Yes, ucbalum, thats clear. OP is an OOS applicant. The gap is essentially the cost of the OOS tuition http://www.finaid.gatech.edu/content/cost-attendance-2014-2015 and Tech, on average, meets 60% of need, with an average need-based gift of around $9-11k. http://www.irp.gatech.edu/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/CDS_2014-2015.pdf They don’t break out in/out of state, but in state, especially ifg a student has the HOPE or Zell Miller scholarship, is pretty inexpensive, so the amount of the award might not be all that big, which can sway the numbers.
@jym626 My parents are thinking about taking out a HELOC to fund my four years if I were to choose Tech (which doesn’t look too appealing now after some consideration). HELOC seems to be a better option than PLUS in terms of interest. I’m currently looking into private student loans.
@ucbalumnus Stony is my lowest cost SUNY. Again, my parents will take a HELOC to pay for it but it’s much much much more manageable than GATech. I’m on a train to Atlanta right now to visit the school. I’m going to visit the financial aid office and hopefully successfully appeal for a better aid package.
@sybbie719 Buffalo will still cost me around 17k with the honors college so they’ve given me a renewable 5k per year. I’d say having a 97.5/100 gpa puts me in the top 10% but my school doesn’t do ranking. 14k is after all grants and gifts. It will be the amount I have to borrow and pay.
I don’t post on College Confidential often but I have to say thank you all for your helpful and detailed advice.
OP- Do NOT let your parents take a 100K loan on their house to fund your education. Do you have other siblings to consider? Are there other factors that could affect their ability to pay on their loan? It is NOT worth it.
@jym626 I do have a sister who is a rising junior in HS. After some more thought and talking, the most my parents will take out is actually 70-80k (which is still a lot) since they can manage 10k for me each school year at GATech. I will carry ~35k myself after graduation.
My friend’s DD goes to GT with a merit award. IT’s a great school, and in their case, even without the award, it’s not going to hurt the family terribly to pay the extra. They were willing and able to pay for a top priced school.
But OP has parents who are at the PELL eligible range. TO put them into that kind of debt is ridiculous. They may not be able to borrow PLUS, or become ineligible midway through the school years, and those cosigend loans hamstring both student and parent. Not worth it. Actually a serious problem to do so.
I also advocate some debt and sacrifice, discomfort, stretch, etc to go to the school one most likes, and the one with a significantly better rating if that is important to the student. But not in this case.
Your family EFC will be cut in half when there are 2 in college, but then there will be other costs to address. You might, MIGHT get some departmental $ down the road, but you can’t count on that. If a family has modest means, its very risky to go into significant debt to fund undergrad. JMO.
*Crossposted with cpt. Agree, its not a good idea to stretch that thin, and this is speaking as someone who is a strong supporter of Tech, and formerly from NY, as is the OP, so am familiar with schools in both areas.
In much of this country, that $112,00 would buy you your first HOUSE.
Think of how many years-- decades-- you and your future spouse will have to work to pay off that debt. So maybe your kids won’t be able to get braces, maybe they’ll never see Disney World, maybe you’ll be working a second job instead of being with your spouse and your kids, all because of over $100,000 in debt that you could have chosen to avoid.
Stony Brook has a very solid reputation. Go there. Do NOT cripple your future with over $100,000 in college debt.
Do you attend a NYC public school ? If yes, then the only thing that your GC has to do is pull the ranking from STARS. It will be straight forward; if there are 100 students in the cohort , and you are ranked 1 - 10, then you are in the top 10%. You need to find this out because if you are you will get free tuition.
If you are getting any kind of TAP then you will get a SUNY tuition credit that you can use toward your fees.
You can ask to use the Ackerman scholarship toward your room and board. With your 2800 in pell and your loan you would have almost everything covered at buffalo.
Send me a pm and let me know if you happen to have an IEP
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@jym626 My parents are thinking about taking out a HELOC to fund my four years if I were to choose Tech (which doesn’t look too appealing now after some consideration). HELOC seems to be a better option than PLUS in terms of interest. I’m currently looking into private student loans.
[parents have] very strong credit.
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You also say that your parents can pay $10k per year towards college. You also say that you will have a sister in college for 3 years.
Your EFC is $3600. Your EFC may split, but that just means a tiny bit more merit.
What happens when sister goes to college? Are you saying that your parents will then pay $20k per year ($10k per child)?
Your parents’ income is probably around $40k. If so, how can they pay $10k per year for college?
Are your parents self-employed?
I don’t know a lot about taking out HELOC loans, but don’t you have to qualify (not just have good credit)? Don’t you still have to qualify by income to show that you can pay back the loan?
WHO is supposed to pay back the HELOC ? You or your parents?
As mentioned upthread, don’t major in BioMedE as an undergrad…it is too limiting.
I’m curious, why would you think it would even be worthwhile to borrow that much for an eng’g degree (much less a biomedE degree).
I thought BME was growing, especially with big tech companies getting more and more into the medical/life extension field. No?
Read the stats as you would probably graduate GT in 5 years not 4. Sure if you do a coop you’ll get some money but I think your cost estimate to attend is low.
College career surveys that divide responses by major typically show weaker job placement and lower pay levels for biomedical engineering graduates than for other engineering like chemical, electrical, or mechanical.
In any case, low income parents borrowing lots of money (HELOC or otherwise) is a really bad idea, even more so with another kid going to college in a few years. Stony Brook is a very respectable school for engineering at a much more reasonable price, and you also have CUNY for an even lower cost option.
Consider this: if they borrow against their house and are unable to pay it back, they could lose their house… and then you may have to support them. Perhaps you may not mind doing that in concept, but it may limit your options with respect to other life choices that you may make in the future.
OP, I hope your visit helped you SEE that Ga Tech is not worth the cost differential, the family sacrifice, the heavy debt (that your parents cannot afford to take on - and they do not need to ‘go back’ on their financial plans towards having their home paid off for good and their continual financial plans so they can retire financially secure when that time comes), the steep debt you think you are willing to take on. Go to the lowest cost (or anything marginally low cost) NY public which offers ABET accredited program (so if you get four year in-state scholarship, weigh that out on your school choice) - and look to see about how much ME overlaps with bio-medical (probably a lot over the first few semesters). If you are going away to school, see what CC or local courses you can take summers so that you complete core courses and finish in four at your school. If you can line up interning or co-op as time goes on, look into that even if it delays graduation. The job market varies on number and type of opportunities, and you want to be a very strong candidate for a job when you graduate - or if you are offered a great graduate assistantship and you want to pursue that.
A couple called into Dave Ramsey’s radio show recently - I believe they both went to expensive colleges in Boston; she with her UG degree in civil eng and he completed a Master’s in biotech eng - their joint income was $120,000 and their school debt was $240,000. They were going to have to budget carefully, save and work very hard over 4 years to pay off that school debt - and trying to live cheaply in Boston. The good news is hopefully their salaries will increase and it will become financial a little easier as their salaries go up; they took incredible risk because what if something happens where one can’t work - illness or debilitation, or what if they didn’t finish their degrees?
It sounds like you explored enough of the in-state publics to have some options there - have to look to how to achieve your degree with minimal debt.
As a parent, I cannot tell you what a burden lifted with using scholarships with in-state publics. My two are UG freshman and junior, and our family finances are not set back. For you, you can focus on your academics instead of being distracted by the debt.
Work just as hard as you can with your academic pursuits, and it will pay off - be a bright star in the in-state program.
Good luck. Be smart financially.Let us know where you end up attending and the ending FA and costs. Also be happy that you have some wonderful in-state and lower cost options! If your attitude attending college is positive, you can look to the good things where you are planted.
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Your EFC is $3600. Your EFC may split, but that just means a tiny bit more merit.
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oops…I meant to write, a tiny bit more Pell.
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I thought BME was growing, especially with big tech companies getting more and more into the medical/life extension field. No?
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BME is one of the few (or may be the only) engineering discipline that practically requires a grad degree to be employed. Why limit yourself, when a ChemE or MechE degree will provide the same options plus more.
Someone borrowing a decent amount for undergrad (not that crazy amount!!!), should want to become employed after undergrad and not pile on more debt.