Reply #19: had to go with a student loan when I went back to school [View All]

[radfringe]

too "rich" to qualify for grants (pell etc.) and too "poor" to pay for it out of my own pocket

after 20 some odd years in human services ending with a reagan-bush economy which cut the program funding and I ended up without a job.... By then I was pretty burnt out with human services and decided to go back to school for something else - ended up doing 2 years at ITT tech in Framingham for CAD-Drafting.

The only way I could pay for tuition was through student loans. My prior earnings put me over the top to qualify for Pell, despite the fact I was no longer employed and had just a checking account and nothing in savings left, and unemployment was running out. I did pick up a part-time job as a residential worker in a home for retarded adults - this gave me enough money to barely live on, my parents would throw me a few dollars here and there to help out.

By the time I got out of school, Clinton was in office and turning around the economy. For the next 8 years I was able to make the monthly payments, then smirk-boy and his tinkle-on-down crap started, and it began to get more difficult to make the payments to the point where I've had to ask for a forebearance on 4 occassions... and am at the point right now of asking for a 5th one