<p>Well, I would like to apply to Dartmouth. As well as some other colleges. My family is in the upper bracket, so the EFC would probably be around 20-25k a year. So, at an university like this, the debt could be 100k by the time I graduate. I looked on some finaid websites and they that the average debt of graduates is about 20k. How is this possible? Do most people that go get a lot of finaid? Or are there a lot of upper-middle class families that have to pay a lot?</p>
<p>I haven't figured out how all of it works? Do you get to work at the university to help pay it off? Is there some special thing? Because I know how loans and stuff work, and it's not looking good if I were to go to an Ivy or tier 1. People seem to be happy enough and don't have too much debt, but there must others in a situation similar to this. So, do people who have to pay 25k a year end up alright by the end?</p>
<p>I'm just looking for any info that would be good to hear.</p>
<p>Whoah. What the heck. I just posted a similar question in the Harvard forums. Are you a clairvoyant? Basically, I agree with you. Statistics say that the average debt at graduation is only about 10-15k. So there must be a way people do it. Unless the average student is lower class.</p>
<p>much of my information is pre-recession, so carefully read each school’s current FA policies. but as a general answer, averages at the Ivy League schools may be misleading. About half the students get no FA, and my informal survey of cars at several parent weekends would indicate about half of that 50% are well enough off that they just write checks for tuition, and their loans at graduation are zero. The there’s the 10-20% neediest students who get FA through grants not loans. Most schools require that he first few thousand dollars of the EFC come from the student, and the school generally arranges on-campus jobs to provide those funds. so, you should ask if that $20K average is the average for all grads, or just the subset that actually have loans.</p>
<p>Assuming that your EFC is $25K, if you are admitted to D they will put together a financial aid package for you that is a combination of grants, work-study, subsidized federal loans, expected summer earnings, and so forth to cover the remainder of the total COA. They will expect your family to pay the $25K EFC. </p>
<p>“EFC” does not equal “loans” unless your parents have saved no money at all towards your college education, or unless they do not plan to contribute to the cost from current income.</p>
<p>Absolutely. Look around the Financial Aid pages on the Dartmouth website. They keep loans to a minimum. As long as your parents have made plans to cover their EFC you should have no trouble. The unfortunate reality is that many parents were not saving and find when a child goes to college they cannot pay the EFC out of current income. The way EFC is calculated it is expected to come out of a combination of current income and accumulated savings. You will find any of the Ivy or Ivy peers (Stanford, MIT, Williams, etc) are very generous in their aid packages. Good luck.</p>
<p>Thanks for the info, it’s good news. But it’s not what I meant. When I say that the EFC is 20-25k a year, I mean that my parents wouldn’t be able to pay all of that. So what I mean is, a lot of it would still be on me. It’s confusing. I guess after all four years, between working, grants, and other types of aid, a chunk of the hypothetical 100k in debt would be paid off?</p>
<p>Actually, it is not going to be on you. It is going to be on your parents. Out side of the max 5500 in staford loans, with an additional 4000 if your parents are not creditworthy enough to take out a PLUS loan, no one is going to loan you that kind of money.</p>
<p>Back to square one. You need to have a realistic talk with your parents as to how much they are willing to borrow/pay for you to attend college.</p>
<p>If the 20-25k EFC is based on using the FAFSA4caster or another calculator to determine your Federal EFC, then this is most likely in the neighborhood of the amount your parents would have to pay no matter where you went (unless you receive merit money). </p>
<p>Remember that Dartmouth also uses the CSS profile, which means your EFC could be higher because it factors in things that are not covered on the FAFSA.</p>