<p>If there is no other hope there is always ROTS scholarship left. :-)</p>
<p>You can choose between 10-15-20 years of life in heavy debt or 8 years commitment (4 active, 4 in reserve), and the army can later pay for graduate degree too.</p>
<p>To the OP…YOU (the student) will NOT be able to take out loans in your own name to finance the difference in your parent contribution and the cost of NYU. Unless you are at the tippy top of their applicant pool…don’t count on getting any merit aid from them. If your family contribution is such that you can afford $30K a year, it is highly unlikely that NYU will give you any need based aid either.</p>
<p>Any loans you take beyond the stafford loans will need to be cosigned by your parents. Are they willing to assume this kind of debt? On one hand you say you are premed or prelaw…and on the other hand you say you might not go to grad school. Which is it? Agreed with others…the minimum debt is a necessity if you plan to go to med or law school. Remember too…there is almost NO funding from med and law schools…students typically pay it all. </p>
<p>What is so special about NYU to you that makes your other options so much more attractive that you would be willing to assume tens of thousands of dollars in loans?</p>
<p>If your parents can contribute $30K a year to your undergrad education, it is highly likely you COULD graduate from undergrad school debt free if you choose an affordable school. </p>
<p>Are your parents WILLING to pay for an NYU education? If not, I think you need to move on.</p>
<p>@olivia. My D1 is a senior who is pondering schools. We can probably afford more like 20K per year for her. I have made it clear since last year, that there is only so much that we can collectively afford. She has applied to some pricey schools with the understanding that we will absolutely not take out loans for her, if she does not get significant merit aid. If you have not already done so, please read “Debt Free U” by Zac Bisonette. He was a student who made it through without any debt and is doing quite well <em>because</em> all the money he’s earning after graduation is his to use and invest for the rest of his future. It will be required reading for D1.</p>
<p>We too live in Colorado. D1’s dream school is Rice but if it costs too much, I don’t think she’ll go. She did choose some financial safeties where I’m sure she’ll do well. She applied to Mines, which will cost more than some of her OOS choices. We looked at CSU, which I thought was a more “intimate” campus than CU. </p>
<p>Years ago, I had a professor tell me that it’s not where you go to school, it’s what you do once you get there. THAT is what grad school admissions will look at when you apply: what are you making of the opportunity you have in front of you? Having financial flexibility, read: NOT having the albatross of debt from the get go, will be a huge advantage going forward. And we can all use whatever advantages we can get these days.</p>
<p>I wish you the best of luck. You are wise to ask questions now before committing yourself to more than many people can fulfill.</p>
<p>Have you received all your admissions? There could be some other options out there. Hang in there, it will work out.</p>
<p>I recently met a medical student at Columbia who had graduated last spring from CU Boulder. ASK the undergrad schools you’re considering – where do their graduates end up? Talk to department heads; get the specifics, not just the general university-wide numbers. You’re a desirable customer, you’re considering spending a life-changing amount of money; you’re entitled to this information. By all means, stay out of UG debt any way you can, if you’re interested in law or medicine. People pay for law school and medical school themselves. There is very little discounting.</p>
<p>Look at each $5000 tranche of undergrad debt in terms of how many years it will mean you have to live with your parents after you graduate. How old will you and they become, as that unfolds? Will they need to downsize their home to afford retirement, while you’re still there? How will living with them geographically limit your job searches or grad school searches then? How will it impair marriageability, if that’s a consideration in your future? That may seem odd, but financial need in one party can create a lot of doubt in the heart of the other party (about motives, am I being brought in to help with this, what-will-happen-when-this-is-paid kind of concerns). College debt, lingering into one’s thirties, can mean that babies must be in fulltime daycare, even when that’s really not what the family wants.</p>
<p>If your college budget is $120,000, you have a lot of nice options. Depending on your details (and I have not followed them all) a person with that budget might even consider two years living at home as a commuter, at a nearby state school for a total of $20,000, and then two years a transfer with a budget of $50,000 per year – which might not even be necessary. Of course, merit aid as a transfer is a different ball game, and this would require a complicated discussion to do it justice, but it’s an idea that might work for some people.</p>
<p>My hat is off to you – you are smart to be asking the hard questions now. I am sure you have a bright future.</p>