I’m a senior and having heard back from all of my schools, I am VERY worried. My parents are willing to pay $15K/year for my education, and they refuse to let me take out loans (which they informed me of after I heard back from everyone…). I applied to mainly $60K schools and got around $20K merit aid from all of them, with no financial aid other than $2-5K in loans. Other than that, I have a school that costs $40K and gave me $15K in merit aid, which means I would only need to take out $10K in loans/year. All of those schools, I am fine with going with, but my parents also made me apply to a state school that is huge and super different from all of my other liberal arts schools. I got a full tuition scholarship at that school and my parents’ contribution would cover the remaining costs, which means I wouldn’t need loans. I can’t see myself at that school at all, though- it’s just not for me. My parents don’t seem to understand that because it is the only one that fully works financially… What should I do? Do I have any options- can I get a loan without my parents’ cosign or take a gap year and work?? I just don’t want to be forced to spend 4 years somewhere that I don’t want to be with my parents paying $15K for it!! How can I explain this to my parents?? Thanks for any help!
As a freshman you can only take out $5500 in student loans. For any other additional loan you’d need a cosigner.
Find something to truly love about the large state school and enjoy your debt free start to life. Your future self will thank you.
Thank your parents for having the foresight of insisting that you apply to a university where you qualified for a full tuition scholarship, and for their generosity in their willingness to pay $15K a year for your college.
The “huge” state U. will seem a lot smaller once you have been there a couple of months. Take some time now to look at housing options at state U. - there might be some specialty programs or an honors dorm that will help you integrate early on with smaller core group of like-minded students. When you start campus in the fall, look for a club or organization you can join, or something you can volunteer for – that will also help you get away from the perception of “huge”.
What school are we talking about? Have you explored what that school has to offer? Some state schools have programs that can make a big school seem much smaller. For instance, the state school my daughter attends has a liberal arts program that is kind of like a school within the school. The kids in that program even live in the same dorm freshman year. One great thing about large schools is that they have something for just about everyone, and you just have to find your niche. With your current attitude, you won’t have a good four years. However, if you look for the positives this school has to offer, I’m willing to bet you can have a great experience. You don’t want a lot of undergraduate debt - it’s not worth it. Do you have stats such that if you focused on a different list of schools you could get sufficient merit aid to afford a school you’d prefer to the state U? If so, there’s always the option to do a gap year and apply again next year.
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I would only need to take out $10K in loans/year
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You can’t borrow $10k per year…
Does the large public have an honors college? Were you accepted? That can create a smaller college feel.
If you are hideously unhappy with the Big State U, and if you have evidence that you could get a similar offer from a place you might like better, then talk with your parents about taking a gap year. That would give you and your parents time to make a better list. Be sure to run the Net Price Calculator at the website of each place on your new list before applying. It looks like you and your parents neglected to do that this time around. If you had run the NPCs, it would have been clear that most of those places were going to be unaffordable and you could have had time to look for more affordable options.