I'm coming up about $15,000 short per year paying for school after stafford & scholarship are considered. waiting to hear back from one more scholarship that would solve my problem, but assuming I don't get that, does anyone have any experience or advice with private or other loans to cover such a balance?

I do (obviously) have a negative credit history, and my only cosigner was also denied. I am disputing things on my credit report and hope to be approved for the PLUS loan after making a payment on delinquent accounts, but if people have had related experiences I'd be glad to hear them.

Credit clean-up takes time. Even if you were able to clear things with the credit agencies tomorrow, your actual reporting would not change for months, until the next agency cycle. Therefore, cleaning up your score is a good idea, but it probably won't effect your denial in a positive manner until next fin-aid year.

Private loans have high as shit interest % and, with your low credit, you either will be denied for those, too, or be granted those already high % loans with added % on top of that.

So, the only thing I can say is, keep doing what you are doing regarding credit clean-up. Also, unsolicited, I would argue that paying for school with private loans is a bad idea. It means, obviously, you are basically paying for the majority of your education with loans....again, bad idea. People get upset when this is ever mentioned, but I'd recommend retaking the LSAT and sitting out a year to clear up your credit. Get a job and pay down debt, etc. Study, kick ass on the LSAT, reapply, and have much less to worry about. Further, you'd probably be going to a btter school for employment prospects, although I have no idea where you are applying now.

thanks for that input, i'm actually going to my 1st choice in terms of school, my lsat was far above their median but i had a low gpa. so far they're not willing to up my scholarship because i'm in-state, but i'm going to try to negotiate that again

If you pay down the outstanding loans in default/collection, it should go through regardless of a bad credit score. Make sure you go through the appeal process w/ sallie mae or whoever

I also agree with the anti-private loan sentiment. There are just too many variables/ unknowns there. If you can't pay for school otherwise, wait it out

how much did you pay for that service?

will def go through appeal process

How much total will it cost you...?