I have about 25k in outstanding loans from undergrad but am enrolling in an MBA program this fall. does anyone know if lenders are willing to stop/lower interest while I am at school? obviously I will have no/limited income other than my internship while I am attending.

any help or advice is greatly appreciated, and apologies if we've hit on this topic before!

Three main things to consider when looking for financial aid:

- Grants and scholarships
- Corporate sponsorship
- Loan

There's a useful article on the Global MBA Report website (I think it's in their Admissions/GMAT section?), which gives some guidance and useful links on how to research the above options. It also shows MBA programs ranked by 'Value for Money'!

Personally I'm getting a loan from the Bank of Mum & Dad!!!

Have you decided what you're going to do? I'm debating what to do with my money for next year. I've shifted to putting money into a savings account instead of the stock market since I'll be using it shortly for school. I just can't decide what to do with some of my long-term stock holdings and savings when I actually start school. I don't like taking on more debt than I have to but I feel like I'm better off taking a little more loans than I think necessary and holding the cash as a just in case. My wife will be working full time so that will help but she has grad school loans of her own we will need to be paying off so I can't count too much on her salary supporting us a whole lot. Especially if I end up in a big city like NYC or Chicago.

Hi all,

Not sure if anyone can help me, but I'm looking at funding options. I'm from South Africa. I have a co-signer, but they're Canadian, not American. Do you know of any US banks that would give loans with Canadian co-signers?

Thanks
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This thread is amazing.. I highly recommend reading through from the first post to the end.. very educational.

A private vs public loan question:

For people who have no intention of working in the government and are confident in job prospects, are there any other reasons for getting a public loan over a private one? I'm curious because rates for fixed private loans with cosigner seem lower than Stafford or Grad PLUS..

Thanks for the heads up.
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Jumping back into this thread nearly 2 years after I came up with my plan. Graduation is around the corner and I'm looking ahead to the debt service payments I'll be making later this year. Thought this might be helpful to people making decisions about financing school both before and after attending.

I took out about $100k from Sallie Mae at 2% (variable) with half amortized over 7 years and half over 10. I have no clue why I took out a 7 year loan, but that's in the past. Monthly Payment for the 2 loans is about $1,200.

Also took out $40k at 6.8% (Stafford) and $10k at 7.9% (PLUS) all amortized over 10 years. Payment due is about $600.

So, I'm looking at nearly $1,800 a month. Probably more than I realized 2 years ago, but I was also in a different place in life. Like nearly all other second year students, my wife and I are expecting a child soon and can't count on her income as a sure thing to help service the debt. Plus, BSchool is way more expensive than the Estimated Cost of Attendance figures schools provide and we tapped more savings than expected. Most of the expenses, for us at least, seem to come from the social nature of school. Dinners out with other couples, rounds of golf, travel... Part of it is probably that it's difficult to go back into "college mode" when you are 30 years old and have become accustomed to a certain lifestyle (cars, apartments, Whole Foods).

I'm looking to refinance the loans to lower my monthly payments until cash flow improves:

The federal loans are somewhat straightforward. I plan to lengthen the term to the maximum of 25 years. There is no prepayment penalty, so once my salary increases and a few bonuses come I'll make a bullet payment. Some friends would prefer to pay this down as quickly as possible because of the high interest, but I value the improved cash flow at this time. In hindsight, I wish I had taken all (certainly more) out in federal loans because it is so much easier to adjust monthly payments through longer terms, IBR (which I don't think many MBAs would qualify for) and graduated payments. Amortized over 25 years, public loans will run closer to $350 a month.

Private Loans are a bit trickier because fewer options exist. Sallie Mae will not consolidate or refinance the loans. Best I can tell is Wells Fargo at about 3.25% (tied to PRIME somehow) with a 15 or 20 year term. Can't tell from the web, I'd have to actually apply. Consolidating with Wells at the current rate over 15 years gets me down closer to $750 a month.

Total monthly payments after consolidation will run about $1,100 a month. Nearly $700 per month less.

I hope this helps everyone put the cost of BSchool into some perspective with real numbers. If you have any thoughts about my plans, especially if you think this is a bad idea, please let me know.

any data about Canada ? what are the options for financing an MBA in Canada?
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Have any Americans started shopping around for private loans? What are the popular lenders offering the best rates? Sallie Mae looks pretty good right now.

Is there some sort of search engine or comparison tool for this type of thing?

Discover Financial and Wells Fargo have competitive rates. I have excellent credit and my parents offered to co-sign, so based on what I've seen it's definitely worth it for me to mix in a healthy amount of private variable-rate with the fixed government. I'm of the opinion that rates are going to remain low for the next few years, at minimum.