Is anyone here familiar with (student) loans and have any advice about them besides "don't get one."
Got accepted to three UCs and I'm trying to plan my financials before accepting. The Blue & Gold program will cover most expenses but I was still thinking about taking out an additional student loan so that I'd be able to live comfortably covering my existing bills and be able to focus on school and extracurriculars without having to be working every minute I'm not in school.
Go to community college and transfer. Work part time. Don't be a faggot.
its literally this simple. About to finish my 2nd year of computer engineering at CC and I don't owe a fucking dime.
Plus most community colleges are partnered with universities to have their programs and credits transfer seamlessly.
If you have to take loans , they go to community college for two years
I did. And as far as I can tell mostly everything fee wise will be covered when I transfer and even meal plan I think. But I'm not too sure on if housing is covered and I still have bills from back home to cover. It's more of a precautionary fund if anything but I know if housing isn't covered a part-time job for sure won't cover rent.
Don't get one
Housing will likely be charged on top of your charge for tuition. Usually that's why an additional loan is offered, like a PLUS loan, because most kids need funding for their housing (dorms) as well as their tuition.
Don't count on housing being factored in. This shit is easy to find out I don't know why your asking about that in particular.
don't fund the education system and the banks
just get a smalltime pos and move from there
a common mistake is to follow high paying jobs and then choose your proffession.
protip: high paying jobs don't mean there are enough to go around. when a field isn't occupied it usually pays better, also go for industries who are in shortage
Yes OP the best thing you can do with those student loans is take the maximum amount, pay for classes, and use the extra to buy cryptocurrency. by the time you get out of college you will be able to pay off the entire loan. Seriously it works.
Former student loan servicer. Gonna bookmark this. If you're still here and have specific questions I'll answer them at some point
I'm mainly just curious about the best places to look into where the student doesn't get fucked with interest fees. I know the federal government has some no interest offers through schools I believe and there's a few that don't make you pay it back until after you graduate and have a job.
I'm not really worried about being able to pay it back I'm generally pretty good at saving money. Just looking for advice from people who've dealt with loans before I guess.
Going to bump this just in case
I have $76,000 most through Navient, is there any way to get this loan forgiven because making the monthly payments isn't killing any of the principal right now and it's all I can afford on a $28,000/year salary. I'm trying to find a better paying job but still I don't want to continue being a wage slave.
Loan guy here, on mobile, will reply to op after this comment. I don't know much about you so I'm going to spitball questions and then drop some more generic advice.
Do you work for the government, as a teacher, or for a nonprofit? These can get your loans forgiven. If not, did you attend a shitty college, or have you ever not been offered a job due to the quality of your degree (i.e x university has a bad reputation so we'd rather hire someone from y)? This can also get your loans forgiven. Don't remember the name but it's a thing. Most common among technical schools. Unfortunately, loan 'forgiveness' isn't common outside of these things.
Part 2 inc because typing on phone is shit, sec
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So loan forgiveness is probably out the window unless you answered yes to one of those questions. Some more usefull info tho.
You didn't mention how much you're paying per month. Are you currently on a standard 10 year term? If so, with your income and goals, you should probably fuck off of it. On an "Income Driven Repayment Plan" (IDR now) you should be paying ~half of whatever the standard monthly payment is.
You will get 1 month with no payment due, but you can still make a payment. If you get on an IDR plan your term will switch to either 20 or 25 years, instead of 10. If you remain on IDR that whole time and still have a remaining balance after, they zero out whatever is left and you will owe nothing.
The benefit here is that if you work at McDonald's your whole life you can potentially never pay. The downside is it takes 20+ years, and assumes you never make it (rip).
Now, you can come off of this plan at any time, and have your payments set back to a 10 year term. This means your payments will be lower for as long as you need them to be, and once you make more money you can make normal payments. The most important thing about this plan is to ASK IF YOU QUALIFY FOR PAY-E OR REPAY-E. If you do (just means you went to college recently) then the government will pay some/all of the interest that would accrue on your account for a period depending on which you qualify for. A lot of the monkeys on the phone won't mention this unless you ask.
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Another thing to know is that if you are ever unemployed (doesn't matter if registered) if you call or go online and get on an IDR plan while you are unemployed, you will 100% have $0 for a year, even if you get a job the next day. YOU DO NOT NEED TO UPDATE YOUR INCOME INFORMATION MORE THAN ONCE A YEAR. IF YOU GET A RAISE OR NEW JOB, DON'T MENTION IT UNTIL NEXT YEAR.
Last thing for now; you can ALWAYS make extra payments of you want to. So if you get on an IDR for half of what you pay now and the govnmt pays 50%+ of the interest monthly, but you still pay your current payment, you will pay off that outstanding interest and lower your principle significantly faster.
That's all I can think of for now. I'll post more later if I think of anything more specific or if you ask/answer questions
There are subsidized and unsubsidized loans. The former don't accrue interest while you're enrolled at least half time, and you don't for payments due for either until 6 months after you graduate.
Beyond that, only take government (direct) student loans unless you absolutely need more. Direct loans have better interest rates (if direct the rate is determined by year take out, where as commercial/private rates can be whatever) and typically more options while in repayment. That said, direct loans only have the 1 "grace period" (6 months being
One more thing, do your FAFSA, even if your parents are rich. You'll get loan offers through it, and its much more work to get direct loans without completing it
Credit by Exam, test out of most of your general education courses using CLEP. Easy to do with just a little review. Go to Amazon and buy an ebook practice guide. I suggest Avatar Virtual Learning series only $3 each. and it comes with a list of free online resources and two practice exams. Remember each class you test out of saves you a bundle that doesn't need to be borrowed.
>and have any advice about them besides "don't get one."
dunno i fucked up astronomically, got into student loan debt which they promised it will be capped at 2% apr but in the fine print it said that doesn't apply if you want to get the maximum amount they introduced later 11% apr really hit me hard when i started to look into investments. i didn't even finish my degree it was absolutely wasteful to spend that money.
but everything considered it was the best fucking loan deal i ever got. you will never get loan on better terms than a student loan in a decent country.
You don't have to accept the full loan amount. If they send you a check for more than you need, then you can return the remainder and it won't be added to the owed balance.
When it comes to things outside of federal government loans what should I avoid? For example Wells Fargo always tries to offer me a private student loan. And the have the benefits of things like not paying anything until graduation and no fees. Stuff like that.
currently owe 9k€ at 4% in germany. the loans are paid out in monthly payments of 650€, covering mostly living costs
my strategy is currently working and saving a lot. when i graduate, if i can have the absolute value of my negative net worth be less than 50% of my outstanding debt, i'd be ok with that.
so i guess, while you're fucking up your balance sheet by going into debt, try to still strengthen your balance sheet however you can.
it's good motivation to succeed in the uni and get a good job, since you're really "leveraged" so to speak..