It is vital with today’s high costs that you get informed about all of your financial options: student scholarships, grants, and loans. But it is often confusing where to go to get that information. Some high schools and colleges are better than others at laying out where you need to go and what you have to do to get that much needed financial aid.

The video below asks a few questions about student loans and it shows that most students aren’t quite sure of the answers. It’s totally understandable if you don’t know because there are a TON of things to learn about loans and there’s even more to know about when it comes to scholarships and grants. But the more you know and understand, the more likely you are to be able to maximize your chances at getting the best financial aid package you can.

If you need one place that will educate you about the loan process and help you make the best choices, try Simple Tuition. They have an “A” rating from the BBB and there are all sorts of tools and resources that will help you analyze your situation and ultimately get you the best loan.

BTW, the answers to the questions in the video are:

1) You should get federal loans first because will often have better interest rates, repayment options, longer repayment periods, and/or easier credit requirements.

2) Subsidized loans = no interest until you start repaying the loan
Unsubsidized loans = interest is charged right from the start when you get your money.

3) A Stafford loan is a low interest federal loan for eligible students.

Twenty years ago college was still expensive but not anything like it is now. Kids then would be able to graduate, get a job, and most likely be able to pay off the loan in the next 5 years or so. Of course it depended on how big the loan was which was determined by the college you went to. The point is though, that most graduating students could get a job and expect to pay the loan off in a reasonable amount of time.

As a college student today, or one that is going to be, you need to be careful not get yourself in too deep with a loan. Remember, a student loan is different from a grant: it needs to be paid back in full and it is never going to go away. You need to figure out what type of degree you are going to be getting, what kind of job that will help you get, and how much that type of job will pay.

For instance, if you are going to be majoring in history, you should have an idea of what types of jobs history majors can get and how much they pay. If you are only going to be able to get a job out of college that pays $30,000, then is it smart to be borrowing $20,000 per school year for a four year degree? That answer is NO! College graduates today are often graduating with so much debt that it will take them 10 to 20 years to pay off, and that is if they can get a job.

Prospective doctors, lawyers, and other high paying professions have no choice other than to pay a lot for their degrees as they can’t get a job without one. But their earning potential is such that with a little luck they will be able to get out of debt in a reasonable period of time.

Students today are wanting to go college and some of the colleges are outrageously priced. You have to be smart and not graduate with more debt than you can handle. Remember, right now many college graduates can’t even find jobs and yet they still have those student loans to pay in addition to figuring out how to pay for a place to live and food to eat.

College aged students in 2010 – 2011 have bigger financial decisions to make right from the start than most students in the past have had. College should be a great place to learn, mature, make friends, and figure out what you want to do with your life. Right now though, college kids are saddled with big loans and often credit card debt all the while trying to find a part time or full time job. Kids today have a lot on their plates so be careful not to pile up too much debt that will only get you into more trouble.

Well it seems things may have changed in the last 15 to 20 years as the cost of a good college (and all colleges) has gone through the roof. If you want to read a nightmare story about a girl with over $200,000 in college loans you can take a look at this article here.

The question must be asked at what point does a college education actually become counterproductive and actually a bad thing? That girl may never pay off those loans and she may be in debt for the rest of her life with a degree that won’t make her much money even if she does decide to pursue a job in that field. Being in debt is bad no matter what kind of debt it is and that is the problem with our economy and country right now: we are all in debt!

The reason jobs for college students are so hard to find is because the economy is crumbling. Our United States government is in more debt than ever before and it is effecting all facets of business with no end in sight.

President Obama has proposed taking the student loan system out of the hands of private industry and having all loans go through the government. His reasoning is that the government can give students a lower interest rate than private companies and thus make it easier for them to pay off their loans. However, that does nothing for the absolutely out of control prices of a college education nowadays.

Since when is worth it to pay upwards of $100,000 just to get a degree? All that money just to get a degree that you may never use and then be released into a world where there are no jobs? Students used to be able to get a college job and be able to work their way though college and pay everything off in a year or two. Now, if you can get a job in college, you are probably only covering room and board and not able to make any dent into the loan itself. That loan will have to wait until you graduate and get a job (if you can get one) and it may take ten, twenty, or even thirty years to pay off.

College costs HAVE to come down and they have to come down now. If we want to have the younger generations be competitive with the rest of the world, college has to be affordable. Right now it is no where near affordable and that has to change.