No. That loophole has been closed in virtually every loan program. Bankruptcy will not negate your responsibility to repay your loans.
Yep, the only way to get out of school loans is to either A)never leave school or B)Die.
I’m actually planning on option A. My master plan is start Grad school immediately, and then after thta get a job at the college I currently attend where they offer tuition remission to employees and employees’ families. Then I’m going to start accumulating Masters degrees, as I continue to be more than a half-time student. That way I will be making money, and I’ll never have to leave school or pay off my loans, and my continuing education will be free.
As for Blalron, I can sympathize somewhat. Not with the OP, but with the fact that he is stressing over college and what’s going to happen inthe future. Hey, I was there not too long ago. I know how sickening it can be. Hang in there, the college tihng will work out. THere are about a million Universities and community colleges out there, and about 100 million scholarships and grants, as well as loans, offered.
My mom went to college for about 14 years… she accumulated several degrees. I hope to do something like that. I plan on being what’s affectionately known as a “professional student”
if she’s spent the majority of her life studying for degrees, raising kids and working sucky jobs, the lady is entitled to a break.
a year long vaction with my boyfriend is EXACTLY how i’d plan to spend a 35k windfall.
she may be your mother, but that is not the total sum of her being, and fulfilling some personal ambition or desire is a pretty good way to spend money.
get a loan, apply for aid, or, if you actually have what it takes to make it big in acadaemia get a fucking scholarship.
(after a six year medical degree i’ll owe 40k to my loan company. i’ll have it paid off in 3 years, because i’m going to live on a student budget and work overtime til i do… trust me, 36 hour shifts on A&E are MUCH worse than 8hr shifts at mickey d’s )
I wonder what the OP’s plans for financing college were before this unexpected windfall…
I know. I was joking that I was actually foolish enough to believe that the bankruptcy plan would work.
My actual plan has always been to flee the country after I graduate.
I went to a reasonably expensive private college, and all my parents contributed was love, support, and three dollars a week for laundry if I wrote home regularly. Sure, I had to take out loans, but it never occurred to me that they had any obligation to pay for my education. I figured that responsibilities like that were part of becoming a grown-up.
Besides, my roommate lived on her parents money- tuition, room and board, plus allowance. And they lorded it over her hideously. “We’re not paying for you to go to the movies instead of studying…” etc, weekly, for four years. I think I preferred my way.
[nitpick]
If I can’t buy beer I’m not a “grownup”. Apparently I have about 3 years of growing up to do before I can walk into a bar without being tossed out as a “Minor”. Don’t bring this grownup shit on me when society doesn’t consider me fully grownup yet.
[/nitpick]
I’m still curious about how you’d planned to finance your college years prior to this windfall Blalron.
This from the guy who started the What about a “maximum wage” thread? The irony is nearly tangible.
I don’t get it. The two threads seem very consistent, so where is the irony?
Also, I don’t understand why everyone is being so dismissive of Blalron. After all, colleges specifically take into account your parents’ finances when determining how much money to give you! Why would they do so if it was not expected that your parents would help pay?
Of course, the response will be that the colleges should not take this into account. Which may very well be true. However, you should be aware that the system is currently run using Blalron’s expectations, and your expectations are the aberrant ones.
Personally, I didn’t expect anything from my parents because they have nothing to spare. And because my financial hardships are completely my fault. After high school I was offered the Regents Scholarship at all the UC’s I applied to. I was going to take the full ride at UCB, but I had somewhat of a nervous breakdown at around that time, which somehow led to me going to school elsewhere entirely on loans. But seriously, fleeing the country gets you out of your loans, right?
Sorry, you’re old enough to vote. You’re old enough to die for the country (or choose not to). You’re old enough to be a “grown-up”.
You know a good way to get around this? Get married right after you graduate from high school.
Y’know. . . I don’t expect a damn thing from my parents. Having said that-
When I moved here to go to college, I had planned on financing it on my own, just as I did the first time I went to school at the local community college. After submitting my FAFSA, I found that I was eligible for one loan and one grant, which did not fully cover the costs of tuition. So I called the financial aid office here at OSU, and the lady I spoke to said that as far as the federal government was concerned, it was MY PARENTS’ responsibility to pay for my education. I couldn’t get any more loans in MY NAME, and I needed to speak with my parents about THEM taking out a loan. At 22 (at the time) years old, I hadn’t asked my parents for a dime since I was 16 or so. I think this is pretty much bullshit, myself, but. . . you do what you have to, I guess. My parents took out the loan, because they want to help me if they can. I hate that they had to, but there was simply no way for me to pay tuition without that loan. In their names.
The point is, while no parent HAS to pay for their child’s education, the government believes that parents ARE responsible for paying for the education of their children.
I fully agree…I’m not sure why some people think that building a nest egg and thinking primarily on the long term is the only sensible way to go. My preffered use for eggs is to fry them and there’s no guarantee your live will extend into the “long term”.
When I was 20 I was living on my own and I tried to apply for financial aid and even though I was on my own they required my parents’ financial information. Based on their income I wasn’t eligible for financial aid. I went to the office with tax returns saying I was head of the household, not claimed by my parents, etc. They wouldn’t accept it. They said exactly the same thing. That as far as the federal government was concerned my education was the responsibility of my parents until I was either 26, married, a parent, a grad student or a veteran.
Flipping burgers (making sandwiches) was enough to keep me off the street, not enough to finance a college education and have a roof over my head.
Wow. Double wow.
Unless your kid is a total jerk or your dirt poor, you do have some obligation, I would think, to contribute to the child’s college ed. Like they said above, it’s taken for granted by the folks who give out scholarships and such.
I’ve never actually met a single parent in real life who would begrudge a child tuition for college if they were able. Everyone I’ve ever met assumes it’s part of the responsibility of being a parent.
Even the one I know who does think his kid is a jerk is still paying something, because he does consider it his obligation. He just makes sure the kid is getting educated rather than partying.
Just because legally you don’t have to doesn’t make it right, or anything remotely resembling moral. If you don’t feel you have an obligation to a child of your own, do everyone a favor: don’t have one.
Yeah, in principle. I’m just saying, my drivers license says “Minor Until 9/30/2005”. I may be an adult for many purposes, but I’m still not fully an adult. Plus there’s the pesky fact that the government factors in what my parents make when it gives out loans.
:rolleyes: yeah, right. I have trouble enough finding a date, let alone a wife. Get real.
Let us not forget that Blalron himself said that mom would chip in for the education. She just has $35K less to work with than she might otherwise have had. The feds will take that into account when deciding financial aid.
It does really bother me that one cannot even get LOANS sometimes if your parents make too much money. That just doesn’t make any sense, it’s a loan, not a gift!