Hello everyone! I’m currently committed to attend Virginia Tech as a general engineering major. The cost of attendance at Virginia Tech is around 26k per year.
I have received around 8k of free aid I will not have to pay back. The cost is now 18k per year (assuming I get 8k aid for the next 3 years which is probably optimistic at this point).
I have $6k in federal loans ($3k is subsidized) and $2k in work study. Again assuming I will get this much for the next 3 years, the cost is now 10k per year and I will be roughly $24k in debt.
Now, there are a few ways I can chip at this $10k per year I have to deal with. My family is not well off by ANY MEANS. Parents are divorced and dad will not help at all. Mom is willing to contribute whatever she can. She is fine with chipping away at the $10k and has offered to try and take care of that part on her own without loans. I don’t know how she’s going to manage that with 2 other kids to take care of so lets not assume that the $10k is covered just yet.
If we get a private loan and take out another $40k in loans, bringing my debt total to around $64k after graduation, how plausible is it that I can pay this off? I plan on getting a job in engineering or computer science after graduation. I will definitely try to get internships over the summer and apply for scholarships in college.
What do you guys think? Is this an overwhelming amount of debt or is this something I can manage? I would love to go to Virginia Tech. Their engineering program is very good and I would not want to go to community college. I never participated in many extracirriculars in high school. My mom worked almost every day and I did not have a ride home from school to do extracurricular. On top of this, I was pretty lazy when it came to extracurriculars. I’d like for this to change in college.
You aren’t accounting for increases in tuition.
If you are coming away with that much debt, can you tell me how much that will cost you every month and for how long? You need to understand that number and figure out how much you need to earn to pay for that.
No.
Sorry, but not a good plan. The amount of debt that you can reasonably take on is that permitted through the federal loan programs - which caps at $27,000. Anything more than that is definitely risky . . . and potentially disastrous.
I understand your wanting to finally have the chance to do all the things you weren’t able to do in high school, but you have a choice: do them for four years in college, and spend the rest of your life paying for it; or wait, and do them after you graduate and have a job.
Thank you for the replies guys. I greatly appreciate it.
@NJRoadie I’ve heard a general rule of thumb is to not borrow more than what your starting salary will be. That conflicts with what I’ve heard form most people around this site (no more than $25k in federal loans). Engineering starting salary is probably around $50-60k if I were to guess off the top of my head.
I’m not very knowledgeable with finances but I’d assume loan repayments would be around $700 with a 10 year plan? Maybe a little more? $50k - $8400k would be about say $30k after taxes? All rough estimates but I understand where you are coming from. Loans and taxes will take away a large chunk of your money after college.
@dodgersmom Are you saying my only option is community college at this point? Is it still feasible for me to go to Virginia Tech if I get my mom to contribute? Maybe just $5k a year? I am still willing to work over the summer with internships/jobs and apply for scholarships. If needed I can ask family to see if they can contribute a little here and there.
To calculate your monthly payments, plug in the numbers here:
http://www.finaid.org/calculators/loanpayments.phtml
Okay, if you’re determined to do this . . .
(1) Get a summer job and make some money!!! (If you can find a job you can return to over Winter Break, even better!)
(2) Find ways to reduce or eliminate your housing costs in subsequent years (not your freshman year) - become an RA (Resident Assistant), get a job with a local family as a live-in babysitter . . . explore ALL options!
(3) Buy your textbooks USED whenever possible (and buy the older editions instead of the current ones, if the prof says it’s okay). But watch out for the textbooks that have an online code - you may have to buy those new, or pay extra for the code.
(4) If you need to borrow additional funds, don’t use a private loan. Ask your mom to apply for a parent PLUS loan instead.
(5) Once you start at Virginia Tech, be diligent about applying for summer internships. Career fairs will start in the early fall - you need to attend, and also make sure you set some time aside to meet with a career counselor, work on your resume, and research the companies attending the fair. And the job applications will take time also - so be prepared for that!
Finally, before you start applying for scholarships, check with the Virginia Tech financial aid office, and make sure that outside scholarships won’t reduce the aid you’re receiving.
And I apologize for being so negative earlier - all I saw was that $64k debt figure, and that was ugly. But the reality is that there are lots of ways to reduce your expenses, and if you can earn money during the summers, and your mom can contribute even a small amount, your debt won’t be nearly that high. I think you can do this! 
Were you accepted anywhere with a lower price?
According to VTech their in-state COA is <$21K/year. http://www.admiss.vt.edu/cost/
Minus the $8K grant and $5.5K in loans mean you need to make up <$8K. A summer job should net you $3K.
Actually, @“Erin’s Dad”, that’s the stripped down cost for last year’s tuition, fees, and room & board only. It does not include the cost of books (estimated at $1,000) or any of the other expenses ordinarily included in a school’s “cost of attendance,” such as transportation, personal costs, etc. It also does not include mandatory engineering course fees (which can be expected to total some $355/year) and it does not reflect a 2016-17 tuition increase of approx. $400/year.
I agree, nonetheless, that for an in-state student, the total cost of attendance should still be far less than the $26k quoted above.
@TommyAtkinz - Can you tell us where you got that figure?
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family is not well off by ANY MEANS. Parents are divorced and dad will not help at all. Mom is willing to contribute whatever she can. She is fine with chipping away at the $10k and has offered to try and take care of that part on her own without loans. I don’t know how she’s going to manage that with 2 other kids to take care of so lets not assume that the $10k is covered just yet.
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How much does mom earn? Does dad pay child support for the younger 2 kids? (assuming any support for you ends at graduation)
Unless mom has a very good income, the idea that she’ll suddenly be able to contribute $1000 a month towards college for 4 years is not reasonable.
Also…can your mom QUALIFY to borrow/co-sign that much debt? Does she have excellent credit because even if she qualifies the first year, she may not qualify later.
Were you accepted to any affordable schools?
What is your FAFSA EFC?
No, but that’s not the amount we’re talking about. The OP suggested perhaps $5k/year . . . and, from the looks of things, he could probably get by with even less.
@dodgersmom On my financial aid letter, COA was listed as 25,xxx and it was very close to 26,000. The 26,000 includes tuition, room and board, books and supplies(1,210), transportation(1,170), and “other education costs” (1,810). Also, I understand where you were coming from when you made your first post. I myself am also concerned about debt. I’m fine with borrowing past the federal loan amount through private loans but I just need to know when enough is enough.
@mom2collegekids I was accepted into Geroge Mason University as undecided (I put that initially when I applied because I was undecided at the time). I could possibly commute there and pay only tuition.
I spoke with an advisory about this at NOVA. When I told him I was between GMU and Tech, he suggested I go to tech because of the following reasons:
- Tech is my first choice. Their engineering program is much better than GMU and I would be able to live on campus at a school that I actually enjoy.
- By commuting I would need to change my FAFSA status for GMU as "commuter" and then I would receive less aid as a result of the lower COA.
- Again he feels that first year students should definitely live on campus to get the full college experience. The leftover costs after loans/financial aid could be covered by family contributions, scholarships, summer earnings, etc. I am also eligible for additional $4000 in stafford loans should my mom be denied for the PLUS loan. This lowers the $10k to around $6k which sounds much more reasonable.
From my perspective it is entirely possible for her to pay a lot of the $10k on her own or with a little family help. Would it be comfortable for her and my 2 other siblings? Certainly not. We would have to cut a lot of our spending and possibly move to a different place. I agree that it does sound very unreasonable, hence why I wanted to ask you guys about loaning out some of that amount so that she wouldn’t have to live uncomfortably trying to pay for college. I could also make up a few thousand through a summer job/internship. I need to speak with her about this once again and make sure she CLEARLY understands how much she can realistically contribute.
Also, my FAFSA EFC is about $3,000.
@mom2collegekids I am not sure what her exact income is. When I say it is “possible” for her to pay off $10k, I’m going off what she said. Dad does pay child support for 2 younger siblings.
@TommyAtkinz - My guess is that it may be possible for her to pay $10k over the full four years, not each year.
But that’s fine. Look at the expenses you listed - the transportation costs and “other educational expenses” can likely be cut significantly. And, yes, you do need to get a summer job and, as I suggested earlier, if you can find one that you can return to over Winter and Spring breaks, so much the better. And if you have family that can help you out in a pinch, you should be okay.
I think that amount is on the high end, but if it’s really your best option, then it might be worth risking it. Why don’t you do it for the first year and see how it goes. You don’t have to decide on the next year until you’ve been successful the first year. But if you’re doing well and on a track to make a good living as an engineer, that kind of debt will only set you back a few years of living cheaply to bring down to fighting weight. It’s not the popular opinion here, but really, your alternatives are a much lower paying career and a much lower lifetime earnings. Many of the people who work for me have that kind of debt and they just live like students longer. It’s not the end of the world and you’ll have plenty of company.
You can often buy used books or rent them at a much lower cost.
Investing in yourself is often your best investment.
@dodgersmom That sounds like a much more realistic number. I’m sure she could contribute at least that much depending on how our financial situation is in the coming years.
Are you familiar with how the federal work study program works? I’m willing to do work study in college given that it doesn’t interfere with my education/grades. However, I’d prefer to get a job that could actually get me experience in the field of engineering rather than just a job for money (retail, kitchen, etc.). Are most work study jobs somewhat related to your field of study?
You might want to look into the VTech Cooperative Education & Internship Program. Median pay for general engineering is $17 per hour which would help you pay for your degree.
http://www.career.vt.edu/CEIP/SalaryDataFirstTerm.html
@TommyAtkinz - You’re mixing apples and oranges. You’re going to need three different kinds of jobs:
(1) a summer job for this coming summer before you start college - and it would help if you can keep the same job over winter and spring breaks.
(2) a work study job for during the school year, while you’re in school - this is a job that you’ll be able to schedule around your classes and, since it’ll be on campus, it’ll be easy to get to. It doesn’t matter what it is, although it helps if it’s a job you enjoy - mostly it’s valuable because it gives you a break from studying, gets you around different people, and puts money in your pocket! (And, FWIW, some of my engineering student’s best internship recommendations have come from his campus employer!)
(3) summer internships for the summers after you’ve started college - and these absolutely should be in your chosen field if at all possible.
Just so you know, the work study job is special because any money you earn will not count against you when you do your FAFSA next year - you’ll include the work study income as part of your earnings, but it gets deducted later. And any savings you have left from your work study job do not get included when you list your current savings.
I learned after touring Yale with my D, that the best work-study jobs involve sitting at a desk in a library and working on your classes, occasionally checking out a book or something. They even had a work study job where you sit at a desk and occasionally someone comes to restock supplies for a 4 person dorm suite bathroom and you hand them a pack of toilet paper. They are work-study because you get paid like work but you can also study.
Office, library and professor assistant work study jobs are the most coveted and loved by students. Don’t completely discount dining hall jobs if you are shut out of the rest. There are some other benefits to them. You meet many other students, and forge a nice relationship working alongside them which is something you don’t often get in other work study jobs. Additionally, depending on how your school’s dining plan works, it’s can be a beneficial place to get free food. Often your meal before or after your shift is free. I don’t know if VT makes you buy a specific meal plan your first year, but often after that you have many more options. And if living off campus, you won’t need a meal plan but will need to eat. When I went to college, I lived off campus for two years and still had at least 10 free meals a week at my dining hall because I often worked split shifts (maybe 1.5 hour shift around lunch and another around dinner, for example). It can be a bug money saver.