topic Re: Graduate School - Go Figure! in Student Loans

Graduate School - Go Figure!

laz98 — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 05:18:28 GMT

so i'll be graduating in may with my bachelor's degree, finally. i wasn't planning on going to graduate school initially, but i let my department convince me that it was the best thing to do career-wise. i did my fafsa soon after the new year, trying to get a jump on things.

i kept checking my school's website, trying to see why they were saying they hadn't received my fafsa yet. tonight i finally checked the fafsa website, & it said 2 things. 1, i'm not eligible for pell grants anymore because i have a degree. 2, because i had to take out so many student loans as an undergrad, i may not be eligible for any graduate loans.

WTH!!! how do people go to graduate school at more expensive schools? is everyone taking out enormous private loans??? UGH...sorry for my rant, just frustrated. i didn't even want to go; now that i want to go, it's starting to sound like i won't be able to. go figure.

Re: Graduate School - Go Figure!

Tazman81 — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 00:58:16 GMT

You are correct that you will not qualify for pell grants anymore, but you should still qualify for federal student loans (if you have not already hit the fed student loan max).

Re: Graduate School - Go Figure!

laz98 — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 04:03:01 GMT

yeah, i kind of knew about the pell grant thing (even though i had forgotten) because we found that out when my gf went back to school.

i only have about 40k of student loans, mostly unsubsidized because that's what they offered me. i'm nowhere near the ceiling! idk what the deal is. the fafsa website said i should go talk to my financial aid office, but the work-study people that work there aren't usually very helpful. sigh.

thanks taz

Re: Graduate School - Go Figure!

Anonymous — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 13:16:17 GMT

Laz98: What is your major and what is your school if you don't mind me asking? Some people are choosing fields (i.e. art, recreation, world lit, history, etc.) and/or expensive private schools, racking up student loan balances, and then not getting a decent job. Obviously we can't all be MBA's from Harvard, but I wonder whether a private college or university is really worth it 90% of the time (unless it's a pre-med program or something like that.)

Re: Graduate School - Go Figure!

laz98 — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 23:21:28 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Laz98: What is your major and what is your school if you don't mind me asking? Some people are choosing fields (i.e. art, recreation, world lit, history, etc.) and/or expensive private schools, racking up student loan balances, and then not getting a decent job. Obviously we can't all be MBA's from Harvard, but I wonder whether a private college or university is really worth it 90% of the time (unless it's a pre-med program or something like that.)

i'm a linguistics major. i don't go to a private school, i go to the local university.

Re: Graduate School - Go Figure!

mazinaige — Sat, 29 Jan 2011 14:49:38 GMT

I've paid for graduate school using the Stafford loan and the GradPlus loan. Once the Stafford loan is maxed out, a person qualifies for the GradPlus loan. If you intend to become a linguist and work at a *public* institution (public college/university) you can apply for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program. After making 120 on time payments, the remainder of the loan and interest are forgiven in 10 years. You may also be eligible for the Income Based Repayment plan. The 120 payments will be set at 10% of your income. For more info visit: http://www.ibrinfo.org/

Re: Graduate School - Go Figure!

laz98 — Sat, 29 Jan 2011 16:24:00 GMT

@mazinaige wrote:
I've paid for graduate school using the Stafford loan and the GradPlus loan. Once the Stafford loan is maxed out, a person qualifies for the GradPlus loan. If you intend to become a linguist and work at a *public* institution (public college/university) you can apply for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program. After making 120 on time payments, the remainder of the loan and interest are forgiven in 10 years. You may also be eligible for the Income Based Repayment plan. The 120 payments will be set at 10% of your income. For more info visit: http://www.ibrinfo.org/

hi mazinaige!

thanks. i know people have done it before, i don't know why this is turning into such a hassle. i'm nowhere near maxed out on loans.

no, i'm definitely not going to work as a teacher. i'm not worried about repaying the loans, i'm worried about GETTING the loans. repayment is not an issue.

Re: Graduate School - Go Figure!

mazinaige — Sun, 30 Jan 2011 22:05:35 GMT

laz98, could you restate your question please. i am not sure what you are asking. are you asking if you are still eligible for stafford loans? are you asking how people finance their graduate school education? i don't understand what the hassle is. the fafsa said you *may* not be eligible for student loans. to me that reads just the same as you *might* be eligible for student loans. in order to know, you must talk to the people in the financial aid department. that is part of the work of being a graduate student, learning to navigate bureaucracy.

another thing you might want to consider before you apply for those loans is how you are going to repay them. it is very easy to get in over your head with student loans. you may decide to follow a different career path and leave school early, or find out that your future job does not pay as much as you expected. as a fellow language professional, i wonder what your career plans are. do you *need* a master degree to make that happen?

i also wanted to clarify, in case it was misunderstood, that the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program is open to anyone who works for a public institution, not just teachers. you could work for the police, fire department, hospital, city hall, any non-profit agency, university as a secretary, janitor or professor.

Re: Graduate School - Go Figure!

laz98 — Sun, 30 Jan 2011 23:47:14 GMT

i wasn't really asking a question, it was really more of a vent/rant.

Re: Graduate School - Go Figure!

kittylover — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 16:56:47 GMT

The only federal aid available for grad school is student loans. From your loan amount, you should still be able to take out some loans. Is this a master's or doctoral program you're considering? This will affect options as well. Are you shooting for an academic career? If you can post a few more details, I bet we can give you some advice.

Re: Graduate School - Go Figure!

laz98 — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 19:18:49 GMT

@kittylover wrote:
The only federal aid available for grad school is student loans. From your loan amount, you should still be able to take out some loans. Is this a master's or doctoral program you're considering? This will affect options as well. Are you shooting for an academic career? If you can post a few more details, I bet we can give you some advice.

hi kittylover! thank you for your polite response.

i'm wanting to start my master's in linguistics in the fall. shooting for a gov't job doing translation work. been out of the workforce for a long time so i'm trying to get myself as prepared to head back & be successful as i can.

Re: Graduate School - Go Figure!

kittylover — Sat, 05 Feb 2011 18:04:18 GMT

There may be more financial aid out there than you think. We have a few things in common so I'll tell you some of the ways I financed by graduate education. First of all, my education actually involved several different schools between reentry and doctorate so don't necessarily expect that all these option are available at every school. Some things to check out;

1. Off-beat scholarship opportunities: If you can find a concerned, creative financial aid officer, it will help. If not, try to find some of these yourself. In particular, sounds like you should look for those aimed at women returning to school or reentry scholarships in general. I received several of these including one from Clarol (must be over 35, some gray in hair), Orville Redenbacher (over 30?, returning to school to prepare for a new career). I also received a license plate scholarship from the state. None of these were very big, but they all helped with book expenses.

2. It's a good idea to let your (prospective) department--as well as the university--know that you're looking for aid. If the MA is a terminal degree for their dept., they may have assistantships, etc. you can apply for. They may also know about some of the "hidden opportunities" I'll mention next.

3. There may be opportunities for financial assistance that won't be obvious until you are already enrolled in the program. For example, individual profs may have positions translating, working on a journal, working on archives of original documents, etc. . I occasionally hire a grad student for a few hours a week to help out with research. Some profs at large schools may hold chairs that allow them to hire one or more assistants. See what I mean? Sometimes you just have to take a leap of faith!

4. There may be opportunities for employment around the university. You need flexibility if you're going to work and these jobs will have it. University employment lines are good, but they don't always list things like jobs in the tutoring center since they frequently require approval from the various departments. You may not usually think of some of the jobs at a university, but if it works for you, go for it. The young man who cleans my office was in my class last semester. He first got a job as a janitor here, then took advantage of the free tuition for employees. He planned it that way from the start since he knew he couldn't afford private school tuition.

Here are a few idea; hope they help. Feel free to ask me any questions you like and I'll try to respond. If you have different circumstances than I have assumed, post so we can give you better info. Good luck!

Re: Graduate School - Go Figure!

laz98 — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 06:13:45 GMT

hi kittylover, thanks again!

i think my best chances are getting together with the financial aid office, as you recommended, & keeping in touch with the "career center" at my school. my main roadblock is that my department is very small, so there isn't much funding there. we're known for our engineering programs, not our liberal arts majors yes, the MA is the terminal degree for this program. i decided much too late that i wanted to go on to graduate school, so i missed the deadlines for a lot of better schools.

my other problem is that i won't be going full-time, which makes me ineligible for TA positions & other work-study spots. really sucks, but those are the rules!

again, thank you so much for your kind help. i really appreciate it! making this decision has been pretty overwhelming.