Get student loans

I have leveraged myself to pay for this part of my formal education. It took many weeks into the quarter for the last check to arrive at the school.

A recommendation to those returning to school and getting loans. If you still have tuition due every semester/quarter, I suggest going part-time for the first quarter. The divestment of money is the same, and technically one can get a refund. I got a check today which I will use as ¹/₂ of the money I owe for next quarter. As long as I put it away and don’t touch it, I will have to work only 1/2 as hard to find the remaining funds for next quarter.

I hope to be a quarter ahead of my fees for the entire time I am at school. This is hard. My car has died, and I am junking it. I need a new computer. I am not going to let these things jeopardize my education.

Good luck to anybody returning to school and applying for loans.

I am still waiting on my Perkins loans. I am also trying to figure out how I can save up the $1500 short fall that student loans are not covering each quarter.

I have two kinds of subsidized loans. One quarter of my tuition will come from a Stafford, and another quarter will come from a Perkins loan. I will also have an “unsubsidized”: loan from the same lender for another quarter of my tuition That leaves me with a quarter of the tuition due every three months.

The paper work for the Perkins and Stafford loans has come through the mail. I need to contact them and change my mailing address.

It used to be the policy of the university not to allow students to prepay for the next quarter. I need to pursue this again, because if it is out of my bank account and in their pockets I can not spend it. I don’t see why they would be against this, as they make a big deal about being paid on time. What could be better than being paid on time, than being paid early.

Beware non-profits. Simply because an organization claims to be a non- or not-for-profit doesn’t mean that it has your best interests in mind. There are a lot of shift people out there and they may want to take advantage of you. Ask any non-profit for a copy of their 501c , ask when and where their board meets, and ask for a copy of their annual report. You can also go online and check out a NPO’s information on-line here . You can see what the top paid employees make (including perks), who the officers are, who are board members, what their expenses are, financial information etc… If it looks like they spend a lot of money fund-raising compared to what they spend, walk away. If they look weird, or you think they might not be legitimate, walk away. (Rant over!)

At this point you should have figured out what your course load will be over the next 4 or so years. Should have a basic idea of what classes you must take to graduate in a timely fashion. You should also have an idea of what it is going to cost to go to school and live.

Types of loans and some terms:

• Grant Is a loan or gift that does not need to paid back!
• Unsubsidized The interest accrues from the date the papers are signed.
• Subsidized Interest is paid for by the government (or school) for the time you are at school. The person that also pays the interest also guarantees that you will pay the loan. If it is the government, you can not default- because they will find you and make you pay in one way or another.
• Stafford Loans (FFELs and Direct Loans), a limited subsidized loan.
• Perkans Loans is another subsidized loan. You can combine subsidized and unsubsidized loans.
• Promissory note: The paper you sign that states you will pay back a loan, pay school tuition etc…
• Student Aid in the U.S. is any financial aid, loans, scholar ships etc… Check out the link.

All of the information is available on the web, but I thought I would post it here as I learned about it.

I am an “older” student returning to school to finish my first bachelor’s degree . I have passed up a lot of free money (grants and tax breaks) by not finishing my degree(s?) when I was younger. I have missed scholarship opportunities and the only saving grace that I have earned is a good credit rating. I think that in living life I have come to a point where I know I will be financially penalized, but rewarded in that I will take my education more seriously. I also truly understand the financial implications of what an education costs.

Have as much information with you as you can. Think of it as a very intense job interview, in which you are not only being interviewed, but are also interviewing the school, and loan companies.

You will need the following documents:

• Legal ID (passport and or state ID).
• Secondary ID (this can be a credit card or id card)
• Social Security Card, or equivalent. (at least the number)
• Evidence of legal residence (mail from your abode)
• A list of references to put on forms
• A list of previous residences
• A list of contact information for work, former schools, etc…
• A working pen
• Questions

You should walk in and have the financial aid office work out proposals for full and part time attendance, for full time attendance with a semester/quarter of half time attendance, and even for a semester/quarter off. If they don’t want to do it, continue the interview, and make an appointment with another person if you can. In the end, insist on this.

Get copies of everything you can, and don’t sign on the first day. Read everything over. Take a look at all of the different kinds of loans. Take a look at all of the loan institutions that the school works with. Do your research, you will be stuck with one choice in the end.

If you have a learning disability, a print disability, or poor comprehension, ask for help.

A school loan office should never say, “This is our preferred lender”, but rather give you a sheet of lenders. The sheet should contain a half dozen or more lenders, and they should be the ones most chosen by previous students. The financial aid office might say if asked, “Most student’s go with x, y, or z” as a lender because of … . They shouldn’t do any steering beyond that. Again, ask questions. Ask why one lender is at the top of the list and another at the bottom. Ask if there are others. In short, be a sophist and ask questions.

Some questions to ask:

• Does anybody beyond me benefit from me getting a loan from X.
• What is the interest rate, now and later?
• Is it subsidized?
• Should I start paying interest now?
• Can I change my mind in a week, month, tomorrow?
• What is the contact information for lender X?
• What mistakes have students made in the past with loans?
• Is there an exit interview when I graduate? (If not, ask for one when it is time to leave!)
• Are there any other programs that you are aware of?
• Are there any scholarships offered that I am unaware of?
• Is there a local non-profit that consolidates scholarship information and can help me apply?
• What happens if my loan is late or doesn’t come through?
• Can I borrow on a loan through the school? (Sometimes for rent, etc…)
• When do I have to sign the promissory note?

Fill Out my FAFSA was a goal of mine. It will be a goal of mine again come January. I didn’t when I filed my taxis. It made it easy when I did the two together. I actually delayed getting back into school because I didn’t fill out last years FAFSA. My bad. It does show that when I act pro actively instead of procrastinating, I can change my future.

Before I get too much farther I need to know what is a reasonable unit load. I figure that I am going to start with half time (which is really 3/4 time) schedule. That’s 9 quarter units. The semester after that I’ll take a full time (12 units) and from there I can expand upward.

I am working full time + and I am salaried. As long as I put in 40 hours a week, I’ll be fine. I just can’t do more than 40 hours a week!

I also have to come up with some other various fees for school. I need to figure out how I can volunteer 20 hours a week to a NPO or NGO for a quarter. It’s a require meant of the school. I also have a couple of large manuscripts that I will have to produce by the time I am done. By large I mean around the 100 page mark. I also have to budget in another $3,000 for additional non-traditional credits. I also need to budget in a new computer and software. But I will worry about all of that when the time comes.

If I can manage it, I would like to spend 1 quarter working for an NGO in Cambodia doing something with education, media training, or land mine removal. It is a wonderful country with wonderful people.

I looked at what it is going to cost me to live and go to school. The price was staggering, almost $3,000 a month.
In order of cost:

• tuition and materials
• rent
• health (much covered by work)
• food
• transportation (bus, car, gas, insurance, etc…)
• clothing
• miscellaneous

That’s a lot. It is a lot more than I make in a month. Loans are the only way I can get the amount knocked down to something that I can manage.

Cutting costs

• Buy used books if possible.
• Rent- can’t I am already renting one of the lest expensive rooms in my city.
• Health- stay employed.
• Food- I should spend more on healthier food. (No more coffee out? No fast food, and I can go out to eat less.
• Transportation- I already drive a gas sipper. The cost per day is the same as a bus rides to and fro work.
• Clothing, I haven’t spent money on this in years- but I need to budget something in for this.
• Miscellaneous- Don’t know what these would be. Art supplies perhaps.

Now I have budget, and I can start working on what I am can pay up-front for my education, and what I am going to own down the line (less interest).

Actually, I had somebody fill out my paperwork for me. I printed everything out, but it wasn’t very neat.

Tomorrow I do the deed.

Step 1 is choose a school.

It may read as a ridiculously obvious, but you get the best information about loans once you have chosen a school. One also has the best possibility of getting some assistance with the process from the school.