Am I Making a Horrible Decision?

Paying for College
1

Ok, the classic debate: is my dream school worth the debt?

I am admitted to my dream school, the University of Richmond. Endless things that I love about this school include a $4,000 guaranteed funded internship or summer research, intelligent peers, and a great location only an hour away from Washington, D.C., where I hope to live post-graduation.
After scholarships, this school would cost me $23,000 per year, including personal expenses. I have been granted $1,500 in work-study and $5,500 in student loans.

My parents are giving me $6,000 per year regardless of which school I choose. They are firm on this. I have $8,000 saved from working in high school and I plan to work all summers.

My other option would be to attend the University of New Mexico for about $7,000 per year, living at home with my parents. I know myself, that I can make this a worthwhile experience, but it would be quite crushing to be honest. I hope to leave NM as soon as possible.

I am currently spending my gap year on scholarship from the U.S. Dept of State abroad.

I feel I am completely out of experience to make such a huge financial decision, and my parents are taking a completely laissez-faire approach to this.

PLEASE HELP ME I AM DESPERATE AND DON’T KNOW WHAT I SHOULD DO :frowning:

Of course, my heart says Richmond. My head says UNM.

2

your billed cost for UR is 59,210

Is your out of pocket cost 23k to meet these expenses or are books, transportation, personal expenses included in this number?

How much will you need after financial aid to meet your direct costs?

after the 5.5k loan and the 6k from your parents you will need 11.5k

after you put in all of your savings (8k)

After adding all of this money will your direct costs be met?

the bigger challenge is sustaining this over the cost of 4 years as you are not guaranteed to save 8k each year for the next 4 years.

You need to go with the affordable option

3

@bombay33

So If the final cost is $23k, and you have your loan of $5.5k, WS of $1.5k and parental contribution of $6k, you are down to $10k a year.

So how to pay $10k a year…

Year 1: $8k savings leaves you $2k…can you come up with $2k from somewhere?

Year 2-4: I will presume increase in loan is = to tuition increase. Working summers, maybe 4k max, leaves you $6k short.

So there are two questions, CAN you do it? And SHOULD you do it?

If you ask mom and dad to cosign for the extra, will they? If so, that means total debt at year 4 of $26k + up to $20k in cosigned for the extra. $46k.

Thats a lot. So maye you CAN, but should you?

If you can whittle down the cosigned loan amounts with summer earnings and a school job to somewhere around $4k…you’d be at $30k. Honestly, if it your dream, I’d say it’s worth it.
p
unknown: what do you expect to do for a living, meaning, can you support 30k in loan payment? A quick google search estimates that is about $360 a month for 10 years…is that feasible?

I graduated with much more, and it was tough. I finally consolidated and paid off when I was 37. But the degrees were worth it, as I make much more than I otherwise would have. But it took a long time to get there.

So ignoring that UR is a dream school, can you get to your life goal at NM? Or will that be a hindrerance? If so, that may be your answer.

If you stll can get there from NM, how much is your dream experience worth? And can you honestly do that much debt? If so, I would go for it. That is the advice I would give my younger self.

Don’t borrow over the $30k though…After that it is like free money until you have to pay back. Then it is a hangman’s noose!!

4

You mentioned schaolrships. Were those MERIT scholarships or financial aid grants?

What is your family’s EFC? Is there a large gap between your EFC and the $6000 your parents will pay?
Is there some extenuating circumstances that preclude your parents from paying more? Do they own a business? Do you have siblings who will also be in college?

I’d give UR a call and tell them your situation. Maybe they can help you out. Probably not but it is worth a try. A lot of students find themselves in this situation.

5

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you are not guaranteed to save 8k each year for the next 4 years.


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Exactly. More typically, a student a student can only earn/save a couple thousand each summer. The student may be able to earn more than that, but typically there will be expenses that will prevent actually saving more than that for school.

The $8k saved will likely get spent the first year.

What about travel costs? Who will be paying for those? Cross country travel costs, particularly at Christmas, can be expensive.

6

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My other option would be to attend the University of New Mexico for about $7,000 per year, living at home with my parents. I


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???

UNM has generous merit. Did you not qualify for ANY???

7

^ I think the OP must have parents who, on paper, can afford a quite a lot. She has a huge gap at UR which meets full need. I’m guessing that her EFC is $25,000 plus but parents will only giver her $6000.

8

That could be…but UNM’s generous merit doesn’t consider EFC…it’s based on stats alone. The student says that he/she can attend UNM for $7k per year by living at home. that suggests NO merit received. WHY???

9

I don’t really see how to make UR work for 4 years with that gap. I have to assume that your EFC is much higher than the 6K your parents are giving you. Yes, you would take out the student loans to cover the “self-help” portion but there is no way around the EFC portion without straight cash or additional loans you’d need a co-signor for. Even if you managed to grab up some scholarships over the years, the money would only help you with the “self-help.” Anything over that amount would lesson your grants, not that EFC.

Does UNM have an honors program that you qualify for? That is a way to shrink down a school and put yourself with academic peers. You wouldn’t necessarily have to live at home all 4 years considering the 6K your parents are giving you a year would almost cover tuition. With summer earnings and a part-time job during the school year, you might find a shared apartment with classmates as time goes.

UR is more like 3 hours from D.C. and there isn’t a lot of time to go. I have a kid at UR and so I understand the appeal of the school but our EFC is comfortable for us and D has earnings and additional scholarships to lesson student loans on the self-help portion. We absolutely wouldn’t have sent her if she were in your situation. It’s heartbreaking I know but UNM can be great if you let it be great.

10

Are those the only 2 choices?

What are your stats and what do you want to study?

11

I don’t understand why this student wasn’t given merit at UNM unless his/her stats were quite modest.

Does UR have test optional admissions?

Anyway…to have a better experience at UNM, he/she could live on campus for a year.

12

Did you apply anywhere else? UR is great, but it seems like you might have some more affordable offers, other than just your state school where you really don’t want to attend. This is a tough one.

13

@mom2collegekids Yes, UNM has some generous scholarships but they are competitive not automatic. This kid could have the stats to qualify and still not receive one. It can be as simple as not knowing that applications had to be in earlier to be up for one. I’m not sure how continually bringing this up in a single thread helps especially since the deadline was last year and nothing can be done to change it for Fall of 2015. I don’t think we need to rub in how a merit scholarship would have made life easier.

14

So those are the OP’s only two choices? Gosh. :frowning:

15

I think the OP should go to UNM. Most schools in the US have exchanges available to study for a semester or year at another school, in DC for government majors, study abroad, for the instate tuition at the home school. If the OP doesn’t like UNM, transferring after 2 years is always available. U Richmond isn’t going anywhere, and $50k in loans for 2 years is a lot better than $100k for 4 years.

If you spend $23k for the guarantee of a $4000 summer study abroad program, does that make any sense? You can spend $7k in UNM, plus pay the summer $4k yourself, and you are still ahead.

16

The $23,000 includes books, transportation, and my personal expenses.

17

The money is all financial aid grants. I have called the school and I can get outside scholarships, but they will replace my work study and unsubsidized loan.

The FAFSA says my family’s EFC is $11,300. They refuse to meet this as they are saving for retirement. Because they refuse, UR policy (like most schools in the US) can do nothing to help me with this situation. They see it as my parent’s responsibility.

18

It’s May 16. If this student is a rising freshman, shouldn’t he/she have committed to matriculate someplace by May 1?

Why is this decision being made now? Why wasn’t it made before May 1?

To the OP…your parents have given you their budget. At this point, Universitynof Rochester exceeds that budget.

If your family EFC per fafsa is $11,300, but your net cost as calculated by Richmond is more than double that…there is a reason.

Does your family have significant home equity in your primary residence? Are your parents self employed or do they own a business?

What is on your Profile that more than doubles your fafsa EFC to your net cost at Richmond?

19

? UNM has very generous in-state merit scholarships, and most aren’t competitive at all – as long as you meet the deadline, have the right gpa and test score, you get it. It can make college very, very inexpensive.

What are your test scores? What was your hs gpa?

20

In fact, I actually qualified to go to UNM entirely for free last year with merit scholarships. Because I chose to take a gap year I am no longer eligible for any merit funds. :frowning: My stats are 30 ACT and 4.0 GPA. I had a lot of leadership positions in h.s., like the Editor in Chief of my h.s. newspaper, Chair for Community Service in Student Leadership, and President of the Natl German Honor Society. I am thinking of majoring in International Studies or Sociology. I am not entirely certain on this yet.