Tution leaving me broke.

Ok well I just did all the math and found out I'll have to give $186 this month and $686 for the next two months (September and October) to pay off my student emergency loan by it's due date on November 1st. My loan is for $1556.45. On top of that I have to pay for my car which adds another $400 (includes insurance and phone bill) each month. If all my caulations are done right I'll only have $222 everything two weeks to live off of. I guess it's times like these I'm glad I still live at home and carpool to work. I sure am glad I bought my books when I had the money.

that's why many students have no cars or very cheap cars.

for example my car is a 15 year old Toyota with a market price of 2500 dollars. I also pay 700 dollars a month for rent. ouch....

Do anything you can to avoid racking up large student loans (or any loans) while you are in school. They will kill you as you start out your life (new job, interning for experience, rent, insurance, transportation, saving for a home, whatever).

And if you have a credit card, either cut it up and cancel the account, or only use it like a check (you have the cash to pay the bill's entire balance every month). Do not ever use the "revolving credit line" on your card--it is trap that will sink you if you let it get out of hand. And the laws have been made dramatically harsher (draconian, comes to mind) in the late 1990's (?) for those that may need to use personal bankruptcy.

If you are not too much into economics right now--you may want to take some econ classes to get up to speed.

-Bill

BB said:

Do anything you can to avoid racking up large student loans (or any loans) while you are in school. They will kill you as you start out your life (new job, interning for experience, rent, insurance, transportation, saving for a home, whatever).

And if you have a credit card, either cut it up and cancel the account, or only use it like a check (you have the cash to pay the bill's entire balance every month). Do not ever use the "revolving credit line" on your card--it is trap that will sink you if you let it get out of hand. And the laws have been made dramatically harsher (draconian, comes to mind) in the late 1990's (?) for those that may need to use personal bankruptcy.

If you are not too much into economics right now--you may want to take some econ classes to get up to speed.

-Bill

Click to expand...

Future Political Science Major myself, I know what you're talking about. I have no credit cards but I do have good credit, due to me paying my car payment on time for the past year. I got one year of student loans, which i canceled due to the fact that I got a good paying job and am now paying for my own school. I buget my money to where I only spend what I have to and leave the rest for school and car payment. What kills me is that it's a bit harder to go out on dates now that moneys tight. Oh well thats the price I pay for having good credit at the age of 21.

When I was in college, I had about $8500 due every semester... and this was AFTER my scholarship was subtracted. Thankfully, my parents' credit is very good, so I was able to secure loans for those enormous sums (I guess about $70k) with them as cosigners.

I was lucky in that I was accepted into the MD-PhD program, so my medical school and graduate school tuitions are both covered... but I am stuck with a $25k/year stipend, and with working 12 hours per day I am forced to live in Manhattan, which means I drop $1200/month on rent... leaving me with about $650/month. I can't live on that, so I take about $10'000/year in further loans. Thankfully, the college ones are deferred, so I don't have to worry about it right now.

I can scarcely fathom how medical students survive here, since they need about $45'000/year in tuition and fees. My family is middle class, but not wealthy, so I am not sure if I would've been able to go to medical school at all if I had to pay the full amount.

BB's advice is right on. Even if you have to reduce your class load so you can work, it might be wise to do that even if it takes you a couple of semesters more to graduate.

Avoid borrowing if at all possible and don't even think about a credit card.