If You Must Take Out a Student Loan

Take part in a work-study program

A federal program, work-study provides on-campus jobs for students. The college administers the jobs and supervises the workers. Once the student is granted an award, he must work until that award is earned. There is no requirement to pay the money back, even if the student does not graduate.

Look for corporate benefits

Many large corporations have an education reimbursement program for employees who qualify. This can be an excellent way for a student to get plenty of their college costs paid for. Those seeking graduate degrees might consider a job change to a corporation with such a program before enrolling in graduate school.

Serve in the military

For those young people wishing to serve in the military, an excellent education could be a decided benefit. The military will put you through medical school, for instance, if you enter as an o+cer and agree to stay for a period of time upon completing your residency.

Apply for no-need scholarships

There are jillions of scholarships available that are not based on need but rather on ability or one’s ethnic heritage-many of which go unawarded every year. You can find exhaustive lists online at sites such as Fastweb.

Apply for financial aid

Financial aid is a term the educational system uses to refer to grants, loans, work-study, and scholarships. Even if you desire to pay cash rather than accept loans, you might want to go through the financial aid process to learn if you might be eligible for grants or other aid. You need to apply for financial aid at least one year in advance. I suggest that you take a couple of aspirin before getting started, and you will do yourself a big favor if you eliminate all expectations. Learn more at Fafsa.ed.gov.

A friend, Carol Anne, had a

rude awakening while going through this financial aid process when her daughter enrolled at a large, private university. She went through the long and arduous process and discovered to her surprise, that her daughter was eligible for aid for all but $5,000 of her first year’s costs.

Her daughter, a brilliant and highly motivated journalism student, decided to go after every possible scholarship to make up the $5,000 gap. Sure enough, she was selected as the national champion for a journalism scholarship to the college of her choice in the amount of-you guessed it-$5,000.

How shocked they were to be informed by the college that her financial aid would be reduced dollar for dollar by any scholarship she won outside. The college said it wasn’t their fault. They are required to adhere to federal regulations that require all sources of income to be taken into consideration. They saw the scholarship as a new source of income.

In the same way that most people would never be able to buy a home without a mortgage, most people cannot afford a college degree without some amount of financial aid in the form of student loans. I wish that were not the case, but it has become a fact of life.

That being said, here are guidelines to follow to make sure student debt doesn’t become a much larger problem for your future than if you had not gone to school in the first place online payday loans in Paxton.

Only the amount you absolutely must have to get by

It will be tempting to borrow the full amount for which you are eligible. But that could be more than necessary. Be strong. Say thanks but no thanks. Do not accept more than you need so you can do any number of very foolish things with borrowed funds (all taken from the annals of my mailbox):