<p>I have both federal and private undergraduate loans outstanding. Needless to say, I have much more to pay for the private loan than the federal loan. It has been more than 6 months since I received my undergraduate degree, and now I would like to go to graduate school in the fall. I need another private loan for that. Will the bank defer my undergrad loan? Will I take out a new loan for grad school, or combine it with the undergrad loan? I have a co-signer on my current loans. How does that affect this?</p>
<p>I would think the bank would want to work with me seeing as how this is not good for me and good for them.</p>
<p>They might, but the accumulating interest is going to KILL you.</p>
<p>Are you even going to be able to borrow enough for the program? How much debt are you talking about?</p>
<p>And no, the bank has absolutely no incentive to “work with you” - they hold the note and they effectively own you and your co-signer right now.</p>
<p>I currently owe about $37,000 in my private loan and have been paying it on a payment plan since November.</p>
<p>I would need to borrow probably around 20-25K for a year and a half of grad school</p>
<p>How much in federal loans? If you have max Staffords and add those loans all up… yikes, you’re pushing $90,000 on a rough estimate. That is a TON of debt. Have you run a payment calculator and looked at your private interest rates? You could be looking at $1,500-2,000 monthly payments - INSANE.</p>
<p>Not a good plan. At all. Unless you have/are making a ton of money, in which case… carry on.</p>
<p>a little less than $19,000 on stafford loans…</p>
<p>It’s a decision only you can make. You need to think about your expected job and income after grad school - will you make enough to not go broke after the loan payments?</p>
<p>You can borrow up to $20,500 per year in Stafford loans for grad school. Do you need to borrow another $20-25k/year on top of that? I hope you are getting a degree in something that pays really, really well …</p>
<p>for some reason I didn’t think of taking out a new federal loan. 20,500 should do it and I wouldn’t need to take out another private loan. that’s the best option, I guess</p>
<p>Definitely. Federal loans are usually the best option.</p>