highwyre237 wrote:
omnivorous wrote:
R1 and R2 Johnson admits, did anyone of you make to the Live Event on Funding and Financing yesterday afternoon presented by Ann? I was in a different time zone and did not catch up on it. Some notes in bullets would greatly help!
Nothing too earth shattering.
- Save money, school is expensive
- Johnson has limited funds for scholarships and loans
- Look at the budget online
- Come to school with at least 5k in hand for various expenses before loans kick in
- Did I mention, school is expensive
I agree with above, they didn't say much you don't already know. The first 20 minutes were spent telling us to start/keep a budget and live like a student now to save money. 'Bring your own lunch', 'don't buy a new car before arriving in Ithaca', 'don't vacation for 3 months in Hawaii' and 'realize that loans have to be paid back' were all mentioned. Every person who graduates from 8th grade should be able to tell you these things.
What I thought was the most interesting part was when Ann discussed federal and private loans. Almost all institutions recommend exhausting federal loan options first, and then turn to the private sector. Ann kind of went against the grain here and said that if you have a stellar credit score, there's no reason to not take private loans that might offer a better rate than the 6.8% Stafford loans and most definitely the 7.9% PLUS loans. And don't forget the heavy origination fees (I think it's 4% of the total) that come on the PLUS loans in particular.