? about student loans

[thinkerbell]

My son just got into the college of his dreams--Clemson University. Now comes the hard part--coming up with the money. He will get the Life Scholarship(SC State Scholarship). At the present it is about $5000 I think. We will have about $8000 more to come up with each year. We are thinking of looking into student loans but I'm not sure how that works. We would not qualify for any needs based loans or grants. Does anyone else have students loans out there and can you tell me how they work? Do you begin paying for them as soon as you get them, after college, or somewhere in between? Will we be able to get the whole amount of $8000 per year or will we be required to come up with some and they will pay some? Thanks for any help.

 

[ducklite]

There are federally guaranteed student loans which are made by local banks and guaranteed by the government. There is no income restrictions, and you do not need to make payments while you are a student or unemployed. Interest will accrue during that period.

Loans that you take as a parent need to be paid back starting immediately.

Congrats to him!

Anne

 

[Dan Murphy]

Have you completed his FAFSA, making sure that his and your incomes are correct, his and your assets are correct and the number of family members enrolled in college is correct? Also, good primer site for student loans. Congratulations to your son, and you guys too.

 

[CBRorBust]

I am Queen of Student Loans. I can tell you anything you need to know about them!

Grants are given by financial need. Loans are given to anyone that wants to take them out. How much you recieve depends on what year you are in College.

You begin to pay the loan back 6 months after your last semester of full time status. Which means your son cannot drop down to 9 hours or he will have to start paying back this loan. You can also pay the intrest on the loan while he is still in school. The intrest is always very low too by the way.

Let me know if you have anything else specific you need to know. The first step in the process is filling out a FAFSA.

 

[bali]

Thinkerbell, welcome to the world of student loans!! This is a long and involved process, and it's important for your son to know what's going on as he'll be the one on campus dealing with the financial aid office.

The first thing you want to do is contact Clemson's Financial Aid office. Call them, don't email them, and ask them to walk you through the process and the options step by step. This is extremely important -- you won't regret it. They will be able to answer just about every question that you have about federal student loans. They will also have financial aid deadlines that are particular to the school -- these are very important to know and stick to (make sure to ask them about their deadline for you to fill out a FAFSA form -- this is a government form that determines how much financial aid your son is eligible for, and schools usually need the results of it around March). Should they not be able to answer all of your questions, Google "federal student loans" or "college financial aid" and you should come up with some very helpful websites.

Be prepared for several hours of research to truly understand what's going on with student loans, and don't ever be afraid to contact the Clemson Financial Aid office, or your lender (eventually) with questions. They're there to help you, and understanding the process is important. I'm on the phone with my lender all the time making sure everything is A-OK.

Now that I've scared you, let me just say that just about every student has to go through this -- they've seen and heard everything. The bottom line is: your kid's going to get a great education and this is a very small hurdle to jump in order to reach the finish line. Take a deep breath, relax, and jump in.

 

[thinkerbell]

WOW!! Thank you guys. This college stuff has me very nervous. Our first went through on scholarships so we didn't have to worry about paying and she lived at home so we had her with us. Now we are sending our baby off to live without us there to take care of him and the money aspect is looming over us too. It is just a little scary but I'm sure we can live through it just like others have.
We have filled out the FAFSA and sent it in. It was actually a project in one of his school classes. We also have planned to visit Clemson to take a tour in a few weeks so maybe we will use this time also to schedule an appointment with the financial aid office. (Thanks for the advise--bali). You would think that I would have thought of doing that and looking it up on the internet. Well, I thought of you guys first and you surely came through for me. Also, thanks for the website Dan. I'm going to check it out right now.

Thanks to everyone. I am feeling a little better about this now.

 

[Lynn CC]

Thanks for those websites Dan, I have been starting to read all I can about the college process since our DS will be going next year. It is all so confusing! I love the calculators on those websites...Thanks!