Another Student Loan Thread...

[TallBill]

Are there any student loans where the loan amount isn't based off of what you owe the school, and the money gets sent directly to you and not the school?

Situation: I get free tuition from the state of Illinois, and recieve $1500 a month from the government. I also make about $400 a month from a part time job. This has covered all of my expenses thus far and will continue to cover my expenses once August hits.

But, I'm currently getting divorced and my finances are a momentary train wreck. All free emergency cash got split up and is going for other new expenses. I'm having trouble putting any hours into my work (need to be hooked into a router, and I can't at my mom's house) and have to pay for 1.5 apartments for about 6 weeks, and I really don't want to sell more mutual funds than I have to.

I looked into a personal loan through USAA for $3,000, but the rate was 11.5%, screw that. So I either need to find a new part time job, or get a $3-5k loan to cover me for a few months. Family is not really an option, I'd sell investments before going that way.

 

[SunnyD]

I did stafford loans - you can get more than the tuition amount. I lived off my loans for about 4 years while going to school.

 

[Gibson486]

Sallie Mae has one....forgot what it was called.

Just look for a Teri Loan. Those get sent straight to you.

edit: it looks like sallie mae got rid of that loan....so you cannot go there.

edit 2: well n/m...TERI went under, also.

 

[Crono]

Prive loans, but rates will be horrible (Chase sends directly to you, IIRC).
You could get loan through something like Prosper, but it would help if you got a part time job to pay off any method of borrowing.

 

[Crono]

Originally posted by: SunnyD
I did stafford loans - you can get more than the tuition amount. I lived off my loans for about 4 years while going to school.

Yeah, they generally will allow extra money more than tuition for "other" expenses (laptop, books, etc) which can be several thousand dollars.

 

[SunnyD]

Originally posted by: Crono

Originally posted by: SunnyD
I did stafford loans - you can get more than the tuition amount. I lived off my loans for about 4 years while going to school.

Yeah, they generally will allow extra money more than tuition for "other" expenses (laptop, books, etc) which can be several thousand dollars.

Whoops - forgot to mention - it usually works that the disbursement is sent directly to the school, then the school cuts you a check afterwards. Also, if you don't "need" the extra monies, I believe you can refuse it and it gets sent back.

 

[TallBill]

Originally posted by: SunnyD
I did stafford loans - you can get more than the tuition amount. I lived off my loans for about 4 years while going to school.

Is it based on the tuition amount, or tuition amount minus awards? Because from what I read online, the money goes to your school. That doesn't help me one bit, because my school is free.

Originally posted by: Crono
Prive loans, but rates will be horrible (Chase sends directly to you, IIRC).
You could get loan through something like Prosper, but it would help if you got a part time job to pay off any method of borrowing.

Nope, every single one seems to be based off of what you owe, which is $0. I'm looking for jobs, but most wont hire me because I'm overqualified and my current job just wont work out at the moment.

 

[Crono]

Originally posted by: SunnyD

Originally posted by: Crono

Originally posted by: SunnyD
I did stafford loans - you can get more than the tuition amount. I lived off my loans for about 4 years while going to school.

Yeah, they generally will allow extra money more than tuition for "other" expenses (laptop, books, etc) which can be several thousand dollars.

Whoops - forgot to mention - it usually works that the disbursement is sent directly to the school, then the school cuts you a check afterwards. Also, if you don't "need" the extra monies, I believe you can refuse it and it gets sent back.

Yeah, you have to request a refund check from the school.

 

[summit]

balance transfer from citibank, you pay 3.0% upfront but no interest until january where that should hold you over.

 

[TallBill]

Originally posted by: Crono

Originally posted by: SunnyD
I did stafford loans - you can get more than the tuition amount. I lived off my loans for about 4 years while going to school.

Yeah, they generally will allow extra money more than tuition for "other" expenses (laptop, books, etc) which can be several thousand dollars.

That gets sent straight to you?

 

[SunnyD]

Originally posted by: Crono
Yeah, you have to request a refund check from the school.

Depends on the school. Both schools I went to sent me a notice that checks were in and I could go pick them up - I never specifically ASKED them to refund me anything. Their logic is if you requested a certain amount, anything over the tuition amount was going back to you for your own off-campus educational expenses.

Originally posted by: TallBill

Originally posted by: Crono

Originally posted by: SunnyD
I did stafford loans - you can get more than the tuition amount. I lived off my loans for about 4 years while going to school.

Yeah, they generally will allow extra money more than tuition for "other" expenses (laptop, books, etc) which can be several thousand dollars.

That gets sent straight to you?

Essentially. They don't generally "send" them to you, you go pick it up from the school's bursar.

 

[ElFenix]

Originally posted by: TallBill

Is it based on the tuition amount, or tuition amount minus awards? Because from what I read online, the money goes to your school. That doesn't help me one bit, because my school is free.

iirc, the school will cut you a check. i took out staffords (sub'd and unsub'd) totaling more than my tuition and fees and the school cut a check.

 

[alkemyst]

Originally posted by: TallBill
I looked into a personal loan through USAA for $3,000, but the rate was 11.5%, screw that. So I either need to find a new part time job, or get a $3-5k loan to cover me for a few months. Family is not really an option, I'd sell investments before going that way.

What kind of investments? They had a 401k at the bar you bounced at?

 

[dullard]

Since it isn't very much, check your school's financial aid department. Many schools will provide temporary small loans directly to students/staff/faculty in times of stress/crisis. The interest rate won't be good, but I bet it'll beat 11.5%.

 

[TallBill]

Originally posted by: alkemyst

Originally posted by: TallBill
I looked into a personal loan through USAA for $3,000, but the rate was 11.5%, screw that. So I either need to find a new part time job, or get a $3-5k loan to cover me for a few months. Family is not really an option, I'd sell investments before going that way.

What kind of investments? They had a 401k at the bar you bounced at?

Mutual funds, I also have a 401k through my current job (which isn't bouncing) and a ROTH which I wouldn't touch.

Originally posted by: SunnyD

Essentially. They don't generally "send" them to you, you go pick it up from the school's bursar.

Ah, ok.. I guess I can try that route then.

 

[oiprocs]

Originally posted by: TallBill

Originally posted by: SunnyD
I did stafford loans - you can get more than the tuition amount. I lived off my loans for about 4 years while going to school.

Is it based on the tuition amount, or tuition amount minus awards? Because from what I read online, the money goes to your school. That doesn't help me one bit, because my school is free.

Yes, this is how it works at my school. The lender might approve my loan, but if it goes to the school and they say "oh little johnny wants $10k, but he only has $5k available after awards and other loans have been applied, so we will only approve him for $5k".

It's kind of good because at a young age you don't want to be able to take out tons of cash. However, you're older, wiser, etc., so for you it's a PITA.

 

[ElFenix]

you could also ask the finaid person what would happen

 

[SunnyD]

Originally posted by: scorpious

Originally posted by: TallBill

Originally posted by: SunnyD
I did stafford loans - you can get more than the tuition amount. I lived off my loans for about 4 years while going to school.

Is it based on the tuition amount, or tuition amount minus awards? Because from what I read online, the money goes to your school. That doesn't help me one bit, because my school is free.

Yes, this is how it works at my school. The lender might approve my loan, but if it goes to the school and they say "oh little johnny wants $10k, but he only has $5k available after awards and other loans have been applied, so we will only approve him for $5k".

It's kind of good because at a young age you don't want to be able to take out tons of cash. However, you're older, wiser, etc., so for you it's a PITA.

Hrm... that's a good question. I was always approved for nearly the full amount (minus what was given via grants obviously). Several years my state and federal grants covered the tuition in full, but I still ended up getting stafford unsub loans on top of that.

 

[CountZero]

I would talk to the financial aid people at your school. Where I went they got the money from the government and paid everything you owed and then direct deposited the remainder. The only hairy situation was my tuition was covered but not paid until the first day of class and loans came out before so there was a minor issue but it was easy to clear up.

If you have filled out a FAFSA I can't imagine this being all that difficult, if you haven't though I don't know if they can do anything from the federal loan side of things. Also if you only need money on the short term my school offered up to a $2k loan that you had 2 quarters to pay for a fairly small fee, your school may have something similar.

In any case the folks at the financial aid office should be on top of the ins and outs and have likely seem similar if not identical situations to your own and can at least try to help.

Good luck!

 

[Gibson486]

Also...are you less than full time? If so...FAFSA will be useless.

 

[TallBill]

Originally posted by: Gibson486
Also...are you less than full time? If so...FAFSA will be useless.

No, I'm full time. My fafsa sucks though because it has all of my wife's income on it (not that its that huge).

 

[mshan]

Might want to dig around at Carmen Wong Ulrich's "On The Money" website: http://www.cnbc.com/id/15838483/

I watch her show occasionally and she seems to be very knowledgeable about student loans, because she had to deal with them personally in the past.

edit: some CFP's on that show have said that you can take out principal (i. e. your actual contributions) from Roth without penalty, if needed as last resort. I guess it would come down to relative rates of return lost / paid on various sources of funds you need.

 

[TallBill]

Originally posted by: mshan
Might want to dig around at Carmen Wong Ulrich's "On The Money" website: http://www.cnbc.com/id/15838483/

I watch her show occasionally and she seems to be very knowledgeable about student loans, because she had to deal with them personally in the past.

edit: some CFP's on that show have said that you can take out principal (i. e. your actual contributions) from Roth without penalty, if needed as last resort. I guess it would come down to relative rates of return lost / paid on various sources of funds you need.

Nawh, I wont have to touch my roth or 401k. I have enough in other mutual funds to last, but would still rather not touch them right now since they are down so much. I already sold $4k worth to cover the cost of divorce + break lease + 1.5 months of rent.

I guess I'll wait on the stafford loan, and then I found a wells fargo student loan that goes straight to you which I might apply to.

 

[ric1287]

i got a 8k student loan through Chase last year....sent me a check, deposited in my bank normally.

 

[arrfep]

Do any of your cards let you take advantage of your credit line via low APR checks? I get them from CapitalOne every few weeks. The card has a $4k limit, and they send me blank checks which allow me to use my credit line like cash for between 0-3.9% + plus $50 or so transaction fee or my purchase APR with no transaction fees. Might be something to look into.