I am a frugal person entering his senior year in college [age 21]. I have been following advice like the stuff in thread 84915 and thread 99852 and living below my means. I sought advice in Financial books for college kids my age [for example, generation debt], but left feeling wanting more because they focus primarily on how to cut expenses [skipping the latte, etc]. So, I have some student loans already, but will need more for my senior year. I also have some money set aside, but I should I use this money to lower the loan amount that I'll take out or use this money for an investment (Roth IRA, index fund), and take out more for my student loans ? Here's my scenario:

What is the best financial/tax situation for us? Kid on way, financial aid eligibility concerns. Me: grad student for 2 more years, on a teaching assistantship (this covers tuition, fees, health insurance, and gives me a $1600/mo. stipend) and with some student loans on top (less than $10k/year). I also work in the summers, but make less than $5k. I also receive research grants sometimes ($5k-$15k). In 2008, I will only have been in the country for 2 months and will have an income of less than $5k. In 2009 and 2010 I will be be back on the normal track with $1600/mo. and some loans with perhaps 2-3 months of a travel grant of ~$6k.

My partner and I need to acquire a loan for her grad school. The catch(es): She's not a citizen. We're gay. We don't have the first clue how to go about doing this. Help! My partner is from Canada. A Canadian loan is out of the question. (Period! Don't even suggest Canadian student aid...it won't help!) She has one year of grad school left, which will be around $30,000. I make a pretty good living here in the midwest (less than triple digits, but not substantially less), though the two of us must live on my single income, but paying off the loan shouldn't be too difficult. We're young. My credit is right there in the middle, not great, not wonderful.

How do you figure out daily interest from an APR on student loans due monthly? I have about 100k USD in student loan debt, at a fixed APR of 5.75%. I wanted to work out what the monthly rate was, but my debt holder tells me that the interest is actually calculated daily, though the payments are due monthly. Then they sent me twenty pages of amortization tables, I suppose imagining that it would help me somehow. Aside from seeing that 75-80% of each month's payment goes to interest before any of it goes to principal, the tables don't help me. I accrue and pay off a small amount of credit card debt each month, mostly in grocery bills. This is deliberate, since it's a monthly expense I'd have anyway, and paying by credit instead of debit is (I think) at least a slight help to my credit score.

I'm an American living in BC with about $20K in consolidated Stafford loans. I moved up here two years ago for graduate school at UBC. I've since graduated, secured gainful employment and have applied for permanent residency. My student loan repayment begins soon and I'm trying to figure out the easiest way to do the actual paying. I heard that the Dept of Ed will give you an interest rate reduction if you setup direct withdrawal from a bank account. Is this possible with a Canadian bank? If not, is there another way to setup automatic payments? Any other hidden gremlins of loan repayment from abroad, both physically and financially? My scenario is basically the mirror of this .

I'm an American living in BC with about $20K in consolidated Stafford loans. I moved up here two years ago for graduate school at UBC. I've since graduated, secured gainful employment and have applied for permanent residency. My student loan repayment begins soon and I'm trying to figure out the easiest way to do the actual paying. I heard that the Dept of Ed will give you an interest rate reduction if you setup direct withdrawal from a bank account. Is this possible with a Canadian bank? If not, is there another way to setup automatic payments? Any other hidden gremlins of loan repayment from abroad, both physically and financially? My scenario is basically the mirror of this .

Consolidate student loan or would that possibly be bad for my credit? I’ve read several of the older posts regarding this. I’ve decided that probably the Direct Loans from the Department of Education would be best if I do decide to consolidate. I have one Stafford loan, one for about 21k that’s at a reasonable interest rate (lower than 5.5, it’s been consolidated), that I’m not really that concerned about, I’m just going to pay it as it goes. But I have this one loan which is a Private Student Loan with a variable interest rate of 11.25% that I’ve had for about 4 years now. It’s at about 7k, which isn’t bad, but I know I can be doing better. If wasn’t so naïve about bad advice I probably never would have gone that rout. I know it’s my own responsibility, but I never really gave these things an honest look until the last month.

Consolidate student loan or would that possibly be bad for my credit? I’ve read several of the older posts regarding this. I’ve decided that probably the Direct Loans from the Department of Education would be best if I do decide to consolidate. I have one Stafford loan, one for about 21k that’s at a reasonable interest rate (lower than 5.5, it’s been consolidated), that I’m not really that concerned about, I’m just going to pay it as it goes. But I have this one loan which is a Private Student Loan with a variable interest rate of 11.25% that I’ve had for about 4 years now. It’s at about 7k, which isn’t bad, but I know I can be doing better. If wasn’t so naïve about bad advice I probably never would have gone that rout. I know it’s my own responsibility, but I never really gave these things an honest look until the last month.

Please tell me, using layman's terms whenever possibly, everything you know about student loans. (backstory inside) Two years ago I graduated from high school, and proceeded to go to a college at a small, out-of-state school. My parents (at that point) were paying for my education. Earlier this summer, I decided to transfer to a bigger, in-state school. My parents are 100% not okay with this decision, and have effectively cut me off financially (or at least will stop paying tuition, housing, books, etc in the fall). I am more or less okay with this. I am willing to accept the financial responsibilities of this decision.

Please tell me, using layman's terms whenever possibly, everything you know about student loans. (backstory inside) Two years ago I graduated from high school, and proceeded to go to a college at a small, out-of-state school. My parents (at that point) were paying for my education. Earlier this summer, I decided to transfer to a bigger, in-state school. My parents are 100% not okay with this decision, and have effectively cut me off financially (or at least will stop paying tuition, housing, books, etc in the fall). I am more or less okay with this. I am willing to accept the financial responsibilities of this decision.