<p>I have a 20 credit hour course load this semester. I'm starting my senior year of school, and I need that many classes so that I have enough hours to graduate. I'm also short about $3500 in expenses after financial aid. My parents can't help out so I have to pay this myself. My options are to either take out a private loan from a bank or work, but to make any job work it I'd probably need to work 20-25 hours a week. I've worked through school before, but I'm afraid of messing up during my last year of school because of a crazy schedule. I know before working after class and on weekends took away from extra time spent studying and working on papers. However, I also know it's irresponsible to rely on loans to pay for expenses. If I took out another loan my total amount of debt would still be less than $20,000, so I'm still below the average amount of student debt, but I still don't like relying on loans. But I don't like having a busy work life on top of a crazy school life. </p>
<p>I'm leaning towards taking out the loan because I figure it's such a small amount that I might even be able to pay off the extra loan within a year or two of graduation. The most important thing to me is doing the best I can in my classes and making the most of out of my final year in school. Of course private loans are usually frowned upon as well, so I'm looking for some advice about if this is a bad idea or not.</p>
<p>Since you’re not way up in debt, it doesn’t sound that bad to take out the loan. Are you planning on going to grad school, and taking loans for that, because then you could really have a lot of debt and adding to it might not be the best idea??? But if it only takes an extra 1-2 years to pay that off for you, then that doesn’t sound bad imo.</p>
<p>I was guessing average undergrad debt is somewhere around 25k…so I looked that up: [FinAid</a> | Student Loans](<a href=“http://www.finaid.org/loans/]FinAid”>http://www.finaid.org/loans/) </p>
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I don’t think anyone does!!! </p>
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Depending on one’s circumstances I think…since your parents either can’t or won’t help, I’m guessing that’s what forced you to take some loans in the first place. It sucks that your parents can’t or won’t help at all…they haven’t helped at all throughout all 4 years?</p>
<p>20-25 hours working a week sounds like a lot with 20 credits, depending on what your major is, I guess. I know I’ll be taking 20+ credits certain semesters, if not all, and I’m very likely NOT WORKING at all with that, at least I don’t plan on it. I’ll work during the summers.</p>
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<p>They saved up some money that helped pay for a previous year, but otherwise I’ve always paid for all of my expenses. And I’m okay with that because it’s my college degree, not my parent’s.</p>
<p>I’ve been okay money-wise until this year. I worked the first two years of school but stopped working once I started taking classes with my major. I knew the information was very important to learn, and I enjoyed having a lot of free time to put more effort into projects and papers. I’m a little afraid of getting stressed out with time-management since I already have classes every day, and some days all day, and I would most likely be working after class and all weekend as well. I just wasn’t sure how this plan sounded to anyone else, so thanks! :)</p>
<p>Ok. I’m sure you’ll get some other opinions on here as well to help you decide.</p>
<p>Taking another loan…also depends on how much $ you expect to make at a job after graduation in whatever your major field is.</p>
<p>I honestly don’t know how long it takes to pay off $20k in loans, but it’s below the average so can’t be too bad. I wouldn’t know about how long it takes though, because I won’t be taking any loans for undergrad. Grad school, yes probably, don’t know, but undergrad, no, my dad doesn’t believe in having us take loans. So that part I don’t know much about…probably others on here that do.</p>
<p>I don’t think most students work 20-25 hours a week with a heavy credit load from what I’ve heard.</p>
<p>Is it possible that you could work like 10-15 hours and take a slightly smaller loan? Maybe that’s something to check into.</p>
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<p>I’ve thought about that, and I might look into it. Honestly though I don’t think a 10 hour a week job is worth it though. 10 hours a week hardly pays for gas and food. Finding something on campus that’s about 15 hours a week might be ideal, but everyone and their grandmother wants a job on campus so that would be a miracle, lol. We’ll just see.</p>
<p>I did 20 credits last semester, and it was all pre-req classes which I am assuming are easier than the classes you will be taking. Based on this I think it would be very difficult to take 20 credits of upperclassmen work and work 20 hours. In this case with your relatively low debt that you should take out the loans. Worst case scenario if you have enough free time once the semester starts get a job and pay off the loans early.</p>
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<p>This is true. I can always work a job or even two jobs over Christmas break.</p>
<p>I did this last semester, but I really would advise against it if at all possible. Depending on the courses and the amount of downtime you need to be successful, though, working somewhat fewer hours may work and be helpful.</p>
<p>IMO, the loan will cause less stress during your senior year.</p>
<p>Loan. UNLESS you can get a job related to the career you’re pursuing. The higher GPA you get may help you land a job that pays more after college, thus paying off your loans faster than if you worked a job that pays less during the school year.</p>