<p>My son attended a 4yr university for his fresh & soph years. He hated both years and didn't do very well academically so he's enrolled in a 2 yr community college. The new school doesn't participate in federal loan programs. They only offer payment plans. Do I have to get a private student loan or is there a federal loan that will issue a check to me so that I can pay the college? I've applied for the parent plus and was approved but since the school doesn't participate, I can't use funds. Any suggestions? Ideas?</p>
<p>That’s odd for a public school not to participate! Anyway, no you can’t use any of the federal loan programs if the school doesn’t participate. You’ll have to go private.
The only other choice is to have him attend a school that does participate.</p>
<p>The community college only accepts a payment plan which the student/parent has to put a chunk down and the balance is paid in 3 installments during the semester.</p>
<p>What school is this? (if you don’t mind me asking …)</p>
<p>Is this a public community college? I honestly have never heard of a community college that didn’t participate in the federal loan programs. Many community college students rely on federally funded aid to help them pay. I’d be curious to know where this is.</p>
<p>sk8rmom, your PM box is full.</p>
<p>Carroll Community College (located in Westminster, Maryland)</p>
<p>Actually I just read the website and they do NOT participate in the federal student loan programs although they do accept the FAFSA for Pell, SEOG and work study. </p>
<p>I find it interesting that the students at this school cannot get Stafford loans.</p>
<p>thumper, k thanks…I’ve cleaned house on it!</p>
<p>One other thought…Does MD have any state-sponsored educational loan programs?</p>
<p>So, do you suggest that I start looking into private loans? Is that my only option?</p>
<p>Yes, if you or your son are unable to pay the balance in 4 payments, that’s probably your only option.</p>
<p>This community college does participate in the other federally funded need based programs. Did you complete the FAFSA and submit to them? Did your son qualify for a Pell or work study?</p>
<p>Interesting. This is the first school I have heard about that participates in federal aid programs that does not participate in federal loan programs. There are several reasons this could be the case, but the optimistic explanation is that costs are low enough that there should be no need to borrow … if the EFC is low enough for Pell, there will be Pell to help cover the costs & anyone with a non-Pell eligible EFC should be able to cover the costs sans loans. I don’t know the COA, but even at $3000 (24 credits/year tuition), the Pell payment at 0 EFC is $3740, which is enough to cover costs. With such low tuition, the school may well feel it would be unwise for students to borrow.</p>
<p>I’m not saying this is one of them, but there are a number of schools out there that have had their default rates get high enough they either lost their ability to do loans, or opted out before that ability was taken away from them against their will… these schools typically maintain the ability accept need based aid, just not the loans.</p>
<p>I thought of that, too … that’s why I said the optimistic explanation would be the low COA. I do agree that your explanation is a possibility, as well.</p>
<p>The website about student debt has several publications that talk about community college student debt. It does mention the lack of federal loans due to high default rates, either wanting to prevent it or already being sanctioned because of it, as a reason. And that is really sad because not all Pell recipients qualify for the maximum grant and when you factor in fees, books, food, transportation, maybe even housing and child care, many community college students are really struggling to pay for this “affordable” option.
I know my local cc lists it’s COA as about $13k/y when you factor in the costs other than tuition.</p>