Student Loans (are a necessary evil)

[Linkachu]

I doubt the majority of you can even respond to this, but has anyone else had to deal with student loans in the past?

I did undergrad University studies for five years and took a student loan for four, although the first year I had a scholarship that covered all of my tuition so the loan was minimal. Anyways, I graduated about six months ago, and recently a lovely letter arrived in the mail...

I owe approximately $25,290.00 Canadian from the loan. I expected that honestly, so it's not much of a surprise. What was a surprise was the evil comment that accompanied my letter, basically stating "even if you haven't been able to pay until now, we've been charging you interest for the past six months". So... from interest alone, add an extra $1,103.06 to my oweings -.-

First they steal mounds of money from me at work due to income taxes, now this? Why doesn't the worker ever get a break? >_>

I'm planning to make a lump sum payment of about $6000-$7000 or so to start off, then continue to do so every month or two. I can't stand the idea of that much money hanging over me at such a high interest rate (8.750% >>). I also don't want to be one of these people who's paying off student loans until I'm 30+ x.x

Student loans are fun. I couldn't have gone to University without one, but man... ouch

 

[Kuroboom]

8.750 isn't so bad. If you want it lower, see if you can take out a loan that has a lower rate to pay off your student loans. I've got a car and a credit card that have highish interest rates (approx. 10 and 14%) but I'm going to refinance the car and I can pay off my credit card in Iraq.

If you're desperate to get out of your student loans, the military will pay them off if you sign up. Make sure it's in your contract if you do though. Most likely, I'll be going to college while I'm in. The military will pay for my tuition while I'm in and I have $42,000 that they've given me from my Montgomery G.I. Bill. They give out more money now as well as huge signup bonuses. (A friend of mine got $1,000 when he signed up a few years ago. Someone who JUST came in with the same job got $27,000) However, make sure you're up to the commitment if you decide to take that route.

 

[Carmen Lopez]

I only a freshman in college so I haven't needed student loans yet. I was able to get financial aide to cover my tuition. It turns out that at my school, a laptop is almost a necessicity so I had enough to score this laptop. My professors love to give out assignment online. And at any time of day or night.

However as I'm probably going to attend grad school I'm fully expecting to get a loan in the future. I'll try to get one with the lowest interest loans as possible but I'm still wondering how I will pay them off so I feel you pain Linkachu. However I remember a teacher saying she was able to pay hers off in ten years but that was a very long time ago and I don't know if you could get the same deal today.

 

[Linkachu]

8.750 isn't so bad. If you want it lower, see if you can take out a loan that has a lower rate to pay off your student loans.

That was what my mom just suggested today, so I'll probably look into it. Maybe 8.75% isn't that bad compared to some other things, but the sheer amount of money it's on top of is still rather harsh. Credit cards can be a nasty thing alright, but if you have the money handy to pay them off right away it's not really an issue.

As for the military option... It's a great thing for people who want it, but I've never had any interest in it (and to me, as long as I've got my health I can deal without having oodles of cash). Fortunately I have a good paying job and not many other bills, so I'll be making these loan payments my main focus.

Carmen: The way my payments are laid out (at $341.72 a month), it'll take 114 months to pay it off, but I'll probably try to shave off that as much as possible via lump sum payments. From the sounds of it, about 10 years is the standard amount of alloted time most people are given (so what your teacher said was a reality), but you can adjust it yourself by upping or lowering your monthly payments.

 

[Meangreen]

Mmm, I feel your pain, well, I will in a year or two.

Our government recently did a bit to catch the student vote last election by wiping any interest you accumulate during your study once you finish studying. Quite a handy move on their part really. But hey, I'm already around the 20 thou mark so it doesn't really feel like any help.

Btw, can anyone tell me what the whole "Freshman" and "grad-school" thing equates to? is it equivable to under-grad/post-grad we have here?