340,000 in debt

What type of debt is this???

Are you saying you have $340,000 in student loan debt? Holy COW! What type of degree do you have? That's a LOT of money for a student loan, unless you're talking med school or something.

This doesn't surprise me. If a student goes to an expensive school the bill could run over $100,000 even. That is especially the case for people who might pursue a medical or law degree. This sounds like a very tough situation to be in. I encourage you to not give up and I can pray for a miracle as well as help for you to resolve this.

It's subsidized and unsubsidized private and public loans. I can't consolidate the private loans and they frankly don't care

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No degree. Try getting a job or starting a career with that on your back

Out of state tuition made it closer to 30,000 a semester with the addition of one summer semester

I have no trouble showing a spreadsheet of my loans if that helps or anyone is curious

I'm just wondering how it got to be so much. :confused:

Have you consolidated your fed loans? How much do you owe private? How much do you owe federal?

This is for anyone who wants to see the loans
http://s231.photobucket.com/albums/ee315/hiryu405/?action=view¤t=photo.png

Well my first suggestion is to get your fed loans taken care of....consolidate then thru Direct Loan Consolidation Loan program. (see the sticky section of this forum.) Get them under control...they can step in and garnish you without a court order. If you have not defaulted, you can still return to school and finish...you still have eligibility and would be higher now as you would now be considered independant.

Since you moved to PA for the sole purpose of going to school, you would have naturally paid out of state rates. To get in state rates, you would have had to resided there for a year and then applied as in state. I know now water under the bridge, but just wanted to clear that up.

Private loans...dont know what to tell you. Did you have a cosignor??
I am assuming these have defaulted. Best I can tell you is move to a non garnishment state and keep your money on a prepaid debit card.

I thought about bankruptcy but my mom is the cosigner. I couldn't burden her with all this debt. Kinda in between a rock and a hard place. Don't know how I can even make enough to pay off the monthly payments, nt to mention have money left over for common bills like food or housing. Saving money Sounds like a delusional dream at this point

Bankrutpcy is not an option for private loans....they are non dischargeable.

When you were going to school, did you not think ahead to what going to an out of state school was going to cost you??

I was 18. Didn't understand the value of a dollar yet and had to leave the state because of issue I had with my family. No. I didn't think ahead. I also didn't think I would be there for 5 years or forced to drop out before graduating. When I did think about it assumed I would be able to pay it off with my career as a chemical engineer. Like I said, that didn't work out as planned. Thanks for making me feel worse though

You might have been 18 the first year...but what about subsequent years? Your cosignor....they are just as responsible for this mess as you are. Have you talked to them for assistance?? If sued, they will face the same consequences as you.

Not meaning to make you feel bad, but this is the reality of private student loans.

I was banking on graduating with the best paying engineering job possible. So was my mom. We both didn't think I was dropping out until my last semester when all my problems and issues, (health, personal and financial) became too overbearing and I left. She's helping me pay for school this time so I can finally graduate. Although this time it'll be with chemistry. I'm trying to think of and do every beneficial thing humanly possible.

I'd get a job and start paying them back, actually I would get 2 jobs. We all don't get to do what we want to do. It's going to be pretty hard for your mother to continue to help you when 25% of her paycheck is gone, after taxes.
Maybe you're mother can take out a loan and settle the loans. A friend of mine just settled a 32,000 private loan for 12,000

I have two jobs lol. While going to school as well as still looking for more financial opportunities. What do you mean she settled a 32,000 loan with a 12,000 loan?

sorry but you're losing me. how many credits do you have? why were you there for 5 years? Were you doing a master's program? i hope you are being honest with us. if i were you i would stop slouching around. go out and get a part time job, start making some money. finish your degree and get a job. if you were at school for 5 years you should have enough credits for a bachelor's degree... you really sound like you are holding back on us.

Dude. I am not holding back anything at all. I have about 100 credits. I went to penn state to get a baccalaureate in chemical engineering. I had three minors. I was there for five years because I was stubborn and had the dreams of hopes of my family here and over seas since I was the first person in my family to go to university. I wanted to leave earlier but my loans were so big that I needed to finish to pay them off. By my last year the job market died and 5000 chemical engineers were laid off in an already frozen job market. I left because my dad died earlier (which added stress in my last two years) and because I couldn't afford housing. I left school and went home with some furniture and the clothes on my back. My bank was empty at that point. Im not slouching around and honestly take a lot of offense to that. I worked my ass off looking for a decent job that could pay 2000-3000 dollars in loans in each month. I had to leave my house because of family problems an paid for an apartment too which added another 1-2 grand a month. It was really hard since most jobs that were decent required a bc. I eventually started tutoring and working random jobs just to make ends meet. Even then I haven't been able to save money or buy anything not essential. I have two jobs now and am going back to school. I need at least two more years of school since universities want at least 60 credits to be taken with them for you to get a degree from them and there is no way I am going b k to penn state. I'm open about everything I've done. It's a tough situation and have web doing what I think is the best I could. Even so the situation is greater than me and any help or advice is much appreciated.

How much longer would you need to go if you went back to Penn State??
You have 5 years in already...you should be almost done. Even going back for one year out state tuition rates has to be cheaper than 2 years at another school. Also take into account potential earnings for lessening your time at school. As I said before, you would now be an independant student and would be eligible for higher federal aid.

That's the thing. I have a full years worth of classes. However two of the classes I need are both only offered in the fall and can't be taken at the same time. I would probably have to go for another two years just to finish. Even if it was one year I'm pretty sure it's cheaper here for two years. Being able to start a career sooner would be nice though. Even so, I was trained to hate chemical engineering and the people in it. I would be very unhappy with a degree I couldn't get a job in.

In terms of being an independent, it would be nice to get financial aid. Any financial aid would be higher then what I got at penn state, which was zero.

P.s. I recently had a year dropped out of my curriculum where my grades were poor. It's the year my father passed and I went through a whole process to get the credits dropped. It would definitely take two years with that into account.

soubds like you're letting family problems destroy your own life. Im from Baltimore, 47 years old and I grew up in situations that make your family problems look like a walk in the park. I went to school at a state university for 4 years and graduated with a BS in economics AND had a minor in political science. It sounds to me like you partied abd took the minimum number of classes each year. Figure out a way to get ONE more year of schooling. Shouldn't matter how. Just do it and get a degree. You're done now , I applaud you for working hard but your two part time jobs aint gonna do shit. Finish your degree and get a real job, or continue to do this bull. Either way stop blaming your family for your fuckups. it's not that hard, trust me

Wow. I was not expecting to be judged like this. For one, don't compare my family problems to yours. Just like I don't know why you've gone through, you don't know what I've gone through. Dont be presumptuous. For two, I didnt party and fool around for five years. I said above I had three minors. How the hell could I have taken the minimum possible with that on my agenda? In fact I usually took 18-21 credits a semester. So I find that assessment of yours very offensive. I worked my ass off in school. Didn't sleep, didn't socialize, didn't have fun and gained an overall 50-70 pounds because of my forced lack of health. I'm seriously very mad that you could even think you understand my situation so well. I went through hell growing up, went through hell in university and am going through hell now. I'm obviously going back to school so I can start a career and find a way to pay this off and just live. Its not as simple as just go back for a year or i obviously would have done that. I appreciate the advice but please don't think that your economics (easy major) and
Political science minor (literally easiest minor) can even hold up against having a major in chemical engineering (hardest engineering) and three minors in
chemistry, energy engineering, and environmental engineering. You don't know what hard is my friend. I try my hardest to be humble but holy crap dude. Btw. I don't blame my family for everything or anything. My life is my own. They simply have had a cause and effect in my life which is more negative than anything. When a father you never got to know dies it tends to get to you. 47 year old judgmental asshole from Baltimore, you sir are a jerk

Ok...this is what I really think since you choose to be rude to another poster.

You brag about taking the hardest engineering course. Obviously this means you are not stupid.

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The fact that other poster was rude first means nothing? Instead you take down my post and tell me your "true" thoughts. Thank you lol. I didn't ask for your half hearted opinions or your pity. Just advice and information. I also didn't brag about anything. I was making a point and even mentioned that I didn't want to say what I did since that makes it hard to be humble. Of course I fucked up. I wouldn't be in such huge debt unless I didn't. I haven't put any blame on the price of tuition, my consigner, or anything else. You shouldn't have taken down my post like that. I was offended by a rude poster and instead of letting other people decide for themselves you took down my post and talked down to me. Very mature. I'm glad your opinion and emotions have this much weight. I was mad at the rude poster for being judgemental. I wonder if you see the irony in your actions. Thanks for your initial pity.

Sorry but you screwed yourself here. Your only choice is to go more into debt and get back into school and get a degree. 5 years at school and only 100 credits is screwed up. Looks like you spent your time partying and doing nothing.

I didn't party. Had no social life or any fun. Didn't sleep and gained about 50-60 pounds from lack of exercise. My last semester I dropped. The year before that was dropped because of family issues. In reality that's 3 years and 100 credits. That's about 17 credits a semester. If nothing was dropped I would and I did have about 140-150. Three minors added on a lot of credits