College Planning for Adults
When you have exhausted all other possibilities for getting enough money to pay for your college tuition fees, you can always take out a loan.
What is a loan?
A loan is borrowed money that you must pay back with interest. You can only take out a loan if you are in school at least part time – usually between 6-8 credits.
Some loans are good loans, some are not.
Quiz Question:
Is it better to take out a car loan or education loan? Why? Click here to see the answer.
You can use the formula to calculate how much additional money you will owe in interest on your loan. Click here to see the formula.
FinAid.org Calculator
Follow the link to an interest calculator – Go down to the bottom of the page: http://www.finaid.org/calculators/loanpayments.phtml
Before you take out an educational loan, you should consider the following:
- How much are you going to take out in loans?
- What is the interest rate?
- How long will it take for you to complete your degree program?
- What is the outlook for your potential career?
- What is the starting salary for your potential career? Will it cover your current expenses plus your monthly loan payment?
You do not have to begin repaying your loan until six months after you have completed your degree and you have up to 10 years to repay your loans.
Types of Loans
The federal government offers several types of loans. You should know that some of these loans are “subsidized” and some are “unsubsidized.”
Activity:
Look at the following list of terms. Do you know what they mean? Using the Finaid.org website, research the terms and write down what they mean. Then take an interactive quiz.
1. Private loans 2. Student loans 3. Parent loans
Take the quiz on loans >>
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