Saturday, December 13, 2008

So, I have an announcement!!!

I'M GOING BACK TO SCHOOL!!!!!!

That's right, everybody, I'm going to be edumacated again! I'm going to be going to MC, which is not my first choice of school, I really want to go to the University of Maryland. It actually is going to work out better, since Tim's taking a semester off of school and after that would be actually probably taking some courses at MC and living at home. It would probably be the best for both of us. I'm pretty excited, personally! I'm going to be taking Biology, Algebra, English and Psychology. It's pretty exciting. I'm frustrated with the financing stuff, because I need a co-signer for any private loan, but to get a Federal loan, I need to fill out the FAFSA. The problem with that is that I'm still considered a dependant on dad. I can't ever get them to help with the fill-out process. I need their financial records to fill out the stinkin form! I am also reluctant to tell them that I would be applying for a loan to cover my other expenses besides school, because I don't want them to know that. I'm worried that they would then withdraw the nice agreement of we'll pay everything except room and board. grr Plus I have to go to a stupid meeting about loans and stuff at MC. It just isn't fun to go to these things. I'm out of ideas. I can't get anyone to co-sign. Dad said he wouldn't do that, because he doesn't want the debt attatched to him, Shirley can't because she wants to get a house, and it doesn't look good for her to have it. Renee said that it wouldn't do any good for her to co-sign it, because they wouldn't like her because she has too much debt from student loans and credit cards and such. I hate feeling like I'm in a no-win situation...Ideas anyone?

3 comments:

Andy said...

Congratulations. I'd say don't do the private loan. The interest rate on those is variable and the interest starts compounding while you go to school. Even if it doesn't look bad now, interest rates will probably go up significantly before you graduate. The 6.8 percent fixed rate on a Stafford loan is much safer.

You should be able to get dad to give you the information you need. There is a worksheet on the financial aid web site with all the questions he needs to answer. He should be able to look at it and mail you the answers. I think he will help you with it as long as he understands that you qualify for an unsubsidized Stafford loan even if you can't demonstrate financial need.

CrouchingOwl said...

My comment is listen to Andy. Neither Bonnie or I have used a single loan getting through school and therefore know nothing about it. So listen to Andy.

Bonnie Jean said...

Hooray for going back to school!

It's unfortunate, of course, that that you're not able to consider yourself independent until age 25 for FAFSA and subsidized loan purposes (by which age most people have already graduated college).

Still, like Andy said, the fixed rate on an unsubsidized Stafford (which you should still qualify for) would generally be worth it over a private loan where the interest rate would likely go up a lot before you graduate. (As Justin said, I managed to get through college without any loans, but I did look into it my last year after my scholarship ran out and I knew money was going to be really tight).

Good luck getting all the financing you need. :)