college, student loans and the like

so lately I have been debating enrolling in an actual college for either an AAS or a Bachelors.

As of right now Im attending a self paced computer certification training school...and while its not bad, I cant help but feel like a lot of it could have been done by myself just reading the books. By the end of Sept I hope to have my CCNA, and shortly thereafter I will go the self study route for an MCDST.

Now, the downside of the above mentioned training is it was financed thru private loans. Nothing outrageously expensive, but as of right now I have about $8000 in loan debt.

My thought is that since I already have my foot in the door regarding IT work...getting an AAS or Bachelors would put me above others since a lot of people who start out have the degree and no experience, or have the experience and no degree. It seems to be a variant based on the company as I know MIS Bachelors graduates with $15 an hour jobs and 1 year tech program graduates with $100k Systems Admin jobs, and beyond all that more schooling is always a good investment. Previously I had not really seriously considered it because I have been fortunate when it comes to jobs in the IT field with not a lot of training.

Anyway...my question is is if I finance thru an accredited college and qualify for loans and what not...are there any loans that are NOT private that I could use for "living expenses"? In essence, I would not even use the loans for that as I would still work full time and attend evening classes. My thought is is if I can get a loan that'll cover something beyond just books and tuition at a low interest rate I can knock out a chunk of some of that high interest private loan debt with it, and at least that way I would be paying significantly less in interest.

Also, my thought is an AAS now, work towards a bachelors in the future. Does this seem like the right direction to go now or should I just plan on going for the Bachelors now?

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Kasor

It is depend on what is your career goals. I will go directly to BS degree (either CS or IS, maybe CE).

You will waste a lot of time and money on AAS degree because by the time you transfer back to 4 yrs college. You will have to retake many courses because each college have their own requirement. Also, it is easy to get a good GPA from Community college. However, many good college will not recogizne AAS degree or I should say "All of their credits." At the end, you will spend more time and money to finish up your college.

Therefore, i will recommend you go for 4 yrs college.

Good Luck

blargoe

AAS could be a good stepping stone but do your homework first. For example here in North Carolina the community colleges are fairly well aligned with the public universities as far as course equivalence and being able to transfer credits. If you would like to eventually do a BS and know where you want to get it, base your AAS school on transferability of courses.

Some employers will reimburse you for college if it pertains to your job and you have a certain amount of tenure with the company (in my experience, 6-12 months), so keep that in mind too.

richnewman

The Prize Is Lobster wrote:

Anyway...my question is is if I finance thru an accredited college and qualify for loans and what not...are there any loans that are NOT private that I could use for "living expenses"? In essence, I would not even use the loans for that as I would still work full time and attend evening classes. My thought is is if I can get a loan that'll cover something beyond just books and tuition at a low interest rate I can knock out a chunk of some of that high interest private loan debt with it, and at least that way I would be paying significantly less in interest.

I'm actually in the process of trying to get college paid for, so I might be able to help. I was hoping to find some extra loans for college that would pay for an apartment/foods/etc., so I looked into loans. The government has two student loans (besides PLUS, parent co-signer loan), Stafford & Perkins. I think Perkins you need to show financial need.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stafford_loan
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Perkins_Loan

Also at the college I'm looking at, there's a I guess school loan that's for $2500 a year, which I don't know what's called. There's also a private loan (apparently through any bank I want) for $1313 a semester. And then I can "unlock" another school loan if my parents are denied loans because of their credit score, which would give me another $4k a year. I can't do that myself because I'm under 24, I'm not sure what the situation is with you. Sorry that I can't remember what all that's called.

The girl I meet with about paying for college has been extremely helpful (beyond belief o_O) have you tried talking to a counselor at a school?

I hope I was helpful :P I'm kind of being rushed.

mike07

Wow you have a lot of student loans out paying for your education. I may have to take out the same amount in student loans to fund my college expenses. Any suggestions on who to use?