<p>Do these still exist? I'm going to be studying abroad next semester, in my senior year, and I'm worried about having money to live. I had wanted to take out a small private loan, maybe $2000, to help cover my expenses. But I just learned that it seems like all loans these days go directly to the school.</p>
<p>The difference between my financial aid and tuition/room/board is almost exactly $10,000 per year. My mom pays this in monthly installments throughout the school year. If I have the $2000 paid to the school, it's not going to decrease the monthly payments by that much -- maybe freeing up $200 a month.</p>
<p>Are there any options available to me to get the money up front?</p>
<p>Were you able to save any money from a summer job to go towards your study abroad experience? </p>
<p>If you are taking out a private loan, like at your bank, the money can be disbursed to you.</p>
<p>I am working and did save some money, but most of it has gone to the plane ticket.</p>
<p>I realize there are personal loans, but they have much higher interest rates, don’t they? And I’d think they’d be harder to get, even with a cosigner. Am I wrong?</p>
<p>I have heard of some study abroad students who make arrangements to tutor children a couple of times per week in English to make some extra money. Are you studying abroad in a country where the native language is not English? Are you living with a host family who may be able to help you make some arrangements or are you in dorm-type housing? Is there a program director in your foreign country to whom you could email an inquiry about tutoring children in English after school?</p>
<p>It’s in Japan so yeah, English is not the native language. I’ll be in a dorm, not with a host family. I’m not technically allowed to work because I don’t have a work visa, so I don’t think it would be wise to email a director or anything, but I could try asking around, maybe hanging posters, yeah. Thanks.</p>
<p>If your mom has a good relationship with her bank she may be able to take a loan at a favorable rate but it won’t be a ‘student loan’.</p>
<p>In most cases that I’ve seen, no, other than some private outside scholarships. The school wants their bills paid first. You can look at the payment arrangement contract and see if you can have the auto disbursement changed to start later so that your mother has some upfront money to give you rather than the school. At my son’s school there is some flexibility that way. If you are on the payment plan, you can play around with the payment dates and maybe skip the first payments, and make them up later with larger amounts. But your mother would have to come up with larger amounts later since she did not make the payments then.</p>
<p>What private loan are thinking you wanted to take? I don’t think you would be able to take out yourself. If you time the loan so that the proceeds hit the account the right time, you can play with the payment plan that way.</p>