Desperate student needing private loans with bad credit issues - HELP!!!

Paying for College
1

<p>Hello,</p>

<p>Currently, I attend New York University (most expensive school in the country - eek) and am a rising sophomore. I am having the time of my life there and am super happy with it.</p>

<p>As a part of my financial aid package for the upcoming year, I was given $24,571 in Parent PLUS loans. The rest I was given in scholarships, Federal Stafford loans, or work-study eligibility (roughly $32,000 in aid). This is roughly what I got last year.</p>

<p>Last year my parents were able to pay the roughly $25,000 amount through our family's limited college savings ($10,000) as well as through tax returns. But we likely will not be able to have that in order to pay for next year. I'd say we have about $15,000 left in savings, which can only cover me for one more semester. Therefore, I need to take private loans.</p>

<p>My problem is, both of my parent's credit scores are abmysal, meaning that any loans that they try to take under their names will be rejected. My father is unemployed and has moved back to India, and my mom just went through foreclosure. Therefore, they cannot take the PLUS loans. Even worse, however, is that their credit scores are too low for them to cosign any loans for me either. And I dont have any credit history.</p>

<p>Therefore, it is hard for me to find any private student loans to take that do not require a cosigner. If possible, I would like to know if you all know any possible private loan sources which do not ask for cosigning and/or dont require stellar credit. I am okay with paying a super high interest rate, at least for next years loan (since by junior year hopefully my parent's credit fiascos will be fixed. And I am willing to take on the debt, since being at NYU Stern should be a solid investment in my future.</p>

<p>We already tried appealing to the school and all they did was give me an additional $1000 in scholarships.</p>

<p>I REALLY want to stay at NYU, I dont want to transfer at all, so I will do whatever it takes.</p>

2

<p>What you are going through is not uncommon. There are several threads here in this forum on College Confidential of students in a similar bind as yourself: ParentPLUS has been denied and student is looking for private loans (with no qualified co-signer available). This kind of situation is pretty much a dead-end. There are no private loans for young students with no credit, no job history, no collateral and no co-signer. It doesn’t exist. (If it does I am still waiting to hear about it!)</p>

<p>The only difference between the stories is the gap–the amount that the student is attempting to finance via the private loans. The reality is that the higher the number, the faster the dream will burst. It is one thing to cobble together 2K or 3K somehow on a consumer credit card, it is entirely something else when the gap needing to be financed is 9K, 12K or more.</p>

<p>I appreciate your eagerness to do “whatever it takes”–but there is nothing to be done without a co-signer. </p>

<p>I am also a little dismayed that you are willing to have your parents empty out their savings account to ZERO by having them contribute the last 15K in their savings account for NYU. And that 15K pays for only a small slice of ONE SEMESTER.</p>

<p>There needs to be a financial reckoning in your family, starting with you. Some “gifts” from parents should be gracefully declined. Your mother just lost her home! Please reflect upon that until the gravity of that sinks in. Then go tell your mother to keep that 15K. And after that I suggest taking a year off of school to start researching affordable in-state college alternatives. </p>

<p>This is probably extremely disappointing. Your parents may have not said “no” to you yet even though their bank account is about to be wiped out by a single semester at NYU. It may be difficult to accept right now, but the banks saying “no” to you now is the best thing for you and your family’s financial well-being. You and your family can not reasonably handle the level of debt that is required to pay NYU (x4 years) and the banks know it. </p>

<p>Time to get back to the basics AND plan a college path that is affordable. NYU is not that school.</p>

3

<p>

No. Even worse is you want to spend money they do not have. Based on your circumstances you need to move to a cheaper school that you can afford yourself, like a CUNY. Are you in-state for NY?</p>

4

<p>I think it’s sad that a family with only $15k left in savings and other financial problem is going to use that money for another semester at a school that will be unaffordable after that. </p>

<p>I think you need to cut your losses now. Save that $15k for your family’s other needs, and go to a SUNY or CUNY.</p>

<p>I hope the many NYU hopefuls that can’t pay full freight or don’t have a family that can afford to borrow, read this thread and realize that if you don’t have funding for all 4 years, then it’s likely you won’t be able to finish at this school.</p>

<p>BTW…I don’t think NYU is the most expensive school. I think there are several schools that cost the same or more.</p>

5

<p>I really don’t see anything you can do. Maybe talk to one of your finance/business professors at Stern and get his take on this situation that is becoming epidemic. </p>

<p>First of all, NYU did not really give you any financial aid other than the small grant. The rest of the money that was “awarded” to is available to anyone through the federal government. The PLUS was not “awarded”, it was just an option that your parents might have had if their credit was good enough. And they could take that loan amount up to the cost of attendance at NY, so the figure they listed was just out of the air. Probably EFC related. </p>

<p>So basically, they gave you all loans and work study to meet your need, which means you have to come up with your EFC and cannot work or borrow using Stafford for those purposes since they are already used up for need. </p>

<p>If your parents are turned down for PLUS, you can get an additional amount, about $5K in loans. That isn’t going to touch what you need to pay NYU. With your parents in such dire financial straits, they should not be taking out any loans anyways. It sounds like they are having a very rough time.</p>

<p>My suggestion to you is to talk to fin aid personally, talk to an NYU prof at STern for some ideas. In my opinion the best thing you can do is take off the year, and live at home and save for next year, taking some local state college courses so that you can graduate early from Stern. Just maybe, you can do it in 2 1/2 years if you wisely choose your courses at the local college and coordinate them with Stern’s curriculum. I know a young man who took 7 years to get through NYU that way. Work, save, go to school, work, save, back to school, take some local courses as some filler to shave off a year. Work, save, again.</p>

<p>I notice that you not mention the PELL grant. The $15K in savings is not going to affect the EFC if that is all your parents have, and if they had a low income in 2009, wouldn’t you qualify for the PELL? Also, are you a resident of NY state? If so, you may be eligible for TAP if your family is low income. Though even those amounts will not make a dent in NYU costs, it would allow you to go to a local state college. YOu could also borrow a little through the Staffords if you need more.</p>

<p>It is not good business sense for you to borrow that huge amount of money. You don’t need to borrow more than $100K to pay for a business education that will confirm it. The same factors that have caused so many foreclosures of homes are brewing with student loans. How on earth do you figure that you are going to pay that back?</p>

<p>Also if your father has “abandoned” tha family, he may not be included on the FAFSA which just might give you more financial aid next year since all of this happened this year. Though, honestly, NYU is not known to be generous even to needy students as a rule.</p>

<p>Think long and hard about this. I don’t know who would be foolish enough to lend you or your mother the kind of money a year at NYU is going to cost. You should not be depleting your mother’s savings during this difficult time, and having them borrow money, large amounts for you. I also would not sign for someone in your predicament. The chances of you not being able to repay your loans are too high.</p>

6

<p>Given the extreme shortage of time, you may want to take a leave of absence from NYU, work this year (and save money). If possible you may want to try and get some CC or local university credits. Next year if NYU will not give you what you need, transfer out to a state university. There is not point in dropping out midway through the year. so you may want act now.</p>

<p>Remember there is a difference between being wishful and being unrealistic. High interest loans will kill you on the long run. It is not worth it. Listen to the other parents on this forum.</p>