Paying Tuition
July 26th 2007 16:42
I thought I had all my finances figured out yesterday for my very last semester. I had received my "Financial Aid Award Letter" from my school, informing me that I get $3,194 in Stafford loans. This was fantastic news because I thought was only going to get $2,722!
Then I had also gotten a credit card offer. There would be 0% APR for 15 months! Before 15 months are up I figure I'll have a steady, full-time job and I would be able to pay off whatever I put on the card. PLUS, the APR for the card isn't any higher than any private student loans I'll get.
What's more, you usually don't get a tax break on private student loans anyway, just federal loans. (I found this in a search yesterday. If I find it again I'll post the link). Therefore, with any student loan I get I'll be paying 8.9% interest or more right away. (The credit card would go to 9.9% after 15 months). I would be saving money this way.
So, I would have a "student loan" on my new credit card and I would not be paying any interest for 15 months, if ever. Sounds perfect right?
It was. Until I checked my school's online pay by credit card system. That's when I found out they only take Visa or Mastercard. Of course, the card offer I had gotten was a Discover.
If I do ever find a decent loan, I will share it with you. Until then, keep saving!
Note: I do not advocate putting a "student loan" on your credit card unless it has 0% APR for a significant amount of time AND you will be out of school and in a full-time job long before the intro rate expires. (In my case, I'll have a full-time job 10 months before the rate expires).
Then I had also gotten a credit card offer. There would be 0% APR for 15 months! Before 15 months are up I figure I'll have a steady, full-time job and I would be able to pay off whatever I put on the card. PLUS, the APR for the card isn't any higher than any private student loans I'll get.
What's more, you usually don't get a tax break on private student loans anyway, just federal loans. (I found this in a search yesterday. If I find it again I'll post the link). Therefore, with any student loan I get I'll be paying 8.9% interest or more right away. (The credit card would go to 9.9% after 15 months). I would be saving money this way.
So, I would have a "student loan" on my new credit card and I would not be paying any interest for 15 months, if ever. Sounds perfect right?
It was. Until I checked my school's online pay by credit card system. That's when I found out they only take Visa or Mastercard. Of course, the card offer I had gotten was a Discover.
If I do ever find a decent loan, I will share it with you. Until then, keep saving!
Note: I do not advocate putting a "student loan" on your credit card unless it has 0% APR for a significant amount of time AND you will be out of school and in a full-time job long before the intro rate expires. (In my case, I'll have a full-time job 10 months before the rate expires).
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