Private Student Loans - requesting recommendations

[isukendall]

I agree with everything you are saying, but just wanted to point out the growth rate of tuition versus the growth rate of wages is the real problem. Wages around the USA have been stagnant for years while tuition is going through the roof.

This is definitely part of it. But if the real problems are (1) higher tuition and (2) low wages, then you either need to go somewhere with less tuition so you have little need for loans, or get a degree and good grades that will leave you capable of paying for the higher tuition. Just sending your kid to college anyway and footing the bill is irresponsible IMO. I know a ton of people who went to college on mom and dad's dime to get psychology degrees for example (some out of state as well), and few of them had jobs during school, a lot of them flunked out, because they had no sense of responsibility. The ones who did graduate have struggled financially because there are no jobs, and the ones that are available are low paying. Make a kid be responsible for their own decisions, and if you do a good job coaching them through it, they should understand the risk/reward of higher education.

 

[Vicarious]

I would recommend spending some time lurking around the Financial aid and Scholarship forum over at College
Confidential. Some of the posters have put several kids thru school and there's a surprising amount of info and advice there and if nothing else it is a good source for helping to fill out FAFSA.

I applaud your niece's decision to cut costs by attending CC first - too many place an unfair stigma on such a financially prudent choice. I would also encourage her to look into Presidential Scholarships if she is a good student and has solid ACT scores. ISU does not offer much but UNI is very generous with theirs and some out of state schools will give you almost a full ride.

 

[ISUME]

This is definitely part of it. But if the real problems are (1) higher tuition and (2) low wages, then you either need to go somewhere with less tuition so you have little need for loans, or get a degree and good grades that will leave you capable of paying for the higher tuition. Just sending your kid to college anyway and footing the bill is irresponsible IMO. I know a ton of people who went to college on mom and dad's dime to get psychology degrees for example (some out of state as well), and few of them had jobs during school, a lot of them flunked out, because they had no sense of responsibility. The ones who did graduate have struggled financially because there are no jobs, and the ones that are available are low paying. Make a kid be responsible for their own decisions, and if you do a good job coaching them through it, they should understand the risk/reward of higher education.

Once again I agree with your post. Maybe I should have stated when comparing situations you have to use the same time frame. If you told someone who graduated in the early 90's that you just graduated and accumulated 40k in loans and your starting salary was only going to be 10 to 15% more then their starting salary they would be shocked.

 

[JY07]

Another important detail about private loans: They will require a co-signer. Federal loans do not.

is this new? when i graduated 5 years ago, none of my private loans were cosigned

Also, i'm not sure where all of the iowa student loan hate is coming from. I had loans from them for all 4 years (variable), and once i graduated and the markets exploded in 2007, they let me switch how the rates were calculated without any issue (which was great, since they would have been near 11%).. from that point until i paid them off a year or two ago they were around 3%

 

[ISUCyclones2015]

is this new? when i graduated 5 years ago, none of my private loans were cosigned

Also, i'm not sure where all of the iowa student loan hate is coming from. I had loans from them for all 4 years (variable), and once i graduated and the markets exploded in 2007, they let me switch how the rates were calculated without any issue (which was great, since they would have been near 11%).. from that point until i paid them off a year or two ago they were around 3%

Mine didn't require a cosigner but doing so saved me 7% on interest both times.