attn: college graduates

[insertnamehere]

how does i paid for student loans?

i just realized that im going to have to start repayment shortly and am the midst of panic. i logged on to the bank servicing my federal loans and pulled up where i can look at all the amounts and whatnot, and for separate semesters sometimes it has different a "repay servicer"... like its not all through the same company or whateves. anyway, if i click on one of these it takes me to a little page thats like, this loan is being serviced by (address).

im so confused. do they just bill me? do i have to write checks to different entities even though its all through the same bank.

i dont know how banks work. or loans for that matter. so confused. and gripped by terror. terror in the face of a life of debt.

[checkyourprez]

first you get a job.


then you defer them for some time.


save up some cash.


then start to repay.



but thats just a guess, paid mine straight cash.

[insertnamehere]

i dont understand who/how i pay is the issue i guess

[DipDipDive]

Don't panic...I had no fucking clue how banks/loans/interest rates worked when I set up my student loan either. It's actually a very simple process and your student loan will help you understand other financing you'll have to start dealing with when you're done with school.

You won't be confused about who to pay for long...They'll start billing you soon.

There will be information on your bills in regards to deferment/forbearance, which essentially means delaying the initiation of the payment process. Interest (or a certain percentage of your total loan) will continue to add up each month that you don't pay, so in the end, you'll end up paying a larger total when all is said and done than you would have if you hadn't delayed the payment process. No big deal though, especially if you only defer for six months (which I'm pretty sure is the standard grace period for deferment).

Get a job right away and defer that shit. You'll be fine.

[insertnamehere]

im considering applying to a couple grad schools. if i go, that shit gets put on hold right?

[DipDipDive]

As far as how to pay, I highly recommend mailing checks...so much easier to keep track of shit that way.

[DipDipDive]

im considering applying to a couple grad schools. if i go, that shit gets put on hold right?

You have to request to have your bills deferred. It won't just happen automatically.

[insertnamehere]

but so it sounds to you like im going to be paying one entity and not like, oh i have to mail this check for X amount to this place and this check for Y amount to this other place and aaaahhggghghghgh

[insertnamehere]

if i deffer them to continue with school will they build up crazy amounts of interest?


i better make bank when i graduate. or meet a rich rich man who loves me.

[insertnamehere]

ps- thanks ddd, you talked me down


PANIC

[DipDipDive]

but so it sounds to you like im going to be paying one entity and not like, oh i have to mail this check for X amount to this place and this check for Y amount to this other place and aaaahhggghghghgh

Well, I received one federal loan, so I only pay one entity. But the same concept applies if your loans were split up between or amongst more than one loan service. The rules about deferment periods may differ, but it'll all make sense once you start receiving your bills.

Have you come across customer service lines that you can call, or do you have an adviser at your school you can talk to?

[DipDipDive]

if i deffer them to continue with school will they build up crazy amounts of interest?


i better make bank when i graduate. or meet a rich rich man who loves me.

Well, yeah, the longer you go without paying, the more you'll pay in the end. But fuck it. When I deferred my loan, I freaked out a bit until I realized that I'll be making those payments well into the next decade of my life...what's a year or two more on top of the ten years I already locked myself into?

You can look into consolidation, too, which basically means one entity absorbs all of the costs of your multiple loans and you pay one institution instead of multiple entities...I'd wait until you're done with grad school to do that if I was you though.

[Bob]

if you can consolidate them, look into that. for law school at least, all your federal loans can be consolidated into one payment to one place, i assume it works that way for undergrad as well. i use this site: https://www.dl.ed.gov/borrower/BorrowerWelcomePage.jsp i assume you can too

private loans can be trickier but yeah, talk to a financial aid adviser at your school, they should be able to tell you what to do. it is their job kind of

edit: be warned that consolidation might end your grace periods but it sounds like you're at the end of that anyway so i guess that doesn't matter.

[insertnamehere]

my loans are all federal stafford loans, but wachovia was the one that passed the money off to my school, and then when i look on wachovia's website it has different "repay servicers" listed, but they mostly all have wachovia in the name. its like different departments or something. i dont even know. bleh. oh well. if i cant find them, they'll find me.


i have a financial aid couselor but she has a crazy accent and i cant understand her so whenever ive gone to talk to her its done very little to unconfuse me. id feel bad telling them i need a new aid counselor because i cant understand the asian lady.

[Bob]

also if all goes as planned i will be paying off my loans for 25 years. i have currently been alive for a little over 25 years

[insertnamehere]

consolidation eh?


i have no idea what to expect as far as how long repayment will take. yours sounds scary though. im scared again.

[DipDipDive]

my loans are all federal stafford loans, but wachovia was the one that passed the money off to my school, and then when i look on wachovia's website it has different "repay servicers" listed, but they mostly all have wachovia in the name. its like different departments or something. i dont even know. bleh. oh well. if i cant find them, they'll find me.

Oh, you bet your ass they'll find you. Don't even worry about trying to find them...when it's time to pay, you'll know it.

You'll probably be billed by the US Department of Education if you have a Federal Stafford loan.

[DipDipDive]

consolidation eh?


i have no idea what to expect as far as how long repayment will take. yours sounds scary though. im scared again.

Calm down dude. Student debt is the best kind of debt to have. Interest rates for student loans are way lower than loans for most things in life and the monthly payments aren't outrageously high or anything. You'll be fine.

[Documad]

I had two different kinds of loans from different companies with different interest rates. I paid the higher rate one off faster by making larger payments than required while making the minimum payment on the other. So eventually I had only one loan left and started making larger payments on that one.

Is there someone at your school who can give you some options on deferring or restructuring? I have friends who restructured their grad school loans over 30 years. I'm so glad I didn't do that -- mine was paid off in 7-8 years -- but you have to do what you have to do.

BTW, don't go to grad school unless you have a concrete plan re what you're going to do when you get out and how you will be able to pay off the loans. Don't take on more debt. Most people who go to grad school don't find a high paying job at the end. That's fucking rare. Going to grad school to avoid responsibilities is a really dumb move. But you won't listen to me. No one does. :(

[Bob]

consolidation eh?


i have no idea what to expect as far as how long repayment will take. yours sounds scary though. im scared again.

just stay out of law school and you'll be fine

Oh, you bet your ass they'll find you. Don't even worry about trying to find them...when it's time to pay, you'll know it.

You'll probably be billed by the US Department of Education if you have a Federal Stafford loan.

I got into an elevator at work and this man followed in after me. I pushed "1" and he just stood there. I said, "Hi, where you going?" He said, "Phoenix." So I pushed Phoenix. A few seconds later the doors opened, two tumbleweeds blew in. We were in downtown Phoenix. I looked at him and said, "You know, you're the kind of guy I want to hang around with." We got into his car and drove out to his shack in the desert. Then the phone rang. He said, "You get it." I picked it up and said, "Hello?" The other side said, "Is this Steven Wright?" I said, "Yes." The guy said, "Hi, I'm Mr. Jones, the student loan director from your bank. It seems you've missed your last 17 payments, and the university you attended said that they received none of the $17,000 we loaned you. We would just like to know what happened to the money?" I said, "Mr. Jones, I'll give it to you straight. I gave all of the money to my friend Slick, and with it he built a nuclear weapon. And I would appreciate it if you never called me again."

[Documad]

consolidation eh?


i have no idea what to expect as far as how long repayment will take. yours sounds scary though. im scared again.
That's why you shouldn't go to grad school unless you are passionate about what you are going to study and you have a plan for how you will someday pay it back. You can take a couple of years off and think if over -- explore other things. You can always go to grad school later.

[Bob]

BTW, don't go to grad school unless you have a concrete plan re what you're going to do when you get out and how you will be able to pay off the loans. Don't take on more debt. Most people who go to grad school don't find a high paying job at the end. That's fucking rare. Going to grad school to avoid responsibilities is a really dumb move. But you won't listen to me. No one does. :(

this advice applies a billionfold to law school, in every aspect. every time i hear someone say they want to go to law school i want to sucker punch them. it's a bad idea

[DipDipDive]

I know more than one person who obtained a graduate degree but never had a real job. Ultimately retarded.

Most employers want to see applicable work experience on a resume, not a laundry list of bullshit degrees.

[Documad]

I know more than one person who obtained a graduate degree but never had a real job. Ultimately retarded.

Most employers want to see applicable work experience on a resume, not a laundry list of bullshit degrees.
Plus if you decide that you really want to go to grad school, there are many options that allow you to go part time while working. The older students I met in contributed interesting perspectives. Also they appreciated it more.

Obviously, for some jobs you need a particular degree. For those, you have to decide whether it's worth the cost. I thought about getting an MBA because I was a natural at that stuff but I knew that I'd never be able to hack the kind of job I'd have to get when I was done.

[Documad]

this advice applies a billionfold to law school, in every aspect. every time i hear someone say they want to go to law school i want to sucker punch them. it's a bad idea

I'm pretty sure I said that before you went. I say it to everyone. But the truth is that I absolutely love my job.

I was a slow starter. It took me ages to find the right job. You will get there. You have time. Even I still have time to really go places. :p

[Bob]

wish i'd listened

[na§tee]

god i'm grateful i went to uni in the UK.

we all get our student loans from the same company. it's an income contingent loan and it just comes out automatically from our salaries each month - it's on my payslip and comes off aside my income tax. once you start earning over £15,000 p.a, it'll start to come out. that is just the minimum amount you have to pay - it's like 9% of your earnings above the threshold - you can always pay more. which is useful as interest is accuing all the time. the interest isn't so big though because the rate is subsidised by the government.

if for some reason i haven't paid it off by the time i am 65 (unlikely) it's written off.

[Bob]

god i'm grateful i went to uni in the UK.

we all get our student loans from the same company. it's an income contingent loan and it just comes out automatically from our salaries each month - it's on my payslip and comes off aside my income tax. once you start earning over £15,000 p.a, it'll start to come out. that is just the minimum amount you have to pay - it's like 9% of your earnings above the threshold - you can always pay more. which is useful as interest is accuing all the time. the interest isn't so big though because the rate is subsidised by the government.

if for some reason i haven't paid it off by the time i am 65 (unlikely) it's written off.

SOCIALIST! HITLER!

[na§tee]

IKNOWRIGHT?!

what about the socialist bastards who got their loans after 2006? they get theirs written off after 25 years! bastards!

you know it aint all milk and honey. english students have it worse. they have to pay tuition fees. us scottish people don't :cool:

[Documad]

wish i'd listened

No, it's clearly a good fit for you. It's going to be worth it in the long run.

[jabumbo]

just don't be like this guy at work: 40 years old, no degree, still paying off his loans

[NicRN77]

Don't get all flustered yet. Everyone here has given you good advice.

When I graduated, all the students had to go through an exit interview with the financial aid counselor. They explained everything.

You don't start paying your loans off until like 6 months after you graduate. If you do go to grad school, you can defer them.

I had Stafford loans, and each year I was in school was a separate loan so that could be where you are confused. Each loan was a different interest rate. I consolidated a few years ago to pay them off quicker...and also to lock in a low interest rate. SOME of your loans may already be low interest...like my nursing loan was next to nothing.

I paid my 10 year loans off about 6 months early thanks to consolidating them. But, I graduated way back in 1999 and was only about $25,000 in the hole.

[insertnamehere]

let me give a brief rundown of my college career and you can tell me if you think my logic is sound

i started off as a bio major. the bio program at my school sucks though, or did. they were kind of in the process of restructuring the whole thing when i came in so it was kind of a mess. i wanted to study wildlife biology and ecology and all that, whereas all the undergrad bio classes here were like micro and chemistry and i hated it.

so i changed my major to environmental studies. the prof that convinced me to change my major sold it well, and overall i think it was a good move because i had really shitty grades after my first two years, and if id changed my major to anything else (or even stayed in bio) i would have had to retake a lot of classes that my current major accepts because its slack as hell. but once again, i thought environment = ecology and outdoorsy stuff, but its almost entirely air quality, water quality, soil chemistry, and regulation stuff. so like, all analyzing stuff in a lab. i think a major problem with it is that they make it really broad so you learn a little of lots of different stuff, but i dont feel like i ended up knowing enough about anything to do anything. im really in no way qualified to have any kind of environmental job.

so im considering doing a masters in bio somewhere else that has a concentration on conservation biology/wildlife management/ecology/something like that

I WANT TO BE THE CROCODILE HUNTER WHEN I GROW UP

[Documad]

Where do you see yourself working if you got the graduate degree you're thinking about? Have you met with people who work there to verify what they're looking for, what sort of other criteria they look for, etc? Could you take a low level job at that sort of place and then consider going to school at night to work for the higher degree and better job? There is no substitute for meeting with people who are doing what you want to do and asking how they got there. People love to talk about themselves. I wish I had done more of that. The easiest job interviews are the ones where you really understand the job you're applying for--where you already know how the people there talk and behave. I screwed up a ton when I was starting out because I couldn't visualize what I would be doing all day if I had gotten the job.

There are many worthless graduate degrees. I don't know the science degrees, but my niece had shitty college grades, thus she got into a shitty grad school, and she enjoyed the school and got pretty good grades there, but she was unemployable when she got out. She's a cashier now. Part of her problem was the lack of any relevant work experience. Part of it was that she went to that shitty grad school.

I don't poo poo education at all. If you like school for the sake of school it can enrich your life even if it doesn't help you get a job. That's a valid choice. But you want to make that choice with your eyes open.

In many professions, the only people who get jobs in the field are the people with the best grades and best extra qualities who went to the best schools. For instance at the school I went to, the people who graduated in the bottom half of the class found it impossible to get a job in the field. So you wouldn't want to spend all that money unless you had a reason to believe you would be very good at it. The problem is that most people seem to think that they're going to be in the top 10% of the class. You don't see many people starting grad school who are aiming for the bottom 10%.