I am in an accelerated 2nd bachelor's program. Many students, like myself, must take out student loans.
I chose a (somewhat) more prestigious private school - not realizing that the biggest egos there reside. Now I wish I had chosen a school where more of the student body was working class. Something I wish I had known to consider when applying to programs is the date that the school releases funds to the students. I had to come up with thousands of dollars for living expenses and books and did not see a refund until the 3rd week of classes. (I guess they assume that their students don't need to factor in money). When I expressed my dissatisfaction with not being warned in advance - they said basically "everybody's doing it". However, when I recently looked at a different program's website - they listed that funds were paid on accounts 4 weeks before classes begin.
Definitely check with a school's bursar's office and find out when the funds are actually are put into student direct deposit accounts. (At first they used the term "dispersed" and gave me an earlier date - apparently "disperse" doesn't mean to your bank account). It made for a very stressful beginning to an already stressful program.
