<p>I've got a client who needs about $5,000 to pay the final bill for undergrad so she can get her degree. I am at a dead end to help. She is 27, so qualifies as an independent. She finished her classes this summer, and is done with school but can't receive her degree until she pays her balance due. She wants to continue to law school. She already maxed out her independent loan for the year at $12,500. The school says the summer term goes with the 2012-2013 school year so there is no money left to borrow. There is still plenty of room left on her lifetime loan limit for independents (current loan balance is about $35,000). If she had only waited until the fall to complete her school I guess we wouldn't have a problem.</p>
<p>Her parents filed bankruptcy within the last year so they won't qualify for a PLUS loan (not sure if she can even get a parent PLUS loan since she is independent?). She had 3 outside family members try to co-sign on a student loan through Wells Fargo, Sallie Mae and another bank - all got turned down - family finances don't seem to be very strong. Her credit is about 640-650 and she owns her home, but it is new and no equity built up yet.</p>
<p>Any ideas for a source of funds to release her transcripts?</p>
<p>She needs to put law school on hold for a year or two, set up a payment plan at her undergrad college, and get this balance paid off. Depending on her current income potential, and her lifestyle, she might even be able to smack it down before her student loans begin to come due.</p>
<p>Good for her for buying a house…but I have to wonder why her college bills were not paid first…or did she already own the house before going back to college.</p>
<p>It sounds like the house-buying was done before this last summer’s classes…which is the cause of the problem. it sounds like the student was anxious to graduate this summer and paid little/no attention to HOW those summer classes would get paid…just assumed a loan would do it. Sounds like she didn’t communicate with the FA office FIRST to make sure funding was in place. </p>
<p>She needs to get that loan paid off. There are only a few options: 1) work another job and put the funds towards the loan. 2) take in a boarder or two to bring in more money. 3) get a 0% interest 12 month credit card and pay it off within 12 months. </p>
<p>If she’s employed, does her employer offer any tuition reimbursement? Many good-sized companies do.</p>
<p>Deliver pizza. Seriously. If she’s in an area with a college, pizza delivery is a great way to earn extra money. </p>
<p>(And, if she’s in debt from undergraduate I’d really question any decision to head into law school anytime soon. That’s just likely to result in a much bigger pile of debt, and job opportunities in law are increasingly scarce.)</p>
<p>She pays her own mortgage, but not enough left over from her job to pay the loan. I don’t know the history of when or why the home was purchased, I have only had an initial consultation with her. The equity line of credit is a good idea - I will check to see if she has any equity built up yet and if her credit will support qualification for a loan.</p>
<p>A credit card is probably not a good idea since she is barely meeting her living expenses right now. Taking off for a few months to pay off the debt may be the only option. Employer reimbursement is also a good idea to check on.</p>
<p>Has anyone had any experience to get a college to qualify a summer session as the first part of a school year instead of the tail end of the school year? Can they do this as a professional judgement or is not not allowed by FAFSA rules?</p>
Do you offer your services to help fund school, Will?
If so I am very interested.
I used up some funds in the wrong ways and now I am in regret. I took school for granted, didn’t really like it at the time, and now it’s been a few years off without any sort of intellectual challenges or enrichment.
I went to a school just because it was down the street from me, but it wasn’t the right school, (a university in NYC), I was looking for more hands on creativity like theater and ceramics. I then took time off and couldn’t finish, and took to online schools just to exist. Those were a waste as online schools didn’t work for me, and I should have enjoyed my time working in the field I’m in or doing whatever, hobbies, instead of continuing to borrow.
Law of Attraction board and mystics are sometimes talking about student loan forgiveness or interest payments, I’ve never come across these but would like to.
If she has the $35,000 left why wouldn’t she use it? She needs the 5,000? What about a business loan using the EIN, if she has a business? Maybe the school would have auxiliary scholarships, you never know. What about TAP? I just was reminded about this.
“TAP award can be up to $5,165”
Maybe you can go to school using TAP and the Pell Grant, pay what you can or these would pay for it. Pell Grant I think is $5700 a year!!
I’m actually really worried and hopeless about paying for school. I haven’t been able to go in years. I wrote some books 2 years ago, thought that would be a little empire, nothing sold on Kindle store.
There was a workshop fall of not last year but the one before that, couldn’t scrape up the money, so didn’t apply. My favorite teacher in the world had classes begin last fall, as well as this month, can’t go to either. He has classes this summer, I’m not even sure about that. School has been perpetually pushed back, and my side business which usually does well is sliding under the sand.
Long term horizons always look good, rainbows and flying unicorns in the sky.
If so, she needs a sit down with someone in Human Resources. If she is getting a tax refund in April, she may need to adjust her dependents to maximize each paycheck for better cash flow. (or just use the refund she’s getting to pay down her debt at college). If she is paying for disability insurance, extra life insurance, dental/vision and doesn’t need it (no children depending on her for support… she can pay for a dental cleaning out of pocket and it’s usually cheaper than insurance) she can knock those off which will increase her check.
What assets does she have? Clearly she had something to qualify for a mortgage… what can she sell?
Is she on a budget? Every meal or cup of coffee she pays for elsewhere is likely double what it would have cost her to prepare it at home.
If she’s not working she needs a job ASAP, and needs to augment that job with tutoring, babysitting, errand running, etc. Get a job as a nanny with lodging included and rent out her house for a year.
Tell her to take the energy she’d be spending worrying about law school and put it towards a good supplemental job (Uber driver?) to get that debt paid off asap.
Folks, this thread is 3+ years old and had been doemant until revived earlier today by Applesarered. I’m pretty sure Will246 is long gone, and hopefully his client has found a way to pay her school bill so that she can get her degree.