Follow up to Single Lender Blues
Awhile back, I wrote about my lack of ability to conslidate my student loans with a company besides Sallie Mae due to the single lender rule. Congress finally repealed the single lender rule as of June 2006, which should make for a more competative loan market for students. At the time I conslidated my loans, there were some nice offers that I had considered before discovering I couldn’t easily take advantage of any of them. I can only imagine how the market might change and the deals that could be down the pike if people are freely able to change their lenders.
My conslidation did go through without a hitch and my bill gets paid to Sallie Mae every month without any problems so far. I’m locked in at 2.875%, which isn’t much to complain about espically compared to the 7% and 8% that I’ve seen other people have. Of course I have many many years of repayment to look forward to, but I got two degrees at least right?
But seriously for anyone in college or about to go into college, take a moment to consider some random free off the top of my head advice.
- First, find and apply for lots of scholarships even if you think you may not qualify for anything, it doesn’t cost you anything but some time and the worst they can say is no. But you may get lucky and get a decent amount of college covered through this manner.
- Second, don’t just take out student loans for whatever maximum you can. Take a moment to consider what you really need and what you can cover through other sources like a job.
- Third, once you have that job, live within what you make. You’ll tell yourself its okay to spend money now because after you graduate you’ll make lots to make up for it. But make things easy on your future self, work a few extra hours and save a few bucks up.