School loans

[Medsport, LPN]

Ok heres the deal. I only have 1 semester left for my LPN degree (if I can make it through the final tommorrow, clinicals and NCLEX). I have a month off and then the 2 month summer session. Since I only signed up for summer courses, I'm only getting a certain amount of loan (about 1/3 of what I need because I'm only working about 15-20 hours a week). I can work up to 32 hours being part-time, but once school starts again, I'll have to drop back to 15-20 and maybe only 10 or so during precepting. My gf sug. I ask if I can go full-time for a month, don't know if they'll let me, plus its only a temp. fix. I heard you can sign up for fall classes too, that way you get more in your loan and then drop them right before they start. Is that correct? I don't want to have to give a bunch of money back that I would'nt have. Maybe I can just take a couple courses (I hate to when I may just be starting my first nursing job), but I could take some pre-req. for the RN even though you have to work a year before you do the RN bridge classes-I don't think the pre-reqs count for that-not sure.

[WDWpixieRN, RN]

I would be very careful about "playing" money games with school or educational lenders. They can get very nasty if they're not happy about something you're doing.

I will tell you one thing I know for a fact -- when you are getting certain funding, if you don't complete the courses or drop below a certain number of credits, you can go on what used to be referred to as something like a "financial aid probation". I had dropped a course one semester and was put on probation with the possibility of no more future funding if I didn't maintain my status the following semester; believe me, I did NOT take chances from that time forward!!

If you're really concerned about having sufficient funds, check in to other loans like Sallie Mae Tuition Answer (online) or local banks who may provide additional funding for completing your program. Don't take more than you'll absolutely need, but it'd be worth doing to complete your program without goofing up your chances for additional funding in the future educational goals.

Good luck!

[Medsport, LPN]

Well, this summer should be the last time I need a loan. I already tried to get an addition loan. I only got 5k extra instead of the 10k I wanted back in the fall. Thats why I'm in this situation now (I need about 3-4k more). I also got ripped by that loan (11% for 20 years). I'll have to consolidate it in with my gov. loans when I'm done with classes. I think I may have fixed it though-they did the same thing to my sister. She told me to just go in and change my status to summer and fall half time instead of just summer and I should get the rest of the loan without signing up for classes. She also changed her major to RN instead of LPN, I may have to do that. But if I have to I will take a couple classes or use the cc as a last resort instead of defaulting on a loan because I know I can't do that if I want to consolidate and get a good rate later...

[Medsport, LPN]

Update: I changed my status from summer to summer and fall. The fin. aid lady just emailed me and said as soon as I sign up for fall classes they can refigure the loan, but until then I only get the summer loan. I don't know why they did'nt tell my sister that, but she is planning on signing up for fall. I really don't want to because I will most likely be just starting a new job then. But I may have to because I had a leak in my upstairs bathroom and the plumber really stuck the bill to me and I just ran out of money last week. Now I have 2-3 months with putting everything on credit cards. I do work part-time, but its barely enough to make the car and house payments and I know I'll have to cut back work when clinicals start again next month. I wonder how hard the RN pre-req. classes I could take would be, such as ethics in health care, sociology or cultural diversity? Maybe I could get a part-time nursing job for a few months until those 2 class are over too, or that may be all I can get, who knows...