Fed Financial

Student Loans?

I am curently a sophomore in college, going to be a junior in fall, and I have been debating on whether or not I should stay on campus so I can focus more on my graduate studies. My scholarship covers tuition .... but not housing, so I'd have to take out a student loan in order to do so. Has anyone who has taken out a student loan, had problems paying it after college? Are the payments reasonable? A few of my older coworkers and professors have told me that paying off student loans is a nightmare....is this neccessarily true? I'm an accounting major, The student loan isn't for tuition expenses, my scholarship covers that....just for room and board. :)

Public Comments

1. It would depend on what you are studying so you can have a good job when you graduate. I have to take out student loans for living expenses as well, but I'm not too worried based on my career field. Hopefully you chose a field that offers a decent salary.
2. I have taken out student loans for college and I'm currently paying them back now. I had them all consolidated so I would only have one monthly payment. The payments are very reasonable. You can read about student loans here: http://www.studentfinancedomain.com/student_loans/student_loans.aspx The best type of loan to get is a federal perkins loan: http://www.studentfinancedomain.com/student_loans/perkins_student_loans.aspx And about student loan consolidation here: http://www.studentfinancedomain.com/student_loans/college_student_loan_consolidation.aspx
3. Things to remember when borrowing. Never ever ever ever take out private student loan. Federal loans only. Never borrow your first two years of under grad. Never borrow more than you would expect to earn your first year after graduating with your degree. Example: graduating with a 180K in student loan debt is okay if you are now a plastic surgeon, bad if you are now a kinder-garden teacher. Consolidation is not nec a good thing. If your loans are all federal, consolidation will actually cost you more in the long run. Folks complain about more than one payment, but I had 8 or 9 loans when I graduated and I only made one payment. The bank automatically distributed my payment appropriately to the different loans. Plus consolidating erases all the federal benefits of taking out federal loans in the first place, like mandatory deferment and forgiveness programs. good rule of thumb when borrowing is roughly 10%. Borrow 5K and your payments will be 50 dollars a month. Borrow 10,000 and your payments will be 100 dollars a month. Good luck.