Failed out of school, 80k in debt... Very lost and don't know my options

Student Lounge College Life
1

With my loan payments coming in at any time, I’m extremely nervous and concerned about the course of my life. I’m actually an intelligent person, but while at school I though straight A’s would come to me. I messed around a lot not necessarily partied but I just didn’t apply myself as much as I needed to. This is my first semester out of school, I have an urge to desperately go back and finish, only 35 credits away from my degree! I cannot reapply to the university I was at until spring 2020. My cumulative gpa was a 1.98, .02 away from being able to stay in school.

So with my situation explained, I’m looking for help, options anything really. My mom never went to college and isn’t knowledgeable on how my loans will work or how I will be able to manipulate my current situation into managing them.

Anything will help! Thank you!

2

It depends on what kind of loans you have. With $80K in debt, it’s likely that you have a mix of some federal loans and some private loans. The federal loans have standard terms: there’s a six-month grace period after you stop attending school half-time (e.g., if you stop attending in January 2016 you won’t start repaying your loans until July 2016). There’s income-based repayment; you can apply for that by submitting some documentation, and your monthly payment will be limited to about 10-15% of your monthly discretionary income depending on which repayment plan you select. You can learn more [url=<a href=“https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/repay-loans%5Dhere%5B/url”>https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/repay-loans]here[/url].

However, with $80K you almost certainly have some private bank loans - unless your mom borrowed the rest with a Parent PLUS loan. If your mom borrowed a PLUS loan you can find out more from the link above. If you borrowed some bank loans, you have to check with the bank or organization you borrowed the money from re: terms. Every bank is different. I will say that private loans generally have fewer provisions designed to help struggling graduates. Sometimes if you call them and chat with them they will help you work something out.

Are you sure you can’t reapply for admission until 2020? Most colleges that make you leave for falling below the 2.0 threshold allow you to reapply in a year. Four years seems unnecessarily harsh. Nevertheless, you might be in a pickle; it sounds like you are not in good standing at your original university and most other colleges will not take a transfer student unless they are in good standing at their original university. You can try to look for another reputable place that will take you. In the mean time, you will probably need to find a job and some means of supporting yourself and trying to repay that debt.

3

OK, a few issues:

  • You have those loans to repay, and they're going to start coming up. Are you working? If you're not in school, you should be working full time. Sit down today, and write up a resume. Really work on it and the cover letter. Then find a job. It doesn't have to be the career you'll be in forever, but give it some thought. Look for a job with benefits, doing something you can see yourself doing for a while.
  • I think you need to give some serious thought into what happened at college. " I just didn't apply myself as much as I needed to" might explain a single semester's low grades, but not a 3 year GPA low enough to fail out. What happened? (And, no, you certainly don't owe me or anyone else an explanation. But you need to figure this out.) Reapplying, whenever you do, without knowing what went wrong, is begging for history to repeat itself.
  • I agree that a 4 year ban based entirely on your academic standing sounds off-- check back and make sure you have your facts straight.
  • Probably most important of all: this is not the end of the world. Plenty of people interrupt their education. So take a deep breath, and spend some time this weekend (take a break from shoveling snow ;) ) to figure out where you're going. Then sit down and make it happen.
4

Is it possible that you can get a job and support yourself until it’s time to go back?

5

It doesn’t seem like you have much choice but to follow the advice of the above posters. Figuring out your repayment options then getting a job and getting to the repayment is your only choice.

6

@crb5469 Have you tried to appeal the dismissal? Is there any chance you might still be reinstated? I feel like it might be your best school option, since your stats are somewhat low for a transfer. If all fails, get a job, work for the next 4 years, try to pay off some of that loan, and reapply when you can.

7

You might be able to defer loans (at a cost) by enrolling in your local community college.