I didn't trust a lot of the computer labs around campus. (Most of them if they were used a lot tended to be infected with word macro viruses, ugh. I didn't need that crap. I saved money on that by getting a custom build; back then custom builds were cheaper than getting one from a commercial company.)

If the parents hadn't interfered, I would of had my loans half paid off the instant I got out of school.

I wholeheartedly suggest to anyone in my situation (Well, sans greedy parents) to make sure you make a budget, stick to basics (like, do you REALLY need that cell phone? Could you get away with just Skype on campus?), and evaluate, evaluate, evaluate. Also make sure you got discipline about it; It IS tempting to spend that money but if you don't let your "Gimmies!" get ahead of your head you'll realize it's better to get a work study job or a job or two for your "Gimmies!" and leave that money ALONE! You'll thank yourself once you get out of school. (BTW, what I term "Gimmies" is things like a spring break vacation, cell phones, more than a used car, etc. You don't NEED that stuff, you can live without it.)

[The_Wiz]

Two thousand dollars is 200 hours at $10 per hour. That's 5 weeks full time or 10 weeks half time, or 20 weeks working only two hours per day/night per five-day week.

It sounds to me like a part time job would be an easier route than borrowing for this. Have you considered delivering pizzas, tutoring, or other part time work? Why get a debt now that you don't need?

This is always a much better idea. It will be harder and take longer, but very, very worth it.