Have a serious problem here. (long post)

Paying for College
1

<p>Hi guys.</p>

<p>I’m having trouble financing my college tuition.</p>

<p>The problem is centered on my dad’s inability to file his 2004 income tax return. He owns a partnership corporation, and he’s currently in a major legal battle against his own partner. Long story.</p>

<p>Here’s my situation:</p>

<p>I need money for Fall 2005 tuition. I cannot submit the FAFSA without dad’s income tax forms, thus I’m stuck with fewer, and more expensive options.</p>

<p>Tuition/books will be roughly $2,500 for the 12 credits.</p>

<p>I’m 20, I have $3,600 in credit card debt, and have two Federal Stanford loans, ($2,100 for the two) that I took out last year, Freshman year. My dad’s CPA created a ‘replica’ 1040 that somehow got through FAFSA, even after being chosen for verification. But for 2005-2006 school year, I don’t even have that.</p>

<p>So I guess my options are: Private loan, using a credit card, or perhaps a personal loan.</p>

<p>Although my current credit card debt is approx 3,600, I should have it paid down to about 1,500 by start of the Fall term in late August.</p>

<p>My FICO scores are 680-690 on all three reports, but I’m expecting a major boost in the next 45 days, since I’ll be paying my debt down, and I’ve talked my dad into adding me as an authorized user to a couple of his old existing credit cards which will increase average age of my accounts. I should be in the range of 715-730.</p>

<p>So if all goes as planned, I’m hoping to get approved for a private student loan.</p>

<p>Since I’ll still have approx $1500 in revolving debt, I’m gonna attempt to get a student loan for more than the amount of tuition. This way, I can pay off my debt completely and quit my job to focus more on school.</p>

<p>So that’s my situation.</p>

<p>And as you can assume, I’ve decided to leave my parents out of this. My dad is going through a lot of things and I’ve decided to just deal with this on my own and prefer my parents to not co-sign on any loans.</p>

<p>So with all that said, I need some elderly wisdom here. Is this a good plan?</p>

<p>I have $9,000 available credit from credit cards, so I can technically finance all this with plastic, but that’s too much stress carying such a balance with a full-time school schedule and a dead-end job.</p>

<p>Is a private student loan my best option? What are some good lenders, and should I have trouble getting approved with out parents co-signing??</p>

<p>Thanks.</p>

2

<p>As a general rule, stay as far away from credit card debt as you can. If you pay the minimum payment on most cards available to students, the finance charges alone will outpace any payments you make. Even paying the minimum will increase your debt. </p>

<p>Call the financial aid office immediately. Explain your problems and ask them to advise you on loans for which you qualify without parental assistance. If that doesn’t work, you’d be better off trying to work with a bank or one of the student lenders than do anything with credit cards.</p>

3

<p>Credit card debt is typically the most expensive form of debt you can have. Avoid it at all costs. Private loans would be a far superior option because they will have much lower interest rates. I agree with boxmaker1917. You should discuss options with your financial aid office.</p>