Why don't you consider a new job with more room to advance and get other jobs.

 

Gentlemen I feel your pain... However, living in Canada and having to go through the same thing (really, our system is not socialistic as some naively believe) I had to maintain 2 jobs, one of them I worked until 2:00am and would have 3 out of 5 days with an 8:00am class... I also took out one student loan, which I was honour bound to pay back... My only comment here is, no matter the President, Prime Minister, Dictator or Emporer, higher education comes at a cost and we all enter into that contract with our eyes wide open and it is our duty to pay it back no matter what... There are many, many places in the world that we would not even have a remote chance to better our lives in this way, don't beleive me, check it out... Bottom line, if we choose to accept the terms offerred so that we can better our lives, then all that needs to be done is suck it up and do the right thing, no matter how difficult, this is called character... Just my opinion...

 

Private university is called private for a reason. It's the same as why parents have to spend so much money on private schooling, it usually isn't as funded as much by the government.

Really, if you took out tons of loans because you assumed you could consolidate at a later time and never originally planned to repay all 6 loans at once was a little bit of an error on your part. You borrowed much higher than you thought.

Go to a financial adviser and have a real conversation with an expert. They will set you up, budget you down, and really go through any options that you have. It's very nice when a third party shows you your information in an easy to understand way.

 

We hired a finacial advisor.. pay him 30 bucks a month and he has done wonders for us. Well worth the investment IF YOU FIND A GOOD ONE!

 

That $2000-$2500 mentioned in Monte mods may not make a dent in the short term of your college loans, but it could do a lot for you life in general right now. $2500 for me is almost 3 months of morgage payments (including the monthly insurance/property tax I put into escrow).

Also, if you can apply that amount directly to the loan prinicipal (and not the interest) that does have an effect and begins decreasing how long you will pay on the loan.

One thing people make a mistake on when they pay extra on a loan (thinking they will pay it off faster) is that you are not doing your self any good unless you can ENSURE that amount is applied to prinicipal.

As mentioned, start talking to actual financial advisors. The hardship you are in may be bad, but with proper guidance may get better.

Also, you mentioned you drive a considerable distance to work AND are locked into only being able to work for that one company. Could you make more with two jobs closer to home then one job that costs you a lot in gas?

 

X2 I visit with one on campus every so often. More so just a college financial adviser than your everyday "financial" adviser but still helped me out a ton.

They're going to tell you a few things you probably don't want to hear but that's how it goes. For instance, if you are honest of your spending by telling them you have about $2000 you plan to spend on your car but you have several loans, they'll probably laugh at you (not really but they'll offer other solutions). I personally set up a financial plan that wasn't what the adviser said was best but I've also picked up a second job. The method I set up allows me to continuously add small amounts of money to a car/mod savings while adding much more to a real savings (I try to keep it so 25% for mods 75% for savings, just what I found helpful). I probably add less than $400 into these savings(combined) a month but I also have $400 worth of rent + other bills and not even including daily spending/gas/etc.. +Going to school full-time.

Since starting college and setting up various savings accts. I've never even found it hard to fallow. Online banking makes it simple to. Every payday I just look at how much was deposited and divide it accordingly. I'll agree once you start to save it really is super hard to not just go out and buy a turbo kit but you have to set some priorities and goals. Another extremely hard part is planning for the unexpected. Technically it's impossible but basically what I mean is the more money you have set aside, the less of a blow you take from something coming up. Now that I've summed up my financial outlook

I think a meeting with an adviser would be beneficial regardless of your future plans with paying off loans or spending money on your car or buying a house, whatever the plan.



Also wondering is your full time job related to your schooling/degree in anyway?

 

What I don't understand is why you needed to go to a private university. Also, what did you get your degree in? Something you liked, or something you knew there was a job market for?

I wind up paying half my tuition out of pocket and barely scrape by, the rest in loans and gov't aid, some of which I have to pay back as well. I knew I was never going to have much play money at all when going in to college. I could have taken more loans out and had a little extra cash to play with right now, but I decided to bite the bullet and go broke now and wind up paying less when I'm out of college. Never plan on having a job out of college... that's just not the case anymore. Work towards it, and hope you do, but plan for the worst. It sucks, but you do what you have to.

In reality, everything nonessential to your survival needs to be put on hold. Every little bit of money towards paying your loans off counts. Doesn't matter if you have 100k in loans and 2k you're able to put towards that right now. DO IT. It's not much, but it's still less you have to pay tomorrow (figuratively). You don't know what could happen in the future that could make you really regret not paying that tiny bit of extra cash right now. Oftentimes you get out of a situation what you put into it, whether or not you realize it right away.

 

I know how that all works I have a bs in science with a major in Math. I took them out because I needed them. Only took out what I needed paid the rest in cash/scholarships. Worked everyday while in college to pay for that. I only borrowed 1/5th of actual tuition. My college told me I would be able to consolidate them after graduation so not an error on my part. Before Obama cut private higher education loan amounts you were able to consolidate. The not being able to consolidate part is a new Obama added pos that doesn't make any sense. If it was alsways like that I could understand it would be my bad. But this happened while I was in college about half way through. So only 1/7th (first 2 years) of what I owe is capable of consolidation because the longer I was in the more I needed to take out. And because The amount is so low I get no other perks but to move one small amount into the other. Making 5 loan payments and thats if they take the time to do it.

 

Thanks member's for your post/opinions/advice & respecting each others words.

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Student Loan Repayment Program

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<CITE>www.opm.gov/oca/pay/studentloan/</CITE>
Fact Sheet for Student Loan Repayment Program. ... repayment benefits; and; The cost to the Federal Government of providing student loan repayment benefits<WBR>.


US Office of Personnel ... - 5 U.S.C. 5379 - 5 CFR Part 537 - Sample Plan 1

<LI class=g>FinAid | Loans | Loan Forgiveness




<CITE>www.finaid.org/loans/forgiveness.phtml</CITE>
See Taxability of Student Loan Forgiveness for additional details. Volunteer Work ... Federal Government Loan Forgiveness Programs. Perkins loans and ...



<LI class=g>Student Loan Forgiveness < Stafford Loans Repayment




<CITE>www.staffordloan.com/repayment/forgiveness.php</CITE>
Stafford Loan Forgiveness is a student loan forgiveness program for people who ... Under certain circumstances, the federal government will cancel all or part of ...



<LI class=g>Student Aid on the Web




<CITE>studentaid.ed.gov/</CITE>
New — Recent Changes to the Student Aid Programs; New — Follow @FAFSA on Twitter; New — Public Service Loan Forgiveness Employment Certification ...



<LI class=g>The Basics of Student Loan Forgiveness and Repayment Programs




<CITE>collegesavings.about.com/od/financialaid/a/loanforgiveness.htm</CITE>
Student loan forgiveness programs are those backed by the Federal government and cover loans issued through Federal programs such as Stafford and Perkins ...

</H3>* Thread title revised.

 

Oh and reasons I went private instead of public are: 1. more one on one teacher student interaction, 2. Better education in my fields of study, 3. I was on a football scholarship and started as a freshman lol, 4. Small town atmosphere like where I live, 5. Mom is ill and I was close enough to drive home and help her if need be.

Granted I could have had some of these at say SLU or Wash U but the tuition is just a little less and I would have not gotten the 12k a year scholarship for football like I did. And as far as my major goes I thought a math major would have been highly sought after but they are not without a computer science degree along with it. My job is good for how economy is. I make as much or more starting out then most management positions. Another 6 months I get a 2k pay raise another year and a half is another 2k. Plus if I get promoted its another 7k and a promotion after that is 20k plus bonuses. These all stack btw. So with one promotion in a year and a half thats an extra 11k. Cant ask for much better. What holds me back is the morgage payment I make in gas even driving a v6 monte, insurance, loan payments, car payments, food, ect. My bills are a little over half of what I make a month as is. If you cant comfortably pay bills with 2 weeks pay then you should rethink lifestyle is what I was taught. So until my bills go under half of monthly pay I am stuck. Job does not use my degree whatsoever so I got an expensive piece of paper in a leather bound case.

And the repayment benefits and such dont apply to me. My job does not forgive loans. Gov does not forgive loans for my job. I do get forbearance and deferment if needed but I wont do either. I dont qualify for many of the other benefits/ kickbacks because they are private education loans. All I wanted was a consolidation and extension. Gov would get more money even at a reduced interest rate because of the length of time. I would have more money now less in long run kinda deal. It doesn't make sense that they pick on private education. Republicans are pro private democrats are pro public. Private is cheaper on the gov so you would think they would all back private but not the case.