Getting student loans without a cosigner?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:let me guess, the parents want to retire at age 50

OP here. This really isn't about my parents. They offered him an all expense paid trip to college if he went to the top college he got accepted to. Instead he chose to go to the local university and live at home. They have paid for his college, but not apartment (hence why he's living at home). And my parents are well over 60. I'm 30, there's a big age difference.

WTF? Both you and your "little brother" sound like entitled brats. He got school paid for with no loans and no work on his part. He should be amazingly thankful and you and he should have only the kindest words for your parents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Brother is already 18. Pretty sure he will be my parent's dependent until he graduates since he's currently living at home, has a credit card from them and has a car paid for by them. Brother wants student loans so that he can live in a dorm, which would be the best situation for all, but parents won't pay.

If he wants to live in a dorm, can't afford it and can't get loans for it without their signature, then he is SOL. And they are smart for refusing to subsidize him living in the dorm if he doesn't need to do so...

[Anonymous]

well, he just cannot live in a dorm then.
Maybe he could live at home or rent a room at someones house or live in a tent or under a bridge

or get a rich girlfriend and live off her
Colleges have homeless students

[Anonymous]

I would stay out of this OP. In theory he can get a job to pay for his dorm bill. Sounds like your parents have some reasons why they aren't going whole hog on college for him.

Maybe he will gain some common sense through this experience.

[Anonymous]

Sounds like he cannot go and study without a student loan.

[Anonymous]

The fact that your parents are over age 60 means they should be putting their retirement planning FIRST. They have more than done their fair share in paying for your brother's tuition, buying him a car and giving him access to a credit car if I remember from your posts even if they do have extra funds. Your brother should be grateful he has a place to live in college "rent free" and grow up a bit. Sure it might be more fun to live out with his buddies, but then somebody is going to have to take on the loans for that extra fun experience.

You are age 30, and I would expect now know the cost of every day life, and as his "big sister," you would do well to counsel him that "if" he wants to take on more loans, it would be a lot wiser to keep the financial door open for grad or professional school or even specific technical training after he gets his BA. It would do him well to research financial aid to have a clear understanding of what is available and the percentage rate on payback of loans, when it would start, AND the expected starting wage he might earn when school ends. Does he realize that he may well be "asking" to stay at home if he can't find a job in a couple of years???? Perhaps if he can get a part-time job and summer job, he could fund living in an apartment with buddies his final year in college, but it should be on his dime not the folks.

Co-signing a loan for anyone is very risky.....

[Anonymous]

At the same time he is old enough to be living on his own.
A little too old to be living with elderly parents, even as an adult student.
The youngest child is the one the parents hold onto more than the other siblings.
He really needs the space, it is not good to be held back like that

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

The fact that your parents are over age 60 means they should be putting their retirement planning FIRST. They have more than done their fair share in paying for your brother's tuition, buying him a car and giving him access to a credit car if I remember from your posts even if they do have extra funds. Your brother should be grateful he has a place to live in college "rent free" and grow up a bit. Sure it might be more fun to live out with his buddies, but then somebody is going to have to take on the loans for that extra fun experience.

You are age 30, and I would expect now know the cost of every day life, and as his "big sister," you would do well to counsel him that "if" he wants to take on more loans, it would be a lot wiser to keep the financial door open for grad or professional school or even specific technical training after he gets his BA. It would do him well to research financial aid to have a clear understanding of what is available and the percentage rate on payback of loans, when it would start, AND the expected starting wage he might earn when school ends. Does he realize that he may well be "asking" to stay at home if he can't find a job in a couple of years???? Perhaps if he can get a part-time job and summer job, he could fund living in an apartment with buddies his final year in college, but it should be on his dime not the folks.

Co-signing a loan for anyone is very risky.....

Well said. Another issue that OP hasn't mentioned is whether or not her parents are taking care of elderly parents. A lot of us in the mid-50 set are members of the "sandwich generation". We had children late in life and medical care has increased longevity, so we are simultaneously planning for retirement (never going to happen here); taking care of elderly grandparents and even a greatgrandparent; and putting kids through college (one is still in private HS). Although I established trusts for college immediately when my DCs were born (this is before 529 plans) and saved furiously, our savings and the trusts were decimated by the recession. Much of that trust money and our retirement money fell by 1/3 in 2007 (as did everyone else's) so the compounding we had counted on didn't happen. One child is going to a state university. SLACs are out of the question. We were decimated also by the costs of taking care of a dying parent for six years. One of our kids is SN and a lot of money goes towards helping DC. And finally, we are hitting age-discrimination so don't bring in as much money as we used to. Also, our siblings are in poor financial straits. And for what it's worth our healthcare has been cancelled so now everything is out-of-pocket.

OP, my mother's sister helped her establish savings during the depression so she could go to a local college. Is there any chance that YOU can co-sign or help out? I've even had secretaries ask me to co-sign on loan for them so they could get cars (I had to say no) so YOU could do it if you feel so strongly about this ...........

[Anonymous]

So, basically what people are saying is:

College loans are to finance INVESTMENT in a person's human capital (his education, so he can get a better job)

Your brother is asking to get a loan to finance CONSUMPTION (more attractive housing than he currently has so he can have more fun).

It is rarely a good idea to finance consumption... talk to people who used home equity to buy vacations.

[Anonymous]

Spoilt. He will get over it.