Student Loans

Student Loans... the fact of life for pretty much everyone, and now I"m no different.

There is no way I'm eligable for anything need based so I apply for the unsubsidized Stafford Loans, which they grant. With taking one class a month I really don't want to have to work. I get the amount and it's barely enough to cover tuition. I have tuition covered but how do they expect anyone to be able to go to school if they only barely cover tuition? There is also an upper limit, so if you go to a high tuition school you're screwed by the end. It's not going to be enough for me to live, even doing the 'starving student' thing, so I look for other options.

What I found was 'Alternative Loans', offered by the same bank that is backing my Stafford Loans, but it's income and credit based, and apparently the fact I own my house doesn't count for anything and I need a co-signer. I'm going to hit up my mother later, but how is a student going to have the debt to income ratio to qualify for these loans?

Not even taking into consideration the amount of debt that is acquired by the end of a normal Bachelor's degree this stuff is insane. It is basically forcing people to work while going to school, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it does limit how much time they have for classwork and lengthens the time they will take to finish, they can't take as many classes because they're working their asses off to just be able to eat!

I don't think I could hold down a full time job and do well in school, not in the program I'm taking at least. Maybe someone with better time organization skills than I have could do it, but there just aren't enough hours in the day!

I may be able to pull off part time work, but that means no benefits and a crappy job. We'll see how this loan thing comes out, I'd rather get this huge amount of debt and work things out at the other end.

My plan is to get the max I am eligible for and stick it in savings, taking out what I need each month. Then I'll see what I have left at the end of the year and adjust accordingly. The ONLY reason I'm considering these loans is that I only have to pay interest until six months after I graduate so it's more manageable than a home equity loan. I will NOT live off of credit cards, that is just the path of ruin.