VATechHokies
I need some advice on any available options to pay for my wife to get her bachelor’s degree in nursing. My wife graduated from college in 2003 with a bachelor’s degree, but decided that she wanted to go to nursing school and has since been accepted and plans to start this January on a second bachelor’s degree in nursing. This leaves me with trying to figure out how to pay for this on what will soon be one income. Due to being extremely lucky, our parents were able to finance our first trip through school, but this left me with knowing very little about student loans.
I’ll lay out the specifics that may be unique to our case:
-I am 24 and my wife is 23
-My current salary is ~$65,000 and hers is ~$29,000
-Our MAGI for tax year 2004 was ~$70,000
-Currently have ~$8,000 in taxable mutual fund accounts
-Have about ~$16,000 in retirement accounts (mix or Roth’s and 401k)
-We have ~$17,500 in savings with about $9,000 in credit card debt (arbitraged at 0% interest, sitting in an online bank account)
-Own our home with about $140,000 in equity (~239,000 left on mortgage)
It appears that the loan wheel starts turning with an application to FAFSA. I have not yet completed the application because I have some general questions about how to make ourselves look as appealing as possible. Should I try to make us look cash poor as possible by paying off the credit card debt (from our online savings) and then convert our mutual funds into IRA accounts (will these be hidden from the calculation)? Also, what would you all recommend for loans after we apply for FAFSA. My problem is that I am uninformed on the matter and have to make any moves that I need to in the next few weeks since she starts in January. I have heard inklings about Stafford loans and Pell grants, but don’t know if we’d be eligible. I don’t know if it matters, but I am also going to school, but have been paying for it as I go along (one class at a time). I am posting this in the hopes that someone can at least point me in the right direction, as I am just spinning in circles at the moment. Thanks for your advice.
I’ll lay out the specifics that may be unique to our case:
-I am 24 and my wife is 23
-My current salary is ~$65,000 and hers is ~$29,000
-Our MAGI for tax year 2004 was ~$70,000
-Currently have ~$8,000 in taxable mutual fund accounts
-Have about ~$16,000 in retirement accounts (mix or Roth’s and 401k)
-We have ~$17,500 in savings with about $9,000 in credit card debt (arbitraged at 0% interest, sitting in an online bank account)
-Own our home with about $140,000 in equity (~239,000 left on mortgage)
It appears that the loan wheel starts turning with an application to FAFSA. I have not yet completed the application because I have some general questions about how to make ourselves look as appealing as possible. Should I try to make us look cash poor as possible by paying off the credit card debt (from our online savings) and then convert our mutual funds into IRA accounts (will these be hidden from the calculation)? Also, what would you all recommend for loans after we apply for FAFSA. My problem is that I am uninformed on the matter and have to make any moves that I need to in the next few weeks since she starts in January. I have heard inklings about Stafford loans and Pell grants, but don’t know if we’d be eligible. I don’t know if it matters, but I am also going to school, but have been paying for it as I go along (one class at a time). I am posting this in the hopes that someone can at least point me in the right direction, as I am just spinning in circles at the moment. Thanks for your advice.