<p>My EFC is 25k and my parents are paying NOTHING up front they said they will help me with what ever debt I end up with when I graduate (which they won't). I will probably be going to a OOS school that costs 30k per year. My brother is two years younger than me and will be going to school for my junior and senior years and while he is in school the EFC is cut in half (I think). So if I have a debt exactly to my EFC of 25k + 25k + 12.5k + 12.5k, I will owe 75k when I graduate and I know that is waaaayyyy toooo much but I have no way around it. I will NOT go to CC, the only way I can get off easy is if I get into Stony Brook which is in-state for me, my parents didn't let me apply to Buffalo, I have no chance at Binghamton and I want to do Engineering and those are the only three SUNY that offer it, so what should I do?</p>
<p>Since when do your parents have ANY say in where you’re applying if they aren’t paying??? That is very bizarre. Even tho I am a parent, I don’t think you owe them any consideration in that area if they aren’t paying. If it’s not too late, apply to Buffalo. (what did they have against Buffalo anyway?)</p>
<p>You need to go to a SUNY. Your proposed debt is toooooo high - even if your brother goes to college. Plus…you have no guarantees that your brother will go to college - at least right away. He may not be able to afford to go. </p>
<p>IF your parents are being honest about paying for any debt, let them put the debt in THEIR name. IF they won’t do that, then you really know that you won’t be able to count on them. </p>
<p>Did you apply to any schools where you’d get scholarships?</p>
<p>(Have you “done the math” and figured out what your payments would be with that much debt???)</p>
<p>Well, first, assume you may be paying full COA (since schools may not meet the gap or will only meet it with a loan), not just your EFC and apply where you can get the best deal and consider CC - do NOT rule it out because as you acknowledge, 75K is WAY too high and it is very likely your parents will NOT help you later as things can change, they didn’t realize the impact, etc. Unfortunately I had that happen and was stuck paying off all mine on my own. Anytime a loan is taken out with your name on it, assume you will have full responsibility for it. You do have a way around high loans (and don’t assume you would be able to borrow that much on your own - simply because you need that much in loans doesn’t mean you can get them), you just have to accept it may not be the plan you thought you’d have to take.</p>
<p>I should get my financial aid packet for Drexel University (they let me apply because its free but I can’t afford it at all and I won’t get any merit aid anywhere) within the next week and when they see it will cost 40k a year they will probably let me apply to Buffalo if not I will pay for it myself, They will definitely let me apply to Buffalo if I don’t get into Stony Brook but it might be too late by then. I was also accepted to my safety school the other day, York College of Pennsylvania, and I have not gotten my financial aid packet yet and the school is only 22k a year, so I will see what that says but I will apply to Buffalo.</p>
<p>My D got her aid package from Drexel and our EFC is less than 1/2 of yours. She also got a high merit scholarship but the only other aid they offered was loans and still left a balance of $31K so over $20K more than our EFC. Don’t count on Drexel.</p>
<p>Go ahead and apply to Buffalo so you can see if it is an option. These do not have to be a 4 year choice, you can always start somewhere and get high grades and work on transferring to someplace you’d rather be although merit aid for transfers is limited.</p>
<p>At this point it is worth having options so add Buffalo to the list if you can.</p>
<p>York is a great little college. It is one lf the most modestly priced private schools in the country. Good luck to you…I hope you get some aid from them too. It’s a fine choice.</p>
<p>If you want to apply to Buffalo DO IT NOW. Don’t wait.</p>
<p>Also, do not assume you’ll necessarilly get more aid in the years your brother will also be in school since they may just offer loans if it is a school that doesn’t meet full need or if you don’t have a renewable merit offer. So even if the COA is $22K a year, that could be a potential $88K in loans if you could even take those out. CC for 2 years is really worth considering unless you see some true financially viable options.</p>
<p>^^^</p>
<p>Very good point! Colleges aren’t necessarily motivated to be more generous in the later years when they know they already have you going to their school.</p>
<p>BTW…Soccer doesn’t even know if his FA packages will have loans or gaps in them also. In addition to having to cover his EFC, he could also have Stafford loans, a gap, and Plus loans in his FA packages.</p>
<p>If he applied to UDel, he will likely have loans and a gap in his FA package.</p>
<p>If I get into UDel, I am going, I will work everyday of summer and breaks to pay for it, but I will apply to Buffalo. I thought that I would be deciding between York and UMass and having money decide for me.</p>
<p>Do SUNY schools give out aid? Because it would only cost me around 15k to go to a SUNY and my EFC is 25k so I would get no aid right?</p>
<p>Your EFC is higher than the cost of attendance for you at the SUNY schools so you would not qualify for need based aid. Are your stats such that you might qualify for merit aid of some sort?</p>
<p>Just an FYI…you will not be able to take loans out in your name only in the amount to fully fund your college education. Simply put, you don’t have the income or collateral to get a loan. The only loans you will get will be the Stafford loans and they are not sufficient to pay your entire education cost at a four year residential college (and definitely not an OOS one where your costs will be much higher than for instate students). Your parents will either have to take loans in THEIR names (like a PLUS loan)…or cosign loans with you.</p>
<p>They will cosign my loans and I don’t have high enough stats to get any merit based aid, my SATs are good enough but my Gpa is nowhere close.</p>
<p>What happens if you put a school on your FAFSA and you don’t apply, they deadline for UB is 3/1 and I will apply on monday if I don’t hear from Stony Brook, but if I get into SBU what will happen if I put UB on my FAFSA.</p>
<p>The school won’t do anything with your Fafsa info if you don’t actually apply so it’s worth adding them now and deciding later.</p>
<p>You can put any schools on your FAFSA. Schools where you do not get accepted will not process a financial aid package for you.</p>
<p>Submit your FAFSA to Buffalo…and get that application done too. you don’t have to go there if you get accepted elsewhere.</p>
<p>What is a reasonable debt? Like what is the max debt a graduate can have and live a normal life?</p>
<p>The recommendation is that you not take out more than half of what you will make as a starting salary. I know you are interested in engineering and that can have a decent starting salary but it can also depend on where the job is located and the cost of living will be higher where salaries are higher. You can find estimated starting salaries in most fields but please use conservative estimates since the job market is very rocky and will be for the coming years even in strongly desired fields.</p>
<p>I live about 2 hours north of NYC and I want to work in NYC and live where I live now, so I should make somewhere from 45k-50k starting which would make 25k the most I could take out without a major problem.</p>
<p>UB is a very good school and you can afford it.</p>
<p>At the beginning of the school year I “thought” this was were I was going but my aunt went and looked at it with my cousin last year and they hated it and my parents believed what they said and wouldn’t let me apply but her parents have money and she goes to Plymouth State in NH and her parents pay the OOS tuition but her parents are paying for most if not all of it</p>
<p>You have to decide for yourself if you like it or not - although right now your priority should be what you can afford over what you like. BUT don’t take someone else’s opinion of a place - we have heard raves from others about schools that my daughter didn’t like and negatives about places she really did like so as with everything, opinions vary widely :)</p>