Welcome!

Welcome fellow Make a Living Writing readers!  I am so glad you’ve stopped by!  This is an exciting new blog for those young people (and their parents) who still have the opportunity to avoid the debt trap altogether by paying for college as they go.  I hope you enjoy this post, a repeat of my first blog post, as a welcome and introduction to my blog.

Recently I had the opportunity to try shaking some sense into a high school student I know. I told him how much it stinks to be paying off my loans right now (six years postgraduate, and no end in sight), and encouraged him not to do the same thing. He responded with a common belief among teens looking ahead to college; “I’m sure I have to go into some debt to go to college.”

But does he? Do you? According to the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (NASFAA), federal financial aid has grown from $62.1 billion in 1999-00 to an estimated $146.5 billion in 2009-10, an increase of 136 percent. I can’t help but wonder how many of these students really know what they’re getting themselves into financially. Will the job prospects they will get from their majors realistically be able to handle the monthly payments after they graduate? Do they plan to get married after college? Based on current trends, they should assume their spouse will bring debt into the picture as well.

Hence my passion for helping you, who have the incredible opportunity to not make the same mistakes, or at the very least to understand what you are getting yourself into if you do decide to take out loans.

In this blog, you will find regular updates on scholarships, grants, and essay contests; helpful articles on essay writing tips, saving money on textbooks, interviews with admissions counselors and financial aid experts, and much more.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you find this helpful, and let me know if you have any ideas for articles, tips or inspiration.

The Basics: Loans

Here’s the deal: since the entire purpose of this blog is to stay away from debt, I’m not going to beat around the bush when it comes to talking about loans. If you decide to go for them, I wish you the best in paying them off as quickly as possible.

Why NOT go for them? You pay them back – every penny. Actually, you pay them back plus interest. So really when you think about paying for college with loans, make sure you realize that you are paying the college AND the bank or government.  Also, your loans don’t go away – even if you were ever to go into bankruptcy, you’d still be chased down to pay off your loans.

What are they? There are subsidized, unsubsidized, Stafford, and direct loans. Here’s a short summary of each:

Subsidized: You begin making payments on this loan six months after you graduate, and the interest begins accruing then.

Unsubsidized: The interest begins accruing from the first month you have taken out the loan, even if you aren’t repaying it for years.

Stafford and Direct loans are basically the same thing: Same interest rate, same annual loan limits, and same FAFSA application process. The main difference is that with the direct loan you are borrowing from the government. Stafford loans come from banks or credit unions.

Stay tuned for more ways to avoid loans.

Welcome!

Recently I had the opportunity to try shaking some sense into a high school student I know. I told him how much it stinks to be paying off my loans right now (six years postgraduate, and no end in sight), and encouraged him not to do the same thing. He responded with a common belief among teens looking ahead to college; “I’m sure I have to go into some debt to go to college.”

But does he? Do you? According to the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (NASFAA), federal financial aid has grown from $62.1 billion in 1999-00 to an estimated $146.5 billion in 2009-10, an increase of 136 percent. I can’t help but wonder how many of these students really know what they’re getting themselves into financially. Will the job prospects they will get from their majors realistically be able to handle the monthly payments after they graduate? Do they plan to get married after college? Based on current trends, they should assume their spouse will bring debt into the picture as well.

Hence my passion for helping you, who have the incredible opportunity to not make the same mistakes, or at the very least to understand what you are getting yourselves into if you do decide to take out loans.

In this blog, you’ll find regular updates on scholarships, grants, and essay contests; helpful articles on essay writing tips, saving money on textbooks, interviews with admissions counselors and financial aid experts, and much more.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you find this helpful, and let me know if you have any ideas for articles, tips or inspiration.

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