Using CCs to pay for college courses?

[ceemee2203]

I wouldn't do it. I'm planning on putting a new masters program on my CC but that's only because I have more than 4x the amount necessary to pay for it in full and will be immediately paying it off. If you're already overextended, adding a few hundred more in CC debt is only going to make it worse.

If you can get a student loan, or any other loan with less interest than that's a better option for you. 21% interest piles up a lot faster than 8%.

[youngandcreditwrthy]

Limits for dependents are 36,500
For independent or under 24 w parents who have bad credit, it's 56,500 in fed loans.
My advice:
Don't take summer classes.
Work hard and enjoy it.
I'm not taking summer classes.
GE will not bend on interest rates, and Citi def'ly won't increase your credit line.
You could get a private loan,
But really man...just enjoy your summer and get a part time or full time job!😌👍👍😄😏

[youngandcreditwrthy]

The limits also depend on the year you are:
It's 7500 for dependents both fr and soph years,
10,500 if your parents have bad credit.

For jr&sr years, it's 7500
For dependents, but then goes up to 12,500 if your 'rents have bad credit.

[annebythesea]

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@WallyxD wrote:

I have applied for FAFSA, but only for the upcoming school year.  As far as I can remember, there is a maximum amount you can borrow for your four years of schooling, or is that not true? If so, I'll definitely need it for my two remaining years.  

I definitely didn't expect to let my CC balance just sit there, as I would've paid little by little by myself, and would have asked my mom and grandmom if they could help me in any way they could.

As far as applying for a 0% BT or a 0% introductory apr, I'm in the garden, and have a ton of INQS on my report so that's not an option.

And just so you guys know, I'm only enrolled in community college as of now, and I think tuition is like 120 or 130 per credit hour, and I planned on taking two or three courses, so it isn't a lot of money.

But if you guys still think I should change the information on FAFSA to put that I'll be in school for the summer, I guess I can do that.

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I know from experience that a lot of schools do not count summer courses when they dole out financial aid. I.E if you get 7,000 for the 2012-2013 school year according to FAFSA your school will split the financial aid into 3500 for fall and 3500 for spring. So you can call and ask your school about summer classes but as summer classes are considered to be "extra" courses (even if you, like my 19yr old brother had to take a summer course because he couldn't get into the class in the spring), your FAFSA $ does not go towards that. You have to (usually) pay for summer classes out of pocket.

But as someone who went to community college before transferring and who paid for it with it a credit card for the points, I say only do that if you have the funds to immediately pay it off. I paid my brother's cc tuition ($736) for this spring semester two weeks ago but I had that amount sitting in the bank so as soon as it hit my card, I paid it off. Now you say that you are taking 2-3 classes and each class is 3 units it is either 6 or 9 units in total. If it is $120/unit then for 6 units it will  be $720, 9 units $1080. $130/unit gets you $780 in total or $1170 for the session. My question to you is do you have the funds to pay the card off within a month or two? Because if you don't, that APR is going to bite you.

Also, you said that you might ask your mom and grandma to help you pay down your credit card if you put your tuition on it. Is there anyway you can just ask them to pay your summer tuition in full and then you can work on paying them back, like maybe $200/month instead of putting your tution on your card? That way you are not going more into cc debt.

[SnackTrader]

Understanding that education is a great tool for life advancement, I would not suggest you do it. You are already in debt that you can't pay down, so adding interest to that mix is going to burden you even further. You didnt mention specifics about balances and your income and such, but it sounds to me that you put yourself in a rough spot and you need to focus on getting out of it in some way before you add more CC debt to the mix. Find another way to pay for it, or skip the summer classes. Then work on getting your debt down. Realize that you are in a tough situation now before it gets worse.

[TM82]

Are you working right now? Can you pick up another shift/job? School loans at 4-5% can be a burden, I can't imagine paying 21% for school purposes.

[WallyxD]

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@annebythesea wrote:

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@WallyxD wrote:

I have applied for FAFSA, but only for the upcoming school year.  As far as I can remember, there is a maximum amount you can borrow for your four years of schooling, or is that not true? If so, I'll definitely need it for my two remaining years.  

I definitely didn't expect to let my CC balance just sit there, as I would've paid little by little by myself, and would have asked my mom and grandmom if they could help me in any way they could.

As far as applying for a 0% BT or a 0% introductory apr, I'm in the garden, and have a ton of INQS on my report so that's not an option.

And just so you guys know, I'm only enrolled in community college as of now, and I think tuition is like 120 or 130 per credit hour, and I planned on taking two or three courses, so it isn't a lot of money.

But if you guys still think I should change the information on FAFSA to put that I'll be in school for the summer, I guess I can do that.

---

I know from experience that a lot of schools do not count summer courses when they dole out financial aid. I.E if you get 7,000 for the 2012-2013 school year according to FAFSA your school will split the financial aid into 3500 for fall and 3500 for spring. So you can call and ask your school about summer classes but as summer classes are considered to be "extra" courses (even if you, like my 19yr old brother had to take a summer course because he couldn't get into the class in the spring), your FAFSA $ does not go towards that. You have to (usually) pay for summer classes out of pocket.

But as someone who went to community college before transferring and who paid for it with it a credit card for the points, I say only do that if you have the funds to immediately pay it off. I paid my brother's cc tuition ($736) for this spring semester two weeks ago but I had that amount sitting in the bank so as soon as it hit my card, I paid it off. Now you say that you are taking 2-3 classes and each class is 3 units it is either 6 or 9 units in total. If it is $120/unit then for 6 units it will  be $720, 9 units $1080. $130/unit gets you $780 in total or $1170 for the session. My question to you is do you have the funds to pay the card off within a month or two? Because if you don't, that APR is going to bite you.

Also, you said that you might ask your mom and grandma to help you pay down your credit card if you put your tuition on it. Is there anyway you can just ask them to pay your summer tuition in full and then you can work on paying them back, like maybe $200/month instead of putting your tution on your card? That way you are not going more into cc debt.

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Okay so general consensus is not to do it, so I suppose I won't.  And Anne, no I wouldn't have the funds to pay off the card within a month or two.  I'll talk to my mom and grandmom once more to see what's going to be done, but as of now, I guess I can ask them to give me whatever they can, and whatever is left to be paid for the one course, I'll just pay out of pocket. And then I guess I can take an extra course when the Fall semester comes.

For the person who asked if I worked, I do work part time.

And youngandcreditworthy, I do plan on enjoying the summer.  But I don't want to graduate late and so far, it looks like that's what's going to happen, which is why I wanted to take summer courses so that I can graduate on time.  But I guess there's no harm in graduating a few months late, less stress on me, more time to figure out what I want to do after school, so I guess it's not a bad thing, eh

Thanks everyone.

[youngandcreditwrthy]

If you haven't used the max student loans for this FAFSA year, they will allow you to receive it in the summer. At least, that's how it was for me. I don't think anyone graduates on time any more unless:
A. You have no job/parents do everything for you
B. You work extremely hard, resulting in poor health and high stress.

No point in rushing to graduate with a slowly recovering job market anyhow.

[Sweets8E]

Pay the tuition with the AE card, when you fill out your FAFSA and student loan request for the new financial aid year, request above what you normally would if they allow you and apply the refund proceeds to the card to pay back what you charged for summer tuition. This is using student loans still in the intended way because you're paying for tuition and not inappropriately using refunds for random things that have nothing to do with school.

The downside of this:

1. Your utilization will go sky high for a few months which is bad on your credit picture
2. You've now come close to maxing out yet another card and if any financial emergency should occur, you have less money on your card to use
3. That balance on your card will accrue interest and thus make what you owe out to be more (not good)
4. If you don't check with your financial aid office about how much you can ask for first, this won't work in your favor
5. You're not giving yourself the option to just ask for more hours at your part time job or pick up another job to make money and pay off that Citi card
6. The above suggestion, still does not take care of your Citi card balance. In fact, it doesn't address it at all

Bottom line is this. If it were me, I'd skip the summer and do more hours and pay down the Citi card. You graduating in the Fall or the Spring or next Summer isn't going to impact anything. I know all about the urgency to just get it all in and walk across that stage. I've been there. But unless you have a great paying job lined up and promised to you once you get that piece of paper, it's not going to make a difference this way or that. Only self gratification in knowing that you've participated in commencement (not said harshly). Just my 2 cents. 

***Basically, this is what Webhopper was talking about in her post about the fall financial aid. Use your refund to pay off what you charge for tuition in the summer.