Living expenses:
Stafford Subsidized and Unsubsidized, both you can pay off after you graduate, and both are part of government programs. Make sure you tell them that you do not want to pay anything back until after you graduate.
You also have the option of private loans. The interest rates are somewhat higher, but not insanely high like credit cards. This option is fine as well, just calcuate how much you need and go though with it if you want/need to.
Scholarships. The time you put into work could be put into scholarships. Fastweb.com for example. There is enough money floating around out there that you could live comfortably and get good grades without breaking all of the bank or suffering through a job that isn't getting you anywhere. Keep in mind, that after the college puts the scholarship fund into the bills for the semester, you pocket the rest of the cash on the disbursement date, or any time after that within the semester.
You are also entitled to financial aid and loan money when you take summer courses. So if you don't want to work in the summer, you can just take some classes and take out extra cash to pay for bills.
Of course the contracts will ask you to give money back. Unless you drop below full time or even half time, you will be asked to give the money back. If you're age of 23/24, forget about what your parents make, you will be claimed as independent, usually regardless of how much information you give to your school about how much money your parents make.
Take out cash if you need it, it's better to come out with debt than to not enjoy your schooling career and not do well with your studies. Sell yourself to school, and when you graduate with your BA or Masters, etc. you can sell yourself to the business world and make more money than the interest. Some loans will kick in after you finish your BA, but you may be able to defer it if you go for your Masters. But you need to study so you can pass the GMAT or MCAD or whatever Masters field you are going into, usually you need to take a Masters entrance exam, otherwise your plans will be foiled. Ensure entrance into a school with your program if you want to move past BA, so you can figure out what you will be doing with your loans.
Living expenses can go anywhere from a few hundred to +$4K or depending on where you go, $40K/year schools +$10K a semester in cash, - just depends what your plan is and how seriously you want to take your present circumstances and your future.
Don't worry about the debt too much, it will pay itself off when you graduate and find a good job. Get in debt for school, so you can better focus more clearly on what kind of transportation needs need to be met and living conditions, insure you a better future than always being confused if you don't think you can handle school + work full time/part time.
Watch what you take out, it will add up, but don't be chicken 'cuz monthly charges after you finish are easier to pay off than credit cards at the same total amount.
Students are not being fully advertised this kind of information, largely, because parents "are" responsible for their children's education, including post-high school career institutions like college or training classes. But you know what, middle class America and rich kids are offered increasingly better advertisements for college career options, whereas poor/lower class must figure this stuff out on their own, regardless of programs out there targetting lower income families. You get what you pay for, but most of all, you get what you get on how much information digging.
If you plan on touching base with fortune 1000 and want to climb the ladder, you will face days where you only want Prozac for breakfast. Just keep this is mind when you take out loans, 'cuz loans should be the least of your worries when you want to sell all of yourself to corporate America for a cha-ching!
Good luck.
Facebook
Twitter