Getting Information on Student Loans

The Diva's financial aid was finally processed.  The results are in and they suck.  Here's the situation.  My son, The Comedian just started the local community college in August.  His financial aid covered all his tuition, books and he gets a small refund.  I thought Diva was going to get even more, since she did excellent in school and was offered extensive financial aid packages from several schools.  Unfortunately, those institutions didn't have her major: environmental engineering.  Although environmental science sounds close, it's not the same thing.  So, she ended up attending a community college in VA.  This made things a bit more costly because she had to rent a room that would allow her dog.  Furthermore, she wouldn't leave her dog a papillon.  So, she had to get an apartment that was a little bit more expensive than the others.  Long story short, the financial aid is not going to cover her tuition.  Why?  She is paying tuition as a non resident of Virginia which means her tuition is three times what residents pay.

This is where it gets complicated.  I really don't have the funds to pay for her studies.  On top of that, I don't have the credit to take out student loans.  I had to get lots of information on loans for college and fast.  This semester is almost over and thanks to the school's errors and procrastination she was only able to take one class.  We actually used the rent money we had set aside from her scholarships and grants to pay for that class because the financial aid office promised her she would be reimbursed.  Well, they didn't refund her the money so now we are out of luck.  Thanks a lot NOVA.

After visiting the FAFSA site and checking out the types of college financial aid available,  I realized we were going to have to find a way to get a loan.  Thank God The Diva's step mom decided to help her out.  She told her she would co-sign for her student loans .  That meant we had to start getting serious and this is what I found.

CitiAssit will let her:

• borrow up to the total cost of her tuition minus the financial aid she will be receiving
• applying with a creditworthy co-signer may increase her chances of getting approved and she may get a lower interest rate  :)
• she may be able to get a response in mere minutes
• interest on the loan may be tax deductible

This is great news because then all I have to focus on is her rent and her vegan food.  This may even be covered if my Google Adsense continues to double every month and I continue to get more and more sponsored posts (like this one).

I seriously thought my kids were expensive when they were young, but it gets worse as they get older.  Now we have car insurance, car payments, gas money, etc...   I thank God for blogging because I don't know how I would have been able to make it with my youngest son (who is autistic) and all that involves running a household with 7 kids... actually 5 are still here.  My two oldest are working and moved out.  They'll be here for Thanksgiving to make the house rowdy once again!

:)