Cosigning Student Loans?

[stephenson]

gayl,

Most conservatories in the US are 4 year programs - is son(?) in public university?

Does he want to play or teach? In general, all players teach, but not all teachers play.

 

[gayl]

gayl,

Most conservatories in the US are 4 year programs - is son(?) in public university?

Does he want to play or teach? In general, all players teach, but not all teachers play.

He's in a public university and wants to do both: day job = teaching. Heart is in performing. He's subbing with a Symphony in Argentina right now .... not great pay. Also in SF Civic Symphony which is where they got his name. Conservatory may be 4 yrs but public university is cheaper and 5 yrs. Hence 15k + up to 13k for 5th year instead of 40k yr in conservatory.

 

[SecondCor521]

Adding: can I transfer that 11k to a charge card when he graduates? I have space. Would he still be able to deduct the interest on his taxes? Can I pick which ones to pay off 1st or do you have to pay an equal amount on all? 3 are subsidized / 2 are unsubsidized (4k). I never owed SL personally or for my 2 kids ..... but this is a GK

Yes, you could transfer the 11K to your credit card. If you really mean a charge card, like AMEX, normally AMEX will want you to pay it off the next month, which may or may not work for you.

He would probably be able to deduct any interest paid to the student loan, but not any interest paid to you or your charge/credit card. There are IRS requirements, but they seem pretty easy to meet: https://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc456.

You can probably pay/prepay any amount on any of the five student loans as long as you make the minimum payments on each. Some student loans give you six months after graduation to start making payments; some have payments due right when you graduate. They could in theory have prepayment penalties but I believe those are rare. Check with the loan company on each loan.

 

[gayl]

Thanks. I have the money, I want points and for him to deduct the 2 that are currently accruing interest (unsubsidized). The subsidized ones have a 6 month grace period and technically could be discharged with public service but I hear that's impossible to actually get. And he'll be left with about 4k+ what he cannot save from this summer or pay off as he goes.

 

[stephenson]

We have a classical musician in the family. It is an incredibly competitive avocation. There is no part way to commitment - I have met hundreds of his friends - at the local Youth Orchestra (where high schoolers are selected from local high schools), conservatory (Bachelors) in performance, at Northwestern (Masters), and at the orchestra he plays full time with. All of these folks burned with a need to compete and win - they were utterly committed to doing this.

Your son needs to play - a lot. He needs to do this with increasingly competent orchestras. He needs to find multiple instructors - preferably a hard academic with credentials in his specific instrument - with a conservatory; and, a series of professional musicians at tier one orchestras to play with. He will have to be good and scratch for the connections - not because the connections can get him a job, but because they will train him in a manner the academic may not be able.

Many orchestras do not play in the summer - so, those professional musicians spend their summers at various music festival locations across the US and the world. These summer festival organizations also accept students of promise - and sometimes provide jobs, etc. This is where he needs to be - but if it didn't happen he needs to playing somewhere.

BTW - what instrument?

 

[gayl]

Then he picked right. He will spend 1 week playing in Buenos Aires and 1 in Montevideo then back for 1 subbing here. He plays already in SF (not at the school, he's more advanced apparently according to the department director) and his 'mentor' plays for the opera (he subbed there once).

He plays 7 instruments but is only hired to sub in 3. His instrument of choice is the french horn. That's what he's playing down there + with SF Civic Symphony. He's 22

2nd one performs all over in guitar. Has several students but only 2 FT gigs. His instrument of choice is guitar. A group picked him up for this tour as their regular band mate is sick. He's 18

 

[stephenson]

Well, in my opinion, he will soon be forced to choose between orchestral horn, and the other instruments.

In all my time, I have not met any professional orchestral player who performed on more than one instrument. I'm sure there are exceptions - but, rarely, I would suggest. Of course, oboe players also play different type of oboes and English horn, but no completely different instruments.

 

[foxfirev5]

Bad idea to cosign and support a corrupt system. Tuition is rising at incredible rates in large part to the fact they can suck the life out of you with loans. And that's all I have to say about that.

 

[stephenson]

Corrupt?

What silliness.

 

[OldShooter]

Corrupt?

What silliness.

Well, it's my thread so I guess I can contribute as it veers wildly off topic:

The higher education system has been gorging itself for years, feeding from the troughs of money provided by student loans. The money is put there by naive student borrowers, this money provided to them by a clueless government. Example discussion here: https://winteryknight.com/2016/02/12/why-is-college-so-expensive/ and http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-dqm5PIPoC58/Ti8HKy2jjrI/AAAAAAAAPgU/Wm3iJROU5KQ/s1600/college.jpg

Maybe it's not "corrupt" if corruption is defined as something that is illegal, but the immorality of coercing students to pay for bloated administration headcounts and salaries is clear. And the consequence of this legalized extortion is felt across society as the student loan burden prevents victims from participating normally in the economy as they mature.

The rise of for-profit colleges is also due to the "nonprofit" higher education establishment raising its prices so high that it's easy to offer an accredited education at a lower price and still make a profit. Too bad, really, that the greed of a few for-profits has polluted this promising alternative.

 

[gwraigty]

Maybe it's not "corrupt" if corruption is defined as something that is illegal, but the immorality of coercing students to pay for bloated administration headcounts and salaries is clear. And the consequence of this legalized extortion is felt across society as the student loan burden prevents victims from participating normally in the economy as they mature.

+1

 

[CardsFan]

Maybe it's not "corrupt" if corruption is defined as something that is illegal, but the immorality of coercing students to pay for bloated administration headcounts and salaries is clear. And the consequence of this legalized extortion is felt across society as the student loan burden prevents victims from participating normally in the economy as they mature.

The rise of for-profit colleges is also due to the "nonprofit" higher education establishment raising its prices so high that it's easy to offer an accredited education at a lower price and still make a profit. Too bad, really, that the greed of a few for-profits has polluted this promising alternative.

+2.

I think I posted this in another thread a while back, but the cost to attend my alma mater (Northeastern Univ. in Boston), tuition and fees only, has increased 28x what I paid in 1973 for my freshman year ($1,800/yr then, $51,522/yr today). That is not a typo, 28 times what I paid in 1973.

And this is a "not for profit" university.

 

[oscalulo]

Thanks. I have the money, I want points and for him to deduct the 2 that are currently accruing interest (unsubsidized). The subsidized ones have a 6 month grace period and technically could be discharged with public service but I hear that's impossible to actually get. And he'll be left with about 4k+ what he cannot save from this summer or pay off as he goes.

Yup - as stated above, if you pay the minimums on the loans, then any extra you want to pay you can designate to specific loans (sounds like in your case it would make sense to designate any extra amounts to the unsubsidized ones) - but you generally have to call each time to the servicer to specify that. And if you're paying on behalf of your grandkid, only they get to deduct the student loan interest (and there are income rules, once he starts earning a certain amount income, or if he files separately from a spouse, then he's not eligible to deduct student loan interest anymore) - either way, you don't get to deduct the interest on his loans even if you're the one paying them off. Also to your comment about public service loan forgiveness for your grandkid - it's not worth it unless he will have well over $100k in loans which it doesn't sound like he will. It takes 10 years to qualify so if he only has say, $40k in loans, he's much better off just paying them off as quickly as he can. Now, if he's making very little in a public service job (for example, teaching music at a public elementary school or something) and there is no way he can pay his loans off within 10 years, then it is what it is, he can get into a repayment plan eligible for loan forgiveness that only makes him pay 10% of his discretionary income and even though his balance will balloon (because generally, on a low salary, 10% of your discretionary income means you're just paying off a little interest each month and not at all touching the principal so your balance keeps growing), if he stays in public service for 10 years then it can be forgiven, but for most people, it's not worth it to let a small balance balloon due to unpaid principal over 10 years just to qualify for loan forgiveness because during those 10 years you have to be making payments every month. And from a career standpoint, if he lets his balance balloon, then he might feel trapped in a public service job for 10 years just because if he were to get out before forgiveness, then he'll have to pay back way more than he ever would have if he had never tried for forgiveness.

This is why loan forgiveness is a tough situation - even if one is able to navigate the rules to qualify for it, there are so many non-financial decisions to take into account because it honestly doesn't make sense for everyone even though in theory it sounds like free money - do you want to be trapped in public service for 10 years (in some fields like mine, this is not a problem, in others, it can really limit your career choices), if you started out in the private sector and have already made a good amount of payments before moving to public service - it might not be worth it to try and qualify in 10 years if you're halfway done to paying off your loans, etc.

 

[stephenson]

Let’s keep this on topic.

Politics to another forum.

 

[CardsFan]

Let’s keep this on topic.

Politics to another forum.

Just curious. Who was discussing politics (versus POLICY)?

FYI, the OP is the one that opened the topic of tuition inflation.

 

[OldShooter]

Let’s keep this on topic.

Politics to another forum.

Oh, it's been off topic for most of its existence. I did get my answer on the mechanics of these loans and was able to find some other resources as well.

Most of the OT has been people ranting forcefully about what should be done in a situation that they have absolutely no knowledge of. Then there was a diversion concerning French horns. But thread drift is kind of a tradition here.

For the record, I think it was @foxfirev5 who brought up the tuition ripoff, but I do have strong feelings on the subject.

 

[CardsFan]

Oh, it's been off topic for most of its existence. ..... But thread drift is kind of a tradition here.

And we love Tradition!!