charlie88

Okay, here is my dilemma. I am currently half way through my Sophomore year of College. My parents pay my school tuition and basically nothing else. Car maintenance/gasoline, food, supplies and the like are left up to me. Last year I worked two jobs and made enough to cover my expenses, but my grades suffered. I was in the low-B to mid-C range. This past summer I made enough to carry me through my first semester, but now it is crunch time. Without having to work my grades are all A's, something I am proud of and want to maintain. I know the stress of a job (or two) will pull them down again.

But my parents are very stubborn and will not / do not see the need for me to have money. So to keep on track for a good Graduation GPA and be relaxed I want to take out a small private college loan for my expenses. I have been looking at Chase and like what I see. I was thinking about taking out around $10,000 for the next two-and-one-half years to cover my needs. My credit is good, so I think I'll be approved without a cosigner.

I thought that I would break off about $3,500 of that initial sum and place it in an interest bearing savings account, since the private college loan check would come straight to me. In no way are the school or my parents involved. I figure that the $3,500 can be set aside to make principle and interest payments on the loan every month until I graduate, so as to incur less overall interest that must be repaid. The remaining $6,500 would last me until senior year and be spent on food, supplies, etc. I know I will not get the most favorable rate but some sacrifice is necessary. Since part of the loan will be used to repay itself I will have less to repay when I graduate as opposed to differing it all. My Grandparents also have a sizable gift waiting for me when I graduate (but not any sooner) that will be able to repay most if not all of the remaining loan balance.

So my questions are: Is this a viable plan? If I have all things concerning the loan mailed to my school address, will my parents know about it? (since the loan is not verified by the school, it is a private students loan; I have to do this to avoid them harassing me) And finally, is there anything involving taxes (because my parents still do mine) that I would have to alert them about involving a loan for students expenses?

Thanks,
Charlie, 20, USA