How do I find grants to pay off my college debt

Question

How do I find grants to pay off my college debt

Answer 1

There are inner city and remote rural area teaching jobs that will pay your college debts in return for a several year committment to teach in the area.

Answer 2

You don't.

I'm thinking that I must not be understanding your question.

I can't believe that you're really saying:

"Okay, now that I'm done with school, and I have an education that's going to help me get a good job, who is going to pay for the whole thing for me?"

Are you?

Why would someone give you a grant to pay off your college debt? Is someone giving me a grant to pay off my mortgage? Or a grant to pay off my credit cards? If I buy a business, will someone give me a grant, so that I can actually get it for free?

What is this nonsense about grants?

Are there programs that will forgive (wipe away) some of your college debt? Actually, there are. For example, if you sign up with the Peace Corps, or its twin sister, AmeriCorps for two years, they'll write down part of your student debt. That's okay if you don't mind making a pretty slim salary while working very hard in some rough US city or foreign country. The Army will forgive some of your debt if you sign up for the National Guard. If you got a teaching degree, and you're willing to work in inner-city schools or critical need areas of the country, you can get some debt forgiveness there, too. Same things applies if you're a doctor who is wiling to practice in places like the West Virginia mountains for a few years.

Are you getting the idea? If you'll bust your butt for a few years in a less desirable job in some difficult part of the world, certain public service organizations will write down a little of the money that you owe.

Otherwise, I'm still confused. I could swear that you want to know whether the taxpayers or some organization are going to pay off your student loans for you - I'm guessing because you're not happy with the realization of how much it's going to cost you to pay it back.

That can't be right though, so I apologize for misunderstanding your question.

Answer 3

Find a job that allows you to write off part of your student debt, such as working for Congress or Peacecorps

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 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) http://www.cfda.gov and Grants.gov http://www.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.

Note though that these grants generally support non-profit organizations, intermediary lending institutions, and state and local governments. Most of the federal grants are given to specific target groups with specific requirements (e.g. minority business owners involved in transportation related contracts emanating from DOT - Grant#20.905 Disadvantaged Business Enterprises Short Term Lending Program. Individuals especially for personal purposes are not eligible for federal grants.

Grants are also often given to non profit groups or organizations involved in training or other similar activities (grant 59.043 Women's Business Ownership Assistance that are given to those who will create women's business center that will train women entrepreneurs