HomemadeTurbo - DIY Turbo Forum

The generic info was given, but here's the low down from me... You'll have to forgive me its been a year and a half since I've done this.

Fafsa = like was said earlier its a need based government loan. The government will look at your income, and your lifestyle (ie married, kids, parents income, etc) and assign you a certain percentage of your school tuition.
This money is usually extremely low in % usually below 3% and can be carried for a long term (20+ years), credit history usually doesnt matter much as long as you arent a serious risk (ie wrote off 100's in bad checks)

Stipulatins of the above loan are...must be a full timer (usually 12 or more credits), a term limit for acedemic probation....meaning you cant spend more then X number of terms in probation meaning bad grades, or they'll pull your funding.

FSL or the federal student loan is pretty much the organization that controls the above loan, if you dont qualify for very much need, they'll sell you a higher interest loan.

When I got out of Washington State I had a Fafsa loan and Pell Grant, when tuition was paid for I had an extra $2k in my pocket for books and my apartment rent.

GRANTS = free money you get for living and breathing, usually involving almost no previous requirements, just usually a matter of finding them and filing the paperwork. These can be government issued or from private money. Being an X marine Im sure that you will probably find some money somewhere from a marine Vet organization.

STUDENT LOANS = refer to the general loan for schooling, everyone who loans money has some sort of student loan program. Usually the more common institution that is giving you the money the higher the interest rate will be.

Here is an example.....

I started school about 19 years old, and my parents still filled me on their taxes, meaning I was still considered a dependent. I applied for a FAFSA, and was denied any money since my parents had a lot of property that they owned and had a lot of money on paper (but little cash in hand). I chatted a bit with a student Aid counseler at the university and they told me for the time being, apply for a plus loan....a parent co-signed student loan to cover my tution, and to take out a few grand from a bank to live off, which is what I did, and my parents agreed to cosign the plus loan, since they were benifitting from my status as a dependent on their taxes (I wasnt at the time living with them)

The following year I qualified for a small amount of the Fafsa, and so had a little extra $$ in my pocket, moved to a bigger apartment, and bought more beer.

The next year I was filled as Single status in my taxes, and since I was living off loans showed little to no income...which meant I got a huge boost in my FAFSA and was able to drop off the Plus loan with my parents. Didnt give me much more cash in pocket, but I was paying tuition and living about 4 months with the cash.

After I turned 22 I got an additional grant (pell grant for old farts) of 1000$ and anouther professional degree grant of 800$ that paid for tuition, and I was able to pay for everything and was able to stop working.

I also bought a computer using anouther low interest govenment loan (I think its like 2%) and used a One time student travel loan to go to New York for a week a year after 9/11 to see the "big hole"

After school I consolidated the whole mess of loans into one big loan from Sallie Mae .....22,000k at 2.9% not bad for 5 1/2 years at a university and living on my own.

I worked a deal with Sallie Mae and for 3 years I just pay interest at 67$ a month, then it goes up to about 130$ a month

Any other questions you should really get ahold of the Aid office at WYO tech, they really know how to work the system to your advantage and tailor the loan system to you. Dont be affraid to tell them you intend on buying a car, they are just a middleman and usually are really helpful