Help! Money! In a pickle!!!

Trauma Columnist · Nov 28, 2006

Hmmm...are you sure about those numbers? I have $41,000 in debt and my payment is only $202/month. However, I always pay way more than that and plan to get it paid off as soon as possible. Are your loans via Sallie Mae? That is the best route to go...this is my second round with student loans.

BSNtobe2009 · Nov 28, 2006

Private student loans that fund an education, are no different than car loans or mortgage loans, it all depends on the terms of the loan, and you can get ripped off royaly unless you educate yourself.

From what you have described, you are paying DOUBLE what the typical private loan goes for.

I would start shopping other places, and compare rates. You need to find out the APR and the Interest Rate that is the NOTE rate, you also need to find out what the terms are...20 years doesn't tell you anything....is it fixed or adjustable? How is it ammortized? Does it have a "teaser rate" that starts out low and then skyrockets.

I post this alot, but everyone needs to know, you can NEVER bankrupt a student loan, so you have to pick your loan very, very carefully and make sure you can live with what you get.

subee, MSN, CRNA · Nov 28, 2006

hey everyone! here is the scoop. i got into a bsn rn program at a private university. i already have a bs so i thought getting the bsn would be a good route for me.. i already have a lot of the prereqs. done which will go toward the bsn degree. the other public (and cheaper school) is around 70 miles one way.. so that is out. here's the deal... for $20,000 for school, it will cost me over $100,000 to pay back over 20 years!!!! the payments will be around $423 a mo. for 20 years!! and that is only for $20,000. i will need around $60,000 to go. gggggeeeezzzzzz! so that means for $60,000 my monthy payments will be $1,200 a month for 20 years!!!! that is horrible! ahhh!!! [color=olive]what do you all do!!! how do you do it!!??aaaahhhhh!! i am really discouraged. i can go, but it will cost a fortune... my husband said that is the cost of a mortgage payment! i am going to apply for scholarships, but oh boy!!!
help! help!!!
e

how could it cost 5 times the amount of the loan? that's double a mortgage payment at around 6% so something is way off in your figures. if you borrow 20,000 @5%, it would cost you 21,000. school is expensive, but unless you're in your fifties, you'll make it back (unless you're a banker).

Epona · Nov 28, 2006

Wow!! Nope.. I know NOTHING about loans. The only loan I have ever paid was my car loan. I know nada about it. It is through Sallie Mae. It is the Tuition Answer. I went with that as other posters on here suggested that one. I heard Sallie has a good rep. That BLEW me away though literally. My Mom is a retired banker and I even stopped by her house today to show her the loan papers. I have already done the application and the money is to be sent to me in a few days. I am up against a time deadline as fees at the school are due by Dec. 1 so I don't have a lot of time to shop around and the financial advisors at the school are useless. That just seems terribly high to me. My credit is not the best, but it's not that bad either. I just bought a new car and the interest was fine. I am deferring all payments until after I graduate so perhaps that is one reason. My husband cannot help me. I am on my own with this. This just seems nuts to me.

Any other suggestions? THANK YOU! E

Epona · Nov 28, 2006

Oh... and my interest rate on the loan is almost 15 percent.

TheCommuter, BSN, RN · Nov 28, 2006

I drove 95 miles one-way to school. Driving is not for everyone, but I would personally drive out of my way to the cheaper public school.

Midwest4me · Nov 28, 2006

Oh... and my interest rate on the loan is almost 15 percent.

It's been many, many years since I had a student loan but I thought the interest rate was 8%(I thought I recently heard that on tv--some newscaster talking about how HIGH the 8% was!) which IS much higher than the 3% rate I had 20 yrs ago---but geez---15% seems ridiculous! ARe you SURE it's 15%?????

futurecnm · Nov 28, 2006

This is why I am getting my degree at a community college. It is an AD but this way I can still get my RN and hopefully find a hospital to pay for my AD to BSN later on. Either way I will be an RN. I looked into an accelerated program, as I already have a bachelors degree in another field but once I saw it would cost me $25,000 I threw that option out. For me, I am doing this to make money and not to go into debt. It will cost me about $7000 to get my associates at the community college. For this amount we are able to pay as I go with no loans. There are many people who drive over an hour to class. It would be worth the money saved IMO.

Lisa CCU RN, RN · Nov 28, 2006

There has to be something wrong with those figures. I know a loan of 17,000 is $494 a month at 23.5% interest and that's at five years.

There is no way on earth that 20,000 is $423 over twenty years.

If you are getting these numbers off the loan documents, you need to have them refigure it.

SaderNurse05, BSN, RN · Nov 28, 2006

:yeahthat: :yeahthat:

Kymmi · Nov 28, 2006

Student loans are not always 8% interest....they can sometimes go higher because they are just like other loans and based on your credit score. I am putting my daughter thru college presently and when she applied for student loans because she has no past credit history her rate was quoted at 15% however when I co-signed her loan she got a cheaper interest because of my credit history and her having a cosigner.