1337haxor

Hey,
When I start college, my parents said they would take care of tuition for me. They did for the first year, but things have happened over the span of that year and they may not be able to help me as much as they promised. Since my parents were originally going to pay for college, I never bothered looking into student loans and stuff. Now I have to and I am sort of lost on where to go. I pretty much understand the FAFSA thing, but what about student loans? Whats a good resource for me to find more information about them and where to get them at the lowest rate possible?

Thanks,
Robert

rubicon

I was very fortunate in that my parents paid for my college education so I'm not very knowledgable in this area. Once the wife and I have kids I'll need to cross the same bridge.

As a starting point, talk to the Admissions office at your school. Tell them exactly what you posted here and they should point you in a starting direction. They'll know about the loan programs, grants, and scholarships.

If you're 18+ you may even qualify for low-income assistance. If under 18, your parents have responsibility for you and it's their income that determines the "free" aid that you could get.

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hokieian

Talk to the financial aid department at your school. Most schools have individual FA advisors that will meet with you and make sure you understand everything.

Also, and I can't stress this enough, look for scholarships. Apply for any and all scholarships you can find. Tons of places/organizations/companies give out scholarships and not all of them are well advertised. Writing a few essays now is a lot better than paying off student loans for the next 20 years. I don't know the exact number off the top of my head but a ridiculous amount of money for scholarships is not paid every year because no one applies for them.


I wish I would have had to foresight to apply for as many scholarships as I could when I was in college.

Carno

Financial Aid department will tell you everything you need to know.

I mainly used Key Alternative Loans. They have a good system and you get a responses quickly. Unfortunately the requirements on your parents' financial situation are kinda tough.

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RogueHunter65

A bank will not let you yourself take out the money. What i did was have my parents take a loan and I did the payments on it.

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sailor

Go talk to the school--they deal with this thousands of times over. Its their job.

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"Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws."
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mosha

Sallie Mae is the best! My interest rate is locked in around 3% for good. My fiance has even lower rates than that, something in the low 2's

radioguy

Sallie Mae also helped me out with my tuition, talk to them. Talk to the Financial Aid Department at your school. Check out some scholarship opportunities. You never know what you will qualify for. Good luck!