Colorado Technical University

Is there a grant to help pay off student loans?

I use to take classes online on one of those get your bachelor's degree in two years and what not. Turned out that each semester was 5 weeks so every time I would start a new semester, there would be a new charge for that semester, for example 5,000 per semester so in a matter of 3 months I had already accrued a student loan for 15,000. This is not including a secondary loan that I had to get which is like 4,000 or around there. When I realized this I immediately stop taking this online classes. Now my loan is in collections and I can't afford to pay of this debt. I just recently started going to a community college and was wondering if there is some sort of grant or help or law that would stop both of my student loans from going into further collections and/or help me to pay off this debt? Had I known how much I was going to owe once I started I would of never started going there. If you are all wondering what school was it then let me tell you it was Colorado Technical University Online. It's just like University Of Phoenix and all the other online schools out there!! But if there is someone out there that is knowledgeable on the assistance I am seeking please do not hesitate to provide me with this information!! I left out one important detail........ My large loan from staffor that's currently around 12,000, I manage to get that deferred due to unemployment, I have a year according to deferrment program to start paying it back. My smaller loan, around 4,000 is the one that's in collections.

Public Comments

1. Jimmy: I'm afraid the news isn't good. Borrowers in default are not eligible for the usual in-school deferment. If your loans were in repayment, but not default, returning to school would automatically put your loans back into deferment - and you wouldn't have to make your payments. Unfortunately, borrowers in default can't take advantage of that opportunity. There are no grants or loans to help you pay off previous loans. Financial aid is awarded on a "going forward" basis, based on your cost of attendance for the current year, and not on what you might owe someone else from past borrowing. There are programs that forgive or cancel portions of previous loans, but those programs require certain types of employment (teaching, public service, health care), military service, or significant volunteer work within your community, or around the world. You can read about all of those opportunities here: http://www.ed.gov/offices/OSFAP/DirectLoan/cancellation.html and here: http://www.finaid.org/loans/forgiveness.phtml As far as your government loans - there is one thing that you can do to stop the default process, and that's consolidate them. The US Department of Education has its own consolidation program - they will only allow you to consolidate your government loans - your Staffords, Perkins, etc. You can learn about that program here: https://loanconsolidation.ed.gov/AppEntry/apply-online/appindex.jsp and you can read about the benefits and the negatives, too. In the simplest possible sense - consolidation will cost you a lot of money. You'll get your loans out of default - you'll regain your in-school deferment - and you'll eventually lower your monthly payment obligation, once you leave school and that payment obligation kicks back in. The downside is that you'll make many more payments, and you'll pay quite a bit more interest - because you're taking so much longer to pay off your loans. By your own admission, you already made a careless mistake in your borrowing - don't even think about consolidating without doing your homework to find out how much the option is going to cost you. That information is available to you - you're just going to have to go out and get it, instead of just playing it by ear. Visit the sites that I suggested, review the information, and consider consolidating your government loans with the William Ford Direct Consolidation program offered by the Department of Education. You're going to have a much more difficult time consolidating those private loans - I don't know of any banks that are consolidating those right now. But at least you'll be able to get a handle on the big amount - and that's what's killing you. I hope that helped - good luck! Edit: By the way, Shirline's info is not correct. You will not qualify for any forms of federal aid as long as you have pre-existing loans in default. There's no hope of 'getting enough' to pay for your school and your loans - you won't be eligible to even complete the FAFSA.