Federal loans, what??

AstroDav
Wed, 04 Aug 2010 07:18:40 +0000

Did you graduate high school here in the U.S.? If so, I would HIGHLY recommend that you schedule a few very thorough consultations with a college counselor there. Nothing I’m going to say is intended as an insult, so please don’t take it that way. I’m just being as honest as I can without trying to “sugar coat” anything. I’m not claiming to be anymore knowledgeable about this type stuation as anyone else here. But I MIGHT have a bit more life experience in these type matters as some, since I’m an older non-traditional student. But then again, I may not.

I am over 40 years old (but won’t say HOW much over ) I’ve already been through the complete college process once for an Assoc. degree. That included the whole mess … loans, grants, paying them off, etc. And I have also been through the process AGAIN, in a very limited manner, in the military. By that, I mean I just took 1 or 2 courses here & there, a time or two each year.

And lastly, I have also already been through the job process … 13 years in the military, 3 years with an electric utility, a year in the medical community, and a couple of other short-term jobs. Now I will be going back to school in the Spring to finish my Bachelor & get my Master.

I only included the above to show that I have quite a bit of school/work experience to go by. So trying to put myself in your position, just me myself personally … I would NEVER EVER take on the amount of loans you are mentioning. At $23,000 in loans each year, which you mention, you will find that you will have a VERY tough time ever paying that off … EXTREMELY tough.

So back to the counselor mentioned at first. You REALLY need to figure out how to do at least 1 of the following, preferably 2 or 3 of them. That counselor MIGHT can help you figure out how. If you don’t have any type of counselor available, then you’ll need to figure it out on your own … through LOTS of research, asking around on respected forums, talking to other college attendees, etc.


Find a cheaper college. There’s LOTS of them WAY under that $20-some-odd-thousand-per-year which you mentioned.
Related to the above, but a bit different … look at a PUBLIC college. At the amount of money you are talking about, that’s surely a Private college. Or at the least it’s a VERY expensive Public one. If the latter, then there are LOTS of cheaper choices than what you’ve found. But if your chosen school is a Private, which I bet it is, you can easily get by on HALF that amount by going Public. And there are some very well respected ones available too. Nothing wrong with them
Look into the completely free “work colleges”. There are a few of them scattered around & they usually require you to work about 3-4 hours per day, an occasional night and/or weekend, & a couple 40-hour weeks between terms.
If the above isn’t an option, try to find a school that offers ANY type of work-study program. You won’t make a BUNCH of money, but ALL of it will go directly to your tuition, and it will make a noticable difference.
Apply for LOTS of scholarships. By “lots”, I’m talking on the order of 50-75 different applications. Most of them you’ll never hear from. You will win a few of them for usually small amounts, but in the situation you have laid out, you need ALL the help you can get. You might get lucky however & win 1 or 2 worth several thousand $$'s.
Look into doing some type of volunteer work for a year or so, like the Peace Corp, or any of several positions which the government offers … interns & such. Quite often your “payment” for this 1 or 2 years of volunteer work is a full, or close-to-full, scholarship at almost any school in the country.
Join the Nat’l Guard or one of the Reserve branches. This is definitely not for everyone, & definitely not a decision to be made lightly. But for about 5 months of initial training, plus a commitment to 4 or 6 years of 1-weekend-per-month & 2-weeks-per-year, you’ll pretty much get a free ride to any school in the country.
A similar alternative to the above is to join the ROTC program that most every college has. I’m not 100% sure how those work since I went straight into the military. But I’m pretty sure they will pay your entire tuition, in return for you serving 4 or 6 years in an Active or Reserve branch after graduation.


I would NEVER discourage someone from attending college. the simple fact that this Spring will be my 3rd time in college should prove that. But I have been in the post-college situation already, and several years in the job market. So I know with 90% surety that borrowing the type of money you are talking about, at this point in your life, is going to cause you ALOT of trouble about 4-6 years down the road. I’ll stress that word again … ALOT!! That’s the only thing I try to discourage. Get your education most definitely … but don’t bite off more than you can chew, too quickly, in the process of doing that.

But there are other ways. It just takes time & work to find them all & to get them working for you. But with your very future relying on the decisions you are going to make within a year or so, it’s imperative that you put more work & research into this than any other thing you have yet to do in your life. Even if it means post-poning school for a semester, or even a YEAR, it’s better to do that & make sure all i’s are dotted, all t’s crossed, & everything else taken care of.

That’s why I’m no going back this FALL. With this third time around going to be all the way to a Masters, at a private school, I’m looking at some serious cash … more than I felt comfortable with. I KNEW I could get a significant portion of my tuition taken care of … I just didn’t know exactly where or how. So I decided to wait & use the entire Fall & Winter simply getting all of that stuff put together. Waiting that extra 6 months won’t make THAT much difference for my life itself. But it will make LOTS of difference in the financial position I’ll be in after graduating.

Good luck out there.