Fed Financial

How much financial/government aid can a Married couple with 2 kids get for both of us to goto college fulltime

Our ages: 31 & 29 Kids ages: 7 & 3 Tuition cost: $125 Per credit hour Both of us will go full time. We just want to know how much we can get in loans for non-school related things (rent, bills, transportation, food, etc.)? Would also like to know if we can get any government / welfare assistance while we both are full time students? We have poor credit so we are just needing school loans. We can not get anything based on our credit nor anything from any private lender. Any info would be greatly appreciated!

Public Comments

1. Fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). You will need info from your taxes to do this. You can do it online at http://fafsa.ed.gov . Most scholarships require this form to be filled out first.
2. Student Loan can be sought through many different avenues. It all depends on your personal credit rating. The biggest challenge is finding one that offers the lowest interest rate.There are various routes to explore when seeking out a bad credit student loan and I would suggest that your first port of call would be the school for which you are about to attend. You will need to fill out a FAFSA form in order to initially apply for a federal loan. Perkins loans are combined school and government funds. A combination loan may be another alternative way of acquiring a bad credit student loan. This type of student loan enables you to consolidate<!--any existing loans that you have whilst applying for a new tuition loan. The only drawback to this type of loan is that you may need someone to co-sign.Another way to get a bad credit student loan is to get a co-signer. Maybe a family member with good credit would help. This way you could get loans with more attractive interest rates and terms, in spite of your bad credit. You may find the student loan here, http://best-loans.awardspace.com/student-loans.htm Finally, if all else fails you will need to contact banks and financial institutions. They will more than likely be happy to lend you the money, but it will be on a higher interest rate than usual. When you have bad credit the banks will check out your personal credit score first and then offer terms based on the credit rating assessment. Take heart, even if your bad credit student loan is set at a high interest rate, numerous-->student loans defer your payment until you have finished college. This in turn will allow you time to improve your credit rating and when you leave college you could then look into consolidating your bad credit student loan at a better interest rate. This will mean your monthly payments will be at a lower level and therefore more affordable.
3. going along with the first poster, do fafsa first. it is required for the stafford loan (not to mention grants and scholarships) as independant freshmen students, you can each get UP TO 7500 for the academic year (fall to summer, then the amount resets for fall). the thing is, most schools only allow enough to cover tuition and books, they dont always allow more to cover other expenses. those are valid educational expenses (daycare, gas money, rent, just not credit card payments and beer etc) if you talk to your school and explain your costs, they may not have a problem with that. some may need documentation, and some may not allow it at all, (if you are in an area where many students default on their loans)...just talk to your financial aid office for details on that. i dont know anything about welfare. sorry. you want to stay away from private lenders and credit checks. the stafford loan (the one i was talking about earlier) has a fixed rate, no credit check, and has programs available to postpone payments in the event of unemployment and economic hardship. very hard to get in trouble with them. seriously. if you are doing full time (12 hours?), you're looking at 3k in tuition, maybe 500 in books (?) and the rest may be sent to you to cover expenses. thats 11500 left between the two of you. good luck. let me know if you have more questions.