<p>My parents want to help me start paying off my student loans before I graduate. Will this affect my eligibility for future need-based aid? (I'm a sophmore now.) That is, will it look to the college like we've got $ to burn? Is there any advantage to waiting til I graduate?</p>
<p>Are they subsidized or unsubsidized loans? Are you going to need loans in future years? To me, it makes little sense to pay off subsidized loans unless there’s a sudden windfall and no future borrowing will be necessary. There is no interest accumulating and the rates on sub loans were lower last year and this year than they’re likely to be in the future. I agree that it’s a good idea to pay at least the accumulated interest on unsub loans just to keep the balance (and future payments) as low as possible.</p>
<p>My loans are Stafford loans. I also have a small loan from the college. I guess my parents are just trying to stay ahead of the financing so I’ll have less debt when I graduate. With the way things are I’m not sure I’ll be able to get a good job after I graduate! I mean college is pressure enough, but I think facing the debt arfertwards is grim. I just don’t want the college to think my parents aren’t scrimping and saving to get me through–they are–but they just want to help me get ahead of the debt. My mom’s pay is pretty much all going to pay for my college education.</p>
<p>Stafford loans can be subsidized (no interest accrues while you’re in college) or unsubsidized. It sounds like your parents know what they’re doing and I wouldn’t worry about the college tracking and analyzing loan repayments for current students - not sure that they could even access that data.</p>
<p>If you can do this…go for it. Another thing you could do is to use the money for repayment to offset the need for FUTURE loans. Is that possible?</p>