Big 3 Financial Aid Question

[burbuja0512]

Hi All,

I have a friend that is going to start testing though her degree soon, but has a difficult situation with her job. It's looking like she might get laid off due to financial issues at the company. She's actively seeking a new job, but anything that meets her interests hasn't considered her because she doesn't have a degree. (background - she's a dental assistant and wants to make the switch to business.)

She's considering getting a student loan and then taking the next 6 months to a year off to concentrate on testing out of her degree before she gets another job.

I know nothing about financial aid and testing, other than you can't get a scholarship to pay for CLEP/DSST's. Would the student loan plan work? Does anyone have experience with loans or other ways to pay for expenses during school at one of the Big 3?

Any advice would be appreciated as she could be laid off anytime soon and would like to get loans in place before then if at all possible.


Thanks!

[rebel100]

I am using F/A at COSC. Basically your friend needs to apply at FAFSA.gov . Its a several page application and took around 30-45 minutes to complete. They immediately gave me an estimate on what I would qualify for (that turned out to be exactly what COSC awarded). COSC is applying that GRANT to the matriculation fee's and to the required cornerstone course. they are acting as a sort of clearinghouse for my distance studies at Colorado State Pueblo So most of those three courses are covered as well.

Here is the rub...the Gov. requires you to enroll in minimum 12 hours for the full financial aid amount, As an out of state resident that makes each 3 cr class $825 so 12 hours is $3300! I couldn't afford that and that is why I am taking everything I can at CSU which is roughly half the COSC tuition. BYU classes did not qualyfy because they refused to work with COSC and me on the termination dates for the classes.

Does your friend need UL or LL classes? There are several ways to skin this but more info is needed. A really cheap way to do this would be to go through Clovis or NMJC for 12 hours which would be rediculously cheap. Let F/A cover the cost and then the school would disburse the remaining funds to your friend, that would give her cash money to CLEP/DSST or buy books, or throw a big party....they don't track how that money is spent, you can use it for just about anything.

She will also need to complete the FAFSA for any loans......I really hate loans and I'm not really convinced that most folks are well served taking on student loan debt(no discharge in bancruptcy, no checks and balances on the loan amount really) Student loans can be really poor financial decisions, I would recommend keeping any actual loans for school to a very very small amount of money. Frankly, if this person lacks the knowledge on how to even apply for the aid/loans then they should really do a soul search on if they have the acuity to safely manage the loan at all.......be VERY carefull with this! Grants on the other hand are safe and don't require repaymant.....just be sure you finish the classes.

Tell me more about exactly what she wants to accomplish and I will try to tell ya how you might be able to pull it off.

[burbuja0512]

Thanks for the detail... I am going to forward her a link to this thread.

She's got a few random community college credits and I have no idea if any colleges award credit for the dental stuff.

My understanding of her goal is that she's not able to switch careers because of lack of experience and degree. The degree will only help with part of the equation, but at the moment, it seems like a necessary part since the market is flooded with job applicants at the moment.

Since she's been unsuccessful in finding a job and is going to get laid off soon, she's thinking that hurrying as fast as she can by dedicating every waking moment to study, but she's a single mom and can't afford to do this without loans or some sort of financial aid.