The thought of student loans making anyone else cringe?

[JonDG]

When I think about the amount of money I am going to owe by the time I receive my degree I sometimes wish I never even started going to school in the first place. Does anyone else fall into the "parents are too rich to qualify for fin. aid and too poor help pay for school" catagory? To make things worse, my father is a consultant so my parents seem to move everytime I am close to estaiblishing residency in any state for tuition purposes. I fear the day that my loans come out of deferment. I feel like I will be living like a poor college kid for the rest of my life! Anyone else feel the same?

[JonDG]

I forgot to mention- interest rates are going up!!! And for those that do qualify for financial aid, $12.7 billion cut!!!

[crayolaab]

I feel very lucky because I consolidated my small amount (relative) of loans at 2.85%, so I am actually making money ;)

[binky_4me]

Does anyone else fall into the "parents are too rich to qualify for fin. aid and too poor help pay for school" catagory?Anyone else feel the same?

i'm there with ya! it's a nasty amount to pay back. i even had scholarships that paid for half and i still have a nasty amount. i consolidated like crayolaab, but my interest is at 4.75% or 4.5% or something like that. i'm shooting for 10-15 yrs instead of the typical 30 like everybody else, but iy might take me that long...:(

[Trojan_Horse]

I got lucky like crayolaab and consolidated at less than 3%, and my savings account currently pays 4.15%. It's a big amount but certainly worth it, I really enjoy what I'm doing.

[Anna]

I have a full tuition scholarship... Unfortunately, it's to a reaaaally tough engineering school, which reflects in my gpa. So, although I will not have any loans to worry about, my gpa may create difficulty when I'm looking for a job.

[yellowfever]

Some loans won't charge you interest if you pass one college class per quarter/semester. If VEE's aren't completed you could always do those

[JonDG]

Do you know where I could get one of those loans? Are they through the school or a company?

[crayolaab]

Some loans won't charge you interest if you pass one college class per quarter/semester. If VEE's aren't completed you could always do those

For mine (federal Stafford/Perkins, consolidated through Sallie Mae) you have to be enrolled half-time or more to be considered in deferral, and you have to have a subsidized version for this to be true.

[audrey]

I am also on a loan right now.
Just wondering how much have you guys borrowed?
=( I already have 27000++ and I have a year before I grad.

[SirVLCIV]

Barring any unexpected financial aid, I'll graduate in two years with $40,000 in debt, and I fully intend to pay that off within 2-3 years (I want zero debt before I purchase a house).

[djerry81]

sounds like you plan to make alot of money when u graduate

[SirVLCIV]

I'll have more money and less bills (I'm not a sole income) - we came out == last year when I grossed $13000. I'll gross $23000+ this year.

$40000 is definitely doable in two-three years after graduation.

[djerry81]

that is something to consider....marriage for addition income

[SirVLCIV]

Well, that's not the reason for marriage ;)

[Sphinx]

I thought all actuaries can make at least 40k after passing a couple exams as an entry-level? Are none of you eligible for the FAFSA or Pell grants? I'm just trying to keep in mind that the more exams passed, the more you get paid...

[funmatiks]

poeple chins up. Yall are intelligent; trust me when i say if u utilise ur skills properly in the future ur loans will be just a small price to pay for the road ahead. Im also on loan, so i know yall feelings. Many poeple r who they r by accident of birth-and i like to say if u take student loan ur not privilege financially , but , ur among the privilege few

[Sherylian]

still fill out an FAFSA... at least you'll get some subsidized federal loan or lower interest loan~ i will look for scholarship if i don't want to carry out so much loan... now i consolidated my loan, since the interest rate is going up. Think of your education as a good investment, quite expensive now, but i'm sure it'll pay off if you do the right thing ;)

[steelhand]

hi everyone; i am studying statistics and it is my 3. year in this department. i am studying in Turkiye in Anatolian university. i want to learn more about actuary. you have got some exams to become a acturay; but i dont now that can i take this exams; must i be there? or how is your system? where can i find that which university have B.A about actuary? i am so sorry for asking so many question.
thanks for every one from now for their answers.
huseyin celikel

[funmatiks]

Will Peavy, thats a whole new can a worms you have openned. I dont think many poeple at this moment will want the GI money-the cost will be Iraq and a possible funeral. And anything u had plan for will be of no use when ur dead.

[djerry81]

yea you'd be bridge builder.......or a bullet counter

[funmatiks]

they'll make you a bullet counter-this is very funny. they'll send your dorsal region to the front lines to count the bullets flying pass your head:)

[krzysio]

When I think about the amount of money I am going to owe by the time I receive my degree I sometimes wish I never even started going to school in the first place. Does anyone else fall into the "parents are too rich to qualify for fin. aid and too poor help pay for school" catagory? To make things worse, my father is a consultant so my parents seem to move everytime I am close to estaiblishing residency in any state for tuition purposes. I fear the day that my loans come out of deferment. I feel like I will be living like a poor college kid for the rest of my life! Anyone else feel the same?

If you are studying at a school that is serious about actuarial science, it is quite strange that you need to borrow an amount large enough to warrant such reaction. If you pass actuarial exams and become a professional actuary, you will not have to worry about money. Your reaction makes me really wonder about your choice of college/university, though. And in the actuarial profession the so called "prestige" of a university is not worth much, because exams count first and foremost. So you should go an inexpensive school where students pass a lot of exams. The top four schools in the U.S. in terms of number of exams passed by students are all state universities with reasonable tuition: Iowa, Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Illinois State and Connecticut. At Illinois State, where I direct the program in actuarial science, annual tuition is about $6000 for state residents, and we have lots, lots of scholarships, in fact for a while we had a hard time spending all the money we have from an NSF grant for actuarial scholarships. So why are you spending so much money for your college?

Yours,
Krzys' Ostaszewski

[funmatiks]

krzysio your right his attidute is self-defeating-money wont be a problem at the end

[daisygrl]

That's amazing that you already borrowed $27k. I just took out a few student loans (http://www.nextstudent.com/) to a total amount of $15,000 for all my school expenses. I hope I don't have to borrow to much more as I don't want have a huge debt.

[djerry81]

I wish I had went to an actuarial school......I am from South Carolina and I didnt know about actuaries until I was a freshman in college, didnt know what they were until I was a junior considering dropping out of the dual degree engineering dept and going into the Mathematics Dept at Morehouse College which doesn't have an actuarial dept or any real organized math clubs geared toward careers and such......How unfortunate for me:unsure:......Sometimes I wish I had heard about actuarial science in highschool and went to a school that had the major.......too late now

[dmbfan41]

I wish I had went to an actuarial school......I am from South Carolina and I didnt know about actuaries until I was a freshman in college, didnt know what they were until I was a junior considering dropping out of the dual degree engineering dept and going into the Mathematics Dept at Morehouse College which doesn't have an actuarial dept or any real organized math clubs geared toward careers and such......How unfortunate for me:unsure:......Sometimes I wish I had heard about actuarial science in highschool and went to a school that had the major.......too late now

i am in a very similar situation as yourself. i originally went into college as a math ed major, with the intention of teaching. but after taking a few education courses, i decided to switch to just math and pursue an actuarial career. i did this all my junior year (including taking, but not passing......yet, exam p) and was lucky to find an internship. the two other people i intern with come from a school with an actuarial major, where people routinely graduate with 2-3 exams passed. however, after speaking with numerous people from upper management, i have found that employers are generally understanding when it comes to what school you graduate from (in regards to an expectation of a certain number of exams passed). and thats good news for people like you and me.

[krzysio]

I am also on a loan right now.
Just wondering how much have you guys borrowed?
=( I already have 27000++ and I have a year before I grad.

You all may want to know that according to a nationwide study in the United States, the university in the United States where students graduate with the smallest outstanding loan balances is Idaho State University. Great party school, a wonderful place to live (Pocatello, Idaho, I have been there and love it) but no actuarial program, to my best knowledge. No. 2 in the country, i.e., second smallest oustanding loan balances is Illinois State University. Happens also to be one of the best actuarial programs in the country, with lost of scholarship money for actuarial students. So ... why are you not studying at Illinois State?
Yours,
Krzys'

[JDav]

Well, no...there are a number of universities in the US where students do not incur any loans at all - the service academies, for example, and I believe Deep Springs College in CA as well.

Do your statistics take into account out-of-state tuition, or only in-state?

[krzysio]

Well, no...there are a number of universities in the US where students do not incur any loans at all - the service academies, for example, and I believe Deep Springs College in CA as well.

Do your statistics take into account out-of-state tuition, or only in-state?

I do not know the details of the study, but I would be surprised if students have no loan balance at graduation even at places where you work your way through, because in addition to tuition you also have living expenses, books, etc. The study was several years ago, I think it was done by U.S. News and World Report, but I am sorry, I am not certain.

People pay generally little attention to the cost when they choose a university. And the measure of cost is very fuzzy, with all federal government subsidies, in-state vs. out-of-state for state universities, scholarships, work-study, etc. So a realistic, objective measure is how much student loan oustanding balance a graduating student has, on average. And, of course, by that measure, when compared to average income earned, actuarial science is by far the most profitable major to have. Wherever you study.

Yours,
Krzys'

[krzysio]

I do not know the details of the study, but I would be surprised if students have no loan balance at graduation even at places where you work your way through, because in addition to tuition you also have living expenses, books, etc. The study was several years ago, I think it was done by U.S. News and World Report, but I am sorry, I am not certain.

People pay generally little attention to the cost when they choose a university. And the measure of cost is very fuzzy, with all federal government subsidies, in-state vs. out-of-state for state universities, scholarships, work-study, etc. So a realistic, objective measure is how much student loan oustanding balance a graduating student has, on average. And, of course, by that measure, when compared to average income earned, actuarial science is by far the most profitable major to have. Wherever you study.

Yours,
Krzys'

Someone sent me a PM that I do not have an objective scientific study to show that actuarial science is the most profitable major to study. Indeed. Sorry, I am not aware of any full scale scientific study of that nature, so I do not have such proof. I do invite all of you to examine the evidence, though. All the best.

On the other hand, I have some more evidence on how great of a deal Illinois State University is: if you go to www.IllinoisState.edu, there is a link there to "Points of Pride", and based on a more recent study, apparently we are no longer No. 2 in terms of lowest debt burden for graduating students, we are now No. 4. Still not bad, but apparently we are raising our tuition. I favor raising it to confiscatory level,s like Ivy League schools, because this is apparently the only way to convince potential clients that you are good.

Yours,
Krzys'

[amandalynddoh]

I am looking for loans to finance an existing detailing business. I have some personal credit card debit but my score is pretty good. I don't own anything but a small stonework business currently and 2 vehicles. I would like/think using the established detailing business as security would be enough to get a loan? Can you please help me with real experience?

[nerekson]

You all may want to know that according to a nationwide study in the United States, the university in the United States where students graduate with the smallest outstanding loan balances is Idaho State University. Great party school, a wonderful place to live (Pocatello, Idaho, I have been there and love it) but no actuarial program, to my best knowledge. No. 2 in the country, i.e., second smallest oustanding loan balances is Illinois State University. Happens also to be one of the best actuarial programs in the country, with lost of scholarship money for actuarial students. So ... why are you not studying at Illinois State?
Yours,
Krzys'
Idaho State actually has a probability course for undergrads that is specifically geared towards passing exam P. I took it and got an 8. They are also starting an "FM" class. If you like the outdoors, and the wind, Pocatello is a great place to live. If you are not into the outdoors Pocatello is pretty miserable IMO.