Student Loans - What's Your Story?- Page 2

[mejusthavingfun]

Posted: 5/20/08 at 4:13pm

"The system seems to be working great for the lower class, but the middle class get screwed. At least all of my middle class friends and I. "

YOU ARE NOT MIDDLE CLASS!

[Revolutionary]

Posted: 5/20/08 at 4:16pm

I've been paying my own way entirely since I was 15. Not because I 'had to', my parents are loaded and they would still be paying my credit card statements now if I asked them too, but I've always had issues with both my parents, and I've always been independent and I've never liked taking things from them. So what did I do? I got a work permit when I was 15, worked about 25-30 hours a week at the same job until senior year, and I saved, saved, saved. I applied and got a couple government issued grants, steered way clear of student loans, and by the time I rolled on into college I had about $25,000 of 'living money' in my bank account. That head start was all I really needed, and it's been smooth sailing since. After freshman year, I got a different job working part time in the restaurant industry, and three years later I'm still at the same job. I work like 3 or 4 nights a week or two sets of double shifts on Saturday and Sunday and I come home with about $1200 in nontaxable (hah) cash every week.

Oh, and by the way I live in San Francisco, where the living costs are argueably higher then NYC. I'm not constantly on the go, going from class to some incredibly difficult and draining job back to a cramped apartment with 5 roommates or anything. Being a waitress is easy, and for the amount of actual work it's a really great paying job, despite what some people say. I go to class, I learn a lot, I work with great people and have fun and get great food, I spend exactly what I know I can spend, I save a certain amount every single month and put it into a CD every 6 months where it will gain interest and grow, I'm responsible when it comes to using my credit card... and that's it. It's so simple, and I have a pretty nice life. I've got a nice apartment, a car, health insurance, a dog, and a good amount of expendable income. To be fair my tuition is pretty low (about $4000 a year), but even considering that, even if it was triple the amount I know I would be able to make due.

So what's my point? Every teenager needs to get a part time job. There would be less problems/financial aid crisises if kids spent less time hanging out doing nothing after school and a little more time learning responsibilty and what it means to go out and be a productive member of society and to make money. When you get to college lay off the binge drinking and get a job. If you don't like working or if you think you won't have enough time or you'll be too tired, then suck it up and find something that you know you will enjoy doing, and start off slow until you get the hang of it. Be aware of your own finances and be smart, work hard, don't be lazy, and you'll be able to completely stand on your own two feet. And even if you do decide to get some kind of financial aid, it won't be a huge amount that will completely cripple your life once you graduate because you'll know that you'll be able to pay it off starting right from day one. It won't hurt you a bit because you'll already have a head start.



Updated On: 5/20/08 at 04:16 PM

[SonofMammaMiaSam]

Posted: 5/20/08 at 4:18pm

If you want to talk about the system, talk about the system without inserting your personal experience in it. We don't need facts if you stick with the generics, and you might keep yourself out of trouble.

[mejusthavingfun]

Posted: 5/20/08 at 4:21pm

Goodonya Rev!

Capn' you have money and time to go to Yankee stadium and are bitching about money. You know what I would have given to be able hit up a game during college?

You haven't a clue about what you are talking about. I'm not going to say the system is perfect. George Bush has done nothing but put more people on financial aid the last 8 years. Making it more and more difficult for the real middle class to go to school.

What it sounds like right now is you are living beyond your means and taking advantage of your parents. You need to man up and take on some responsibility. There are men your age over in Iraq defending your right to be in college. Your own father has to bag groceries, and what exactly do you do on the weekends?

Middle Class my ass!

[LePetiteFromage]

Posted: 5/20/08 at 4:22pm

Updated On: 1/23/09 at 04:22 PM

[Unknown User]

Posted: 5/20/08 at 4:23pm

FYI: "Each year, thousands of students declare bankruptcy soon-after undergraduate school and the numbers continue to climb."

If they do it's not because of student Loans- they are not wiped out due to bankruptcy and cannot be voided.

[CapnHook]

Posted: 5/20/08 at 4:26pm

"If you want to talk about the system, talk about the system without inserting your personal experience in it. We don't need facts if you stick with the generics, and you might keep yourself out of trouble."

SonofMammaMiaSam, I was telling my some of my story and the point of this thread was to ask others for their stories. Positive or negative. (Thanks Revolutionary and hollywearsprada for yours.)

mejusthavingfun - what class would you put me in? (Since my father lost his job, our new household income has been $75,000.)

ETA - We were given free tickets to the Yankees game. We are staying, for free, at my father's sister's home in Poughkeepsie. My aunt's family wanted us to come up to visit and do something fun together. Is that a crime?

And the assumptions keep coming, eh? I have three part-time jobs at the moment: movie theatre, Chick-fil-A, and at a library as a bellboy. This on top of theatre jobs. The struggle I have in maintaining a job is transportation. I do not yet have my driver's license. I hadn't had it due to medical reasons but I was cleared three years ago. I never had the chance to go to driving school and thus I still do not know how to drive. The past two summers I had theatre jobs out-of-state where I didn't need a car. This is the first time in four years where I needed a car. I've been relying and friends, family, and college professors to get me places - in addition to public transportation.

Updated On: 5/20/08 at 04:26 PM

[mc1227]

Posted: 5/20/08 at 4:28pm

In terms of foreign students getting financial aid, there are no foreign students who are not citizens getting federal or state aid. They are probably getting institutional funding to attend a college. The schools like to brag about diversity and the real reason is that they want students who will bring their scores up to make them look like a better school. Hence, more Asians and students from India getting academic money.

The system is far from perfect and alot of the problems stem from Americans trying to beat the system. How many sudden breakups of marriages occur when its time to fill out the FAFSA? Way too many. Also, this advice is too late for your situation, but for people still in school, please go to your financial aid office and ask someone to help you complete the Federal form for financial aid. So many people do not complete it correctly and therefore don't get the aid they should get. Just like taxes, let professionals help you.

[mejusthavingfun]

Posted: 5/20/08 at 4:35pm

"mejusthavingfun - what class would you put me in? (Since my father lost his job, our new household income has been $75,000.) "

If your income has really dropped you can go to a financial aid consular and talk to him/her about what has changed. That new income would be the “new” middle class. That said, with the previous income I expect your family to be sitting on some assets. Your parents obviously have the skills/experience to be high earners and not near average retiring age.

Understand though, you come from a privileged background. You can go on and on about your families dire straights, but that is life. The same life the real middle and lower classes have. We all know death, sicknesses and taxes.

You may not feel it now but you are blessed. You live a life very few in this world will ever see. Step outside of your shoes sometime and look around.

[CJR]

Posted: 5/20/08 at 4:43pm

(Since my father lost his job, our new household income has been $75,000.)

Still nothing to complain about for a family of four in NC.

As for the pity party about your license, suck it up and do it the old fashioned way. Get someone with a license to sit in the passenger seat and you drive the car. Driving, really is NOT that difficult. You don't need driving hours or driving school since you are over the age of 18. Practice, get comfortable and take your test.

Revolutionary -- GREAT story. I nannied all through middle and high school (I don't have the dexterity to waitress thanks to gymnastics injuries) and made bank. I put it all away, but unfortunately wiped through most of it when I moved back home at 22. I'd been laid off and while I got a hefty severance package, my mother had decided to stop paying her rent and bills in protest (of what, Im not sure, but she was the reason I moved back and started paying for everything. I had a little brother i had to worry about).

I have great respect for people who take matters into their own hands and basically take control of their own destiny. Good for you, Rev, and everyone else in this thread who has done so!

Updated On: 5/20/08 at 04:43 PM

[SonofMammaMiaSam]

Posted: 5/20/08 at 4:46pm

Exactly CJR! Capn, if it's so tough, take a year off from school, get a full job, help your parents get back on track.
College does not have to be contiguous. Stop whining and suck it up, or shut up.

[CapnHook]

Posted: 5/20/08 at 5:01pm

CJR - driving school isn't an option. A friend is going to teach me next month. Again, part of the problem was insurance. How it works in NC, apparently, is 1) you get insurance, 2) you get your permit, 3) you get your license. So I'll have to take up the additional expense and get the license. Somehow I'll get a car.

Instead of everyone attacking me because of your ignorance in assuming things about my life situation, why don't you tell me YOUR story. How much were your loans when you graduated? How much did your family make? How much do you make now? What financial assistance did you receive?

I'm not here to BITCH. I merely presented FACTS about my circumstances. The purpose of my posting here was to get YOUR story. I'm gathering research for a documentary.

I'm not here to get advice or to get pity or "whine" about how I think my life is the worst (which I don't).

[Unknown User]

Posted: 5/20/08 at 5:04pm

Ladies and Gentlemen! Please place your wager now: How many posts before Capn changes the thread title to "PLEASE DELETE" and posts a "goodbye cruel board" message? I think he'll break in 18.

[mejusthavingfun]

Posted: 5/20/08 at 5:05pm

CRJ you ROCK!

Capn' I guess we need more details if you want us to back off. I really want to know where your spending money comes from. Do your parents give you some kind of allowance?

I would love to take a poll on this board and see how many people would sit idly by while their father was bagging groceries at 50 to pay for their grown son's private education.

If you were my kid you'd better have a 4.0 and a second major in biology to be playing that game.

[CapnHook]

Posted: 5/20/08 at 5:18pm

"Capn' I guess we need more details if you want us to back off."

What I don't understand is why do you have to attack in the first place? Never did I say that I'm in a situation I can't manage. I am on the understanding that for the next 30 years I will be working to pay off my loans, just like everyone else in the world.

I've always ignored assholes on this board, such as JoeKv99. But others on here I am surprised at, including CJR.

A-G-A-I-N, I have done two (and now three) things:
1) Asked for your financial aid stories.
2) Provided my own.
And now 3) Answered questions given to me and defended myself against assumptions.

What is the miscommunication here? Did somebody read somewhere that I think I deserve free money over somebody who makes less income than my family? Did somebody read somewhere that I think I have it BAD, unmanagable, and that I think I am doomed?

I don't get why I have to defend myself? Please enlighten me. Why do you think I am bitching at MY sitution? The only thing I have done is PROVIDED my story and you all ASSUMED that I was bitching. I wasn't. I was informing about what my circumstances were and what kind of aid I received. That is the information I was seeking from everyone.

[SonofMammaMiaSam]

Posted: 5/20/08 at 5:25pm

Pity you haven't learned anything at that overpriced private college you attend. Since my tax dollars pay for your loans, I demand a refund.

[orangeskittles]

Posted: 5/20/08 at 5:30pm

I never had a student loan and I was completely college debt free when each of the diploma's were handed to me.

SOMMS, how much was a year of tuition, housing and fees when you were in college? Not to be rude, I'm just curious about the comparison. It's very difficult now for a student to make enough to pay for college out of pocket while holding down a full course load- even at an "inexpensive" state school. State schools are charging about $20,000 a year for resident students. When my dad went to the same university 30 years ago, it was $1500 a year.

[LePetiteFromage]

Posted: 5/20/08 at 5:30pm

Updated On: 1/23/09 at 05:30 PM

[caitiesus1522]

Posted: 5/20/08 at 5:31pm

My advice, don't consider making this documentary about yourself. Go and make it about people who are REALLY struggling. Like my best friend who is going to a state school and is completely financially independent and has problems with getting loans, let alone paying them off. She got 1/4 tuition because they don't give much scholarship money (she had a 4.1 in hs and a 34 on the SAT). And 1/2 of the other 3/4 she pays for every semester and has 3 jobs plus classes and clinical.

And there other thousands of students who are doing the same thing and they are the one who deserve the help, not you and me.

I am not complaining about all the loans I have because I picked a school knowing I wouldn't get much from FASFA and I would need to take up loans. But I decided it would be worth it for what I was getting and have been saving up my money NOW while still in school for that time when I don't have a job, but owe money for loans.

You are not the one who is hurting, you made your decision for college and now you have to live with the consequences.

[harris007]

Posted: 5/20/08 at 5:35pm

maybe he can make a movie about roadside deer

Updated On: 5/20/08 at 05:35 PM

[SonofMammaMiaSam]

Posted: 5/20/08 at 5:38pm

It'a a fair question skittles. My all inclusive tuition at a very good state school in North Carolina was about $2,500 a year thirty years ago. However, minimum wage was something like $1.65. It took me a full year (with a raise, or two) to save $3,000 for my first year. By the way, I was 17. I worked part time throughout college in the Dean's office as a secretary and full time summers for a moving company to pay for the other three years. I graduated debt free. I completed the second masters degree five years ago and it cost me $15,000 for two years of excelerated program. I never borrowed a dime. I went back to eating mac and cheese and no movies.

[CapnHook]

Posted: 5/20/08 at 5:40pm

I AM NOT MAKING THE DOCUMENTARY ABOUT MYSELF! I AM MAKING IT ABOUT THE SYSTEM AND HOW IT WORKS!

"You are not the one who is hurting, you made your decision for college and now you have to live with the consequences."

Yes, I am hurting, but OF COURSE not as much as thousands of others! OF COURSE I made the decision to have this debt!

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 5/20/08 at 5:45pm

State schools are 20 grand a year now?

[SonofMammaMiaSam]

Posted: 5/20/08 at 5:59pm

My university in North Carolina charges $12,500 a year for instate students and that is inclusive of housing, meals, books and fees. That's only $10,000 more than I paid thirty years ago. Still a huge bargain.

[orangeskittles]

Posted: 5/20/08 at 6:26pm

It is shocking how much inflation has occurred. A lot of students (and their parents, who should have a better understanding of loans and finances) don't even bother considering the option of paying as they go. Banks start knocking down the door as soon as you turn 16 offering you more money than you could ever hope make in a year, schools send out brochures with acceptance letters, so it's easier to take the loans. Not right, obviously, but there are too many people buying into the system for there to be a wide variety of options for students. There are only so many scholarships out there.

I worked part time in college and I'm now taking time off to save enough to finish, a process now impeded by having to pay back my loans.


You are not the one who is hurting, you made your decision for college and now you have to live with the consequences.

This is rich, coming from the poster who started a thread to whine that her parents wouldn't let her transfer schools for the second time to be closer to her boyfriend.


Phyllis, it depends which state, but that's the cost here.

Updated On: 5/20/08 at 06:26 PM