OT: Question about student loans for graduate school.

[LionJim]

My younger one just graduated Slippery Rock and is planning on doing an online program from USC. (Yeah, go ahead and pile on. She even has an USC sticker on her car. She wants to go up to the Akron game with me and I told her, "Not in that car.") Anyway, we were able to do without a loan for her undergraduate degree but we're a little leery about doing this again. I'm told that federal loans for grad school are out and that it has to be a private loan. Thanks in advance for any advice.

 

[Art]

My younger one just graduated Slippery Rock and is planning on doing an online program from USC. (Yeah, go ahead and pile on. She even has an USC sticker on her car. She wants to go up to the Akron game with me and I told her, "Not in that car.") Anyway, we were able to do without a loan for her undergraduate degree but we're a little leery about doing this again. I'm told that federal loans for grad school are out and that it has to be a private loan. Thanks in advance for any advice.

No, there are federal loans for graduate students. Your daughter can borrow a bit more than $20k p.a. in unsubsidized Stafford loans and anything beyond that as a federal Plus loan. Both start accruing interest as soon as they are drawn and both have origination fees.

In order to generate volume, private lenders offer loans at what are often lower rates than these federal programs. The downside to these is that the borrower is not afforded the same protections and advantages on repaymnent.

So you daughter has options. Unfortunately there are no slam-dunks in this arena, so your family will need to do a considerable amount of homework and soul-searching.

Good luck.

 

[TiredOldLion]

My daughter did federal loans for grad school. Forty grand for tuition and living expenses to do an MBA from Franklin Univ in Cbus. It was doable even on top of the undergrad loans.
The earnings based repayment plan really helped the first couple years. Just make sure you keep up on the interest.

 

[mn78psu83]

What the heck. Forgive her. They have the best unis in all of sport.

 

[Mack_Daddy]

My younger one just graduated Slippery Rock and is planning on doing an online program from USC. (Yeah, go ahead and pile on. She even has an USC sticker on her car. She wants to go up to the Akron game with me and I told her, "Not in that car.") Anyway, we were able to do without a loan for her undergraduate degree but we're a little leery about doing this again. I'm told that federal loans for grad school are out and that it has to be a private loan. Thanks in advance for any advice.

How many grand kids do you want? Do you want your daughter to be a stay at home mom or do you want her working and her kids be raised in day care?

Student loans can quickly balloon into a monthly bill like an alimony payment.

Have her work a few years in her field and then decide. And, ask her how many kids she wants.

 

[Art]

How many grand kids do you want? Do you want your daughter to be a stay at home mom or do you want her working and her kids be raised in day care?

Student loans can quickly balloon into a monthly bill like an alimony payment.

Have her work a few years in her field and then decide. And, ask her how many kids she wants.

And here you have it, the source of all wisdom when it comes to matters financial and, especially, of raising a family..

 

[Mack_Daddy]

And here you have it, the source of all wisdom when it comes to matters financial and, especially, of raising a family..

And, religion, too. You left that out.

 

[mn78psu83]

And, religion, too. You left that out.

I've always thought you were spiritual, not necessarily religious.

 

[lionlurker]

What the heck. Forgive her. They have the best unis in all of sport.

Yes, without those uniforms they'd be nothing to write home about.

 

[Mack_Daddy]

I've always thought you were spiritual, not necessarily religious.

I am spiritual. When some religious nutcase puts a bullet in my head, my "spirit" is gonna come back and haunt Art.

 

[bjf1991]

And here you have it, the source of all wisdom when it comes to matters financial and, especially, of raising a family..

Classic!!!

 

[Art]

I am spiritual. When some religious nutcase puts a bullet in my head, my "spirit" is gonna come back and haunt Art.

Yeah, the "spirit" of McDoucheness:

 

[tboyer]

My younger one just graduated Slippery Rock and is planning on doing an online program from USC. (Yeah, go ahead and pile on. She even has an USC sticker on her car. She wants to go up to the Akron game with me and I told her, "Not in that car.") Anyway, we were able to do without a loan for her undergraduate degree but we're a little leery about doing this again. I'm told that federal loans for grad school are out and that it has to be a private loan. Thanks in advance for any advice.

She should pay as she goes. Take one course at a time while working full time, she should be able to do it. She will realize in a hurry how horribly overpriced the USC tuition is. (And btw the Penn State World Campus tuition is obnoxiously expensive too).

High priced online courses should be approached with EXTREME CAUTION. Is there a job at the end of the road that will justify the cost? An online master's at USC tuition rates could easily get to $50,000-$80,000 in costs.

I just HATE that these colleges market (and yes, college football is the biggest part of their marketing) these overpriced and often useless degree programs and then kids spend the rest of their life as basically indentured servants, unable to ever buy a house or afford a middle class standard of living.

Student loan debt is the worst debt out there because it is not dischargeable in bankruptcy. If you rack up $100k in debt and not able to pay it back for any reason, bascially you can kiss 1/3 of your wages goodbye for the REST OF YOUR LIFE.

 

[LionJim]

Tom, thanks for the carefully researched and thought-out response.

Yeah, she'll have a job down the road, without question. She majored in Recreational Therapy/Gerontology and she'd always be able to find employment. She told me yesterday that her masters would cost $30K, which is something she'd be able to make up over six or eight years, so it's definitely worth it. We're looking at different ways to pay for this. I forget if I mentioned this in my original thread, but we were able to pay for her bachelor's degree without any loans. We've been lucky in that regard (it helps to be in academe).

Your warning, and Felli's, about the dangers of getting in over your heads with student loans are very well taken and I guess anyone with kids in high school benefited from this thread.

 

[BiochemPSU]

Don't be afraid of loans, especially for your education or self improvement so that you can make a better life for yourself. Unless you are already a multi-millionaire, you will need to finance your education; it's really the only way in today's world. Some people are able to do the work and school thing simultaneously; but most can't and really should focus on actually learning and getting the degree.

I would rather my kid go $50k in debt for a degree that will give him/her a better shot at living a good/fulfilling life than a $30k car loan with some eye cringing credit card debt trying to keep up with the Jones. As long as you are willing to work hard, dedicate yourself to your profession, and honestly and fairly evaluate your employment earnings in the select field upon graduation, go for it and don't look back. You'll pay the loans off.

 

[Mack_Daddy]

Don't be afraid of loans, especially for your education or self improvement so that you can make a better life for yourself. Unless you are already a multi-millionaire, you will need to finance your education; it's really the only way in today's world. Some people are able to do the work and school thing simultaneously; but most can't and really should focus on actually learning and getting the degree.

I would rather my kid go $50k in debt for a degree that will give him/her a better shot at living a good/fulfilling life than a $30k car loan with some eye cringing credit card debt trying to keep up with the Jones. As long as you are willing to work hard, dedicate yourself to your profession, and honestly and fairly evaluate your employment earnings in the select field upon graduation, go for it and don't look back. You'll pay the loans off.

Yeah. We all need a car to get to and from our jobs, too.

Just don't be foolish and buy a used Camry for $160,000. Only to realize, many years later, you couldve gotten the same car for only $19,000.

 

[rohrmd9]

Maybe overstating the obvious and maybe your daughters situation is different but many companies will foot the bill for grad school provided the courses are even slightly related to the work. So have her work for a few years and then her education will probably be paid for.

 

[LionJim]

Maybe overstating the obvious and maybe your daughters situation is different but many companies will foot the bill for grad school provided the courses are even slightly related to the work.

Yes, she mentioned that yesterday. She's serving her second internship right now (graduated on Saturday, at work on Monday) and both places she's had her internship have programs like this. That's nice.

 

[rohrmd9]

Yes, she mentioned that yesterday. She's serving her second internship right now (graduated on Saturday, at work on Monday) and both places she's had her internship have programs like this. That's nice.

I will offer this though from personal experience...I waited 10 years to go back for my masters and while my company paid for it all, by then I had been married and had a kid, so balancing work, school and family life made for a very busy and sometimes stressful time.

 

[tboyer]

I probably shouldn't have gone all Cassandra on you.... $30k for a masters seems within reason as long as there is a payoff career-wise.

I have a kid (also without undergrad loans) who borrowing about that much for a graduate degree, and she should be able to make $80-$120k at the end -- so the loan payments shouldn't be a problem.

Back to your original question, Stafford Loans are interesting for people in health professions because there are federal loan repayment programs for people working in nonprofit/public service jobs. The loan repayment can help make up for the lower salary someone may take to work, say, for a rural health clinic.

I'm not sure anybody should plan on these repayment programs existing (or Stafford loans PERIOD, for that matter) because of the one-party control of Washington. If that party can get its act together and start steamrolling stuff through, pretty much everything not military-related is going to go away. (These people really mean business. The country will not even vaguely resemble itself in a few years.)

Still, Staffords give you at least the faint hope of repayment programs down the line; private loans do not. And if you want to reduce the interest rate later, as long as your kid has a good credit rating, there are lots of companies refinancing Staffords down to 3-4% which greatly reduces interest costs.

Anyway, it is super complicated, but I'm sure you and your daughter have the tools to sort this out.

Tom, thanks for the carefully researched and thought-out response.

Yeah, she'll have a job down the road, without question. She majored in Recreational Therapy/Gerontology and she'd always be able to find employment. She told me yesterday that her masters would cost $30K, which is something she'd be able to make up over six or eight years, so it's definitely worth it. We're looking at different ways to pay for this. I forget if I mentioned this in my original thread, but we were able to pay for her bachelor's degree without any loans. We've been lucky in that regard (it helps to be in academe).

Your warning, and Felli's, about the dangers of getting in over your heads with student loans are very well taken and I guess anyone with kids in high school benefited from this thread.

 

[Agoodnap]

Tom, thanks for the carefully researched and thought-out response.

Yeah, she'll have a job down the road, without question. She majored in Recreational Therapy/Gerontology and she'd always be able to find employment. She told me yesterday that her masters would cost $30K, which is something she'd be able to make up over six or eight years, so it's definitely worth it. We're looking at different ways to pay for this. I forget if I mentioned this in my original thread, but we were able to pay for her bachelor's degree without any loans. We've been lucky in that regard (it helps to be in academe).

Your warning, and Felli's, about the dangers of getting in over your heads with student loans are very well taken and I guess anyone with kids in high school benefited from this thread.

I know nothing about her major, but I assume the brick and mortar schools have grad students teaching the lower level classes and assisting on the upper level classes. Those students are usually on an assistantship which includes full tuition plus a monthly stipend. When I was in grad school my monthly stipend was $551 take home. That was plenty for the early eighties.

I don't know her GPA, but don't let that keep her from trying. Many grad students are ESL foreign students and therefore have some difficulty with communication. A good student with English as a first language will be in demand for those teaching positions. Plus, it's a lot of fun!

 

[91Joe95]

My younger one just graduated Slippery Rock and is planning on doing an online program from USC. (Yeah, go ahead and pile on. She even has an USC sticker on her car. She wants to go up to the Akron game with me and I told her, "Not in that car.") Anyway, we were able to do without a loan for her undergraduate degree but we're a little leery about doing this again. I'm told that federal loans for grad school are out and that it has to be a private loan. Thanks in advance for any advice.

While not highly rated, University of South Carolina seems like a nice enough place.

 

[Ranger Dan]

What the heck. Forgive her. They have the best unis in all of sport.

It's not the uniforms, but what's under the uniform that counts... I'd bet that those women would be just as beautiful with no clothes on at all.

 

[BobPSU92]

What the heck. Forgive her. They have the best unis in all of sport.

Women are so cool.

 

[Lyons212]

Don't be afraid of loans, especially for your education or self improvement so that you can make a better life for yourself. Unless you are already a multi-millionaire, you will need to finance your education; it's really the only way in today's world. Some people are able to do the work and school thing simultaneously; but most can't and really should focus on actually learning and getting the degree.

I would rather my kid go $50k in debt for a degree that will give him/her a better shot at living a good/fulfilling life than a $30k car loan with some eye cringing credit card debt trying to keep up with the Jones. As long as you are willing to work hard, dedicate yourself to your profession, and honestly and fairly evaluate your employment earnings in the select field upon graduation, go for it and don't look back. You'll pay the loans off.

Key is that student loan debt is not dischargeable in bankruptcy while a car/student load debt is. If you are going to borrow for college, make sure it is for a degree that can get you a job that pays a solid salary to pay back the student loans.

You don't want to be that person who borrows $75 - $100K to get a sociology degree, can't find a job and then wonders why they can't get married. Student loan debt can be a millstone around your neck.

 

[kgilbert78]

My niece is going to Kent State as they had the best package that should allow her to attain her goal of graduation debt-free with no loans. I was impressed with her wisdom as such a young age. She's also working hard as jobs right now to save more money for school. Proud of her.

 

[LionJim]

My niece is going to Kent State as they had the best package that should allow her to attain her goal of graduation debt-free with no loans. I was impressed with her wisdom as such a young age. She's also working hard as jobs right now to save more money for school. Proud of her.

I really wish that back when I was starting out I had my head screwed on the way your niece and my daughter have theirs.

 

[kgilbert78]

I really wish that back when I was starting out I had my head screwed on the way your niece and my daughter have theirs.

Not sure I did--but my tuition was only $1K a year back then. While I did need some student loans, I did pay them off fairly quickly when I was done. Of course I was paid, kinda, for grad school as I was in science. Still, $300 a month did not go far (I had to pay room and board out of that, though tuition was covered).

 

[LionJim]

Not sure I did--but my tuition was only $1K a year back then. While I did need some student loans, I did pay them off fairly quickly when I was done. Of course I was paid, kinda, for grad school as I was in science. Still, $300 a month did not go far (I had to pay room and board out of that, though tuition was covered).

I'm talking about general focus and dedication, not about $$$. It took me a long, long time to grow up. Nowadays, you can't mess around the way I did and be successful.