kain

cmon man ask your counsular. i would like to know aswell, but i already am in college.

im sure there are ways to find out by calling wyotech

rollmodel

fafsa, you sign up for it. they designate how much you should pay and how much you should get for loans, grants, scholarships.. etc.

grants - free money. you dont have to pay back

anything with loan in the title you have to pay back.. some make deals where if you have above a 3.0 you dont have to pay them back (i havent seen too many of these)

you can also call bankone or go to there website.. www.bankone.com and they let you take out up to 30,000 a year. and you dont have to show reciepts that you are using it for school (but if you are not enrolled, then they will make you pay it back)

here is good news.
if school cost 1000 dollars a year (this is hypothetical)
you recieved a 500 scholarship
a 500 pell grant
and a 250 scholarship
the school refunds you the 250 and you dont have to pay it back

if school costs 1000
if you take out a 1000 loan
then you get scholarships, they pay you the money you overpaid (basically the scholarships). but you can use that money for whatever.. because you have reciepts (in case they want proof you are spending it on school)

a few people i know, including me, take out more money to spend on.. computer... and whatever else i want.

hope this helps out a little

SkunT

roll model, that is exactly what i wanted to know. thanks. yeah, im tryin to squeeze out a few extra dollars, i dont wanna go out west, be in the middle of all those sights and things to see/do and not have decent transporation...


if anyone else wants to chime in, please do. also, if any of you military people know some decent schlorships and such for military, i wouldnt mind knowing.

one more thing, my school year begins oct '05. when can i start putting in for fin aid, and loans and ---- like that?

SpeedyJAY

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

SkunT

thanks so much for the info. i will be contacting wyo tech tonite, and see what they have to say...

thanks for the info though.