College Expenses - How to help?

[bbodb1]

I'll add this thought for community colleges as well. There are examples of community colleges 'reinventing' themselves to better match the local demands of the job market. Community colleges can be much more nimble than the traditional four year colleges in this regard. For example, when the energy industry began to make inroads in our area, a local community college added a petroleum related degree. One that taught skills in demand in the field and (in many cases) led directly to jobs. This does not mean every CC can do this, but CC's can often better reflect the skills needed for a job in the immediate area.

Community colleges are certainly worth considering these days.

 

[bogey21]

Most job applications ask you to list every school you attended, and the dates..

I'm glad they didn't do this in my day as I attended 9 Universities before I graduated (in 1958). I could have listed them, but would have had trouble with the dates...

George

 

[PigsDad]

That’s kind of ridiculous, I’m not a bank. My student loans did not begin accruing interest until I graduated, payments also deferred to six months past end of education. Pretty normal.

I had some of those types of loans as well, but just so you know, the bank issuing those loans collected interest while we were in school. It is just that the government paid the interest, and we were government welfare recipients. I'm not sure if those government-backed student loans are available anymore.

Kurt

 

[VacationForever]

It looks like there are 3 types of loans. OP's god daughter got the offer for unsubsidized loan where parents got to co-sign. For subsidized loans, no interest is paid while in school.

https://www.salliemae.com/college-p...deral-vs-private-loans/federal-student-loans/

 

[Steve Fatula]

I wish I had done that with my son. He was clearly unprepared to live in a dorm immediately out of high school. I could not get him to explore before committing to one major as he decided on his major in high school because he really liked his teacher. Now he is doing his second degree in a major that he should have done in the first place. Wasted time and money.

Hah, I was clearly unprepared to live in a dorm out of high school! It was a terrible environment for me. I hated every second of it, and, almost quit college after 2 years, but barely survived until we were allowed to move off campus. What a bunch of, well, insert bad word here.

Community Colleges are doing quite well, at least around here. They are quite good at what they do.

I also had the "interest free" college loan. Which the bank never collected on.

 

[rapmarks]

Wait, she’s doing all this schooling and will never work in the field?

She never irked after the other two masters degrees.

 

[tiel]

To make it clear, we are NOT going to co-sign. The loan in question is a Direct Parent PLUS e is the one that is more than 50% Cost of Attendance. I am not certain, but I believe the loan is to the parent on behalf of the student.

Btw, Abby’s aid package also included a Direct Subsidized Loan (where interest is paid on behalf of the student until 6 months after graduation), and a Direct Unsubsidized Loan (where the student is responsible for interest from day 1, and if the interest is not paid, it gets rolled into the principal amount of the loan). These loans are smaller, with an interest rate of 5.05%.

The old student loans were called National Defense Loans. I didn’t have to pay until 6 months after graduation (the government made it in the interim), and the interest rate was 3%, simple interest. I paid every penny back.

 

[CalGalTraveler]

I have heard that you can negotiate these packages with the school. You might want to suggest that Abby and her mom follow up with the school financial aid office and discuss her mother's disability etc. to get a better deal. There is nothing to lose by trying because it sounds like her mom wouldn't qualify for the loans so Abby won't be attending unless the school makes some major changes to the package.

If she is taking on loans, I hope Abby is pursuing a major that pays well to repay the loans e.g. STEM engineering, computer science, math, business, not humanities, political science, sociology.

If not, this will be worse than owning a timeshare because you cannot bankrupt your way out of student debt. (Wow...Never thought I would find an albatross worse than owning a worthless, high MF timeshare.)

 

[louisianab]

She should be able to contact the financial aid office for this college/university and any college and ask them to recalculate without any parent loans.
Community college is great as long as there is a career path. I see way too many people taking a class or two a semester for 10 years with no goals. The CC around here will give you a "general science" or "general arts" degree that confers no actual skill or career path.
Apply to all kinds of schools and see what packages they give. Some private universities guarantee coverage of low income students if they are admitted.
She should also evaluate her career goals also, that she is not taking loans out that are significantly higher than her future income. (My sister's 100k cost social work bachelor's)