Student Loan Question

[Missy1961]

I would guess the OP won't be back, but I do hope she's still reading. There is actually a lot of helpful advice here if she takes it to heart.

I wish you luck, OP. I hope you make the right choices.

 

[stitchlilo]

I would guess the OP won't be back, but I do hope she's still reading. There is actually a lot of helpful advice here if she takes it to heart.

I wish you luck, OP. I hope you make the right choices.

As I told her in my first post on this thread. They will garnish her SS payments. They are doing that now to the 60s college grads who have retired.

Reduced SS checks will such far more than flipping burgers for a few years to pay off the debt.

 

[DevilDuckie]

By the way, subbing is a great idea! Around here, you could sub for 3 days out of the month and have enough money to pay the loan and have some $ left over.

I wish people would stop suggesting this person sub or teach. I do NOT want her sharing her uniques life view with my kid. Let her tell the burgers about how debts are a low priority, not the children.

 

[bjgrazi]

Add another to the list of getting a part-time job. You can still work and have family time. We do it at our house. When there is a will there is a way.

 

[Bonnie40]

I wish people would stop suggesting this person sub or teach. I do NOT want her sharing her uniques life view with my kid. Let her tell the burgers about how debts are a low priority, not the children.

 

[Kitty 34]

By the way, subbing is a great idea! Around here, you could sub for 3 days out of the month and have enough money to pay the loan and have some $ left over.

I was going to post almost the exact same thing!

OP, I would definitely look into subbing. Gosh you could work just once a week, even at the same school if you wanted with your child and get the $ you need.

I've subbed for 25 years and it's been a great way to be with my kids (they're all graduated now) plus make the X-tra money that we've needed along the way be it bills in the kids' younger years to finally trips to Disney and other places! The "finally" taking place when DH and I were in our mid 40s!!!

 

[HeShootsHeScores]

I wish people would stop suggesting this person sub or teach. I do NOT want her sharing her uniques life view with my kid. Let her tell the burgers about how debts are a low priority, not the children.

I didn't recommend her to sub or teach ... I only said I that I did that. I have my degree in edu. and was able to step into that forum. I suggested that she get work in the office or cafeteria or as a teacher's aide. She could help teacher ... not teach the class. If she gets a part-time or full time job w/in the school, she'll be able to maintain her child's school calendar and have zero conflicts. Anyway, you need a degree to sub or teach in most schools (including parochial/private). Increasingly few schools allow you to teach w/o a 4 yr. degree plus masters.

 

[Cindy's Mom]

I wish people would stop suggesting this person sub or teach. I do NOT want her sharing her uniques life view with my kid. Let her tell the burgers about how debts are a low priority, not the children.

I second the

 

[escape]

I didn't recommend her to sub or teach ... I only said I that I did that. I have my degree in edu. and was able to step into that forum. I suggested that she get work in the office or cafeteria or as a teacher's aide. She could help teacher ... not teach the class. If she gets a part-time or full time job w/in the school, she'll be able to maintain her child's school calendar and have zero conflicts. Anyway, you need a degree to sub or teach in most schools (including parochial/private). Increasingly few schools allow you to teach w/o a 4 yr. degree plus masters.

Well, I guess I did "recommend" that but I shouldn't have. I deserve the wet noodle slap.

What I should have said is that there are part time or temp jobs that she could work to help pay off her debt. If she doesn't take responsibility now, she'll get in deeper financial woes and it will be harder to recover later.

 

[Chicago526]

Good grief people get off your high horse! I am so glad that there are so many perfect people on the DIS. I guess I just suck since I took our loans at 18, w/o knowing much on paying them back. And for all of you with so much time on your hands, rereading my own posts, yes I am a SAHM. And proud to be. I will give my kids the life I did not have. My hubby was military and it is nice to finally have the family together. And yes we went to BGardens. Since you don't know me, you will not know it was paid for by my mother. And yes I bought a treadmill- from Amazon, paid for with gift cards I earn doing surveys. I could go on and on and try to "justify" my spending habits to you holier than thou types, but I feel no need. I asked a question, and appreciates the answers. But there is no need to bash someone you do not know, w/o knowing their complete circumstances.

Thanks again to the kind Disers and their replies and/or PMs.

You come on here saying you're thinking of intentionally defaulting on a federal student loan when you've posted previously about having extra money you don't know what to do with. Honest to god, what did you expect?

High horse? Lady, you've really got some nerve. Hell yes I and the other posters are on our high horses, a whole herd of 'em. Holier than thou? You bet your sweet fanny we are. Hello, we PAY our debts, we don't look for ways to weasle out of them. Perfect? As another poster said, if paying your bills and debts makes one perfect, then I guess we are. Gee, you took out loans when you were young and dumb. You and 90% of the people in this country. That's not even close to an excuse. Most of us did dumb things with money when we were young. Guess what? We grew up and learned better, then sucked it up and fixed it. Your the mother of a 7 year old, for heaven's sake, ACT like it.

SAH mom's are great. You know what's better? Mom's that show their kids by example that you have to pay off your debts and work for what you want in life. My mother was a SAHM, right up until the day I spent 2 months in the hospital at the age of 2. Once I was out, she got a part time job to pay for my medical bills (insurance only covered 80%). Once I was in first grade she got a full time job, and kept working until she retired after I got out of high school. Best thing she ever did for her family. She sacrificed her desire to be a SAHM to make sure our family finances were secure. And that wasn't even a planed for debt (like a student loan that one takes out intentionally), that was just "life" happening.

If a family can afford to live on one income, it's great. But two working parents is not going to damage your kids one iota, especially if you work while your kid is in school. If you get the right hours your daughter won't even know you were gone. You could work 10 to 2 five days a week. That's 20 hours. At minimum wage that's over $100 a week, and odds are (especially with a college degree, since I assume you graduated) you could find a job making more than minimum wage.

If you still don't want to leave home to work, there are PLENTY of things you can do at home to earn money. In home daycare and/or babysitting comes immediatly to mind. If you like dogs you could also ask around your neighborhood and find out if any of the families that are gone at work all day need their dogs let out or walked. Before I started working from home full time I know I was always felt a bit guilty about leaving my dog alone all day with no bathroom breaks, I'd have paid a resonable amount for someone to walk her for 20 minutes every day. Bonus, you get exercise, you won't even need to use your treadmill if you don't want to!

Those are two ways to make money and still stay at home, and I didn't give it more than 5 seconds thought. And I don't even have a college degree.

So, what's your excuse now?

 

[EthansMom]

, OP.

I agree with the previous posters that you need to find a way to make the payments on your student loan.... by trimming on some other spending and/or bringing in some additional income. If your kids are school-aged, perhaps you could work a few hours while they are in school.

You might also look at consolidating your loans, possibly to a longer repayment term. My DH had over $50k in student loans before we married and his payments were staggering. He consolidated the loans with the U.S. gov't Direct Loan program and was able to get a lower interest rate and stretch his repayment term to 20 years. We paid extra when we could and were able to pay the loan off in less than 10 years.

Good Luck!

 

[rhett972]

Thanks for coaching her on how to screw the rest of us (taxpayers).

Sorry you feel that way but I am just arming her with the facts. I don't want anyone to get a free ride but at the same time, she has some valid points. The entire student loan industry has become a corrupt predatory organization that feeds on a student's naivete and a parents lack of understanding. In many cases, the financial aid offices are knee deep in the process, encouraging and sometimes requiring students to apply for loans even when they don't need them.
Before you burn my avatar in effigy, let me state that I understand that not all financial aid professionals do this but as an industry, it's a sickness. That is why some of the more reputable institutions have disavowed student loans altogether.
So, does a person have a responsibility to pay back a debt? Absolutely but in response to your suggesting that I a coaching her on how to screw the taxpayers - hogwash. I am simply arming her with the facts. It's the schools and the financial institutions that are screwing the taxpayers. Just ask Andrew Cuomo.
The Cuomo investigations revealed that schools and lenders had partnered up in countless acts of deceptive practices designed to encourage college kids to take out unnecessary loans.

http://www.oag.state.ny.us/press/2007/mar/mar15a_07.html

 

[lindalinda]

Good grief people get off your high horse! I am so glad that there are so many perfect people on the DIS. I guess I just suck since I took our loans at 18, w/o knowing much on paying them back. And for all of you with so much time on your hands, rereading my own posts, yes I am a SAHM. And proud to be. I will give my kids the life I did not have. My hubby was military and it is nice to finally have the family together. And yes we went to BGardens. Since you don't know me, you will not know it was paid for by my mother. And yes I bought a treadmill- from Amazon, paid for with gift cards I earn doing surveys. I could go on and on and try to "justify" my spending habits to you holier than thou types, but I feel no need. I asked a question, and appreciates the answers. But there is no need to bash someone you do not know, w/o knowing their complete circumstances.

Thanks again to the kind Disers and their replies and/or PMs.

Good to see a few more details regarding your situation. I certainly understand your desire to remain a stay home mom, and I see from this post that you are doing some online surveys, etc to boost income or get discounts for your family. You do still have to pay off your loan though. There are a few options that you should look into. One would be child care in your home. Taking in one child full time would pay that bill. I am not saying opening a day-care center, just watching one child. Another is cleaning homes privately. Depending on costs in your area, you could clean one house twice a month and make that much money. My cleaning lady brought her kids with her. You should be looking at what is possible for you to do, not how to delay this any longer.

 

[MyGoofy26]

You do realize that most of us were 18 when we took out our loans, right? And if you don't want people judging you, then you might not want to offer up the information that you didn't understand what you'd be paying back. Basically, you just insulted your own intelligence more than anything anyone else has said here that you've taken offense to.

Being a stay at home mom isn't a requirement for a child to have it better. Good role models make it better. Not being in an environment where the adults are constantly stressed because they can't make ends meet makes it better. Not having to be embarrassed when your friends are over because you can't answer the phone when it rings because you don't know which collection agency it is this time makes it better.

You say we're all holier than thou and on high horses? I think it's a pretty darn high horse to think that you should be exempt from the same debts the rest of us are paying or have paid back because you don't feel like getting out of the house and getting a job, or because you don't want to spend an hour making dinner so you'd rather eat out, or because the money you have is more fun when it's spent on something enjoyable. You do realize that Amazon sells food, toiletries and various necessary items, right? You could have bought some staples for your family and used the cash saved to make a payment or two.

You're not going to get a whole lot of sympathy here when everything you've presented shows no real need for any exceptions by the student loan companies. You're perfectly capable to paying that $200 a month, you just don't want to.

 

[#1hockeymom]

SO many good posts here! The only thing I think I can add is to say by the OP saying we're ganging up on her is hogwash. She wants out of her debt while we're doing the right thing and paying our bills.

It would be so easy to make up that 200 bucks a month. If she's so distraught over working/daycare then she can get a part time job at night. I second the thought that I'd rather her not be a guest teacher and accidentally share her opinions on bill paying.

 

[TomLovesBecky]

You can call the lender and see if they will work out a lower payment for now, and get a job to pay off what you can, even if it's something that's better than nothing at all. I am not sure what you expected people to say, oh you poor thing you have student loans and can't spend your money on extras, why don't you ignore the loans??? And for real, you took them out at age 18 and you were stupid and not thinking about the consequences?Sheesh lady, that describes pretty much all of us who owe student loans! If you don't pay it back given your circumstances that makes you a deadbeat, no matter how you sugarcoat it. If you can't afford to live on one income and stay at home with your kid (who is in school all day during the school year anyway) then you should get a job, it's really that simple. You work to get money to pay your bills if you are a responsible person. Me and my husband have 3 jobs between us because we don't have that luxury, oh well. Maybe I should start a thread about how horrible it is that we have to work and don't have anything handed to us??

 

[my*jck*luv]

Hey all.

I am due to start repaying a loan this month, but money is tight and I am not sure what would happen if I didn't start. I really don't see a time anytime soon when we will be able too, either. I have already used up the forebearance/deferrment time, so when I called they said I have no choice but to pay starting this month.

My question is, "what if I don't?". Could they garnish my husbands wages? Or come after us in some way, or would it just look bad on my or our credit report? Its a Sallie Mae loan, if that makes any difference. TIA

I didn't read all the other replies so I'm sorry if this is a repeat.

Call and speak to someone, if they cant help, speak to the next higher up and keep going and explain the situation. What ever you do, don't avoid the situation and just let it go. They can garnish your wages and take whatever income tax refunds you have and it will show up on your credit.

I'm also w/ Sallie May and last year our house was struck by lightning and the fire destroyed 3/4 of the house and we lost just about everything. Long story short, for about 2 months I was unable to make payments while we were doing our insurance claim so I called them up and explained the situation, they deferred the months I was unable to pay to the end of the loan. I've been making payments 3x's my monthly amount so the loan is now almost paid off. They will work w/ you!

 

[stitchlilo]

Sorry you feel that way but I am just arming her with the facts. I don't want anyone to get a free ride but at the same time, she has some valid points. The entire student loan industry has become a corrupt predatory organization that feeds on a student's naivete and a parents lack of understanding. In many cases, the financial aid offices are knee deep in the process, encouraging and sometimes requiring students to apply for loans even when they don't need them.
Before you burn my avatar in effigy, let me state that I understand that not all financial aid professionals do this but as an industry, it's a sickness. That is why some of the more reputable institutions have disavowed student loans altogether.
So, does a person have a responsibility to pay back a debt? Absolutely but in response to your suggesting that I a coaching her on how to screw the taxpayers - hogwash. I am simply arming her with the facts. It's the schools and the financial institutions that are screwing the taxpayers. Just ask Andrew Cuomo.
The Cuomo investigations revealed that schools and lenders had partnered up in countless acts of deceptive practices designed to encourage college kids to take out unnecessary loans.

http://www.oag.state.ny.us/press/2007/mar/mar15a_07.html

BOLD - If this was the case where did the money go? The student could have put it in the bank and used it later when they needed it. BTW that is what I did. I got a student loan one year that I did not need, but knew I would need that money in the next year. I had enough money saved and scholarship money to pay that year. Guess how old I was when I did that.........18.

 

[creativeamanda]

BOLD - If this was the case where did the money go? The student could have put it in the bank and used it later when they needed it. BTW that is what I did. I got a student loan one year that I did not need, but knew I would need that money in the next year. I had enough money saved and scholarship money to pay that year. Guess how old I was when I did that.........18.

You can take out more in loans than the amount of tuition? When I was in college, we were not allowed (I graduated in 1996). Was this just something our college's financial aid office did?

 

[ilisao]

You can take out more in loans than the amount of tuition? When I was in college, we were not allowed (I graduated in 1996). Was this just something our college's financial aid office did?

I have a federal direct student loan that I took out for grad school (graduated in 1996). I was definitely allowed to take out more than tuition. As it was explained to me, it's assumed people will be using that money for other living expenses while they're in school.