Well, to be truthful I was going to only go to school part time and pay cash for my tuition and books. At the time I could afford it. Unfortunately I got fired, for reasons I will not go into in this thread. Needless to say I will either have to give up the idea of school for now and scrape by until I can land myself a job or get a less paying job and do the full time student scrabble.
I am considering the full time student thing, mostly because If I let this little thing get in my way, there is no telling if I will want to go to school a year or more down the road. I am already damn near too old for this stuff anyhow. (almost 26)
My question (and the reason it is in general questions), is about student loans and housing costs. I can afford to get a lower paying, but much more flexible job, but it will be barely cutting it unless I can somehow get a housing cost in my loans. I have heard of this, but I am not sure if this only applies in colleges that have dorms, or if any full time student can get an extended loan for these purposes.
How do these things work? Is there some literature out on the internet about this that can assist me? I have done a search, but cannot find anything pertinant to this- aside from some British college websites. I don’t live in the UK though. (midwest USA)
For what it is worth- I will be going to a community college for my first 2 years, with no degree in mind. I talk to a counselor on the 14th, but my curiousity is killing me and I would like to go in a bit more informed.
Any help on this topic- Loans- or even other suggestions will be helpful. It is going to be hard going from having lots of extra money every month, to barely scraping what I can to survive.
Since it is in GQ I would prefer factual information or links, I would like to keep in here rather than in IMHO.
The best advice I can give you is to go talk to your school’s financial aid office.
“Extra” financial aid is generally able to be used for living expenses, books and the like. In my personal experience (yes, I know this isn’t what you asked for), I receive “excess” financial aid in a disbursement each semester. I then pay rent for the duration of the semester (because the last thing I’d want would be to not pay that), and use the rest for other expenses.
In my case these come in the form of Stafford/Perkins loans. External loans are also available - NellieMae.com and SallieMae.com both have information on their sites about different types of loans available - both federal programs and private programs.
You can learn about the program, apply for financial aid and
other clerical fun stuff.
If you look up financial aid on google.com, watch out for scams and pay sites. The FAFSA web site is free and easy to use.
About housing and aid: If you put on the form (there is one place
where you put your housing option) that you “live with parents”, you will get less money than if you put “in dorm” or “off-campus.”
I would suggest that you get aid and go full time. From an economic standpoint, the war might be over soon -> a recovery
might be coming soon.
I’m in your position as well. I’m 28 and in my last year of finally
finishing up my degree. I just hope when I get out, we can get decent jobs.
Be aware that if you’re no longer a freshman you’re eligibility for aid drops significantly. However, if you’re married or, though it is often difficult, can declare yourself independent from your parents, you can get some better deals.
Unfortunately, my entire financial aid as an undergrad came to about $1700 a year, with my parents not wanting to support though the school insisted it was their responsibility. If it hadn’t been for one independent loan authority, I would have never been able to attend university. Financial aid is a strange, crazy world.
