<p>So, by God's grace and some freakishly good luck, I've been accepted to Emory, my dream school. The only thing is, I really can't afford it. I mean, I got a tiny, TINY bit of financial aid, but no scholarships. The thing is, I don't think I'll be able to handle having that debt follow me and my parents being gone. </p>
<p>Everyone is telling me "Just go for it! It's your dream school! Who cares about the cost when that name will pay it all off!"
Umm. I don't think so. Want to hand me a quarter of a million? I know Emory is prestigious and a wonderful school, but is it worth it for me to get into so much debt for an undergrad degree? I'm planning to go to another school with Honors College, and go to Emory for grad school. Or if I really hate, transfer to Emory in a year. </p>
<p>But if I could, I'd go straight to Emory. Just the whole debt thing is killing me. What would you (or what should I) do?</p>
<p>Which other school is this? I would suggest going to the Honours college at this other school… it really seems like coming to Emory would financially put you in a deep hole. Please tell us the name of the other school which might be good as well.</p>
<p>Have you tried to appeal yet? We wrote an appeal letter telling them my mom’s (the only one working) salary got cut by 15% this year and attached her paycheck copies and such. They increased my grant by $2000. Which isn’t a lot, true, and we would still have to come up with $8000 from pocket, but it’s manageable and saves me $8000 in my undergraduate education payment. </p>
<p>I suggest you write an appeal letter and
Say how grateful you are for the amazing financial aid they have offered you, but,
It’s not enough.
WHY it’s not enough. (Mortgage, medical bills, salary cuts, etc.?)
Emory is your first choice, but
You’re not able to attend due to financial issues.
Instead, if your need is not met, you would have to attend Auburn U,
Where they gave you $_________.
You hope they can have another review of your financial circumstances, and that you will be able to attend your dream school in the fall.</p>
<p>I went to a flagship state university for my undergrad, saving my parents close to $100,000, and I’m headed to Duke this Fall to pursue a Ph.D. in Business Administration. There’s no reason why you can’t go to Emory for grad school from Auburn.</p>
<p>Post this question in the financial aid or parent forum and you will get an almost unanimous chorus of “don’t do it”. And I would be one of the chorus. You should not take on a large amount of debt for undergrad school. No “dream school” is worth the nightmare of paying a huge debt every month for the 10 years after you finish school. Run the numbers through a loan calculator like this one</p>
<p>which will show you the loan payment you will have every month until you are well into your 30s. Make sure you add any interest that has been deferred while you are in college to the total loan number you enter. And remember that payment will be on top of whatever car payments, mortgage etc that you have and will impact your decisions about everything you do for many years.</p>
<p>You have the right idea when you are thinking you don’t want to be burdened with a huge debt. In 4 years time you will be so happy that you made that choice.</p>
<p>@keikoblue2: I haven’t tried an appeal yet, but I’m not sure if that will exactly work. See, I only got a small amount of financial aid and just as little from Auburn. I did get a lot more scholarship from Auburn, so I don’t think they’ll give me more based on that. My dad (the only one who works) is pretty well off but still it would be very tight and we’d have to take loans. So I’m not sure if that would work. Would they look down on me if I did ask about that and really I’m not eligible?! :(</p>
<p>And to all of you, thanks much! Yeah, I’m sure all the parents are going to tell me to go the cheaper school like my parents are…and I see you’ve got a point. Emory might just have to be grad school for me…</p>
<p>Remember that excluding professional schools like law school, b-school, and med school, most graduate programs are free through assistantships. Also, you don’t have to be paying off loans for 10 years as some people suggest. I’ve know people who have paid off around $80,000 of student loans in 2 or 3 years by living humbly for a few years out of college.</p>
<p>I like keikoblue2’s advice. The financial aid office will certainly not think any less of you, as financial aid is what they do for work all day every day. You have nothing to lose by asking for more aid, especially if you are thinking of giving up on your dream school. Attending Emory would be worth some amount of debt. How much debt to assume is a difficult question to answer without knowing a lot more info, but these financial aid officers may be able to help.</p>
<p>Anecdotally (is that a word?), students seem to get good results more times than not when they contact the FA office. Can’t hurt. You might be surprised at the results.</p>
<p>You have nothing to lose by contacting the FA office. The worst that could happen is they’ll just say no to your appeal. The best that could happen is they’ll give you more aid. Nothing’s going to be accomplished if you don’t try something. And of course they won’t think less of you!</p>
<p>So. I might do this whole contacting the FinAid office. But won’t they just give me more loans? Just direct from the school? And I’d still have to pay them off eventually…unless I get scholarship money…right? I’m not sure…I tried talking to my mom about it and just to sum it up she said, “Ask Emory, they can give you more money, but it’s still a loan. Which we could get ourselves from a bank. It’s just going in a circle and in the end we’d still have debt up the yin yang.”
Ok so she didn’t say yin yang but I thought it was a nice touch.
So, is that true?</p>
<p>Thanks for answering and being patient with me.</p>