student loans: wtf?

[CrAz3D]

This is the first time I've needed aid for school, so now I'm applying for loans.  4 years of college, and now I have to do this, pssht.  Oh well.

I've completed taxes and FAFSA for this year.  Where is a good place to find student loans?

edit:
I'm searching through SimpleTuition.com.  I found Stafford loans ($20,500 borrowed/$34,000 end cost), and it says I owe $285 per month for 10 yrs.  Decent?

hmm, private loans:  ($9,500 borrowed/$13,495 end cost), and it says $56 per month for 20 yrs.

I bet if I spend $1,000/month in repaying these bastards I could get out sooner.

[Towelie]

This is one thing I don't have to deal with ;P

[CrAz3D]

when I saw that you had posted i began to think that this was going to become an army recruitment thread.

[while1]

I tend to forget how fortunate I am to have parents that started planning ahead and saving for my college education as soon as I was adopted/ an infant.  Even then, the amount saved wasn't enough to cover all four years.  But my parents are covering everything but textbooks.  Of course, I get paid room and board as a resident technology assistant, so I'm helping with the burden.  My Dad could have retired already if he didn't have to put 4 kids through college, let alone could be a millionaire by now if he didn't have four kids.

[CrAz3D]

while, I agree.  I'm torn about helping my (eventual) kids through school.  Part of me wants to help so they can do school/activities, other part wants to say "get a job/scholarships/loans."  I figure it'll be a combo of "if you fuck around you better have a way to pay for it."

I've had it easy with all the opportunities I've been afforded.  I've paid for everything on my own since I started my senior year of high school.  Benefits I've had include a scholarship for tuition + (most) fees, a lump sum payment for a car accident I was in and a job that has been fruitful in cash and experience.

[Sidoh]

In my first few semesters, I could've easily managed a job on top of my schoolwork.  It'd have been pretty hectic and I would've had a much harder time settling in and getting accustomed to how assignments, tests and the like worked, and I can't imagine that my GPA would be what it is now.

If I'd known I would need to work during school, I definitely could have taken lighter course loads in order to accommodate for this, but I feel that it'd be impossible for me to add that over the past few semesters.  I'm averaging 4-5 hours of sleep, which might not be unusual for some people, but I'm much more used to 8.  This is partly because I'm not very good at managing my time well (I think this is partly due to my tendency to walk away from things I'm having a hard time with for a while to let my mind hash it out on the back burner), but mostly because this semester fucking sucks. 

I think the thing that's eating up the most time is my AI class.  The "problem" is the assignments are completely open-ended and very research oriented.  I spend entire days tweaking parameters to my solutions that took less than an hour to create.  It's probably the funnest/most rewarding class I've taken here, but holy crap it takes up a lot of time.

Anyway, the bottom line comes down to priorities, I guess.  If you want to put your kid's education first, then I think your solution is about as close to optimal as you can come, crazed.  Pay for it if they're serious, and tell them to take a hike if they're just going to waste the opportunity.

I've heard some people here say that a "high" GPA is largely irrelevant when it comes to getting a job, but my experience has been exactly opposite of that.  Literally every place I've interviewed at has made a positive remark about my GPA.  Most of them are to the effect of "You have the kinds of skills and the GPA that we're looking for in an intern", etc.  The last thing I'm trying to do here is boast -- I'm merely stressing that it really is important, at least in the internships I've been interested in.  In one of the more "lucrative" ones I applied for this time around, I had a guy call me talking about full time positions for after I graduate.

I think some people are excellent at managing their time and could absolutely be self sufficient and take on very difficult course loads.  This is probably something that you should take into account before you make the decision.

This is something I could drone on about for a long time, but I think I'll cut myself short here.  Good luck with the loans.  Unfortunately, I don't have any advice as to where to get the loans.  If you really are interested, though, I'm sure I could find plenty of people who can give recommendations.

[while1]

GPA is important for technical fields, don't know about other fields though.  It comes down the how good of a job and company you are trying to get with.  Good companies won't look at you if you have below a 3.0.  Even better ones won't if you don't have at least a 3.5.  But when it comes down to evaluating candidates with a 0.1 difference in GPA, I doubt it will matter much more than other factors such as experience.  Some companies will also use it to help calculate your starting salary supposedly too.

[Joe]

while, I agree.  I'm torn about helping my (eventual) kids through school.  Part of me wants to help so they can do school/activities, other part wants to say "get a job/scholarships/loans."  I figure it'll be a combo of "if you fuck around you better have a way to pay for it."

I've had it easy with all the opportunities I've been afforded.  I've paid for everything on my own since I started my senior year of high school.  Benefits I've had include a scholarship for tuition + (most) fees, a lump sum payment for a car accident I was in and a job that has been fruitful in cash and experience.

Part of me sees you thinking it's a great idea to assume your kids will work and study, both full time.

[Towelie]

when I saw that you had posted i began to think that this was going to become an army recruitment thread.

I wouldn't try to recruit for the military. Either it's a good option for you or it isn't :P. Actually, there are many people I wouldn't want in it. Also, I wouldn't try to recruit for army ;)

Anyways, I'm glad that my parents don't have to help me get through college. It's actually pretty nice to have them asking me if I need money instead of the other way around. Maybe I'll get some of the money they saved up for my college education, or I could use it for grad school when I'm out of the military (if the military doesn't end up funding that for me, too)

[CrAz3D]

while, I agree.  I'm torn about helping my (eventual) kids through school.  Part of me wants to help so they can do school/activities, other part wants to say "get a job/scholarships/loans."  I figure it'll be a combo of "if you fuck around you better have a way to pay for it."

I've had it easy with all the opportunities I've been afforded.  I've paid for everything on my own since I started my senior year of high school.  Benefits I've had include a scholarship for tuition + (most) fees, a lump sum payment for a car accident I was in and a job that has been fruitful in cash and experience.

Part of me sees you thinking it's a great idea to assume your kids will work and study, both full time.

I did.  And I was involved on campus.  However, I'd like my kids to be more involved on campus than I was.  But that's their choice.  Either way, they'll have full days.  I don't want them to end up like some of my slacker friends that had too much time on their hands so they spent it boozing too much and screwing up their school (you can still booze and do well in school, my roommates and I did).

[Rule]

when I saw that you had posted i began to think that this was going to become an army recruitment thread.

I wouldn't try to recruit for the military. Either it's a good option for you or it isn't :P. Actually, there are many people I wouldn't want in it. Also, I wouldn't try to recruit for army ;)

Anyways, I'm glad that my parents don't have to help me get through college. It's actually pretty nice to have them asking me if I need money instead of the other way around. Maybe I'll get some of the money they saved up for my college education, or I could use it for grad school when I'm out of the military (if the military doesn't end up funding that for me, too)

It's generally much easier to get funding for grad school, than for undergrad.

[CrAz3D]

Unfortunately, that doesnt apply for law school.