My student loan bills didn’t start coming until I had been out of school for six months. I was then able to claim “financial burden” or “hardship” for the next…three years, since paying the loan off would’ve meant I couldn’t eat or live inside. My loans were through Sallie Mae and a few were Stafford loans. Deferment was easy. I just had to fill out a form (It was on the back of the bill.) and send them a pay stub. You can always call and ask about your options before the bills start coming.
Dropping out for a semester may end up being a good idea for you, but I’d suggest looking into everything else first. It’s so much harder to start school again after you’ve had a “break.”
Have you at least tried to talk to your student advisor/councelor about your situation? Believe it or not, they are often a veritable fount of good suggestions. Couldn’t hurt to try.
Good luck.
danceswithcats, I’ve changed the tranny fluid several times. The rear main seal on the engine is leaking, so lots of oil has gotten into the tranny, overdrive hasn’t worked in over a year, the only thing I haven’t done is stick the proverbial fork in the tranny (it’s obviously done). Haven’t had the head pulled to see what shape it’s in, but given the way my luck’s been going of late, I’m betting it’s a goner. Finding scrapyard parts to replace everything is going to be difficult. Most of the scrapyards around here have already disposed of their cars that age. (I found this out when I had to get the starter.) And in checking eBay last night, I didn’t find anything.
I could pull the engine and tranny, if I had the tools (I’ve yanked an engine before), but I don’t have the engine hoist (could jury-rig something I’m sure, but it being cold [it’s started snowing], my buddy’s place being in BFE, I’m not sure that’s a good idea).
Bad News Baboon, at the moment, I’ve got to refile my deferment paperwork as I’ve gotten a bill from the student loan folks, so to drop out now, would mean that I’ve got to explain that I’m not able to repay (which could be tricky, I had a devil of a time getting them to understand that I’m going to school again). Not to mention that if I drop out, I can’t simply file a form and re-enroll when my finances are better, I have to go before a board and plead my case. One of my classmates had to go through that and he said that it took him almost an entire quarter to get the hearing. So, I wouldn’t be dropping out for a single quarter, I’d be dropping out for at least two (since you can’t request a hearing until the end of the quarter).