How many payments have you made toward reducing this debt obligation ?
This approach may help find a lender willing to help you since educational debt is not dischargeable & because you have been consistently making payments once you realized the problem.
Educational loan companies want a credit score of at least 660, some want a minimum 680.
I can PM you a list of 7 or 8 student loan refinance companies. These are private lenders, but rates are very low if you qualify.
@Mwfan1921
It’s not that I’m unwilling to work part-time jobs to increase my income flow… it’s that I don’t want to do that for a few years & then by the time I’ve save enough money, they the university tells me that I have re-take all or most of my classes over again because the credits expired. To me, that just seems like a big waste of time, & I’d pretty much lose all the time I spent put into earning the degree, as well as basically having student loan debt with nothing to show for it. That’s a huge problem, & this is why I’m posting asking about an emergency loan.
@mommdc
Nice! But what area do you live? I would totally be willing to do part-time FedEx/UPS courier job if they have tuition-assistance benefits, but I’m not sure if that’s available in my area.
@mommdc
I do usually get about a $1K tax return, & that would help but not entirely of course. As far as online classes go, they told me I wasn’t allowed to take any more classes with them, even online classes, until the balance was paid off in full.
You said the total debt was $10K ($8K+$2K added by collections agency) and that you have been making monthly payments for 2.5 years. What is the balance right now? You have done a good job getting your credit rating into the high 600s, but having this past-due debt makes lenders less willing to give you more $.
With a relatively high paying second job (waiting tables at a nicer (busy) restaurant, or bartending, or nannying, or working at UPS warehouse), you should be able to pay off $10K in less than a year.
@Publisher
“How many payments have you made toward reducing this debt obligation ?”
I’ve been aware of this debt since mid-2017, & I’ve been making on-time payments toward it every month since.
“I can PM you a list of 7 or 8 student loan refinance companies. These are private lenders, but rates are very low if you qualify.”
If you could do that, I’d greatly appreciate it. My question is though… will these student loan refinance companies pay off that old tuition debt with collections? It’s not technically student loan debt because I never got the financial aid I needed that semester, it’s debt I owe to the university, which is different. Will they still be willing to offer to consolidate that debt & my student loan debt into one lump payment? That way it will show that debt is paid, even though I will technically just be re-paying that debt through monthly loan payments.
Psych- anything in the criminal justice system (not becoming a lawyer, but working with the incarcerated, working with people out on probation.) Having “almost” a psych degree likely qualifies you for a job like that.
Anything with a vulnerable population- the homeless, people in treatment for substance abuse, kids who have been removed from their homes. Coaching foster parents.
Anything called a “para” in a school system- working one on one or as a shadow with kids with disabilities, on the spectrum.
In the for profit sector- any sales job (literally, any sales job except for complicated, multi year contracting like selling airplanes for Boeing where you need an engineering degree). Some will say “college degree preferred” and that’s you. Almost a degree. Are you near an airport with rental cars? The entry level jobs with the car rental companies offer training, some offer tuition reimbursement, they promote quickly so you go from tiny airport with low volume to big city/huge volume in a few years. Psych is a very common major for customer service and sales. All the large hotel chains have “up from the bottom” promotion and many in management do not have BA’s although having completed a degree will always be an advantage at a big corporation.
What do you hope to do with psych? It’s a relatively low paying field on the non-profit side, so I don’t want you to get trapped in a low wage field even after you’ve finished up your degree… If you are good at math, market research is probably the highest paying field for psych majors at a large company. Next is human resources-- when you look for jobs online, you’d see things like “Employee Relations Coordinator”.
Have you had a physical sit down with the registrar at your college? It is much harder to say “pay up or your credits will expire” when someone with a strong work ethic who is trying to better themselves is sitting right in front of you… so if your only contact has been email, you should make an appointment for an actual meeting. Financial aid, Dean of Students, head of the Psych department, Dean of Arts and Sciences- these are all people who can help make a policy get waived or at least get your credits extended until you get back on your feet.
In my area, the three most generous “we pay tuition” jobs are at Starbucks, Amazon (both warehouse and delivery) and Target- and they have good health care if you log enough hours. Any facilities of these companies where you are???
I’m actually not exactly sure when they expire. I just know that a financial aid counselor from that school at some point when I was looking for financial aid to pay this off, told me that I can’t wait too long to pay it off because most credits expire within 5 years or so because new data & more studies continue to come out. I should probably verify that with the registrar’s office at my school.
I believe I checked how much was left several months ago, & it was very close to $10K. So perhaps my initial bill was around $9,000. My monthly payments haven’t been that high though, only around $100/month, because I used to have really poor income (like only $16,000 a year), & I’m pretty sure the interest rate is pretty high too. So I believe the most I’ve paid off of the principal balance is somewhere in the $1,200-$1,500 range.
What is considered a “relatively high paying” part-time job? I have no experience with bartending (or even bar-backing) or taking care of any kids, so I doubt I’ll be able to do any bartending or nanny type job.
You said you earn about $30,000 a year. Take home pay is maybe $2,000 a month? Then you said rent is pretty low, let’s say, rent, utilities, car PMT, insurance, food is $1,500 a month. Can you devote $500 a month to paying back this debt?
That’s $6,000 a year. Then add your tax refund, that’s $7,000.
If you earn another $200 a month that could be another $2,000 a year.
How much is the balance now?
You need to find out when your credits would expire.
Ok… that’s a lot to unpack. Let me try to address each major point:
Criminal justice field… you know, I hadn’t considered that, since it’s something I’m not interested in working with at all, but if they will hire “almost” Psych degree people like me, it might be worth looking into jobs for it – it’ll only be temporary anyway.
As far as sales go… yeah, not gonna lie, I’m probably not going to do well with that. I understand it can pay really well if you’re good at it, but I’m frankly not a great public speaker at all (I stumble over my words all the time when I’m just being myself, let alone if I have to make a good sales pitch). A couple of my friends back when I was going to college tried to get me into these marketing jobs, & I hated it & failed miserably.
Physical sit-down with the registar? No, but I need to. That’s a solid point I hadn’t considered.
I actually work indirectly for Amazon, through an independent contractor who they use (among several other ICs) to help make many of their deliveries in this area. But since I don’t work directly for Amazon, I don’t know if they will have the same benefits such as tuition assistance. But often times, that’s usually for CURRENT tuition, not PAST tuition bills. It doesn’t hurt to ask though.
OP: I sent you the names of 7 student loan refinance lenders. The application process takes 2 to 5 minutes & you should receive a response.
Unfortunately, they prefer to deal in large existing loans, but should go down to $25,000 and, possibly, as low as $10,000. (They like to lend to recent law school grads)
Rather than post here, why not apply to the largest of the lenders (SoFi) that I sent you & see what happens, or, at least, check out the minimum loan amounts to see if they are even an option to consider.
P.S. I checked SoFi (Ernest). Minimum loan amount is $5,000 & minimum credit score of at least 650.
Federal agencies are hurting for employees badly. I don’t know how much you could pull in without your degree, but you can sometimes get tuition assistance with fed jobs. If you are drug-free and a U.S. citizen look into federal employment. The job stability they offer could help getting a loan too-- especially with a federal credit union.
I have to agree with this statement ^^^; a psych degree won’t get you a whole lot of money unless you’re very specific in what you want to do with it. You may be doing the same kind of jobs with a psych degree. My brother has a psych degree and works in a grocery store because they pay better than what he could earn in other jobs related to psychology.
I do have former students that are working in insurance or are doing some testing at biotech companies and are working successfully/financially at this, but you need a little bit of a background in bio and stats.
You really need to sit down with the registrar and look at your units. Typically, psych degrees and the coursework involved, dont change much, so most of your units shouldn’t expire. The only thing that would change would be your computer-based applications that are involved in senior level psych courses.
You either have to get a loan from a family member, or try the suggestions that were given to you above in the p.m and/or you’re going to have to continue to work, that’s just kind of what you’re stuck with.
This doesn’t help in terms of loan to wipe out debt all at once, but if you can’t mKe more money because of time or local opportunities then the other option is to cut expenses. A roommate? Spend a few hours doing a detail budget. Are there places you can cut - eating out, expensive coffee, cable tv? As with 2nd job, it’s only temporary.
Asking OP about plans with a degree in psychology misses the point that OP only needs 6 credits for his bachelor’s degree, and that this must be done quickly or OP is likely to lose about 124 credits already completed due to the passage of time.
OP, simply having a BA or BS degree in any major area of study should open doors previously closed.
If you want to pursue a more profitable line of work, then it is easy to get a master’s degree or to earn professional certificates. However, an undergraduate degree is usually required for most positions which offer significant advancement opportunities.
My point was that getting a “psych adjacent job” now which pays better than the current job helps on two fronts-
1- being in a career oriented position now- pre-BA, is going to help the next job search tremendously.
2- Higher pay (possible) and/or tuition reimbursement to actually finish those 6 credits.
I haven’t missed the point- this IS the point- getting the degree and launching. But it’s easier to get something psych related with a degree if you have actual and relevant experience (working with former inmates, working with vulnerable children) thank if you can only talk about delivering packages fro an Amazon subcontractor. Which is a terrific thing to do- shows stamina, grit, etc., but not something on a resume which screams “Hire me for a psych related role”.