Ask Felicia – Question and Answer

Posted on July 3, 2009 | Filed Under student loans

I am a 21 year old, single college student, about to begin the nursing program at my local community college. I have $14,616.28 in medical bills due to having emergency surgery and no health insurance. I work full time, support myself, and attend college full time. My parents are unwilling to help me with my college expenses, and because of my age I am considered of dependant status, but ineligible for and federal financial aid according to FAFSA. With the economy and my small salary as a waitress dwindling weekly because of it, and credit that has been devoured by my medical bills, I am truely wondering where my tuition money is coming from for this next semester. I was hoping to get a private loan for about $35,000 to pay off my medical bills, reestablish my credit, and foot the tuition of me finishing my degree for the next 2 years. I do have a cosigner, but am not sure where to look for loans that will be paid directly to me, or what other options i may even have.
thank you

Jacqueline Harding
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Dear Jacqueline,
Having a co-signer will be key to you taking out a loan for $35,000. Your best bet for a student loan would be the federal programs BEFORE you would even consider a private loans. The loans have greater flexibility for repayment than private loans including two new programs that you might be able to take advantage of when you graduate.

You will find a number of loan forgiveness programs for nurses that you might be able to take advantage of at: http://www.finaid.org/loans/forgiveness.phtml. Many of these program will forgive up to 60% of your loans if using federal loans not private loans.

In addition, there is the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Loan program that offers to forgive any loan balance you still have outstanding after 120 on-time payments if you work as a nurse in a clinical setting or as a full-time professionals engaged in health care practitioner occupations and health care support occupations.

And finally, there is the Income-Based Repayment program that ties your repayment to your income. This might be especially helpful when you first graduate college and before you are making great income as a nurse. However both of the two last programs are only available to you if you take out loans from the federal government rather that taking out private loans.

Unfortunately, the federal programs will not allow you to borrow as much as you need and will often make the checks payable to you and the college rather than to you personally.

I’d suggest you take out as much as you qualify for from the federal government and then have your co-signer help you with the rest.

Dedicated to college success,

Felicia Gopaul
College Funding Resource

http://www.CollegeFundingResource.com/ask-felicia/

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Ask Felicia – Question and Answer

Posted on July 3, 2009 | Filed Under student loans

I will be attending Kaplan University Online starting July 1st. My tuition is paid for and everything is all set. My problem is that I need to get some sort of loan to cover my rent, utilities, etc. I’ve been searching the internet and really haven’t learned that much. I basically need a separate loan to make sure I don’t end up homeless. I need to money before July 1st. Please contact me as soon as possible. Thank you.

Glenn Smith
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Dear Glenn,
Obtaining a loan should start with completing the FAFSA form. Assuming you’ve done that, by now your college should have already sent you a financial aid award that let’s you know how much in federal student loans you are eligible to receive from the federal government. You ALWAYS want to go with federal loans before considering private loans.

You can get a loan from both public and private companies. You may want to visit http://www.plan-save-pay-for-college.com/state-programs.html to find out about loans that are available from the state higher education authorities throughout the US. In addition, many of the major banking institutions offer student loans. You can check out the websites of: Citicorp, PNC Bank, Sallie Mae among others as you shop for the best loan for your finances.

If you are not planning on working while you are in school, you may find that you will need to get a co-signer to qualify for a student loan. Many people are finding it much harder (if not impossible) to secure a loan without a job, great credit and/or a co-signer.

If you are looking for information about the types of federal loans that are available, please visit: http://studentaid.ed.gov/PORTALSWebApp/students/english/studentloans.jsp

Dedicated to college success,

Felicia Gopaul
College Funding Resource

http://www.CollegeFundingResource.com

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Ask Felicia – Question and Answer

Posted on July 3, 2009 | Filed Under Grants, Scholarships

My husband got laid off and my daughter is about to start the senior year in college. Are there any scholarships or grants where she can get funding?

Thanks for your advice.

Rejini Ravindran
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Dear Rejini,
You may not have time to get the scholarships and grants that you need at this point. My first suggestion is to go back to your daughter’s college and ask if the financial aid office can use “professional jjudgement” based on the fact that your husband was laid off. You may find the financial aid office is able to offer more in financial aid when they reevaluate your situation.

In addition, have your daughter look for scholarships from professional organizations in her major as well as scholarship opportunities based on your heritage. Also have her talk her department head to see if there are opportunities he/she know of that will help bridge the gap for her final year.

Based on your reduced income, you may also qualify for grants that you had not previously qualified for so make sure you’ve completed the financial aid forms.

Finally, in her final year you might also have your daughter take out the maximum amount of federal Stafford loans. Also look in some unlikely places for where you might draw money for college including borrowing or withdrawing it from cash value life insurance policies.

Good luck.

Dedicated to college success,

Felicia Gopaul
College Funding Resource

http://www.CollegeFundingResource.com/ask-felicia/

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