Things to consider before getting a student loan

All right, this might sound like a personal story to begin with, but I promise there's a good point that comes from the personal experience.

In high school, as a senior, I had to put up with a "senior project"... yea, I bet some people are nodding, it's a moderately common concept. To my embarrassment, I had a lame English teacher that obviously wasn't too good at explaining the structure of an essay - my paper didn't pass the first time (I had a better teacher in college). My subject was animation. I've loved cartoons for as long as I can remember and I'll never forget watching Toy Story for the first time and wishing I could animate like that. Long story short, my project passed with a solid B - and ironically, my art teacher was one of the judges who insisted I show the project in class the next day, he loved it so much. Yes, I adore animation and wanted very much to get into computer animation.

Near the middle-end of the school year, a representative from a college came into one of my classes, (college shall remain nameless unless I'm asked) and spoke about all the various artistic degrees it offered. To me, at 18, the school sounded like a utopia for my dreams - the perfect way to learn my love. Keep in mind, I was 18 and had no reason to doubt anything this representative said or even wonder what damage student loans would do to my credit history right off the bat. That's what these sharks do: they target those who don't know any better or don't fully understand and don't know what questions to ask. Worse, it's the low-income types that can't afford a consultation with a lawyer who can explain what's going on in all the contracts and the fact that they primarily cover the school or lender and not the student or borrower.

My saving grace was taking classes with the local community college for a couple years because the credits from that college don't transfer to about 75% of the other colleges in the country - or at least, that's how it seems. Nobody I know who's been to that school has found another that accepts their credits or degree. Add into that, there's precious few employers that accept their degrees.

Okay, that's just the surface level of the school that required several thousand dollars' worth in loans for each of its 9-week "terms". Digging deeper, we find instructors who don't know what they're teaching, take far too long answering questions, or simply don't understand a very basic dumb blond joke - the last being a psychology instructor. What's wrong with this picture? Meantime, the loans are gaining 18% interest on what seems an hourly basis.

What I'm saying is this:

1. Check your potential school out thoroughly - search for lawsuits, complaints and things like that
2. don't let them talk at warp 9 on the phone - insist on them restating things by email so you have it in writing
3. Don't be fooled by the "utopia" vision for your dreams - if it sounds too good to be true, be extra cautious and even check with the BBB. F is serious and means "RUN FOR THE HILLS!!"
4. Check the fine print - don't let them rush you through the application process. Trust me, you'll regret that later.
5. Most important above all: ASK A TON OF QUESTIONS! Even if you think you understand something, ask about it anyway! There's too many words in the English language with double meanings, that makes it easy for them to slip something past you that can hurt later.

I wasted a year with that disappointing and highly stressful school and was left with nothing but nontransferable credits and shattered dreams. Along with those, over $70,000 in loans that rise by the day at 18% interest even while in deferment due to financial hardship. I suppose it puts new meaning on the phrase "young and stupid" but that dream wasn't stupid, I was merely young and inexperienced with how horrible the world can be - a lesson not offered in high school. All those "college prep" classes and none were "world prep" or "life prep". Not even in college do they have that sort of lesson. For me, it had to be learned the hard way - something I'd like to help others avoid. All I got was bitter disappointment and a lot of tears as my dream fell apart before my eyes.

Lesson learned the hard way: I won't go to a school that isn't a community college where my financial aid, income and GPA-based scholarships cover tuition, books and supplies. There's still bad eggs as far as teachers go, but at least I don't end up with nothing but unpayable loans to show for it.