<p>So I've been dealing with my financial aid officer at Northeastern since June to try and get my finances settled. I'm an independent student, and have independent status as far as the FAFSA goes. The dependency override was just granted, and I received my financial aid award. The problem is, the award is for the 2012-2013 year, and since this took so long to get settled, there is no more institutional aid. Between the Pell Grant and a combination of Stafford Loans, I received about 11,000. This still leaves me with roughly a $20,000 gap. </p>
<p>1)Would I be better off taking this semester off and going back to work, then return in the Fall and receive some institutional aid, and pay with aid/loans</p>
<p>2) Find loans for this semester in full. </p>
<p>The problem is that I'm getting my degree in political science, which doesn't guarantee employment, or continuous employment. In the long run, I feel like I'd be better off with less debt. </p>
<p>For reference, I have 0 contact with my parents, and without going into the details (painful to talk about), that's the reason for my FAFSA independence.</p>
<p>?? Where would you find loans without a co-signer?</p>
<p>I still have a relationship with my grandfather, so he has agreed to co-sign the loans.</p>
<p>Look, if you’re willing to take the semester off, and Northeastern will allow you to withdraw with no financial penalty, that certainly seems like the more sensible idea.</p>
<p>Just make sure you get written documentation of both your withdrawal and the school’s return of the federal funds. You do not want the school or the lender to come back later and say that you accepted the funds or owe money for this semester. So get everything in writing!!!</p>
<p>Best of luck to you!</p>
<p>I paid for the fall semester of this year with money that my grandfather loaned me. I’m going to pay him back all of it as soon as I can. I applied for a dependency override last June, and it took literally until last week to get. However, it’s taken so long that Northeastern has given out all the institutional grants and funds. Basically until this point, I’ve been doing this semester almost on credit. I can withdraw from classes with no penalty tuition wise until next Monday. I’m not positive about my housing, but most likely they would prorate it, at which point I could use some savings to pay that off if I’m charged for it. </p>
<p>I don’t mind taking the semester off because I’ll just go back to working like I did before I transferred to Northeastern this year. I just don’t know if it’s better to just take on the debt or wait until next semester if it’ll get me some sort of institutional aid. I know it might not be a lot given Northeastern’s record of meeting need, but any amount of money quickly adds up. Including this semester, I have 3 more semesters to go.</p>
<p>It looks like a meeting with the aid office is in order. Get some information from them about the likelihood of decent aid for next year, and then take your leave of absence. Please don’t let your grandfather take on any debt for you.</p>
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<p>Really, I’m impressed by your mature attitude. And if you can earn enough to reduce the debt you have to take on the following semester, that’s always a good thing, even if you don’t end up getting a lot of institutional aid from Northeastern. “Pay as you go,” if you’re willing to do it, makes a lot more sense then accruing debt.</p>
<p>“Don’t let your grandfather take on any debt for you” that’s my ultimate concern. My grandfather is 85, and a permanently disabled Korean War veteran. I don’t want to burden him. </p>
<p>I’m meeting with my financial aid officer tomorrow but the problem is he’s not very receptive to my issues. I know it’s because he’s an employee of the college but he seems to be defending the school’s endowment rather than trying to help me. My previous semester at school and my old school are paid for so I want to have the minimum amount of debt when I leave here. I’m having a hard time weighing the positives of staying other than liking my classes and graduating “on time”</p>
<p>So I spoke with my financial aid advisor this morning. He said that because my fall semester was paid in full (with a loan from my grandfather) that I can use the money from my stafford loans and Prell grant in the fall toward my spring tuition. </p>
<p>This leaves me to come up with a private loan for 6k. He said if I get my 13-14 fafsa in ASAP I will likely be eligible for an fseog grant, work study, and possibly something from the school. So, for my last two semesters ill have a gap of about 18k apiece but that could be reduced by grants and scholarships. I have a 3.8 gpa so hopefully they’ll come through with some more funds to limit my loan exposure. </p>
<p>Cost wise, it wouldn’t make sense to withdraw for this semester because I would have to come up with money to pay for my housing that I’ve used already which I don’t have. </p>
<p>Thanks everyone for the help</p>