Cheap, Safety School or Scrounge up the Money?

Paying for College
1

<p>So, I have been accepted to all five schools I applied. Two of these schools I've decided I don't care for, so really, there are only three schools in the running.</p>

<p>School # 1 is my safety school. I easily got in, I'm getting a ton of merit money, and while I probably won't receive any need based money from this school, with the Stafford loan the school will be about 11-12 thousand dollars a year out of pocket. The school is a regional school which really only is connected to the state it is from and the bordering states. The town isn't big and no major cities are near by. Not too many opportunities to get involved for my major.</p>

<p>School # 2 is my first choice school. This school is significantly more expensive than the previous school, but with financial aid and merit based grants, it'll be close. Currently, the estimates are about 17 thousand a year. I have a special circumstances form because my family pays about 10 thousand a year in medical bills, so my aid may rise slightly, but not to 11k. This school isn't world renowned, but has connections throughout about half the united states and better opportunities in the surrounding area to help me with my major in college. Also, since it is my first choice school, it is believed by the admissions staff that I may get a boost in financial aid.</p>

<p>School # 3 is similar to school # 2 in terms of price and aid given. They don't have as many opportunities as # 2, but many more than # 1. They also have a special circumstances form which I will submit. This school is slightly more generous in aid than either school, so net cost will probably be about 16 thousand. They are also well known in about half the united states, with a broad alumni base.</p>

<p>I am running track in college, and Schools 2 and 3 are in the same conference. Both coaches like me, and insist they will do all they can to bring the cost down. School 1 also has track, but again, my family can easily afford it. I want to study history and politics. I want to get involved in campaigns, government, and everything else. I feel like while School 1 is easily affordable, the lack of any political activity may hurt my chances at getting a solid job out of school. Meanwhile, even though Schools 2 and 3 are significantly more expensive, the job market looks a lot better after college from those schools and gives me more opportunities to go into politics. </p>

<p>So, what do you guys think? Should I take the safety school anyways? Would it change your mind if Schools 2 or 3 cost 14-15 thousand instead of 16-18? I feel like I can bring costs down to about 13.5 thousand at those schools, so no matter what they will cost more? I'd appreciate any advice, thanks.</p>

2

<p>If you want to get involved in politics a swing state or dc would be optimal.</p>

3

<p>And to add on that getting involved in politics is more about who you know and how you get there. For example if you are a poli sci major who sits around and never gets involved in campaigns(at all levels) or other political organizations your job prospects will be the same at all three schools(near zero).
In fact, in my opinion, computer science, math, economic majors ect are a lot more needed in the political campaign world. There are a billion poli sci majors but only a few people who are good with numbers who want to work in politics.
Another benificial major for politics is marketing(for obvious reasons)</p>

4

<p>Can your parents afford it, I think is the issue. How much can your parents comfortably afford without affecting the medical care or your lifestyle?</p>

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<p>Based on your descriptions, I would choose school #2. It’s your first choice school, and sounds like you will get quite a bit of aid. Plus you have the track angle, which may add to your $$. Also, it seems the connections are better/spread more wide. Seems like a slam dunk to me!</p>

6

<p>I think you have to wait and see how much the other schools will offer you in financial aid. Until the money is on the table, there is no telling. YOu could be surprised either way, getting more than expected or less.</p>

7

<p>What are your parents saying? How much will they pay each year?</p>

<p>It sounds like they have to reserve their funds for medical expenses. If they can’t pay much, then you really won’t have a choice.</p>

<p>YOU can only borrow the Stafford loan amounts. To borrow more requires qualified co-signers. It doesn’t sound like your parents would want that risk if they have medical expenses to cover.</p>

<p>However, if one of your schools surprise you with more money, then that’s great.</p>

8

<p>My parents are giving me conflicting messages. My dad says most likely 12 or 13 thousand is what they can pay. He says maybe a little more, but that would bring us to maybe 14. I have a job which can bring in roughly 5 thousand, but a majority of that will go towards travel budget and college materials. Best case scenario, we can squeak by with 16 a year.</p>

<p>Mom is more pessimistic, saying 11 is what we can pay. But she claims School 1 we can “easily” afford, and thats going to be about 11-12 thousand. She also keeps saying “just choose the cheap option”. Dad is a little skeptical that she is being completely honest with me.</p>

<p>I’ve worked on political campaigns before and have a connection in the State Democratic Party in all three states which these colleges are in. So don’t bash the major of poli sci or history please. I won’t be working in computers or anything like that.</p>

9

<p>When you are looking at the cost of your colleges, you should look at their official Cost of Attenance, and then make your personal adjustments. You are talking about $5K more in “travel budget and collee materials” that you think you will need. Each school should have a bottom line cost that is your best guess in what the full cost is, and then you subtract out the grants you get. What’s left is what you and your parents have to pay, and then you can see what you have in work money, savings, loans(staffords) that can reduce that figure. It seems to me you are getting mixed messages from your parents, and it won’t be until you have all the numbers in front of all of you before you can get a firm commitment. It happens all of the time that parents say, “we’ll work it out” and other stock lines until it’s time to pay.</p>

<p>Also “special circumstances” can really be dicey when it comes down to the dollar amount a colllege will give towards them. Medical expenses in particular are not taken into account on a dollar for dollar basis. Many families and students have been disappointed in how much financial aid is given towards those amounts. </p>

<p>But really, until you get the award letters, it’s all guesswork. I hope the numbers come in the way you hope. Good luck.</p>

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<p>[FinAid</a> | Calculators | Advanced Award Letter Comparison Tool](<a href=“Your Guide for College Financial Aid - Finaid”>Your Guide for College Financial Aid - Finaid)</p>

<p>Sit down with your parents and all of your acceptances and aid packages, and run the numbers.</p>

<p>Your family’s financial situation is tight. Coming up with $5k more for #2 may be tougher than they want to admit. As a general rule, when in doubt, believe the person who says there is less to go around. Chances are that that one is the person who is actually writing the checks each month for all of the bills.</p>

<p>Work out estimates of your expenses for all four years. Remember that the cost of attendance will probably increase about 5% to 7% each year you are in college. Check to see what the policies are about that merit aid. Do you need a specific GPA to keep it? Will it increase along with the COA, or is it a fixed dollar amount that won’t increase?</p>

<p>Lastly, remain skeptical about your ability to make a lot of money during the summers or during the school year. You may have un-paid or under-paid positions that you’d like to take on instead.</p>

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<p>*My parents are giving me conflicting messages. My dad says most likely 12 or 13 thousand is what they can pay. He says maybe a little more, but that would bring us to maybe 14. I have a job which can bring in roughly 5 thousand, but a majority of that will go towards travel budget and college materials. Best case scenario, we can squeak by with 16 a year.</p>

<p>Mom is more pessimistic, saying 11 is what we can pay. But she claims School 1 we can “easily” afford, and thats going to be about 11-12 thousand. She also keeps saying “just choose the cheap option”. Dad is a little skeptical that she is being completely honest with me.*</p>

<p>Who pays the bills in your household? Which parent is usually the “realist”?</p>

12

<p>Regardless of which parent is providing the more accurate forecast, student loans plus work study plus summer job should be enough to cover expenses at even the most expensive of the three.</p>

<p>But, until you get actual numbers, there’s no sense in trying to make a decision. Wait and see what you’re offered. Meanwhile, try to come up with some hard numbers: how much your parents can actually afford, how much student loan debt you’re willing to assume, and how much you can earn from summer employment.</p>

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<p>Regardless of which parent is providing the more accurate forecast, student loans plus work study plus summer job should be enough to cover expenses at even the most expensive of the three.</p>

<p>??</p>

<p>Do we know if the student will get work study? </p>

<p>Do we know whether the student’s FA pkg will already have student loans in it to “meet need”? If so, then he won’t be able to use loans to cover any amount that his family can’t pay. </p>

<p>If the student’s aid already has full loans in it, and his parents can only pay $11-12k, then it may be hard for the student to come up with the other $5k on his own. </p>

<p>I agree with waiting and seeing what the FA pkgs look like. </p>

<p>In the meantime, $12k is $1k per month. January, February, and March can be “test months” for your parents to see how much they can put towards college each month. If they find that they can save $1200 each month to use towards college, then your dad may be more accurate. If they find that 1000 is all they can swing, then your mom may be right. If they find that during these 3 months that they can’t meet either estimate, then you’ll make your decision based on that.</p>

<p>Each year we see posts from freshman who have to transfer out of their pricier schools because their families really can’t afford for them to continue. At that point, the student has lost their better merit opportunities elsewhere. These families usually are ones who planned on paying out of current income. If many of them had tested their ability to see if they can contribute X amount each month prior to making the final college decision, some may have learned early on that a school wasn’t affordable.</p>

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<p>As Mom2 brings up, loans and workstudy can be and often are part of a financial aid package. When a school does that, it is using those items towards the defined need, so the student has that much less to put towards family EFC. Students don’t tend to qualify for loans on their own, so when a college "awards’ the Stafford to them as part of the package, that is pretty much it for what the student can borrow without a parent involved. When they are given work study, those work hours and money earned from them go towards that award, again, not to offset the student’s expense. That is why until actual award packages are laid out, it’s impossible to tell which is the “best” offer in many cases. Also work study is not guaranteed. If you don’t find a job that fits your schedule or they run out, that’s it. You gotta work it to get it and at some schools freshmen are last in getting to the job list So those hours that a kid might have hoped to work for some pocket money, are earmarked towards the COA that the school hs defined as need. My niece works three jobs–work study which she has to allocate towards the school bill since her parents are really strapped in making the EFC, and then she works two others for her pocket money and what the school itemizes as “the student EFC”. Yeah, real nice.</p>

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<p>^^^ My niece and several of her friends were not able to find work-study positions despite multiple attempts last fall semester. At her LAC each position requires a separate formal application, and many of them asked for specific previous experience that the new students didn’t have. In addition, that college appears to have offered each student his/her individual maximum for earnings, without first determining whether enough on campus jobs existed in the first place. This LAC is in a semi-rural location, and any off campus job would require that the student have a car, or at least a co-worker on the same schedule who has a car. The last time I spoke with my niece, she was planning to transfer because of the money.</p>