If you’re thinking of attending an expensive college, but don’t have access to huge sacks of cash, you may have a problem says USAToday:
Not only are some lenders closing up their student loan programs, but the home equity that many parents counted on as a college tuition “ATM” has dried up.
Last week, Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., introduced legislation that would raise loan limits for federal student loans. Similar legislation was introduced in the House. But the limits are unlikely to be increased by the time students start college this fall.
Families that are worrying about paying the cost of the college their child wants to attend should talk with the financial aid office as soon as possible, says Phil Day, president of the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators. Financial aid administrators may be able to help families find other sources of funding.
“If there are going to be some gaps,” Day says, “you want to know what those gaps will be.”
Is this affecting your college plans?
Credit woes may hinder college-bound [USAToday]
(Photo:CAP)
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There’s always the Air Force. The GI Bill is one of the best programs out there.
@modenastradale: The school said the shortfall would have to come out of pocket, which for many of us meant taking a third tier of loans with “alternative” lenders — at nosebleed rates.
I obviously don’t anything about your situation, but generally I can think of at least three alternatives. What about
1) taking fewer classes and working more?
2) another school that isn’t so expensive?
3) working full-time in a modestly paying job for a year or two, and then coming back?
Taking out a back-breaking private loan is not the only option. It’s simply the most immediately convenient and socially-encouraged option.
@katylostherart: yes. and many employers won’t even allow non-degreee holders to apply for entry level management training classes, never mind the actual position.
@lemur: laudable ideal. now if there were more concrete ways to encourage it in actuality.
@Michael Belisle: I was actually at this point, and unfortunately have private loans that I’m currently working to pay off.
I go to a state school, I take 12 credit hours, and tuition is still roughly 8 grand a year. The stafford isn’t anywhere near that.
You drop back your credit hours? The Stafford poofs.
Now, however, I’m working fulltime as a Marketing Assistant, and am making enough that I can afford to get my own apartment and pay off roughly 15-25k on my loans, plus get myself out of the ~5k debt that I’m in before I leave school; and this is largely because of my school experience.
My loans are huge – I don’t just have monkeys on my back, I have elephants, but I’m throwing 25-50% of what I make at my debt at every turn, and I hope to be 100% out of debt with 10-20k in the bank before I’m 35. (I am currently 23.) and -that- is with only making less then 30k per year.
@thadrd: “and have done a great job at convincing everyone that they need a degree or they fail at life.”
Unfortunately, at a community college, I have a lot of students who DID learn a trade and stick with it, and they get to a certain point in their career where the company says “We want to promote you, but we require a degree for that position.” So they’re in my class trying to finish credits as fast as humanly possible.
My suggestion: If you go right into the workforce, take advantage of tuition reimbursement, or get your butt to the local CC, and go class-at-a-time and knock off your distribution/gen ed requirements so that if you DO reach that point, you’re halfway done and maybe already have an associates degree.
It’s absurd for businesses to require BAs for things that used to require a high school education and a show of competence, but it’s the reality of the American work world today.
I generally wouldn’t accept community college transfers. I believe the quality of education there is lower, and on your cv you have to state you did community college for 2 years. I think employers look down on that. I don’t think there are any positives to community college.
Everybody I know at my uni who came from community college came very unprepared for real university. I know a guy who lost a year because he couldn’t take physical chemistry when he needed to because the school didn’t want his community college units for prerequisite classes. And that leads me to something else – you may think you are saving money – but there is a huge chance that they will not accept your transfer units, and you may lose a year. It is up to the department. This same guy I know who lost a year had to retake an organic chemistry class and several math courses. Pointless.
I think the whole saving money at community college thing only works for pointless major studies anyway (communications).
If you study something worthwhile (engineering, science) they are less likely to accept your units but you can get a decent job after school or, like me, not have to pay tuition as a graduate student – and instead get paid by the department.
@justseth: I think that is highly variable. The CC I’m in has the best program in the state for the AA I’m working towards (Sign Language Interpretation) and the school I’m thinking of transferring to has already said that they will accept my credits and is working with me to take the best classes.
I think your transfer comment has less to do with the community college and more to do with the school. Like it has been mentioned above, many states have agreements where they accept an AA or AS to complete all the lower-level classes as long as you stay in state. I know my state does. I think the better advice would be that if you plan to go to a CC, research the school and plan ahead, then work with the school you want to transfer to to make sure that you’re taking the correct classes. If your friend would’ve done that, he probably wouldn’t have taken classes that weren’t applicable or he could’ve taken the correct classes for cheaper if they were available.
“Families that are worrying about paying the cost of the college their child wants to attend should talk with the financial aid office as soon as possible, says Phil Day, president of the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators.”
Make sure you have access to your student’s file first if you’re a parent. Some schools interpret the Federal Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) to mean that no one but the student gets access to the file if the student hasn’t made provision for it first. (Hooray for protecting students’ identities and aid!)
How about bringing back manufacturing jobs to America? Seriously, there are people who just aren’t meant for college, but that doesn’t mean they should be poor their whole lives. It’s a joke to believe EVERYONE should be going to college. That leads to all the damn worthless go-nowhere jobs than nonetheless require a degree. For what? To drive a bus?!? You have to be joking.
@justseth: You must not be in a state where transfer credits are standardized. Many states have a statewide system where CCs and state 4-years get together on what the requirements for a transferrable course are, and then guarantee the credits.
(The only sticky wicket students run in to is that some classes are transferrable as Gen Ed but NOT in-major, and they are sometimes confused about this despite available advisement.)
Statistically, students who leave my CC for the 4-years tend to out-perform their 4-year classmates in their junior and senior years. (And incidentally, in summer classes I get Ivy League students home for the summer knocking out Gen Ed requirements in my classroom, and they DO get accepted as transfer credits.) But it is a matter of state standards and of CC (and uni) culture; some CCs are where burnouts go to, well, burn out more. My classes are a mix of high school students off to elite colleges knocking off Gen Eds because they’re done with APs, single moms and blue collar workers working towards a degree, first-in-the-family-to-college inner city and farm kids starting slow before going OFF to school, blue-collar children saving money for two years, and burn outs who suddenly woke back up.