No credit card required
Browse credit cards from a variety of issuers to see if there's a better card for you.
I will graduate in September 2014. I have student loans right now and then am relying on further student loans to finance the rest of school.
Would it be better to pay for the new school in cash and repay these loans when I graduate? Or should I pay off some of these loans early and continue to take student loans for the last year?
If I am going to repay loans early....do I "debt snowball it" and pay the lowest loan off first? Or do I attack those that are accruing interest right now? So I would pay unsibsidized first? Let Stafford sit .... would that save me the most $$ on interest?
Pay for new schooling in cash and pay the interest on any current unsubsidized loans.
I think the best plan is the one that has you graduating with the fewest loans possible. The less debt you have when you graduate, the more options you'll have financially going forward. You may want to balance a concern for having some cash on hand as a small emergency fund (maybe $1000?) with taking out another small loan to help finish schooling, but pay for what you can in cash.
The choice between a debt snowball and starting with the highest interest rate is really a personal one. You can use a calculator or spreadsheet to see how much interest you will save for one plan over the other, then consider if the savings for going with the highest interest rate is worth the trade-off of the pyschological benefits of going with a snowball.
I rank my loans in terms of how dangerous/expensive they are when determining payoff. If you have any private loans, definitely get rid of them first. As for your Federal loans, it's again a personal choice, but If you have any loans with outlier interest rates (eg 3 vs 6.8), I'd knock those higher ones out first.
Thanks everyone. I appreciate the feedback.