Comments on: Grants to pay back student loans?

By: imisidro

imisidro — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 18:50:13 +0000

You can apply to work as a staffer in Congress, where many offices pay for the student loans of their staffers as one of the benefits offered.

But not grants. The government is NOT in the business of giving away free money for the sake of giving away money. There are no grants for paying bills, no grants for paying student loans, no grants for paying off credit cards, no grants for getting out of debt and no grants for simply fattening your wallet.

Grants are free, but it means OBLIGATION. You will be obligated to do as the grant sets out to do. Grants have objectives, and your purpose must fit the objective of the grant.

For one, you have to write the grant application and the grant application is not a simple document – you have to explain how your purpose for applying for the grant fits well with the objectives set out by the grant.

There is a stringent review process through a committee. You will compete with other applicants for the grant money, and this grant review committee will evaluate the merits of each proposal. Only those that they feel exemplifies the objective of the grant will be approved.

You can go to the Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) and Grants.gov – these are two sites created by the federal government to provide transparency and information on grants. Browse through the listings and see if you can find any grant that would support your purposes.

Even if you buy books on “how to get grants” or list that supposedly has information on grants — all of them are mere rehash of what CFDA has, albeit packaged differently.

By: scrappysmom

scrappysmom — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 08:23:06 +0000

There is no grant to do that.. It’s a loan..means pay it back.. IF u are in a medical field or teaching in certain areas they pay so much of ur loan for every year u work for them.. Other than that, I would consolidate them into one and check on deferment

By: James

James — Fri, 30 May 2008 14:50:08 +0000

I heard that if you do certain volunteer work or become a school teacher at underprivileged school, the Federal Government might waive out your student federal loans. Ask the Financial Aid office at your college about it. $7000 is not really a lot compared to some people who owe $80,000 or $100,000 in loans and credit card bills. If you work 2 jobs, you can probably pay that off right away within a year.

By: Hoolia

Hoolia — Thu, 29 May 2008 04:03:44 +0000

I haven’t heard of something like that, so be careful. However, depending on your chosen occupation, you may be able to get the employer to cover some or all of your student loans. The U.S. government has “loan forgiveness” which means that if you qualify to go to work for them in certain occupations, they will pay off your loans for you. Also, there is also the Peace Corps and Americorps. They will pay off your loans to a certain amount if you qualify and sign up for a certain amount of time. Good luck!