Grad School

[Fit of Rage]

So I'm looking at doing the combined BS/MS program here at my college and am curious about student loans. My parents have generously helped me with undergrad work, but after next year I'll have to start taking care of things myself. Just curious if anyone has had any good experiences with student loan companies and has any suggestions/reccommendations.

[Cops]

Student loans are better to be taken by the government, in my experience the government loans have grace periods in which you do not start paying the interest, I don't start paying anything until I'm done school. See if the student loans website (mine is osap) have bursaries and scholarships, apply to every single one. In Ontario you're automatically entered into receiving these bursaries and scholarships just by applying. Most student loans websites also have financial aid calculators, determine how much they're offering you in loans, bursaries, etc.

Your school has a financial aid office, visit it. A lot of help provided by my school is unused, you might find money via your school. I received $2000 this year alone from my school.

Work Study programs, they pay a decent wage and don't expect you to kill yourself. Find a comfy job at school, possibly related to your program so you can cut down on time spent on traveling. I have a job as a Department Assistant for my program, it's like being a Teacher Assistant. I make $11.50 an hour over the summer (40 hours a week) and 15 hours a week during Sept-May. I'm making approximately $1840 before taxes (per month) for the next four months, I know that my tuition is $5000 thus I'll need two and a half months worth of money to pay for my tuition to avoid student loans.

edit: couple problems with student loans (well at least for OSAP), is that it is determined by how much your parents make. The idea is that if your parents make a lot of money they should keep funding your education, which we all know isn't always the case or in your case wont last forever. Fill out the financial calculator a few times with different income levels, you can't lie but you can see how much you'd get if you lived alone etc. How much would I get if I had over the summer compared to if I didn't? I'll get 2 grand less than I would if I didn't work over the summer, the problem with these concepts are that people do shit all and get rewarded for it. Even owning property/car can affect your status for financial aid. Just hope your state has a bit more advanced system than Ontario.

[HateTheFake]

www.salliemae.com

is where i got mine, it was for 20k and its deferred payments up until 6 months after college. You just apply online and get a reply within 24 hours.

[D1st0rt]

I'm actually looking at grad school myself so I've been talking to people about it and my vibrations professor who is actually the director of the "Center for Intelligent Materials Systems and Structures" here said that if I got a research assistantship they pick up tuition and pay you $21,000/year. I talked to one of the department advisors and she said that tuition is covered for any GTA and then went on to say something about that's why they're more expensive to hire than professors.

Bottom line is, don't take out a loan if you can get somebody else to foot the bill for you

[Cops]

I'm actually looking at grad school myself so I've been talking to people about it and my vibrations professor who is actually the director of the "Center for Intelligent Materials Systems and Structures" here said that if I got a research assistantship they pick up tuition and pay you $21,000/year. I talked to one of the department advisors and she said that tuition is covered for any GTA and then went on to say something about that's why they're more expensive to hire than professors.

That's awesome, school plus money. I'm in the same boat except less money

Bottom line is, don't take out a loan if you can get somebody else to foot the bill for you

fucking agreed, there's so much help out there, don't take a loan unless you have to. I'll have to take a loan because my 'first' semester payment is due in a month, which is $2500. I know 'certain' schools offer mass amounts of money to students who choose to go to school there, D'Youville in Buffallo offered me something like 15 grand total. 50% off residence, something like 5-7 grand for a high gpa (Mine is a 3.5 cumulative)

 Canadian students receive a 20-percent tuition waiver

I don't know if it's an option but a lot of schools offer you 'everything' to go to school there, Buffalo is practically begging Canadians to study there.

[Money]

Pell

Grant

[Squeezer]

Pell

Grant

ta da!

Also, if you can PLUS loans through the dept. of education are nice. You basically have your entire life to pay it off and the debt is unsubsidized. I don't know if you'd qualify (I barely qualify, and the govt. considers me an independent income), but they're definitely the best and safest loans I've found.

[Eric is God]

This is completely unrelated to student loans, but I have a friend who got his undergrad in comp sci/math at Waterloo and just got his masters of math at the University of Toronto. Between scholarships, TA salary and other free school/government money he was making the equivalent of a $40-45K salary while getting a free Masters degree. He expects to be making closer to $60K while working towards his doctorate at the same school... apparently it helps to be working with a professor who receives a tonne of grant money.

But I'm not bitter... <_<

[Cops]

I'm underpaid, apparently

[Fit of Rage]

Thanks guys, I'll be heading to my financial aid office in the next couple weeks to check out some options/scholarships. I think I visited there once but didn't qualify for anything since I was still listed as a dependent on my parents tax forms. After next june (my 22nd birthday) I'll be off their health insurance and the umbilical cord will finally be cut. Hopefully then I'll qualify for some shit.

[Cops]

Thanks guys, I'll be heading to my financial aid office in the next couple weeks to check out some options/scholarships. I think I visited there once but didn't qualify for anything since I was still listed as a dependent on my parents tax forms. After next june (my 22nd birthday) I'll be off their health insurance and the umbilical cord will finally be cut. Hopefully then I'll qualify for some shit.

you sir need to do what I plan on doing next year, finding a welfare office and hitting it up hard.

ta da!

Also, if you can PLUS loans through the dept. of education are nice. You basically have your entire life to pay it off and the debt is unsubsidized. I don't know if you'd qualify (I barely qualify, and the govt. considers me an independent income), but they're definitely the best and safest loans I've found.

That's what I've got, I can defer interest payments if I can't afford it. I can also get my debt consolidated, one of my teachers last year took her 30k student loan debt and got it down to 15. The government loans seems like a safe bet compared to banks who give you no grace period and no leway on how much you pay back.

Just out of curiousity how much are you guys in debt for school?

[Squeezer]

Just out of curiousity how much are you guys in debt for school?

4 grand so far.

When all is said and done, it'll be about 8. If I decide to work for a masters, I'm looking at close to 15 grand.

[Cops]

yeah I'm about 4 right now too,

[project dragon]

27k give or take a few grand : (

[Kolar]

2 right now. I was lucky my program had an paid Coop component (like an internship) and my program finishes in December (3 year Advanced Diploma). I will probably have to take a much larger amount for university. I was looking at Mcmaster because they have a 4 year bachelors degree (B.Tech.) which I can complete in 2 but tuition is very high compared to other degrees.