Debt for UVA undergrad or money in pocket for local?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Vanderbilt University
1

Hello CC!

I have been accepted into UVA Charlottesville and given a decent aid package (my estimated cost of attendance is 14K/year). I could go to a smaller college close to home that would allow me to stack scholarships, and because my aid covers my tuition and I’d be living at home, I would be getting paid to go to school.

Would I be crazy to turn down Charlottesville assuming my expenses would decrease by moving off campus after my first year, or would I be crazy to turn down money in pocket for undergraduate?

I am undecided on a career path, but I am planning to major in biochemistry. I have an interest in global studies.

2

Not sure why this is under Vanderbilt University and I don’t know how to change it or delete it. :(( sorry folks

3

Can your parents contribute or will you be taking out loans and if so, how much? Either way, that’s a great aid package.

4

@suzy100 My parents won’t be contributing to my education costs, just my personal expenses to an extent. My tuition is covered by my aid, but room and board, books, and any fees are on me. I also worry about the costs of academic opportunities in college such as study abroad. All of this would have to be covered by loans. I have considered a summer job so I won’t have as much debt after graduation.

5

Well you can’t borrow that much on your own. Are they willing to cosign for loans? What’s the other school? 60K+ is probably too much debt.

6

As mentioned above, whether your parents would be willing to cosign for loans is important, since there’s a limit in the amount of federal loans you can take out every year (5.5K for freshmen, 6.5K for sophomore, and 7.5K for junior/senior). Also, is UVA’s financial aid package all grant money, or is some of the full-tuition figure you mention coming from federal loans/work study?

Option 1 (Assuming it’s all grants, and your parents won’t cosign): if you were able to work full-time in the summer and 10-15 hours during the school year even at minimum wage, you could probably make about $6000 a year post-tax, leaving an $8000 gap (which is reasonably close to the yearly federal loan limits, although it would be tough freshman year since you only get $5500 so you might have to work extra hard to find money). Then it might be doable, but you’d really be living on the edge and you’d have to hustle hard to make money to pay for yourself.

Option 2 (Assuming it’s all grants, and your parents would cosign): Assuming the same yearly earning figures as above, you would come out with the max in federal loans (~28k) and maybe a 5k private loan/personal loan from a family member. You’d still have to work pretty hard but it might not be as stressful since you have an additional potential loan source. The private loans are really not ideal but they’re not a huge sum.

Option 3 (not all grants, parent’s won’t cosign): if there are loans in the full-tuition FA package you mention it’s probably around 10-14K unsubsidized over 4 years. If there’s work study it’s probably 2k per year. In this situation it’s probably not possible for you to attend without parental assistance, since you won’t be able to earn enough and have enough loans to cover expenses.

Option 4 (not all grants, parent’s will cosign): Assuming the figures above, you’d come out with more like 28K in federal loans and 20K or higher in private loans. In this situation, it’s probably not a good idea to attend since that private debt figure is too much.

What it boils down to: If it’s Option 1/Option 2, you could probably consider UVA if you really love the school and are willing to sacrifice by working year-round; however, there’s enough debt/job stress so that if you don’t love it you could go with the alternate school. If it’s Option 3/Option 4, attending UVA is probably not a good idea.

7

Can you start out close to home and then transfer to UVA after a year or 2?

8

@suzy100 @fdgjfg My aid package consists of grants and the Access UVA Scholarship II, as well as $5500 in loans. The 14K is the cost not including loans as part of the aid. I still view the cost as $14K rather than $8500 because I will have to pay regardless of when or how. My parents I think would cosign, although I believe they are iffy. I’m not opposed to working, it would just suck knowing I could still work and use that money elsewhere.

9

OK, so that’s going to be more like $80K in debt - likely more as tuition rises. I think that’s too much debt.

10

That’s probably too much debt for UVA unfortunately. If your parents cosign for private loans it’s still technically possible for you to go (if they didn’t you’d have no choice except to turn down UVA since you’d have no way of financing it), but I personally would definitely not make that choice.

It will come out to at least 22k federal loans from FA, then even with the rather optimistic 6k yearly earnings, 6k more in federal loans + 26k private loans. 54k total loans (28k fed + 32k private) at minimum is pretty huge, and it could easily balloon up to 60k/70k if you’re not able to earn as much as you hope or if you have unexpected expenses later on. If your parents are iffy on cosigning, I also doubt they’d be comfortable with a floor of 26k in cosigned private loans. Unless your family’s financial situation changes and your parents can provide aid, I’d plan on attending your local school. As mentioned above, you could also consider saving money during your first two years, and then transferring for your junior and senior year.

11

@fdgjfg @suzy100 @Trixy34 I have considered transferring after 2 years, not only for financial reasons but to give myself more time to learn my interests and abilities. Thank you all for taking the time to give me a better idea of the cost in terms of loans. I do have a $2500 external scholarship for each year, but I think UVA’s policy is that they will reevaluate my aid with that factored in, taking away the benefit of it. I have emailed them to double check this. I am pretty close to deciding to stay local. A lot of people where I live attend the college nearby so it’s easy to hear one sided views about how great it is to save money instead of going away (not really considering how awesome UVA is). Those who tell me I should go to UVA really hype it up and downplay my cost. UVA really is a fantastic school, though, and my aid package is nice for there. I have been very careful to make sure I’m not throwing away an opportunity that will benefit me more in the long run. It’s nice to hear some outside perspectives with legitimate reasons of why it’s impractical to go rather than just “but you’ll get money to be here!!!”

12

@skycolors527

Actually, I believe I misread your previous post - the 14k cost of attendance is not already including loans, correct? If that’s the case and you believe that FA will remain relatively consistent + adjust for inflation, it might actually be doable.

Assuming you take out the max federal loans, that would leave you on the hook for 8.5k, 7.5k, 6.5k, and 6.5k for each year after taking loans. Freshman/sophomore year might be a little tough because you’d have to come up with another 2k/1.5k respectively. You could probably try to work really hard over the summer to earn and you might be able to meet that extra amount (maybe two jobs or try to find something like construction/landscaping/factory work that pays more than minimum wage), or if that doesn’t get you over the hump, you could take out a small private loan (not ideal, but if it’s less than 5k and you pay it back first it could be alright).

Alternatively, your outside scholarship might work perfectly to fill in the gap - I imagine they’ll use it to reduce the loan component of your FA first (based on personal experience) so I think there’s a good chance you could have it “stack” on the Access UVA Scholarship II (i.e. reduce your estimated COA to 12k). It could go either way though; definitely check with the FA office before you decide what to do.

So I do take back my previous assessment - in this case you would probably have more like 28k fed and 5-6k private, which is not terrible. However, you’d still need your parents to cosign, or you’d need to work really hard to earn or hope your scholarship can stack. You’d also need to have a job at all times during the school year and work full time or more during the summer. I wouldn’t think so much about the opportunity cost for the actual money you’re earning (you’ll be getting paid peanuts at whatever job you’re doing), but more the opportunity cost for the time you spend at work.

Given that UVA is within reach, I think you should decide more based on how you feel about the two schools rather than a binary financial decision of more or less money. This really depends on the identity of the other school, feel free to divulge or not. If the full-ride local school is a strong state institution and you have a bunch of friends there, it might be alright. But would you regret having no independence living at home, or having a college experience that isn’t quite as fun? Even if you transferred to UVA for junior and senior year, your social life will be stunted. Would you regret being in an environment that may be less academically oriented, or where your peers are not as high achieving/don’t have interests that are as intellectual? Are there differences in resources that would affect you (i.e. does the other school have well-funded faculty in science and medicine or a hospital, if you have science interests for example)?Alternatively, would you regret spending a bunch of your time at work at UVA, limiting your study/social/career enrichment opportunities, whereas at the other school you’d be able to focus solely on your interests? Are you someone who’d be very prone to anxiety due to living closer to the limits of their financial means, and having less financial buffer?

Finally, what are your career interests? Although you mention biochem and global studies, do you have any inkling of career path? For example, if you think you might be interested in high level IB/consulting/finance UVA is a solid semi-target; the additional recruitment opportunities are well worth the extra cost, and if you land something good you’d be able to pay off your loans with your bonus from the first two years. But if you want to be a public school teacher, you’re probably not going to get much mileage out of the additional opportunities at UVA and the debt will be really annoying. Basic science/premed is probably somewhere in between the two; MCAT/GRE/GPA serve as an equalizer and you can go anywhere from anywhere, but school prestige is still considered, + research opportunities from well-funded, well-respected PIs that have pull is really important (wouldn’t matter for UVA vs. a directional state U, but might be big for UVA vs. a not so good small private school).

It’s difficult unfortunately, and there’s no wrong answer (which is why it’s so difficult). Personally, I faced a similar choice (full-rides at less strong state schools vs. having to work hard, take on fed debt and financial risk to go to a top private) and I chose to go to the more expensive elite. I’m glad I did - for my interests at least (biomedical science), having access to top mentors/funding/research opportunities, and more importantly, accomplished/motivated/ambitious peers has been a huge benefit. People will always say to save money and go to a top grad school, but I always felt like you only live once, + bird in hand and all that. However, going with the cheaper option is also a very valid choice. I really wanted to have a specific type of peer environment; other people who placed less value on that/more value on other things might make a different choice. Ultimately it’s got to come down to your gut impression of cost-benefit.

13

I agree with all of fdgjfg’s thoughts above. As a Virginian, I have a couple extra thoughts to throw out. I would like folr you to go to Accepted Student Day. We were really blown away by UVA and I regret that neither son attended in undergrad as that is where the financial benefit really is for instate attendance. UVA’s graduate schools of law, business and medicine are extremely expensive --but this is not something that permeated my brain when our sons were in high school. You need to project a little if possible. Do you expect to do graduate work? If so, what is tuition like? Are in-state options less costly in grad school? (not always) That said, some career paths have very reasonable costs for graduate studies, and some graduate degrees can be earned while working full time.

First, do not think twice about the extra costs of travel abroad or the costs belonging to groups like the frats etc. They are entirely skippable! Charlottesville has a hip vibe and many alternative cultural options. Also, many students who attend could not afford to pay for a private education and thus they show up at UVA with all of their many talents and gifts annually but on modest budgets. Many have parents working civil service and government jobs or even military careers. I really like the economic mix at UVA. It has more of a true middle. Out of State students are usually full pay there as you know, so they tend to come from wealthy brackets.
Much less than half the students bother with Greek life at all despite the rather prominent Greek housing row. Regarding time abroad, both our sons went abroad one semester junior year and tuition was cheaper abroad than in their private colleges. You can seek out a location without a sky high cost of living. Berlin, for instance, is very affordable for college students while London is prohibitive. The office of foreign study on campus can help you be shrewd. You will not necessarily NOT be able to afford to go abroad is my point. There are also annual Spring Break service trips that you must apply for that can send you to different parts of the USA with a group of classmates from different backgrounds. My non Greek Vandy son loved these trips and always made new friends.

Secondly, I agree that you should do your best to project your career path while weighing out the true burdens of borrowing for your undergraduate degree. Engineers at UVA and VA Tech tend to go straight into the solid jobs in the NoVa market. Further credentials in engineering can be accomplished while employed. Nursing is a strong program at UVA that leads straight to a paycheck. The undergraduate business program is world class but is also highly selective and accepts some (not all) sophomores with strong freshman performances and good backgrounds for the field. This pathway leads straight to to the workplace with excellent paying entry jobs in business and on Wall Street where UVA has a surprisingly strong foothold. UVA excels in job placements in federal public service pathways in the state department and other government agencies. Foreign language acquisition is often expected. It is possible that if you wanted to become a public school teacher, you could easily get into a loan forgiveness school district. You won’t know till you go the distance on speaking with staff on campus.

Thirdly, although your best bet might be taking advantage of Virginia’s promise to all A students in community college seats in our state’s four-year colleges, you need to be fully informed on expectations for a seat junior year in each college. Requirements at UVA I believe are the toughest. This is where your Fight or Flight struggle needs much more information gathering. Make an appointment with an administrator on campus to discuss your financial aid and to be directed into fully understanding the transfer promises we have in our state. (this is the Fight part). Information is power. As other students decline UVA, and the waitlist begins to clamour…to give up your seat or to keep it is the question. Be visible. Be known. Perhaps there are resources you do not know about today to help you meet your financial obligations. Public service loan forgiveness seems to be on tentative ground. Our son was offered a year of grad school loan forgiveness recently for his first low paying state job (post graduate school) but then this good news was withdrawn as his advisor misinformed him. He has to work in that job for 2 years in a row to qualify…and he has another job lined up for year 2 that is not loan forgiveness eligible. Obviously the staff is quite busy now sorting out responses as families spend the next month making decisions. Be persistent until you feel you fully understand your situation.

Financial aid officers may feel impatient that your parents will not contribute, but they will listen. They are truly there to help. Perhaps they have something to add to this decision you are facing. Would it be impossible for instance to take one year off to work to bank money? Now or later?

I want to personally celebrate with you that you were offered a seat at UVA. That is an accomplishment. Go to your guidance counselor. Perhaps she can facilitate an appointment for you with a financial advisor at UVA. Lastly, if you got into UVA, you have the goods to make it work either way this shakes out. Stay focused. good luck.