My Friend Screwed Me Over With Our Apartment

[AgeOfUninnocence]

Maybe a slight exaggeration in the title-- but I am quite upset right now!

 

I have this friend who has been planning for a year to move into an apartment with me and my other friend at college. It's a 4 bedroom, but we were gonna rent it out as a 3 bedroom. She was unable to sign the lease when my other friend and I got it, but since good apartments are hard to come by in college, my other friend and I just went ahead and signed and figured that when she was back in the area, she could get around to signing it.

 

Well, weeks passed, and she'd have a work commitment at her hometown and wouldn't be able to come up to the college and sign the lease. And finally she just sprung on me that because of supposed financial aid issues, she can't afford to move in with us. So now my other friend and I are screwed over at the last minute and either have to find a way to pay a 4 bedroom apartment with 2 people in it (which is not going to happen, because we're already taking out loans to pay ourselves), or find a replacement roommate at the last minute, which I'm worried about because at this point in the game, leasing happened so long ago that a lot of the students getting apartments have already signed and have a place to live.

 

Is there any sort of etiquette suggestions you guys have into telling my friend she owes us something? I know she legally doesn't because she never signed the lease, however, she sprung this on us last minute and has not offered any money, replacement roommates, or any kind of help. I suggested she apply for some financial aid, and she said that she wasn't eligible for any because her dad makes too much money. But then she said that her parents couldn't afford to help her with rent. Am I the only one smelling a contradition?

 

Also, another legal question: I'm pretty sure I'm correct when I say you don't pay off student loans until you leave school? My friend is saying she's unable to take out any more loans until she pays the ones she's already taken out, but since she's still in school, she should be able to take out more and not have to pay a thing until she graduates. I'm pretty sure this is correct, because I have been taking out loans myself, and again, I've been told I don't need to pay until after I graduate school.

 

Thanks for reading and helping out, everyone!

[WTRanger]

Maybe a slight exaggeration in the title-- but I am quite upset right now!

 

I have this friend who has been planning for a year to move into an apartment with me and my other friend at college. It's a 4 bedroom, but we were gonna rent it out as a 3 bedroom. She was unable to sign the lease when my other friend and I got it, but since good apartments are hard to come by in college, my other friend and I just went ahead and signed and figured that when she was back in the area, she could get around to signing it.

 

Well, weeks passed, and she'd have a work commitment at her hometown and wouldn't be able to come up to the college and sign the lease. And finally she just sprung on me that because of supposed financial aid issues, she can't afford to move in with us. So now my other friend and I are screwed over at the last minute and either have to find a way to pay a 4 bedroom apartment with 2 people in it (which is not going to happen, because we're already taking out loans to pay ourselves), or find a replacement roommate at the last minute, which I'm worried about because at this point in the game, leasing happened so long ago that a lot of the students getting apartments have already signed and have a place to live.

 

Is there any sort of etiquette suggestions you guys have into telling my friend she owes us something? I know she legally doesn't because she never signed the lease, however, she sprung this on us last minute and has not offered any money, replacement roommates, or any kind of help. I suggested she apply for some financial aid, and she said that she wasn't eligible for any because her dad makes too much money. But then she said that her parents couldn't afford to help her with rent. Am I the only one smelling a contradition?

 

Also, another legal question: I'm pretty sure I'm correct when I say you don't pay off student loans until you leave school? My friend is saying she's unable to take out any more loans until she pays the ones she's already taken out, but since she's still in school, she should be able to take out more and not have to pay a thing until she graduates. I'm pretty sure this is correct, because I have been taking out loans myself, and again, I've been told I don't need to pay until after I graduate school.

 

Thanks for reading and helping out, everyone!

 

Actually, you are wrong. What most loan companies look at is if the parent could sell anything, assets, or what they make. They don't take in the fact that the parent has other bills. So in most cases, the parent can't afford school but in the eyes of the student loan company the parent makes enough to pay for school.

 

It also depends on where your friend is getting the loans. Most student loans are deferred, yet gain interest, until after you graduate. However, if she has a private loan, then she has to pay it back like any normal loan.

 

Many times, it's best for the student themselves to apply for loans since they look dirt poor. However, doing this will remove themselves from being able to be claimed as a dependent by the parents for taxes.

 

Long story short, there is nothing you can do. If you friend all of a sudden discovered she's in a dire financial situation, then they clearly didn't screw you over. Things happen. Obviously, we don't know the whole situation. It sucks, but you just have to find another roommate. Many students wait until the last minute to sign leases, or talk to your apartment provider and the may have a list of people looking to sign extra roommates so they can give it out to single people looking to rent.

[Left in a Lurch]

I suggested she apply for some financial aid, and she said that she wasn't eligible for any because her dad makes too much money. But then she said that her parents couldn't afford to help her with rent. Am I the only one smelling a contradition?

 

Just a small point here- I paid for my own school and my parents didn't have the money to float me the tuition, nor did I want them to. They were in no means poor, middle class basically, but every time I went through and applied for financial aid I would get awarded a state scholarship for something like $1500 a semester and they sent a check, and then every time a couple of weeks later I would get a letter saying my parents made too much money (based on them claiming me still) and they recalculated my aid and I had to repay the $1500.

 

One year I went to a different school and they figured aid differently and I actually got to keep the check, so schools calculate it differently.

 

My first year I had applied to an out of state school and was all set to go and with aid thought I was going to just be able to make it. I got a call from that school at the 11th hour saying the loan fund was "dried" up and I wouldn't be getting a substantial loan which forced me to go to my back up school. When I got the call it was almost too late to enroll in my back up school.

 

She may very well have figured everything out and gotten a total for financial aid and then had it revoked. When they would take it back it was always close to the start of school so it really screwed my planning up for my first year of school. It may not have been a matter of her waiting until the last minute but finding out at the last minute she lost substantial financial aid.

 

Keep in mind she probably feels as badly about it as you do.