Actually I contributed more than anybody. So yeah, thank me for that. Owing a student loan, who the hell cares?
Yeesh, what a troll. But I guess if you want to let your hubris cloud your judgement, I could bring you down a few notches and thank everyone for their advice so far in one fell swoop. ^_~
Look at your options, don't plan on staying in IN. Cost of living in a huge city is ridiculous anyway. But aren't Purdue and Indiana U/Bloomington in your area?
Sallie Mae would rather see you pay your debt than send it to collections, I have had to deal with them on the phone too but honestly they have been pretty cool and are more interested in working out ways to pay rather than making threats. When I got out done with my undgergrad they let me defer (twice) for twelve months, basically you still accrue interest but you don't have to pay anything. All I had to do was fax them a copy of my tax return proving how much money I made, the biggest thing they wanted to hear was that I had a legit plan to change my situation.
Right now focus on getting out of your funk, look at real-world ways of solving your problem rather than chasing IM. If it works out for you then great, but don't pursue it at the expense of other things until you have a sustainable method in place (and don't lie to yourself about what is sustainable).
8k is nothing, if you are looking for some good four-years with relatively cheap tuition let me know. But it it makes you feel any better, my friend is an L1 and has to take out 60k a year in loans to pay for law school. Keep it in perspective man...
S0ap, thanks for the perspective on everything and the truly solid advice. You're probably right about me chasing IM under pressure. I just wish I really had a way to apply it, which is what I'm truly struggling with, given my difficuly, yet relatively common situation. I really appreciate it.
well the good news is you can always not pay for a while until you find a good job or start making real money in marketing. Your credit report is not the holy grail to a good life. but it can cause some problems. But if online marketing is your goal, then I'd not worry about it for now, focus on what you can do and change today, and the rest will follow in time.
If you need some marketing help, hit me up. i have a link in my profile. don NOT Pm me here though, that would get me banned!
Anyways, find something that has proven to make money and stick with it! eventually you will have the $ to start repayment. Also you can get a hardship deferment sometimes too. hope that helps
Thanks for the link, nicejedi. I'm already on deferrment, and I doubt they'd give me another one considering my total lack of income. I found your website relatively helpful, as much as it could possibly be, anyway.
I went to a school that was close to $30k a semester... A student loan is about the lowest interest rate you are going to get on a loan in your lifetime and in the scheme of things $8k is nothing. Further, you are not the only college graduate that didn't leave school making millions. Sallie Mae and similar lenders, though they can be annoying, work with you and have a multitude of options for you in regards to repayment. Do not fret, be honest with Sallie Mae and yourself about what you can do, and work hard to make something of yourself. There is no blackhat way to get out of student loans. Even bankruptcy doesn't clear you from student loans. If you default on your student loans you are going to make life very difficult for yourself for a very long time. Again, don't fret. MILLIONS of people have paid off student loans. If you have a little black hat here and there to supplement your income that's great. At this point I would focus on doing things legitimately and proving to yourself and others that you can make it in the "real world". I understand that this post is not particularly helpful, it's just rantings, but I hope that you can find some helpful suggestions. Stepping off my soapbox...
Thanks for the vote of confidence, aresmares. You're probably right that it's better to attempt to pay off the loan.
Oh yeah I thought you were still in college. Devry, ITT , all that is pretty much worthless IMO. Im at an accredited full-conference school now and we get 3-4 internship postings a month for EE positions, I don't know about the CS guys but I imagine its pretty similar. Microsoft was here last month looking for programmers and I know that every CS kid I talked to that went to the career fair ended up getting interviews, I don't know if it was here or in Redmond though.
Anyway if you can get back into a four-year college in an engineering/science program I would recommend it, I know you don't want to take out loans but sometimes you just have to bite the bullet.
$200-400 a day is unrealistic for someone just starting out, unless you get extremely lucky. Even then it will probably be short lived. Sorry man.
Here, s0ap shows me the unrealisticism I came into this with. A reality check is always appreciated, along with the statistics and logic he/she brings with it.
Therein lies the problem. You need to learn how to walk before you run. You havent made a cent yet, but youre afraid to write for pennies. You have no startup cash to launch any projects. What do you expect to happen? Even if you found a million dollar idea right this second, chances are it will require capital to scale. If I were you, I would write articles (seeing as how you're already a writer). Trade your time for money. Better then sitting around wasting time for nothing looking for the "magic solution" to your problems. Thats the reality of this.
Thanks, mud. Although I'd prefer that you would actually include a well paying article reference as well, I appreciate the advice and reality check you bring to the conversation. And, of course, it could be anyone trapped in the same situation, so I'm sure they thank you as well.
Now, Mr. Izm. I think you might want to think twice before asking if anyone cares in a topic posted in the Lounge, as well as declaring yourself sole definer of what is and isn't a contribution.
