<p>Say my family doesn't want me to go to college X and refuses to co-sign this loan I'm taking out and I don't have personal connections with anybody that has a credit rating...how do I do I find a co-signer then?</p>
<p>Assume that I'm really desperate and really want to get an education at college X.</p>
<p>you find someone who will agree to pay the loan if you don't and get their signature. that is a cosigner. Good luck.</p>
<p>I doubt you will find anyone that is not family that would be a co signer. As Sue said, the cosigner is responsible for the debt if you don't pay it. I have an excellent credit rating and would never cosign a loan for anyone other than *maybe *my kids, and even then I would really have to think about it.</p>
<p>^so if i can't get my parent's approval and i can't get any substantial financial aid from the school, would i have reached a dead end?</p>
<p>You can get a Stafford loan without a cosigner. The maximum for a freshman is $5,500. Other than that there are not many, if any, loans a student with serious income and no credit rating can get in his/her own name without a cosigner. Although you will not want to hear this, this is a really good thing as it prevents you from getting into an enormous amount of debt that you probably do not have the experience to understand the consequence of. (No insult intended - at 17-18-19 years old very few people , including myself at that age, fully understand the consequence of the debt).</p>
<p>As swimcatsmom says, this is really a good thing that you can't obtain unlimited $$$$ in loans without a cosigner.
Our son signed for the maximum Stafford loans allowed over the last four years and just graduated with about 18K in loans. Enough to make him find a job to repay them but not enough to cripple the next 10 years of this life. He may defer payment for 2 years and attend grad school if he can get accepted to the 'right' program.....one that fits his pocketbook.
Enormous loans will leave you with fewer options on graduation and for many years to come.</p>