then you need?

I finally got my loan after jumping through half a dozen hoops, and it was about half of what I was expecting. What can I do?

7/14/2010 11:50:28 AM

get loans through banks (citi student loans, ecsi).

7/14/2010 1:11:17 PM

apply for part time jobs or work study/apply for tons of scholarships & cross your fingers/find ways to live cheaper

thats how i made it through part of undergrad. my expected contribution always seemed high until i was finally old enough that my 'rents finances didn't play into it

not that my parents had a lot of money to begin with being a son of a former military man who could never hold a job more than a few years at a time & a public school teacher who were sending twins to college (& getting a divorce)

for grad school i've had it a bit easier, since i'm obviously old enough that its just my finances, and i worked & saved up for a few years between undergrad & grad school to help make it happen

Can you get a roommate? Do you work off some sort of budgeting system now? If so is there room to cut, if not maybe look into starting one.

There seem to be several money saving tips here:
http://thewolfweb.com/message_topic.aspx?topic=598400

Were there any loan offers you didn't accept? In undergrad I tried to shy away from unsubsidized loans at first, but not any more. I just view it as the cost of school being higher.

Do you have any family members that can help out? Maybe talk to your department secretary or chair and ask if they have any extra funding students in the department can apply for.

Sorry my thoughts were so jumbled, and probably most of them not super helpful, just trying to brainstorm.

---
^good point, didn't even think of looking for other sources for loans, i was looking mostly at cutting spending rather than increasing supply

[Edited on July 14, 2010 at 1:15 PM. Reason : good point]

7/14/2010 1:13:18 PM

No, that's very helpful. Thanks!

7/14/2010 1:14:14 PM

i haven't been able to save as much as i was expecting this summer and i need a loan. i've done a stafford loan before and getting it was a breeze in the past, but can anyone tell me how the hell i apply with this new direct lending thing? i have been all over the website and can't find anything about applications.

7/14/2010 9:02:41 PM

For God's sake, try to obtain DOE-backed gov't student loans before you go private with vendors like Sallie Mae or even the bank. You're almost purely fucked over on any chances of refi or consolidation of those loans if you can't get a good rate/term to start with on private student loans. For government student loans everyone and their mother are required to at least offer for refi or consolidate for you now.

You haven't stated exactly what you got, but if you've exhausted your normal stafford loans you used to be able a few years ago to request your parents obtain a PLUS loan on your behalf (then you could work out the loan payments with them if you honestly intended to pay them back) otherwise those are solely on them to repay. The PLUS usually was easier to qualify and had better rates since it was for your education purposes. If for some reason they or whoever claimed you as a dependent (another assumption) failed credit-wise to obtain said PLUS loan, FAFSA allowed you a second, larger stafford loan. There were a lot of variables and requirements to follow that process, though. Was this through NCSU FinAid office?

Don't forget, definitely research and call up CFNC.org - They've got some of the best deals and have their shit together.

[Edited on July 14, 2010 at 9:16 PM. Reason : .]

7/14/2010 9:15:07 PM

Yes, it was through the NC State Financial Aid office.

My goal was to not have to work so I could focus entirely on my studies. It looks like I would need about $3000 more per semester to do that comfortably.

[Edited on July 14, 2010 at 10:57 PM. Reason : ]

7/14/2010 10:56:26 PM

yo I hope you're taking an English class, because you appear unable to differentiate between then and than.

7/15/2010 1:17:00 AM

Take your GED classes at Wake Tech.

7/15/2010 7:00:46 AM

^^ I hope you've taken an English class, because your capitalization skills are atrocious.

http://brentroad.com/message_topic.aspx?topic=598355&page=2#14139270

7/15/2010 11:21:18 AM

that's not a matter of not knowing, that's just laziness

p.s. it's funny as hell that you searched through my posts and that's all you could come up with

7/15/2010 12:26:20 PM

Good to see that even in a thread about going back to college, God still has the witty retorts of a pre-schooler.

7/15/2010 12:36:35 PM

^^ It only took 4.

^I don't get why you've been trolling me constantly for the past week. Did I do something?

7/15/2010 12:38:28 PM

So since I can't reach anyone at financial aid, how do I go about applying for a stafford loan?

Nevermind, figured it out.

[Edited on July 15, 2010 at 1:19 PM. Reason : .]

7/15/2010 1:08:07 PM

Quote :

"that's not a matter of not knowing"

Y'alls just need to chillax. This ain't chit chat. Us regulars, we like to keep it quiets in the study hall. Like a lieberry. Don't post often, and keep it civilized. And do you seriously think typoing then/than once counts as a matter of not noing?

7/15/2010 1:23:01 PM

Quote :

"we like to keep it quiets in the study hall. Like a lieberry."

Else people's faces start getting red like a strawbrary.

On a serious note this happened to me the second semester of my freshman year (my dad was laid off). I had a meeting with the Fin Aid Office and they granted me a Perkins loan, which I believe NCSU actually lends the money but the gov't backs it. After that they told my parents to apply for a PLUS loan, knowing they would be denied, so it would raise my Stafford loan limits up to the same as an independent student like Chief mentioned.

7/15/2010 1:32:52 PM

Quote :

" Well, you could also whore yourself out to 50 fat chicks for a thousand dollars apiece. Or five really fat chicks for ten thousand dollars apiece."

7/15/2010 3:42:02 PM

Somewhat related if you're in a tight crunch about something else I just learned about recently which ain't bad if you're tight for money, want to donate for a decent cause, and aren't squeamish about needles. Donate plasma; you gotta pass a stringent and daylong background/physical the first time but you can donate up to 3 times a week afterwards if you feel. The biggest thing is that you continuously donate so each time you make between $15 and $30 per donation IIRC. There's a donation center off new bern in Raleigh.

As a more tangible effort, if you're only needing another $3k for one or two semesters that's not too bad if you have to resort to a bank or private lendor student loan. I would only do that as a last resort. Is the PLUS loan option not doable/obtainable in your situation?

7/15/2010 8:10:51 PM

^ The PLUS loan is what saved me

7/16/2010 9:40:00 AM

you get even more fucked by the tuition increase

7/16/2010 10:25:37 AM