How long would it take to pay off college loans?
I decided that I am going to go to the extended campus of SDSU in my small town for my Bachelors Then I am going to another extended campus of another college in Palm Desert. The college of San Bernardino My question is how long will it take to pay off the loans. I don’t think it will be as much since they are extended and close by, plus I would still be living for home.
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Nikki:
C’mon now, you know that there is no way for someone to tell you how long it will take you to pay off your educational loans unless we have a lot more information to work with.
Let’s start with:
How much will you borrow?
What interest rate will the loan have?
Despite not having any idea what the answer to those questions is, I can offer you some general information.
Any loans that you take are likely to be Stafford loans, offered through the government’s federal student aid program. Stafford loans are the cheapest, and far and away, the most readily available form of educational loans available – in fact – there is an excellent chance that these will be the only type of loans available to you at the present time.
The interest rate on a Stafford is a low, fixed rate of 6.8%, and the repayment period is 10 years. Your repayment obligation will not begin until you have been out of school for 6 months, but interest will accrue on your loans from the day they are disbursed.
The great thing about a Stafford is that it is not a credit-based loan. The application asks no questions about your income, your debts, your assets, or your credit history. You’re pretty much already approved, and you won’t be asked for a cosigner. The only ‘negative’ is that you can only borrow $5500 from the Stafford program in your 1st year of school, $6500 in your 2nd, and $7500 in your third and fourth years.
There is another government lending program that might be useful for you – that’s the PLUS loan program. PLUS stands for Parents’ Loan for Undergraduate Students, and as the name implies, you can’t borrow from the PLUS program, but your parents can. The interest rate on the PLUS is a little higher (8.5%), but it is also fixed for the life of the loan (which is a very good thing). Your parents can apply to borrow as much money as you need to afford your school costs (there is no dollar limit), but, unlike the Stafford, the PLUS is a credit-based loan, and your parents would need to complete an application that looks an awful lot like an auto loan or mortgage application.
There is another type of educational loan – they’re called "private" or "alternative" loans. A few years ago, they were common, and many students borrowed thousands, if not tens of thousands every year. Unfortunately, those loan products were almost entirely eliminated by the banking and lending crisis, and there are now only a handful of lenders who make private educational loans. These loans are offered with higher, variable interest rates, and you will almost certainly need a very creditworthy cosigner to apply.
The most recent major study of student loan debt found that the average undergrad leaves college with about $21,000 in loans. If all of that loan balance is Stafford loans, this would suggest a monthly payment obligation of approximately $230 a month for 10 years. If you compare that to a typical monthly car payment, you’ll realize that $230 is a pretty reasonable investment in your financial future – and far more justifiable than a car.
Finally, while living at home will certainly save you a great deal of money (no room and board), the cost of your tuition and fees won’t be much less because you are attending an extended campus. Your tuition and fees payment at SDSU is still estimated at about $3500 a year (I’m guessing that you’ll attend at Imperial Valley?) and your books and supplies will cost an estimated $1638. That’s still $20,000 for a 4-year program.
I’d like to recommend that you read through this US Department of Education booklet: http://studentaid.ed.gov/students/attachments/siteresources/FundingEduBeyondHighSchool_0910.pdf called "Funding Education Beyond High School: The Guide to Federal Student Aid". Not only will you learn more about the Stafford program that I described, you’ll also find out what other forms of financial aid are available, and whether you might qualify for some of them. You’ll learn about the government’s grant programs, the loans, and the Federal Work Study program.
Good luck to you – I hope this information helped.
http://www.finaid.org/calculators/finaidestimate.phtml