Student loans

[Harrison]

When do they typically want you to start paying these? Immediately or over a set amount of time starting after graduation? Or what...?

[Martrae]

Depends on the loan. Some start right away and some after you graduate.

[Arlos]

The guaranteed student loans come due 9 months after you graduate. Subsidized loans accrue no interest until such time as it comes due, un-subsidized loans accrue interest immediately. Furthermore, various of the college loan companies offer supplemental student loans, and for those they can set whatever conditions they want.

-Arlos

[Narrock]

Mine started 6 months after I graduated. It was through Sallie Mae.

[araby]

yah, it depends.

sallie mae is more money, but with greater interest. government loans are less money, less interest.

you have options for repayment, most of them will kick in like they said-six months after you stop taking classes. they won't turn your money down though, and I suggest you pay if you can.

[leah]

mine were supposed to start after a six-month grace period, but then i consolidated them so they started two or three months after i graduated. i owe $18,500 over the next 15 years, but i plan to pay as much as i can budget each month (over the base payment amount of $142) so i can knock it out more quickly (so maybe 10 years instead of 15 hehe).

i hate debt

[araby]

mine were supposed to start after a six-month grace period, but then i consolidated them so they started two or three months after i graduated. i owe $18,500 over the next 15 years, but i plan to pay as much as i can budget each month (over the base payment amount of $142) so i can knock it out more quickly (so maybe 10 years instead of 15 hehe).

i hate debt

yah but you know leah, you'd be in debt anyway if you hadn't borrowed it and gotten your education.

without your education you'd rack up a huge amount trying to live. even if it feels like a ridiculous amount, there are so many people in your boat. scott already has enough debt that he'll be paying it his entire lifetime.

nothing takes away that education though =) and i really do think I'd rather be in debt with an education, than in debt without one.

[Lyion]

GI Bill, baby and Employer Paid college.

When I did my first go through college in the 80s, it was dirt cheap to attend college in Cah-Lee-Four-Nee-Ah. I am flabbergasted by the current cost of college.

Honestly, if you aren't in an Ivy League, or top 10 college, ones best bet is finishing the first two years at a community college for next to nothing and then finishing up with state and trying to keep costs under control.

On the flip side, there are more programs for college now.

Harrison, given your predicament, you should be entitled to pretty much free college. Go to a school and talk to them, or at least call them. Get a college degree. Even if it takes you 10 years to pay off, it'll be golden for the rest of your life.

Keep that debt philosophy, Leah, and life will be easy for you. Pay cash for anything that isn't a house or a car. I'm amazed also at how many people in their 20s rack up ginormous amounts of credit card debt at 15%. That's just... insane, and a huge waste of ones money.

[Jay]

Mine was 6 months after I graduated and also in terms of interest it could only get charged a total of 4% so I took my sweet time paying it.

[leah]

i have credit card debt, though, too

oh well. it's not that bad. it could be much worse.

[Jay]

Leah have you tried consolidating all of your debt?

[Lyion]

I wouldn't consolidate her student loans, I'd just work on eliminating her CC debt.

If you have a decent job, the next thing to do is to buy a house, even if its something small.

[leah]

no. i consolidated my school loans, but that's it.

really, i'm not in that much debt. i have around $2000 left to pay off on my car (maybe a little bit more) and then about $1500 or so on some credit cards, but really, that's it. that and the school loans. *shrug*

i'm thinking about selling my car (a piecer '99 cougar) and buying my mom's from her (a '97 accord); i would give her whatever i got out of my car (hopefully around $3000) and then make monthly payments to her rather than a bank (so there'd be no interest) for the rest. just a thought, though--it's kind of a vanilla accord . . . so boring! doesn't even have a CD player!

[Jay]

I thought you meant that you owed much more for some reason.

[leah]

hehe well it seems like a lot to me, but no, in the grand scheme of things, it's not that much. :P

[Jay]

You should pimp your boy to pay it for you then you pay him back. No interest!

[leah]

haha nah, we're equally broke. we will carry each other!

i wish someone would pull a project mayhem on the credit card companies for real so we could all start out fresh hehe

actually, mister brinstar just pwnd his credit card so he's free of credit card debt. must be nice!

[Jay]

That all depends on how you'll view it. Will you see it as "Ok! I'm out of debt, time to start saving." Or will you see it as, "Sweet, the cards are paid off. Now I have a guilt free conscience to buy something big!"?

[leah]

i choose option A, sir. i'd like to start saving up so that when my car is paid off (or if i buy my mom's and then pay that off) i will have enough money saved up to put a sizable chunk of money down for a newer car (i'm hoping for an '03 accord). we'll see, though--stuff has a tendency to come up out of nowhere. :\

[Gargamellow]

student loans suck

[Narrock]

haha nah, we're equally broke. we will carry each other!

i wish someone would pull a project mayhem on the credit card companies for real so we could all start out fresh hehe

actually, mister brinstar just pwnd his credit card so he's free of credit card debt. must be nice!

As long as you keep your credit card balance below 20% of your credit line it won't hurt your FICO score. In fact, it's good to have a small balance on credit cards.

[Naethyn]

If you get an unsubsidized student loan opt to pay the interest while you are enrolled.

[leah]

haha nah, we're equally broke. we will carry each other!

i wish someone would pull a project mayhem on the credit card companies for real so we could all start out fresh hehe

actually, mister brinstar just pwnd his credit card so he's free of credit card debt. must be nice!

As long as you keep your credit card balance below 20% of your credit line it won't hurt your FICO score. In fact, it's good to have a small balance on credit cards.

hehe i think it's a little higher than that right now. :P my credit lines aren't that high

[araby]

haha nah, we're equally broke. we will carry each other!

i wish someone would pull a project mayhem on the credit card companies for real so we could all start out fresh hehe

actually, mister brinstar just pwnd his credit card so he's free of credit card debt. must be nice!

As long as you keep your credit card balance below 20% of your credit line it won't hurt your FICO score. In fact, it's good to have a small balance on credit cards.

hehe i think it's a little higher than that right now. :P my credit lines aren't that high

it's my policy to always look at things in a better light. like you said, "it could be worse" and that is absolutely right.

for me, I can't even get a credit line. so it could be worse for you (where the credit part is concerned) and for me, it could be worse also. I could actually qualify for credit

[Harrison]

Honestly, if you aren't in an Ivy League, or top 10 college, ones best bet is finishing the first two years at a community college for next to nothing and then finishing up with state and trying to keep costs under control.

On the flip side, there are more programs for college now.

Harrison, given your predicament, you should be entitled to pretty much free college. Go to a school and talk to them, or at least call them. Get a college degree. Even if it takes you 10 years to pay off, it'll be golden for the rest of your life.

Bingo~