How to fund college tuition

[Fayd]

okay, so i'm going to school in the fall for my masters in statistics at SDSU (san diego state)

i'm intending to do it in 3 semesters, so approx 13k in tuition in total. i live with parents in san diego area, so no big problem there. (aside from my love life, or lack therof)

anyways, 13k in tuition is not a whole lot. I have that in cash, though i'd be broke from it. i have been unable to find a job, though i may be able to get a research assistantship through the school.

i've applied for fafsa, and they're of course offering the unsubsidized 6.8% loan, up to 20k/yr. (won't need that much. 13k over 1.5 years is all i'd need, so 8.5k/year.)

my parents have a standing line of credit, at 2.8?% interest. My father put forth the idea of loaning through them for the tuition..

they're of course not in the best of financial situations either, but 6.8% seems an absurd rate to pay. unless there's something i'm not seeing regarding an advantage that the public loans have.

ideas?

 

[Born2bwire]

Well, while the interest rates are no longer incredibly low, you do get a few advantages. First, the interest and payment is deferred for as long as you are in school for subsidized loans and only the payment is deferred for unsubsidized loans. Even if you leave school and return at a later point in time the deferment willl kick in again upon your reinstatement. You may not get that with the standing line of credit your folks have. Next, there are different repayment plans for the student loans. They have two standard fixed rate plans and another repayment plan that is based upon your actual income. The idea being for the latter that your monthly payments can be adjusted if you have trouble getting a job that can adequately cover your loan payments.

 

[Merad]

Couldn't you take the unsub loan to have the payments deferred while you're in school, then use the LOC to pay it off after graduation and make payments to your parents?

 

[Clinkster]

Couldn't you take the unsub loan to have the payments deferred while you're in school, then use the LOC to pay it off after graduation and make payments to your parents?

Yes, but the thing to bear in mind that its the payments that are deferred. In an unsubsidized loan, the interest is still being charged, and will go towards principle.

Based on Born2bwire's post, I'd look into the possible payment plans for the parents' loans, and weight the advantages between the two. Because aside from payment plan flexibility and any kind of independence you may feel you should oblige to financially, there isn't a reason to take the unsubsidized student loan.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Sell your eggs and/or sperm.

Buying cocaine and making it into crack sometimes works, depending on the local market.

 

[Imp]

If you're on here, whore out your tech skills for Geek Squad rates. I made a bundle today "recovering" data from some hard drives.

 

[AznAnarchy99]

Strip

 

[dave_the_nerd]

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=1609341

 

[Dr. Zaus]

for subsidized loans

The government ended subsidized student loans for grad students starting this fall.

OP: Get an assistant-ship; also, if you plan on getting a job, get your stats-degree from a school of business (applied stats). If you plan on teaching or doing a Ph.D. then do the assistance-ship and try to work with professors on research.

 

[EagleKeeper]

Join the reserves.

Then Uncle will cover someone of the tuition for you

 

[Fritzo]

Read my new book:

"Your Orifices Are a Goldmine"

 

[Farang]

6.8% is not a whole lot on less than 13k

 

[ViviTheMage]

Join the reserves.

Then Uncle will cover someone of the tuition for you

I've always thought about doing that ... you also get point benefits when applying for jerbs.

 

[JTsyo]

I would go for a mix of your savings and you parent's LOC. You don't want to take up all their LOC and leave them hanging if you can't pay it back if they need it right away.

 

[Red Storm]

Is getting a masters going to get you a career worthy job as soon as you're done?

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Can you TA?

I just finished my MS at SJSU, and the CSU system should have a tuition subsidy as a TA. It's not as good as the UC system which pays for your entire semester's worth of tuition (which is worth far more), but I got the waiver for part-time, which covers 6 units. I paid another 1.2k or something for my last 3 units. But for my most recent semester, I only took 6 units, so I paid nothing.

Take a job as a grader on top of that and you'll be ok. Plus even though I got the tuition waver, they still paid me an additional $400/month.

 

[Fayd]

I would go for a mix of your savings and you parent's LOC. You don't want to take up all their LOC and leave them hanging if you can't pay it back if they need it right away.

lol, well, 13k doesn't even come close to taking up their line of credit.

redstorm:

the masters would put me in a much better for a career worthy job than i am now. I have a BA in econ from a shit-tier school. a masters in stats from sdsu will teach career worthy skills, at the very least.

simply by being a masters student here and going through the effort to get into this program (all the prereq classes i took after graduating) i've been getting interviews and at least interest in my resume. of course, i manage to fuck it up every time when employers actually meet me, but that's a matter of practice.

 

[Fayd]

Can you TA?

I just finished my MS at SJSU, and the CSU system should have a tuition subsidy as a TA. It's not as good as the UC system which pays for your entire semester's worth of tuition (which is worth far more), but I got the waiver for part-time, which covers 6 units. I paid another 1.2k or something for my last 3 units. But for my most recent semester, I only took 6 units, so I paid nothing.

Take a job as a grader on top of that and you'll be ok. Plus even though I got the tuition waver, they still paid me an additional $400/month.

TAing or RAing is something i intend to do, but i won't know until the semester of whether or not i'll be doing it. this thread is mostly about the initial loans and where i should pull primary credit from.

 

[Farang]

lol, well, 13k doesn't even come close to taking up their line of credit.

redstorm:

the masters would put me in a much better for a career worthy job than i am now. I have a BA in econ from a shit-tier school. a masters in stats from sdsu will teach career worthy skills, at the very least.

simply by being a masters student here and going through the effort to get into this program (all the prereq classes i took after graduating) i've been getting interviews and at least interest in my resume. of course, i manage to fuck it up every time when employers actually meet me, but that's a matter of practice.

If there is one thing I learned since graduating it is not what you know, it is who you know. I'm definitely at a disadvantage for not having gone to one of the universities in my city, or even having gone to the private high schools here. If SDSU is where most people go to college in San Diego, and you plan to stay there, $13k is probably a small price to pay to get in that network.

 

[cronos]

TAing or RAing is something i intend to do, but i won't know until the semester of whether or not i'll be doing it. this thread is mostly about the initial loans and where i should pull primary credit from.

Why do you feel the need to wait for taking an assistantship position?

You can get an assistantship and start it at the same time you started your graduate study, and you don't have to be taking any loans at all. I've seen plenty of examples like this.

In our research center, every summer there are always several incoming graduate students who won't be starting school until the fall but have started working for us as intern/research associate and then converting to RA/PA when school starts.

I think paying money for graduate school (except for a few specific programs like med/law/busines school/etc) should be your very last option.

 

[uclabachelor]

Get a credit card with 0% interest for 18 months?

 

[soccerballtux]

I hate student loans. They're free money to bank (taxpayer guaranteed if you default) and you can't discharge them in bankruptcy. In the event that the economy gets much worse that could be a ticket to hell, stuck with you rest of life. That said this is $13k we're talking about not $50k+.

But because small amount, don't think over hard about it too much.