Bigger Debt or Same Sex?

<p>First of all I want to apologize for any grammatical mistakes. I'm writing this on my phone. Well my concern is paying for colleges. I received $30,030 from Mount St. Mary's University.
Leadership Grant: $5000
University Grant in Aid: $5000
Horning/Intercultural Diversity Grant:$2000
MD state scholarship/grant:$3000
Pell Grant:$4500
Supplemental Grant SEOG: 1500
Perkins Loan: 1500
Work Study Program:2030
Direct Loan: 3500
Direct Loan Unsibsidized: 2000</p>

<p>Well I don't know how to get the other 13000. My parents can't pay for it and I slacked my first 2 years because of peer influence. If I were to take out such a huge loan and average above a 3.5 my first year, would I be fully covered my second year?</p>

<p>Also… I got 34000 from Hampden-Sydney College but I don’t think I can live with all guys for a whole year… I’m really shaken up by this reality call. I’m in need of advice so if anybody could help me, you’d be impacting a life here. Thank you for reading this</p>

<p>I was having the same problem with a different university, thinking I couldn’t attend the school because of my financial situation. Here is what I found out a couple days ago from my college counselor - Your financial aid package is fixed to meeting the Cost of attendance. So you are able to maneuver it around, to a certain extent. The only thing you will be actually billed for are the tuition cost and food and housing. The rest are projected amounts that the university believe you will spend per year. So let’s say they believe you will need 2000 for transportation, you can cut this cost significantly if you reduce your visits to home or take the amtrak instead of flying - if you live not that far like the other side of the country lol. Also if they think you will need X amount for books you can save money by buying used books or renting books or even selling the book back to get some money or next year. So you are able to cut back the COA from let’s say 50000 to like 45000 or even less if you think hard about it. Plus you should go find some scholarships! Make a fastwebs account and don’t blame your endeavors in peer pressure or something like that. You messed up so you should take full responsibility without making an excuse. Trust me I was in your same situation.</p>

<p>*First of all I want to apologize for any grammatical mistakes. I’m writing this on my phone. Well my concern is paying for colleges. </p>

<p>I received $30,030 from Mount St. Mary’s University. </p>

<p>Leadership Grant: $5000
University Grant in Aid: $5000
Horning/Intercultural Diversity Grant:$2000
MD state scholarship/grant:$3000
Pell Grant:$4500
Supplemental Grant SEOG: 1500
Perkins Loan: 1500
Work Study Program:2030
Direct Loan: 3500
Direct Loan Unsibsidized: 2000</p>

<p>Well I don’t know how to get the other 13000. My parents can’t pay for it and I slacked my first 2 years because of peer influence. If I were to take out such a huge loan and average above a 3.5 my first year, would I be fully covered my second year?*</p>

<p>Well, you’ve got a large Pell Grant which means that you’re low income. Therefore, your parents won’t likely qualify to co-sign big loans (and probably won’t agree anyway).</p>

<p>What is the COA breakdown?</p>

<p>How much can you earn over the summer?</p>

<p>It’s very late to be applying for scholarships, so I doubt that will work…besides those would likely only be for one year.</p>

<p>Your financial aid package is fixed to meeting the Cost of attendance.</p>

<p>His wasn’t. He was gapped by about $12,000.</p>

<p>and average above a 3.5 my first year, would I be fully covered my second year?</p>

<p>Are you asking whether the school will give you more money next year if you get at least a 3.5? I doubt it. Schools don’t usually do that. Schools usually have a gazillion students with GPAs of at least 3.5…they don’t give more money for that.</p>

<p>For what it’s worth, my nephew is finishing up this year at Hamden-Sydney, and he loved it. It’s not for everybody, but the students who go there have a good experience.</p>

<p>Run your numbers through this handy calculator, and you will be able to see the aid packages side-by-side: [FinAid</a> | Calculators | Award Letter Comparison Tool](<a href=“Your Guide for College Financial Aid - Finaid”>Award Letter Requirements - Finaid)</p>

<p>Hampden-Sydney may not be affordable for you either.</p>

<p>Did you apply to any of the MD public universities? If so, what kind of gap do those places leave you with? What is your local community college? You should be able to afford that with just your Pell and the subsidized loan. That would get you through the first two years, and you could transfer in state. Check <a href=“http://www.mhec.state.md.us/preparing/stuguide.asp[/url]”>http://www.mhec.state.md.us/preparing/stuguide.asp&lt;/a&gt; for ideas about transferring in Maryland.</p>

<p>Yes, sometimes, you can cut costs and go for lower than the COA numbers, but usually not freshman year if you are living in the dorms and often have a mandatory minimum food plan. Also, you don’t know the ropes and how things work at any given college, so you are not going to get the best deals. Upper classmen tend to be savvier, and yes, many of them can really cut the cost down low, being stuck only for the tuition payments. </p>

<p>How much do you need to contribute to go t Hampden Sydney? It’s always what you have to pay, and that includes loans and work study–don’t subtract those numbers from the cost, that is bottom line.</p>