Budgeting!

[hell000nurse]

So I start school in January 09. I've been approved for the full amount of the stafford loan, so now I am just trying to figure out how much to ask for from the gradPLUS loans.

Has anyone else felt like its IMPOSSIBLE to try to estimate your expenses for a YEAR?! I'm having a really hard time!

So far these are the monthly expenses that I can think of to add in:

rent, utilities, cell, car insurance, food, misc/toiletries.

I cant think of any other ones! My credit cards will be paid off and my car is paid off, so that wont be included. I have NO idea how much I'll spend on food in a month!

Does anyone have any tips of how they went about this? Or the numbers they used for food and misc.?

[Happy Halothane]

Take out the max that your school will certify. That usually means 2 loans per semester.

The stafford is great, especially the subsidized part of it. Fixed 6.5%, with or without interest capitalization.

For the secondary loan, I would reconsider the Grad Plus.

• Its at 8.5%, with few banks offering incentives.
  
• Plus, there's a 3% origination fee, that gets tacked on to your principal amount.
  • So if you borrow $50,000 in 2 years, thats $1500 additional that will accrue interest during the loan period.

Look into alternative loans. The good ones offer APR + 0-0.5%, without origination fees. APR isn't forecast to increase significantly for at least the next year or 2...so the lower flexible rate should be a safe bet.

Save your , but don't struggle financially during school.