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Is there anyone on campus you could talk to? An advisor or someone in financial aid? Sometimes specific departments have scholarships.

@bubblegum: hang in there! ️ It sounds like you are doing everything you can! Hopefully others can chime in with additional ideas. You are so close to the finish line!!

I didn't know that you can "max out" financial aid? I mean doctors and lawyers can wrack up TONS of debt from using financial aid, I assume your balance has to be way lower than theirs right?

How much are you talking that you owe? Like $3-5k? Do you have anything you could sell or any way to pick up extra work somewhere?

Keep applying for the scholarships. Be strategic about the ones you apply to. Often times the ones for small amounts $250/ $500/ $1,000 are overlooked and there may not be many or even other applicants.

I actually work at a large university in the as an Assistant Director in the financial aid department. So, yes you can max out your loans, independent undergraduate students can only receive a maximum of $57,500 as their aggregate limit,of which a only $23,000 can be subsidized. Once students are in graduate programs (or beyond) that limit goes up to $138,500 total between the subsidized and unsubsidized federal direct loans, there is however, no limit on Graduate PLUS loans. There is also a limit to the number of years a student can receive the Pell grant.

Unfortunately, a lot of times the there isn't a lot the F.A department can do when a student has reached their aggregate limits in federal aid. You have been given good advice on applying for different scholarships, sometime your university/college advancement office may have some insight on any endowments that may be available and how to apply for them. I always advise students in this situation to find pursue multiple avenues to bring down their balance, maybe only taking out private loan for half, then doing a payment plan for maybe a quarter and hopefully scholarships for the remaining and so on.

@SwanSong: Wow. So not to get personal, but I can't imagine many careers that would be "worth" going into undergrad debt of more than $57,500.

@bubblegum: If you have already hit that amount, then I agree with @gingerbebe: and maybe take a 6 month break. The other advantage of doing this is that since you haven't graduated, I believe there may be a way to keep your loans in deferment. Versus if you pay the balance on a credit card and push to graduate, then you have to pay the credit card amount off and the student loans because you have graduated. Again, if you have accumulated that much student loan debt your monthly payment after graduation may be pretty high.

Maybe also check in with the dean of your specific school to see if there are any school specific scholarships you'd be eligible for.

If you're that close to graduation, they'd probably be pretty upset to not have you graduate (it would hurt their rankings). And sometimes a school or program might have endowed scholarships just for that program. Maybe someone can help you get access to something like that.

@T.H.O.U.: Really? My in-state university currently costs about $20k/year. So at a minimum, an undergraduate degree would cost around $80k. And that doesn't even take into consideration room and board.

@bubblegum: Okay, here are some other ideas.

Have you looked into SoFi? They do refinancing and personal loans. You may be able to refi your current student loans and maybe bring down your federal loan limit, or refi your credit card debt into a personal loan with lower interest rates and then put the new debt on the cards. Or get a personal loan to cover this semester's balance.

The other idea is to go rogue. Reach out the head of your department or alumni relations and see if there are any sort of below the radar scholarship funds that may be available via private contributions by alumni. If not, maybe solicit some famous/wealthy/generous alumni yourself you think might be willing to help through a personal donation/scholarship in your name to the school. This is hella ballsy, but I know a few people who did it and they were able to wrangle some funding that way. When I was in undergrad, I was like one of THE poorest students at my very expensive, posh, liberal arts college. I had mega scholarships and aid to attend and worked 3 jobs. Our financial aid director called me one day and she was like, come and see me. I walked in and she was like look, there's a group old ladies who have an investment club that they've been playing around with the stock market for fun for 30 years. They made a ladies agreement that anything they win in the club goes to a pot for deserving young women at the college. They will ask me to keep tabs on students they think might benefit from some extra cash and we basically cut a check. I've nominated you and they are giving you $2000 towards your tuition. Like, it wasn't an "official scholarship" but it was basically like a slush fund these ladies kept around and worked with the fin aid director to dole out. They didn't want to create an official scholarship or endowment with the school because they didn't want a big application process, they just wanted to directly help a girl in need. I was floored. And I got that mystery anonymous $2000 scholarship for the remaining 3 years I attended school. You just never know what may be happening under "official" channels.

@Adira: Wow, our in-state university is about $175 per credit hour. There are state colleges that are even cheaper and offer 4 year degrees. @Truth Bombs: I agree there are some great universities that may be worth the cost, but I think people need to be real about the degrees they are earning and the cost they are spending compared to the potential wages they will earn.

@bubblegum: The aggregate limit for independent students is 57,500.00 for undergraduate degrees

@bubblegum: wow what a wonderful update! I know this takes a load of stress off you so you can focus on getting your final coursework done.