AlwaysRunWithScissorsFast – there are really good terms nowadays for Student Loans. I don’t know if you are doing a BA or an MA, but if you are doing an MA, you can take out up to $20,500 in student loans a year. If you find a program that only costs $10,000 per year, you get to keep the other $10,500 per year for living expenses.
You don’t have to start paying back the loans until you finish school. You can then get an Income based repayment plan which means that you basically don’t have to pay back more than you can afford. Depending on the exact plan you get, you only have to pay back 10-20% of your dispensible income (the amount by which your income exceeds your expenses). So if you are having trouble making ends meet, you probably won’t have to pay back anything.
The unpaid portion of the loan is forgiven after 20-25 years or when you are 120 years old. The one catch might be that you might have to pay taxes on the part that they forgive which could add up to a lot due to accrued interest. However, it is not clear that you have to pay taxes on it, and it is possible that you could choose not to have the unpaid portion of the loan forgiven and just continue paying what you can afford. I am not sure though if that is an option, so that is something you would need to look into.
In any case, it is worth it to take out loans so that you can have a means of earning money. If you can get money from Rechnitz, obviously that would be better, but if that doesn’t work out, you might want to consider this.
If you are doing a BA, you can also take out students loans, but I’m not sure what the amount is. You can also do an Income Based Repayment Plan.
Hatzlacha!