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:

Paying for medical school -- which money to use? I'm starting medical school in Canada in September. I've got about $50k in US mutual funds and treasury bills, $15k in a Canadian RSP (which can be used to pay for education if repaid at a certain point), and the banks are offering a line of credit at prime + 1%. The question is: how do I start paying for school and living expenses? Withdraw and use the investments, and then move to the line of credit when they're exhausted? Use the line of credit, and wait for the investments to grow in order to repay the LOC? Are the investments likely to grow in the next few years?

It it worth it for me to put an amount of money into an immediate fixed annuity and take out a loan to pay for tuition, or is it alright to just pay off my tuition with the money available to me. Hello, yet another question on tuition unlike those in the past. I realize the best person to speak to would be a financial planner, but I don't think the amount is enough to warrant an independent planner. I'm currently still in college and I have 34K in CD's that will mature very shortly. I have taken out a loan last year and I want to do everything I can do to prevent doing that again. I strongly want to minimize the amount of debt I graduate with.

Help me help my friend convince college financial aid departments that her parents are not and never will be willing to provide any help for her, and get money to pay for living expenses. Posted, obviously, on behalf of a friend. My friend "Sarah" is 23, and has a modest full-time desk job - not an income she wants to keep for much longer, but enough to pay rent, food, etc, comfortably... if only just barely. She is not making enough to make any significant savings, but neither does she have any debt. She is currently taking occasional classes at a community college, and has a 4.0 average there. She wants/needs to transfer to a four-year public school full-time soon-ish and get her degree.

Help me help my friend convince college financial aid departments that her parents are not and never will be willing to provide any help for her, and get money to pay for living expenses. Posted, obviously, on behalf of a friend. My friend "Sarah" is 23, and has a modest full-time desk job - not an income she wants to keep for much longer, but enough to pay rent, food, etc, comfortably... if only just barely. She is not making enough to make any significant savings, but neither does she have any debt. She is currently taking occasional classes at a community college, and has a 4.0 average there. She wants/needs to transfer to a four-year public school full-time soon-ish and get her degree.

Help me fulfill my dream of becoming a massage therapist... I've been accepted at a good massage therapy school. It's a 6 month program that keeps me in class from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm every day (Mon-Fri). I'm all ready to quit my job (soulless government bureaucratic hell) and dive in head first. However, I just found out that the financial aid that the school can help me with will only partially cover tuition, leaving a large chunk of it up to me, as well as all of my living expenses (rent, food, gas, etc...). I wanted to go part-time originally, but it won't work with where my job is located, where the school is located, the scheduled classes, and the hours I can work. So, my only real choice is to go to school full-time, which leaves almost no time in which to get some other job. Any job that I could get (retail) would be minimal pay, hence not solving my problem.

Help me fulfill my dream of becoming a massage therapist... I've been accepted at a good massage therapy school. It's a 6 month program that keeps me in class from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm every day (Mon-Fri). I'm all ready to quit my job (soulless government bureaucratic hell) and dive in head first. However, I just found out that the financial aid that the school can help me with will only partially cover tuition, leaving a large chunk of it up to me, as well as all of my living expenses (rent, food, gas, etc...). I wanted to go part-time originally, but it won't work with where my job is located, where the school is located, the scheduled classes, and the hours I can work. So, my only real choice is to go to school full-time, which leaves almost no time in which to get some other job. Any job that I could get (retail) would be minimal pay, hence not solving my problem.