I am hoping someone can enlighten me. My parents cannot help because they, too, are in the dark on this.

I will be attending a University this fall and I plan on funding my education with a student loan. I'm not sure how to go about this. Which ones are best? Do I get all of the money now or do I get it for a semester at a time? I also plan on transfering after my second year. will this be be a problem? I'm clueless.. can anyone fill me in?

You should get in touch with your school's financial aid office right away. Often they give partial scholarships based on your and your parent's income, however, it may be too late for this, as deadlines for these scholarships may have already passed for the fall semester. But it is not too late to get a student loan, by far the best is the government Federal Stafford loan. There are two types of Stafford loans, subsidized and unsubsidized. The subsidized loan is need based (income limits), the unsusidized is not based on need and there is no credit check. The difference between the 2 is mostly the interest...for the susidized loan, the government pays the interest on the loan during your college years, then you pay the loan off with interest starting after you graduate or leave college. For the unsubsidized loan, you pay interest only during the college years, then repayment of the loan starts after you graduate. Or you can roll the interst into your loan, so you pay nothing during your college years. Interest rate is about 9% Changing schools doesn't matter. You are paid each semester (the money is sent directly to the college). After you graduate, you can repay the loans over a 10 year maximum period.<br> There are limits on the amount of the Stafford loan. If you are a dependent student (your parents provide over 1/2 of your support), the maximum is about $2700 dollars the first year, rising to about $5500 max in your junior and senior year. Your parents can also take out an additional student loan for you in their name, it is called a Stafford PLUS loan. If they are unable to take out that loan, thern you can apply for an additional loan of about $4000 (unsubsidized).. if you are an independent student, you can also apply for a total of about $6500 your first year as an unsubsidized Stafford loan. <br> If you still need more money for your education, then you can apply for a private loan..check with Sallie Mae at www.salliemae.com. But first call the Financial Aid office, they will give you all sorts of info. And don't forget, this is not free money, you do have to repay it when you graduate, it could be several hundred dollars per month if you take out loans every year. Good Luck!

Good news! I heard a clip on the News this morning that the interst rate on the Stafford student loans will be only 3.3 % this year!

Excellent advice: call the student loan office. They can give you the information. And since they are the ones who want your money, they are probably going to be somewhat impartial as to which way you go about getting them the money. They want it, and want it to be as easy as possible for you, so they'll (hopefully) give you all of the info they can.

All the financial aid office did was give me a FAFSA form... well these forms do not help me becasue I do not know my parents income information and they wont help me.

Are there any student loans that I dont need any info about my parents?!?!

Generally, no.

The need-based grants and loans, such as those you would get through the FAFSA form, need a way to determine your need. One of the main inputs is your parents' income.

Non-need-based loans generally require some assurance that you can repay the loan. Again, one of the main inputs into this is your parents' income.

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Originally posted by PerfectPeach:
All the financial aid office did was give me a FAFSA form... well these forms do not help me becasue I do not know my parents income information and they wont help me.

Are there any student loans that I dont need any info about my parents?!?!

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Your parents may not want to help you financially, but all they need to do is report their income on the FAFSA. They are NOT responsible for your loan by doing this. The purpose of your parent's income info is to determine whether you are eligible for a financial aid need based scholarship or for a federal need based Stafford loan. If your parents are unwilling to simply report their income, then you should call the FAFSA office at 1-800-4-FED-AID. Explain your situation. You probably will be eligible for a non-need based Federal Stafford Loan of $2625 for the first year. Since this is likely only a small part of the tuition, you'll also need to apply for a work-study program, or seek aditional student loans from www.salliemae.com