<p>"A card called 'Higher One' lets college kids take their student loan and turn it into a debit card they can use to buy pizza, beer, and other learning essentials..." Let's all watch that CNBC special again on the college debt crisis.</p>
<p>News</a> Headlines</p>
<p>I have a higher one card. All extra FA money is put on that card and it can be spent on whatever.</p>
<p>I too have a HigherOne card through my college. They pushed it quite a lot, by saying that you get your extra money much faster through the card then through bank deposits and/or checks. I wish I chose the direct deposit option now looking back on it…</p>
<p>I don’t get it. Why not just have the money deposited into your bank account and get a debit card?</p>
<p>I don’t think this is as serious of an issue as the for-profit schools are. A DeVry rep came to my school under the guise of a “career seminar”</p>
<p>We were in health class (labs one day a week, PE/Health the rest) and she clearly didn’t realize she was speaking entirely to AP Students, many of whom are already bound to top colleges. It was disgusting, I really don’t see how that got approved by the school.</p>
<p>These schools make their students think the degree they’re getting is worth it… they charge vast sums of money (which is how they make their profit, by admitting poor students and making them take out loans) for a degree that holds zero academic merit.</p>
<p>There are plenty of jobs out there that you can get without a degree that pay respectably. We do need to send more kids to college, but there are two main problems: 1. Unlike the average CCer… many kids have parents who don’t care about education 2. Drop-outs are going to these for-profit schools instead of going to CC and then possibly transferring to a 4-yr.</p>
<p>I mean these schools are literally owned by another corporation. Isn’t that just ridiculous? O America… the land of opportunists, not opportunity.</p>
<p>This isn’t much different from what a lot of schools have been doing… My school (and many others, at least in Florida) has our student accounts linked with a Suntrust student account (if we choose to do so), and our left over financial aid money ( fromscholarships, loans, etc.) is put there instead of being sent in one giant check. How is this so much different? If anything, it looks like these guys are behind the times.</p>
<p>Dave, what do you think realistically is the typical final student loan more or less kids have been coming out of college with - i’d like my Daughter to keep itunder $50K for four years. Merry Christmas</p>
<p>As someone with about 50k, I am going to tell you that’s WAY too much unless she is going into a high paying career track with some job security.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>That was a very interesting, eye-opening special…it made my parents seriously reconsider whether or not it was worth spending 50k a year for college.</p>
<p>I have to question what’s going on such that, once tuition, room and board, books, and all other fees are paid, students still have money left over out of their loan or grant money to spend on pizza and other non-essential items. I understand that some students are in a situation where parents can’t provide any of the “extras,” but that’s where summer jobs, term-time jobs, and work/study should come in.</p>
<p>As a full-freight student a top 20 university–meaning my family’s $$ are going into the financial aid fund to dispense some of the FA money–I have to question whether the universities are properly allocating their FA money. If students have enough money left over to put towards their discretionary spending, and there is truly no student out there on FA for whom the money would let them cover tuition without as many loans (and we know this isn’t the case), then the universities should be cutting tuition. </p>
<p>Are these cards an issue related to college debt and its potentially disastrous ramifications for the American economy? Yes. But I’m taking it a step further and saying that we shouldn’t even be in this position. Student loans and financial aid aren’t for pizza and beer. Sorry.</p>
<p>
Students who live off campus might easily have financial aid money left over after tuition and fees. That aside, why is pizza so much worse than a $12 dining hall meal?</p>
<p>if you think about it, it’s not all that bad…finaid was meant to be open ended so that it would cover living costs along with tuition…if students are gonna waste it, then the school has a right to deny aid, right?</p>
<p>b@r!um, my comment was made with the understanding that this money students are getting back was above and beyond cash that is given by the FA office to students who are receiving FA towards room and board but don’t live on campus. I have occasionally heard of that happening, typically because students earn outside scholarships after being awarded full need-based scholarships and don’t have their FA reduced accordingly. That’s what irks me. If students are spending FA or loan money on the same $ value of food that would be covered by a campus meal plan, that’s fine with me. I guess I thought this was talking about more discretionary spending coming out of loan or aid dollars.</p>
<p>I don’t see anything wrong with this other than it is tempting for the student. As someone with very little money and no family support i can say that having the money from FA after tuition and books has been essential. </p>
<p>Pretend you go off to school with little cash, no family to ask for money or your family has none to give. You get a job and work part-time. What is that income going to amount to? Enough for food, toiletries, pencils, notebooks, transportation, etc. What happens if you have a toothache and need to go to the dentist? What if your ancient computer finally dies? What if you have an interview for an internship and need to buy something other than jeans to wear? </p>
<p>This is all aside from the fact that at some colleges the room rate to live on campus is much higher than the cost to share an apt off campus. This means that the FA you would have spent for room and board on campus is refunded to you so you can pay your landlord.</p>
<p>I definitely make use of my leftover FA. I know it will come on Feb 4th and I’m going to buy a new backpack to replace the one that wore out last semester. I’ll just keep whatever’s left in case of an emergency.</p>
<p>Not to mention, you can always reduce the amount of your loan if you find you don’t need it. You could also just repay any excess right away.</p>
<p>I’m in a program that covers the full COA in grant aid (minus a small loan and work-study) for four years at my school. I feel ridiculously blessed and am extremely grateful, but I do have to wonder why I really need so much money. I get enough (in grants) to cover full tuition, housing, food, books, and then I have enough left over to pay my sorority dues. And THEN I usually have a few hundred dollars left over which usually goes to alcohol, weed, off-campus food, or other discretionary stuff. That’s BEFORE I get my money from my work-study job. Next year I’ll be getting enough FA to cover living in an extremely nice apartment building, one of the best in the campus area, with all utilities and other bills included. I am not complaining, I feel so incredibly grateful. It has made college completely 100% free for me, and I’ll leave with only the smallest amount of debt. However, I do have to wonder if I really need all of this money. I appreciate it for sure, but I think there are others who could probably use it more, you know? I could afford to pay my own discretionary expenses, and that money could pay the tuition of someone else, imo. I’m obviously happy to take it, but it does make me wonder about how they distribute the FA at my school, many people have told me they could get very little.</p>
<p>NotAClue, that’s essentially my situation. Most of my refunds go toward medical bills and necessary food. I get nothing but unsubsidized stafford loans but my parents contribute no money, so I have to take out a private loan to cover everything and I get a refund for textbooks and necessary living expenses. The rest is saved for emergencies, which inevitably come up. I considered just paying it all back right away, that had been my plan, but I don’t think it’s safe to walk around with no cushion when you have no one to support you. I’ve worked as much as I can, as many as 35 hours a week my first two years of school, but it isn’t enough to make ends meet, and now I can’t work at all. I have about $1000 to buy my textbooks for winter with and to get me through until May, so I shudder to think what kind of shape I would be in without the refunds from last year.</p>
<p>As a full-freight student a top 20 university–meaning my family’s $$ are going into the financial aid fund to dispense some of the FA money–I have to question whether the universities are properly allocating their FA money.</p>
<p>If you’re a full-freight student at at Top 20 school then I doubt any of your family’s money is going to fund FA for another student (unless you attend Berkeley). Nearly all top 20 schools charge less than what it really takes to educate each student at their schools. Which means a full-freight student at - say Columbia - still isn’t paying for his entire cost.</p>
<p>However, your point is well taken. Aside for money for meal plans and food money for those who live off-campus, the rest is really for “personal expenses” (shampoo, etc)…not really for movies, pizza and beer, and other luxuries. </p>
<p>I have no issues with kids using some of their work-study money for so-called luxuries, but there will be nothing more frustrating than making payments for 10 years knowing that the money went for pizza nights and dating.</p>
<p>The problem is that schools over-inflate COA so that kids can borrow more.</p>
<p>Upside: money is available to borrow
Downside: the lender wants the money back, with interest</p>
<p>Will this stop borrowers from whining they cannot pay back loans ?
Nooooooooooooo</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Thank goodness, or I would not have been able to pay for my parking, or the computer I needed to accommodate my disability when my old one wore out, or the extra money I needed for textbooks when the cost exceeded the COA estimation, or for the new car battery I needed to get to class in August when mine died. Students are perfectly capable of NOT borrowing more if they do not need it, for those of us that do it is a godsend. They won’t let you borrow more than the COA so if you were right up against exactly what tuition and housing is, if you have extra expenses, even school related ones, you are up a creek.</p>
<p>I’m currently paying for a meal plan I can’t use because of my food allergies and am having to pay for that AND groceries, and this year I did not get any loan refunds and I am really struggling. Eating pretty much nothing but bagels.</p>
<p>" I needed to accommodate my disability when my old one [computer] wore out,"
Was it termites ?</p>
<p>It must be convenient to have an excuse to cover every want.</p>