Could I get in trouble for this? (private loans)

Pangea Reunited, ASN, RN · Jul 19, 2015

You can buy whatever you want with student loans, just make sure you also go to (and pay for) school. I practically lived off mine while I was in school.

pixiestudent2 · Jul 19, 2015

You won't go to jail.

Make sure you don't buy a money pit though...

BeachsideRN, ASN · Jul 19, 2015

You can buy whatever you want with student loans, just make sure you also go to (and pay for) school. I practically lived off mine while I was in school.

You can use the BALANCE for living expenses (or anything) after tuition and fees have been collected. As long as it's in your budget go right ahead. Even *if* there was a question about it, reliable transportation is a legitimate use for educational funds. You have to get there, on time, in all weather.

BeachsideRN, ASN · Jul 19, 2015

I just realized you are taking out a private loan. They may have restrictions. Read and/or ask if there are any stipulations to the loan.

BloomNurseRN, ASN, BSN, RN · Jul 19, 2015

As long as your tuition/fees have been paid, you can use any remaining balance on anything you want. Many people that take out student loans do so not for the tuition/fees, as those might be covered by grants/scholarships, but to cover regular living expenses while in school.

I really wanted to avoid loans but, unfortunately, that wasn't in the cards for us. My car that I had owned for 10 years went to the auto graveyard about 3 weeks before I started nursing school. I had to take out student loans and bought a $5,000 car, which is still going strong 4 years later, so it was worth every penny. Most of the way through my first semester I found out my job was being eliminated. I was able to draw unemployment and eventually found a part-time job to help but I went from making almost RN salary (I was a medical transcriptionist) to a fraction of that. I ended up having to take out student loans just to pay the bills for the remainder of nursing school. It wasn't ideal but it was necessary and now I'm working on paying them off.

I would recommend to take the least amount you need to get through, especially with private loans, as they have a higher interest rate, but if you have to do it to get to school, it is completely understandable.

calivianya, BSN, RN · Jul 19, 2015

I am wondering if you can move closer to school. A 45 minute commute by car sucks when you are getting paid to do it... it sucks even more when YOU are paying to drive that far! And the time with public transit - holy crapola.

Can you move in with some other students and share a rental house within a five minute walk of your classes?

KelRN215, BSN, RN · Jul 19, 2015

Why not just finance a car? The interest rate to do that is probably significantly less than the interest rate for student loans. My car's interest rate is less than 1% but student loans are all in the 2-4% range.

KAThftf · Jul 19, 2015

I am wondering if you can move closer to school. A 45 minute commute by car sucks when you are getting paid to do it... it sucks even more when YOU are paying to drive that far! And the time with public transit - holy crapola.

It is a pretty far drive and the reason I chose the school is because I got some pretty decent scholarships to attend the school and I chose not to do the dorms because they're new and it's cost 12k overall for boarding money that I don't have so I would have to commute for the next 3 years unless I cab find myself a decent paying job with flexible hours.

But thank you for your advice, it was helpful.

johsonmichelle · Jul 19, 2015

Why not just finance a car? The interest rate to do that is probably significantly less than the interest rate for student loans. My car's interest rate is less than 1% but student loans are all in the 2-4% range.

I would be very careful with financing a car. Its great that you got a great interest rate on your auto loan but not everyone has access to those kind of interest rates. Plus the op is not employed so she may not be able to get an auto loan. Also there is price minimum on auto loans, most I have seen is a minimum of $5000. I think the op needs a car regardless, public transport cannot really be trusted. I knew I needed a car for nursing school , so I saved some money,put half down on the car and financed the rest. It was my first auto loan and I got 6 percent interest which is very good in my opinion. The car was also bought from a dealership that offers free oil changes for the life of the car and so far the car has been great.Anyways, I think the op can find something decent but you have to research very well.

NurseSpeedy, ADN, LPN, RN · Jul 19, 2015

In the end I think you would save by getting a separate auto loan (unless the payback time frame is the issue). The rate on my car is less than my federal student loans, plus, the longer it takes to pay the loan back, the more interest you will have to pay for it in the end. Make sure that whatever car you choose to by that it is in relatively good condition. Today there are very few cars going for 3K that are in decent shape. If it breaks down every other day you won't be using it to get to school and you'll be constantly getting it fixed, costing you even more money.

KAThftf · Jul 19, 2015

I was actually in a car accident last November where my ex-boyfriend collided into another car by trying to hurry up and make the light. I suffered a broken bone and a fracture in my rib cage (which took about 6 months to heal completely) and received an abrasion on my back and two on my upper arms. I will be receiving 10,000 or more in October from his issuance. So would it just be smarter for me to wait until October to buy a car and just use the public transit for now?