Student loan for a car?

[Matokah]

What's this about not being able to use private loan funds to pay for your monthly car payment and car insurance?  Someone please tell me this isn't for all loans.  I'm on a 5 year payment plan with my car (so 3.5 years left as of now) which runs about $280/month, plus about $120 for car insurance.  I'm going to be working part-time (and figure skating for exercise), so I definitely can't go without a car.  Boo to those lenders.

[Kitty782]

What's this about not being able to use private loan funds to pay for your monthly car payment and car insurance?  Someone please tell me this isn't for all loans.  I'm on a 5 year payment plan with my car (so 3.5 years left as of now) which runs about $280/month, plus about $120 for car insurance.  I'm going to be working part-time (and figure skating for exercise), so I definitely can't go without a car.  Boo to those lenders.

You can definitely take out private loans, it's just my understanding that you can't take out school sponsored private loans for car payments and get the "special deals" afforded to students.  In other words, the loans you would take out from private lenders that are paid directly to the school only go up to the school mandated Cost of Attendance. 

[Matokah]

What's this about not being able to use private loan funds to pay for your monthly car payment and car insurance?  Someone please tell me this isn't for all loans.  I'm on a 5 year payment plan with my car (so 3.5 years left as of now) which runs about $280/month, plus about $120 for car insurance.  I'm going to be working part-time (and figure skating for exercise), so I definitely can't go without a car.  Boo to those lenders.

You can definitely take out private loans, it's just my understanding that you can't take out school sponsored private loans for car payments and get the "special deals" afforded to students.  In other words, the loans you would take out from private lenders that are paid directly to the school only go up to the school mandated Cost of Attendance. 

Thanks for the clarification.  I'm hoping I can live frugrally (and work part-time, obviously) to pay for the car.  My goal is to have that sucker paid off by the time I graduate so that's one less loan I have to deal with once the big ones start coming due.

[jillibean]

I plan on taking out a loan with astrive for a car loan. It's all up front so I get the money instead of it going to the school first and it's completely seperate from loans through the school

[Kitty782]

What's this about not being able to use private loan funds to pay for your monthly car payment and car insurance?  Someone please tell me this isn't for all loans.  I'm on a 5 year payment plan with my car (so 3.5 years left as of now) which runs about $280/month, plus about $120 for car insurance.  I'm going to be working part-time (and figure skating for exercise), so I definitely can't go without a car.  Boo to those lenders.

You can definitely take out private loans, it's just my understanding that you can't take out school sponsored private loans for car payments and get the "special deals" afforded to students.  In other words, the loans you would take out from private lenders that are paid directly to the school only go up to the school mandated Cost of Attendance. 

Thanks for the clarification.  I'm hoping I can live frugrally (and work part-time, obviously) to pay for the car.  My goal is to have that sucker paid off by the time I graduate so that's one less loan I have to deal with once the big ones start coming due.

And hey, if you live really frugally (like under the underpass or something), you could probably use your room and board money to pay off your car loan your first year!  

I decided to sell my car, so I could pay off my credit cards before I went to law school.  But, I won't be working, and no matter where I end up it will be a major city with public transportation options. 

[LBJFan]

Yeah, COA usually doesn't include car payments. But the way they justify this is...they give you a generalized amount and they factor in things that you might not necessarily do every month like buying clothes. But they give you a lump sum (it could be private or government funds) at the begining of the term and you can buy whatever you want with it. I get 10K in August and again in January and no one knows or keeps tabs on what I spend it on... so if you live frugally you can pull off a car if you wanted to.

[barenakedtjm]

Luckily my problem was pretty easily solved.  My dad has agreed to sell me his 04 Accord for $7,000 and allow me to pay it off $100/month until I'm done with law school.  Thanks for the advice, everyone.

[jillibean]

Yeah, COA usually doesn't include car payments. But the way they justify this is...they give you a generalized amount and they factor in things that you might not necessarily do every month like buying clothes. But they give you a lump sum (it could be private or government funds) at the begining of the term and you can buy whatever you want with it. I get 10K in August and again in January and no one knows or keeps tabs on what I spend it on... so if you live frugally you can pull off a car if you wanted to.

are you sure you get 20k altogether or is it just 5 per semester. That seems more accuarate. Most schools only have COA estimated at 10K so you would get 5 in august and 5 in jan

[Matokah]

And hey, if you live really frugally (like under the underpass or something), you could probably use your room and board money to pay off your car loan your first year!  

I decided to sell my car, so I could pay off my credit cards before I went to law school.  But, I won't be working, and no matter where I end up it will be a major city with public transportation options. 

I'm actually hoping my boyfriend will join me in the middle of the first year (or into the second), because that would cut rent in half for me which would be perfect.  Other than that, I *might* be able to petition my parents to pay half of my loans or something if I ask really nicely on the condition that it's a loan, and I'll pay them back as soon as physically possible. 

This is a little off-topic, but it just came up, too: If you're moving cross-country for law school and don't have a nice little $4000 to pay ($1500 for the UHaul, approx. $1400 for the rent deposit and first month's rent, new computer, some tiny items like a used desk for aforementioned computer, etc.), how is everyone thinking about handling that?  I'd really like not to take out a private loan to pay for that, but that's what it might come down to.  I'm going to get rid of as much of my crap as possible before I leave, but I'll still probably have a lot of things to take with me.  And I assume I'd need the computer before I actually get my loans so I could make sure I know how to use it before the first day of classes.

[queencruella]

And hey, if you live really frugally (like under the underpass or something), you could probably use your room and board money to pay off your car loan your first year!  

I decided to sell my car, so I could pay off my credit cards before I went to law school.  But, I won't be working, and no matter where I end up it will be a major city with public transportation options. 

I'm actually hoping my boyfriend will join me in the middle of the first year (or into the second), because that would cut rent in half for me which would be perfect.  Other than that, I *might* be able to petition my parents to pay half of my loans or something if I ask really nicely on the condition that it's a loan, and I'll pay them back as soon as physically possible. 

This is a little off-topic, but it just came up, too: If you're moving cross-country for law school and don't have a nice little $4000 to pay ($1500 for the UHaul, approx. $1400 for the rent deposit and first month's rent, new computer, some tiny items like a used desk for aforementioned computer, etc.), how is everyone thinking about handling that?  I'd really like not to take out a private loan to pay for that, but that's what it might come down to.  I'm going to get rid of as much of my crap as possible before I leave, but I'll still probably have a lot of things to take with me.  And I assume I'd need the computer before I actually get my loans so I could make sure I know how to use it before the first day of classes.

Seconded about the computer loan- that's not something to worry about. Most people seem like they use their credit cards and pay them off once their loans come in. It's sort of annoying but kind of hard to avoid. As for rental trucks, if you have AAA you may want to check out Penske. The discount was significant when I used it last year.