Be honest-what do your student loans go for? (1 Viewer)

[Philip_G]

where's the hangup? are you getting your full stafford amount allowed? Are you under 24? The FAFSA really only tells them what you/your parents make and your estimated contribution, I was always allowed to borrow up to my estimated need (which included living expenses) no questions asked

 

[Jon W H]

The long short of it is, the FAFSA thinks my family/parental contribution is a little over 2 grand. (No such thing.)

I'm actually 31 years old, having returned to college after an 8 year break. My subsidized loans by themselves are not enough for each semester. I wasn't given the option to increase the amounts to ensure living expenses would be covered. My Pell Grant makes up only 1/5th of the tuition as well.

 

[Philip_G]

if you're 31 uh, your parents shouldn't even be on there, they drop off at 24 as you probably know. If you have some income maybe they're listing your calculated contribution there or something, who knows. Close enough for government work, heh.

the stafford limits are set at whatever it is, something like 2500 a semester then up to 5k a semester for JR. and SR or something, I really don't recall, if you're getting the max, you're getting the max, the only option I had was to take a private loan. When the school calculates your need, they should toss in a bit for expenses, mine did based on some sort of average for the town. Was it a lot of money? no, enough for books, cover rent for a month if I needed to. By the time the origination fees were pulled out most of the living money was gone, or some of my costs were estimated, and often times the actual came out a grand or so higher than the estimate, it saved my ass there many many times.

I took a pell grant one semester, and wish I hadn't. that' 1000 bucks costs me an additional 40 a month, more than it would have had I rolled it into the other loans.

BTW

Walk a mile in my shoes and perhaps you'll see there are people who struggle to further their education.

why don't you get to know me before making assumptions? My education cost a lot more than most, I worked full time, went to school full time, and made it through on my own in 3.5 years, so don't whine to me about struggle.
It really does sound like you need a better financial aid advisor.

 

[Jon W H]

Precisely why I said, "No such thing." I did not put any information on the FAFSA about my parents. I do not have a spouse. I'm financially independent. As for my income, like I said, I scraped by.

I get barely half of the Stafford loan amount you just listed. I'm still clueless why and what I got "penalized" for. You stated up to 5k for juniors and seniors. I have 98 college credits to my name, so I don't know why I'm not seeing even half the 5k amount, either.

Phil, I said the second comment because I felt you were lumping me in with the other "young" students who get all this extra money to play with. I admit I was quite incensed, but I know you don't know me either, which is why I've been going to the trouble to explaining my situation without getting into extremely personal detail. I have already crossed that line a little with myself, but I don't want to come off as a dick, which is all too easy to do on the Internet by accident.

I had to turn down a "better" university that accepted me because it cost 20 grand. So, I'm making do and trying to work my butt off to get an academic scholarship.

 

[Philip_G]

You need a different advisor, they're fucking you, in short
the only other thing I can think of is that you're getting offered X.XX in subsidized, and accepting that, when usually you can take the sub'd and then add unsub'd on top of that up to the 5k or whatever is allowed (it might be per year, I really don't remember, I graduated 4 weeks ago and already flushed most of that information)
I usually only got like a K in sub'd but took the max amount, just the rest was unsub'd. Occasionally they hosed up the paperwork and gave me all sub'd, SHHH.
20k is a lot of change. I considered a university that was 22k or so, but wasn't willing to have that much in loans by the time ALL costs were included. In retrospect I think it was a good decision, the other university (ERAU) I still don't think is worth the extra $$ Not one to pay out the ass for brand names..
though looking back, financially I probably should have stayed where I was and not come back to school. I've had to start over completely

 

[Jon W H]

The financial aid office here isn't worth a damn. They're even late with my sub. loan payment for this semester. I've tried to talk to 3 different people without much luck. I hope things will be better at ASU once I am able to transfer there.
I wonder if my academic advisor can do anything about this. I guess I could ask her.
I wish they would hose my paperwork and give me 5k all subsidized, too.

 

[Philip_G]

BTW, my school has an operation in mesa
I think they work with some community college and have a small program. Not sure, never been there. Too hot.

 

[Jon W H]

Maybe that's the same school I'm attending (which is actually in Gilbert.) They have quite a good working relationship with ASU.
I used to live in Iowa (most of my life.) I came out here in August. 112 degrees my first day. After a week, I got very used to it. I was in Iowa for 5 days earlier this month, during a period where everyone was exclaiming "how nice it was".
Feh. I was too cold.

 

[nolesrule]

When I was at FSU (c/o 98), tuition ran approximately $1000 a semester for an in-state student. I got $2750 a semester in student loans. After books, I was left with about $1500 a semester. The remaining money is supposed to be for living expenses. Just what each person considers a living expense is up to him.

I still find it amazing that I was able to live on about $3000/year and have some money left over for a DVD player (back when a cheap one was $500). I That's what I spent my leftover money on instead of buying a car. When I had to go somewhere that wasn't in walking distance, I got a ride or took the bus. But I bought a DVD player, and it still works (Panasonic DVD-A100 1st gen).