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Do you put off what you want to do for something you have to do?
Let's assume you have a 4-year college degree, but no relevant work experience, leaving you in the predicament of not being able to start working in your field until you continue education and complete your master's degree. You would like to get started as soon as possible, but find yourself lacking financial resources. Your only way to continue your education would be to take on a student loan, but you are unsure whether to increase your debt while not working and living on one household income (your spouse's). Would you opt to finance your education or try to find a different job elsewhere, even if it meant accepting an evening job at a department store which would pay you just enough to pay your bills?
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October 19, 2009 04:00 AM
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There are several variables that I would recommend you consider.
First of all, two questions concerning financing your continuing education with a student loan:
1. What is your level of debt right now, and what percentage of your household income is going towards debt? How would an additional loan affect that?
2. Some student loans do not require you to start payment until a certain number of months after you earn your degree, and interest does not begin accumulating until that time. Other loans require you to begin payment right away. To find out how much loan you qualify for and what type of loan(including interest rate), you need to fill out a FAFSA form, available at any college or university and also online here: http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/. In some cases there are also grants available which do not have to be paid back.
Second, how is the job market in your field? Will you be able to get a position after you graduate? It's a difficult situation to have student loan payments for an education which has not even enabled you to get a job, but if your chosen field has job openings, you may come out way ahead. Some fields have offers to forgive student loan debt if you work a certain number of years in particularly needy areas, such as teaching three years in a school with a high at-risk population.
Third, if you decide to hold off a bit on school, you might be able to get work in a related area, and you may be able to get tuition help from your employer. Consider that if you aren't able to put any money aside for college, then you aren't really making progress toward your goal by working in a part time job just to pay bills.
Finally, remember that the decision to put off school can be a semester by semester process. If things look better in a few months, you can revise your schedule and apply for next semester. While the same thing applies SOMEWHAT to re-entering school, you will probably want to go as many continuous semesters as possible after you return. Deciding to enroll requires a bigger commitment and a more solid decision making process than deciding to wait, but when to go back and how to finance it are always questions that you will need to address, they don't go away.
Good luck.
Here's good advice from U.S. World and News:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYQjdpUCiCQ&feature=PlayList&p=741459EFF08C2798&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=4
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Six college degrees on two student loans (whole family).
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There are several variables that I would recommend you consider.
First of all, two questions concerning financing your continuing education with a student loan:
1. What is your level of debt right now, and what percentage of your household income is going towards debt? How would an additional loan affect that?
2. Some student loans do not require you to start payment until a certain number of months after you earn your degree, and interest does not begin accumulating until that time. Other loans require you to begin payment right away. To find out how much loan you qualify for and what type of loan(including interest rate), you need to fill out a FAFSA form, available at any college or university and also online here: http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/. In some cases there are also grants available which do not have to be paid back.
Second, how is the job market in your field? Will you be able to get a position after you graduate? It's a difficult situation to have student loan payments for an education which has not even enabled you to get a job, but if your chosen field has job openings, you may come out way ahead. Some fields have offers to forgive student loan debt if you work a certain number of years in particularly needy areas, such as teaching three years in a school with a high at-risk population.
Third, if you decide to hold off a bit on school, you might be able to get work in a related area, and you may be able to get tuition help from your employer. Consider that if you aren't able to put any money aside for college, then you aren't really making progress toward your goal by working in a part time job just to pay bills.
Finally, remember that the decision to put off school can be a semester by semester process. If things look better in a few months, you can revise your schedule and apply for next semester. While the same thing applies SOMEWHAT to re-entering school, you will probably want to go as many continuous semesters as possible after you return. Deciding to enroll requires a bigger commitment and a more solid decision making process than deciding to wait, but when to go back and how to finance it are always questions that you will need to address, they don't go away.
Good luck.
Here's good advice from U.S. World and News:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYQjdpUCiCQ&feature=PlayList&p=741459EFF08C2798&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=4
Six college degrees on two student loans (whole family).
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October 19, 2009 03:28 AM
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I would try to finance my education by first looking into grants and scholarships that would be relevant to me and my course of study. After applying for those grants, if I still needed to pay more education, I would look into low interest student loans with no fees for early payoff. Then I would discuss my new school schedule with my new employer asking if I could work flexible hours.
(this works b/c I did this when I worked for a local newspaper - I was very low on the totem pole and wanted my degree). They let me work from 6:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. and I made it down to class by 3:30 for my first afternoon class and the rest I took from 6-10 Monda through Thursday. As soon as I got my degree, I got a promotion to a manager position at a subsidiary newspaper.
I told myself it was only 16 weeks and I could do anything for 16 weeks and then I'd get a break. And when the next semester started, I told myself the same thing. I sorta neglected my marriage a bit but our common goal was for me to get a degree and finally I did - in 1995 and even with waking up at the crack of dawn and working all day and starting class at 3:30 until ten at night and studying on the weekends - I was able to graduate magna cum laude. That's something I will have with me forever. It's a small part of the process - that's how I looked at it. I took one semester at a time, filled it up as best as i could , took out loans and grants and just took things one day at a time.
Before I knew it - they gave me my diploma that said "hey, you accomplished something" but by then I didn't need a paper telling me that - I realized it as soon as I looked in the mirror every morning.
Source(s):
(this works b/c I did this when I worked for a local newspaper - I was very low on the totem pole and wanted my degree). They let me work from 6:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. and I made it down to class by 3:30 for my first afternoon class and the rest I took from 6-10 Monda through Thursday. As soon as I got my degree, I got a promotion to a manager position at a subsidiary newspaper.
I told myself it was only 16 weeks and I could do anything for 16 weeks and then I'd get a break. And when the next semester started, I told myself the same thing. I sorta neglected my marriage a bit but our common goal was for me to get a degree and finally I did - in 1995 and even with waking up at the crack of dawn and working all day and starting class at 3:30 until ten at night and studying on the weekends - I was able to graduate magna cum laude. That's something I will have with me forever. It's a small part of the process - that's how I looked at it. I took one semester at a time, filled it up as best as i could , took out loans and grants and just took things one day at a time.
Before I knew it - they gave me my diploma that said "hey, you accomplished something" but by then I didn't need a paper telling me that - I realized it as soon as I looked in the mirror every morning.
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