For you pharmacists

[une]

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I will be applying to school for the fall of 2016, but i am literally piss poor i need to know how much in federal loans i can take out every year, i plan on selecting the ibr to repay my loans. So if my schools tuition say would be 20k can i take out 60k if i wanted to? and when would or how soon would i get that money?

 

[SClENCE]

It obviously depends on the school and your financial aid application. I know my tuition is around 20k and I will spend another 10k a year on housing and I will be able to take around 40k in loans if I want.

 

[une]

Thank you soo much thats what i need to know. If i can ask one last question.., how soon do you get the loans you take out like if i start in the fall can i get them anytime sooner?

 

[SClENCE]

I don't think you can take them much before class starts. For me I think it's 10 days before class.

 

[radio frequency]

$40k in living expenses per year? Don't do it.

 

[YF786]

It obviously depends on the school and your financial aid application. I know my tuition is around 20k and I will spend another 10k a year on housing and I will be able to take around 40k in loans if I want.

What school do u go to that's only 20k I am interested? All the schools that I have seen range from 43-50k a year in tuition

 

[SClENCE]

$40k in living expenses per year? Don't do it.

I'm thinking of just taking out enough for tuition and putting my rent/other expenses on a credit card. I'll then take out the additional loans at the end of the year to pay off the card. This will save money on student loan intrest, build my credit score, and I might even get significant cash back/rewards. I just need to see if I can get a card that doesn't incur interest for ~1 year and has at least a 10k limit (have no idea if this is viable as I'v never even had a credit card).

EDIT: It looks like it's easy to get a card with 15 month 0% APR but the problem is the low limits so I guess this option isn't viable.

 

[radio frequency]

What school do u go to that's only 20k I am interested? All the schools that I have seen range from 43-50k a year in tuition

Lots of public universities are in the 20-30k range.

I'm thinking of just taking out enough for tuition and putting my rent/other expenses on a credit card. I'll then take out the additional loans at the end of the year to pay off the card. This will save money on student loan intrest, build my credit score, and I might even get significant cash back/rewards. I just need to see if I can get a card that doesn't incur interest for ~1 year and has at least a 10k limit (have no idea if this is viable as I'v never even had a credit card).

Check out the interest rates on credit cards before you go further down this rabbit hole...

 

[SClENCE]

Lots of public universities are in the 20-30k range.
Check out the interest rates on credit cards before you go further down this rabbit hole...

Well the idea was to get a card with 0% intro APR for 15 months, pay it off at the end of the year by taking out additional student loans, and move to a new card for the next year. So I'd pay no interest. After some brief research it looks like it's easy to get 0% intro APR for >1 year BUT it doesn't look like I'd be able to get approved for a credit anywhere near 10k so I guess this isn't going to work. I read about one person who used this strategy to pay their entire tuition... how they had a card with such a high credit line/no limit as a student is beyond me.

My new strategy is to just take out enough for tuition and get my parents to help pay rent/living expenses haha

 

[BidingMyTime]

Check out the interest rates on credit cards before you go further down this rabbit hole...

True, but credit card debt is dischargeable in bankruptcy court, student loan debt is not. Student loan debt is FOREVER!

OP, I would take out the very least amount of student loan that you needed. Consider living in your car. Remember any student loan debt you take out will be with you until pay it off or die (even with IBR, you still have to pay taxes on any forgiven debt, which may be quite considerable in the future.) Credit card debt is also a terrible way to finance your way through school, but you will have more options to escape it, then you will with student loan debt.

 

[Dred Pirate]

this thread is why financial literacy 101 should be a mandatory class in high school.
My recommendations:
1. Go to a community college for the first first two years
2. While you are there, work at a pharmacy - see if you even like it.

if you have already done your pre-reqs, worked in a pharmacy skip the first two.

3. read up on IBR and PAYE and realize there might be some HUGE changes coming that affect they forgiveness of your loans.
4. Read up on the job market for pharmacists and see what you have in store.
5. Never take out a credit card to finance anything - they should be paid in full every month. If you don't have the money, don't buy the item.

if after all of this you still decide to go into pharmacy, come back and I will give you pointers on what to do while in college (work full time, etc)

 

[radio frequency]

Don't plan to discharge debt in bankruptcy. That's a terrible idea because it could affect your employability. Many companies check your credit report before hiring and may not hire you if you've gone through bankruptcy recently.

Planning for IBR is also a terrible idea. Plan to pay every last penny, plus some.

 

[SClENCE]

People actually plan to default/file bankruptcy before they even graduate/take the loan? This is disgusting