I went to visit Indiana University's campus on Friday. It was a long 5 hour drive, stuck in the car with my parents, but we eventually got there alive with only one detour (my Mom wanted Starbucks, which unknown to use was 30 minutes into town and had been closed for 2 years. Everyone was very happy after that happened.)
The campus is gorgeous. And absolutely, completely effin' huge. It could eat Culver's campus about 10 times. There are so many trees and fountains and artwork and beautiful buildings.
I didn't get a chance to actually visit the library, but it is enormous, and open 24 hours a day - I'm pretty excited. I found an apartment too, it's right across from the stadium, bigger than the one I've got now, includes parking, and everything except electricity, cable and internet. It has a sky light and a balcony and the bus stops right outside.
However, this is when the panic started in. I did not get offered an assistantship. So now I have to come up with roughly 15,000 a year in tuition plus be able to pay for rent every month. And try to find a job in a town, where I won't live until August, where the town only has 20,000 people but the campus has 40,000 people. If I can't get a job then I'll have to drop out and move home.
I don't know what loans to get, from whom. I won't know anyone on campus (that I'm aware of anyway). I'll be a state away from all of my friends.
I'm totally freaking out and basically scared shitless. But I can't let that stop me from doing what I want.
As a grad student, you can still qualify for subsidized and unsubsidized loans from the the government. All you have to do is fill out the FAFSA and have it sent to the school. They should be able to tell you how much of each you qualify for. Sometimes you can get a pretty hefty amount, but it can depend on how much you already have out in government loans, too. They're probably your best bet, as you're usually going to get a significantly better interest rate as opposed to private vendors.
ReplyDelete(But there were some changes to college loans that passed with Obama's new healthcare bill, that I understand affects private loan vendors. If/how much that affects grad students, I'm not sure.)
I wish you luck looking for a job. I decided not to go to Madison because I couldn't secure funding in time. I'm stubborn like that. Good for you for doing it anyway. Are there any chances you could get it halfway through the year? Or next year?
I filled out my FAFSA the other day, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed on that one. I also filled out several job applications online yesterday.
ReplyDeleteI'm hoping I can get funding later. I'm certainly going to keep applying for it as often as I can.