wooliebear07 asked:


I currently have my student loans consolidated through citi-bank. The payments are too high for me to keep up with. Can I consolidate again through another company or am I stuck with citi-bank. I desperately need a lower payment and citi-bank will not work with me.

kafa asked:


How do I go about getting a student loan and how much money can I get. I want to take a paramedic program that is a year long and cost about $25,000. Is it possible to get a loan for that much?

moneywatch asked:

Consolidating student loans used to be a no-brainer, but not anymore. Jill Schlesinger offers advice to two graduate students.

eHow asked:

Low-interest student loans are dependent upon a good credit score, the state of the economy and interest rate levels, whether it is a variable or fixed loan and where the loan is coming from. Find lower-interest loans, raising credit scores and having a cosigner to help, with financial advice from a guidance counselor in this free video on student loans. Expert: Cheri Ashwood Contact: www.wearehdtv.com Bio: Cheri Ashwood has a bachelor’s degree in psychology and education, and has been a guidance counselor for nearly a decade. Filmmaker: Christopher Rokosz

A vast majority of people take out student loans to pay for higher education. The Supreme Court has decided to make social security benefits a means of repaying them.

No Benefits For You!

While millions borrow money to attend college and graduate school, not everyone pays this money back. The failure to pay can result from circumstances such as a slow job market, failure to finish school and health problems. Of course, there are the select few who simply welch on the repayments. The U.S. Supreme Court rendered a decision on December 7, 2005, impacting people who are behind in paying their loans.

In Lockhart v. United States, the Supreme Court was asked to rule on whether the federal government could seize social security benefits to cover outstanding student loans. The case involved James Lockhart, a disable man, who sued to stop the government from cutting his monthly $874 check. Lockhart suffers from heart disease, diabetes and other health problems and lives in public housing in Seattle. He argued the forfeiture of part of his check made it impossible for him to continue to buy his medication and food. The Justices disagreed with Lockhart.

Under federal law, efforts to collect defaulted student loans had a 10 year limit. Put another way, the federal government was barred from hunting down delinquent payers after ten years. In the past few years, however, Congress did away with this limitation, which brought forth a conflict of law. The Social Security Act contains language protecting benefits from being seized as part of debt actions. In this case, the Supreme Court ruled that such protections only apply to private individuals, not the federal government. In short, social security benefits are no longer safe.

Currently, the total balance on outstanding student loans is roughly $30 billion. Of this amount, roughly seven billion are delinquent or defaulted loans. With 25 percent of loans in the red, one can see why the government has an interest in collecting the debt.

Personally, I don’t have any problem with this ruling. If you borrow money to go to school, you should pay it back. Failing to do so could deprive others of the same opportunity.

By: Richard Chapo

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Brian asked:


I am a community college student. I need money for expenses, not talking of tuition or books, because federal student aid is taking care of that…but is there any loans out there that I could take out, maybe a $1000-$3000 loan to buy a laptop, gas for my car, and maybe a pair of boots for winter? I have a bank account and good credit, but I just don’t have any money as I work seasonally. Plus my parents are poor and barely have enough to buy groceries.

DANIEL H asked:


I am a returning undergraduate student at a tribal college in central Montana. Anyone who has lived in or visited Montana knows that transportation is extremely important. I would like to know the best places to review for student loans which allow a person to spend the money freely and without the cash going to the school first. I am aware of the isues involved in repayment and debt problems of students nationwide. I just really need to have my car up and running again.
Apparently I was misunderstood so I will clarify. This would not be for debt consolidation, nor would it be used to purchase a car. It’s use would be to replace the engine in my car because it’s on it’s last leg. I have parked it due to the knocking in the engine. People have told me that it’s the rods so the engine must either be rebuilt (this process is risky and there is no guarantee that it will fix the problem), get a used engine from a junkyard, (very risky with little to no guarantee that it will last), have the dealership put in a new engine (comes with a waranty and guantees that the car will last me for quite sometime) or purchase a new car (I have already spent alot of money to buy this one and I know what’s wrong with it. This option is out of the question.) I hope that this makes my question more clear.

It is usually very easy to acquire a student loan for college. Unless you have incredibly bad credit, most people are not refused. The problem with obtaining student loans is twofold. First, you have to repay this money back after you have finished college. Second, most loans do not cover tuition rates especially at higher colleges. Here are a few tips on how to make sure you have enough money to earn your college degree.

When you take out a student loan, you have to sign a promissory note. This promissory note is a legally binding document which states that you will repay this loan nine months after you have left college. If you have more than one loan, there will be one single master promissory note which will encompass all of your loans that you have to repay.

This in itself is troubling enough, especially when you get to the eighth month and you’re realizing that perhaps you will be unable to pay this money back. This is a talent concern considering the state of the economy and the ability to find a job that is related to your particular educational degree.

What is worse is that after you have taken out your loan, often times it is not enough to pay for the tuition of your college, let alone the books and the cost of classes that you must take. That is why you should always be on the lookout for student aid or financial aid that is related more to the grant sector of educational finance.

Your counselor, whether this is a physical college or an online college, should be able to direct you toward sources of funding that are available from federal and private sources that will allow you to finish college without ending up six figures in debt with a degree that will not allow you to obtain a job because there are none available.

Although this sounds a bit depressing, it is a fact that most college students after graduating cannot find employment that is related to their particular educational focus. That is why it is imperative that all people that are getting a college degree now look for alternate sources to pay for their education so that after they have received their degree, they will not be subverted by high interest rates and astronomical payments.

You must look for grants and scholarships that are available for people like yourself related to the degree that you want to earn. By doing all of this ahead of time, will save yourself the headache and the financial disaster that awaits you if everything that you have earned in college was based upon a student loan and increasingly high tuition rates.

By: Tommy Hilligan

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