Denied for all of my loans??

Paying for College
21

OP
LISTEN to mom2collegekids
you CAN go to college, but when you apply again, you’ll need to be the one who is SMART about what YOU can and cant afford.
this website is FULL of extremely knowledgeable adults who are ONLY here to help kids like you.
Because WE received help here long ago when we knew nothing and OUR kids were applying to colleges.
Take advantage of the free advise. We are here to pay it forward.

Take a gap year OR register at a local CC, regroup, research, and apply to colleges that you can afford to go to WITHOUT GOING INTO MASSIVE DEBT.
Look at it this way- would you walk into a Tesla showroom today and expect that you can afford to pay $100,000 for a new S model?
there are hundreds of cars and colleges out here that you can afford.

THIS is what you want to avoid at all costs
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/1796972-how-families-end-up-with-massive-student-loan-debt.html#latest

22

So OP, you can borrow about 10k a year. How much have your parents agreed to pay per year?

23

When I got my estimation in the email from Cal Poly, it said around 38k. And they gave me no merit aid, so I didn’t really look into it. I applied to Northridge, and they denied me because they weren’t allowing people past 30 miles away. I’ve already paid the $400 deposit for Redlands. My mom didn’t warn me she didn’t have good credit, how was I supposed to know?? They never talk to me about bills and we always seem to have enough money. I don’t qualify for Cal Grant, my dad makes more than 80k a year himself. 25k for Cal Poly with NO AID is a lot more than Redlands 15k a year for Redlands. /: (not 30k as some of you are saying…it’s 15k for me.) I’m not dorming at Redlands if that’s why you think that? Redlands has a payment plan for tuition, with the Stafford loan my mom and dad could pay 6k a year. They planned on doing so anyways. UCR accepts sophomore transfers.

Why would a gap year be any better than CC? Too hard to transfer? /: I got around a 2100 on my SAT.

24

& I’ve already taken out the direct loans from the government. /: I feel like my parents really let me down telling me I could pick my dream school and money would be no issue my mom thinking she’d be able to put it all on loans and now we can’t and now I don’t know whether to go through with it or drop out. I don’t think she’d ever let me drop out though.

25

<<<So, now I’m sitting here with $15,000 payment due for my private university <<<

YOU ARE GIVING US INFORMATION THAT DOESN’T MAKE SENSE. No wonder you and your family have money issues. No one seems to be paying attention to the details.

You said that you are commuting to Redlands, and you got a $30k merit award from them, so why do you have a $15k bill owed to them right now???

You’ve been awarded 5500 in federal Stafford Direct loans, divided into 2 semesters… Now that your mom has been denied a Plus Loan, you now get an add’l 2000 a semester.

How much is due for FALL SEMESTER? That amount is the “payment due” right now.


[QUOTE=""]
Redlands is giving me 30k a year.

[/QUOTE]

ANNUAL COSTS
Tuition and fees $44,900

Room and board $13,090 <<=== You're commuting, so you don't have that bill.

Direct costs $44,900

Scholarship $30,000

What you owe $14,900 <<=== This is for the YEAR, only HALF is due NOW.

Fed Stafford........5,500

sub total…$11,400

Denied Plus.....$ 4,000

Net cost…$6,400 FOR THE YEAR

that means that you have a CURRENT BILL of about $3200…NOT $15,000

You will still have to buy books and pay for gas, which I’m guessing that your parents provide.

How much did you earn and save from a summer job?

How much can you earn from a part time job during the school year?

Books and supplies $1,764 <<<=== This is NOT a bill. You can cut those costs a LOT by buying used books, finding books online, or renting books.

Estimated personal expenses $3,232 <<<=== This is also not a bill. These are your own expenses.

I have no idea why you think SLO cost that much. SLO’s tuition & fees are ONLY $9k per year. The total cost is about $25k per year. You must have been looking at the OOS amount, not the instate amount. Since you’ve given so much other confusing info, it doesn’t surprise me that your info here is wrong.

26

OK yes, as we didn’t know you were commuting to Redlands. So yes that is a great price for you not having to pay R&B. Are you saying that Redlands is giving you 30k PLUS your federal loan OR does the 30 include your federal loan? If you want to copy and paste the figures from your award letter that would help.

Now that your parents were denied the Plus loan, you need to direct the school that your need the extra.4k this year for the plus loan, unless your mom can come up with it for you.

http://www.redlands.edu/offices-directories/financial-aid/3254.aspx#.Vbn6nvllZKg

I guess that ship has sailed but this is the cost of Cal Poly, similar to all the CSUs ether you read your letter wrong because even Out Of State student don’t get charged the amount you are mentioning.

Annual Cost
tuition and fees 9k
Room and board 11k

other 4k

total COA 24k

http://financialaid.calpoly.edu/_finaid/coa1415.html

27

If you can commute to UR then you can commute to CSU San Bernardino. It looks like the cost there will be $6600 in tuition and fees. http://sfs.csusb.edu/tuitionAndFees/CurrentFees.html

28

Oh I see maybe you mean that 30 includes your student loan 5,500. So tution of 45 - 30 = 15. You owe 15k, but only 1/2 each semester. How did your mother think you were going to get to college much cheaper than that? So now you can borrow 4k more so you are left with 11k. Can your parents pay that? The following year it would be 10k. Then it would be 8k each year for jr and sr year. You can see if you can find a non work/study p/t job for few hours on campus to earn for incidentals plus a summer job. Should be do-able?

29

[QUOTE=""]
I applied to the closest Cal State [Northridge] and got rejected because they aren't accepting anyone outside a 30 mile radius.

[/QUOTE]

How long will your commute be to Redlands in drive time?

You mention that you’re going to commute to Redlands, and that CSUN is your “closest” CSU. That doesn’t seem right. UR and CSUN are nearly 2 hours apart, so if you lived somewhere in the middle, (since you’re outside the 30 mile CSUN radius, or closer to UR, then there are closer CSUs to where you live.

BTW…I know that CSUN announced in Feb that it was going to reject all students that didn’t live in the nearby area. However, are any of the denied applicants angry that CSUN accepted many int’l students? In fact, 500 of them are incoming freshman this fall…while the school auto-rejected Californians living outside the 30 mile radius.

The school’s mission is to educate CALIF students. Educating OOS students or int’ls is something it should do ONLY if there is room for those kids AFTER accepting qualified Calif students.

If my kid had been rejected for the 30 mile reason, the school would have some 'splaining to do as to why they’re will be 500 int’l frosh on campus in the fall. And, if 500 int’l frosh are enrolled for Fall, then CSUN must have accepted over 1000 of them in order to have that yield. I think CSUN needs to explain why it accepted those int’l incoming frosh while rejecting Calif students. That stinks. I think CSUN has left itself open for a lawsuit. It’s a public school, it can’t just do anything it wants.

30

<<<<
Oh I see maybe you mean that 30 includes your student loan 5,500. So tution of 45 - 30 = 15.


[QUOTE=""]

[/QUOTE]

If that is true, then this student really needs to do a better job communicating, (along with being more careful reading about costs: example SLO). Please take this tip to heart…you’re now an adult. Be very careful when you read information, particularly info that involves money. We have no idea what you were looking at, but SLO does not cost nearly $40k for an instate student. Your first clue that that your understanding was wrong should have been that that cost would be higher than a UC.


[QUOTE=""]
but that'd be around 40k a year and they didn't give me any money. Redlands is giving me 30k a year. My direct loans increase in value every year, and I'm going to be working over the summer.

[/QUOTE]

Here’s another example of a communication problem. You stated that Redlands is “giving” you $30k per year. Well if some of that is a loan, then that isn’t $30k of “giving.” But, I understand that people often talk that way about FA. However, SLO would have also given you $5500 in loans, yet you said that they gave you nothing. So, the reader is going to conclude that the $30k that Redlands “gave” you was a merit scholarship.

If Redlands is giving you around $24k in merit, for a school that has tuition at $45k, then its tuition becomes about $21k FOR YOU.

Please understand, I’m not telling you these things to be mean. I’m telling you these things so that you’ll learn from these things so that your adult life will go more smoothly.

I know that you’re in shock about the loan denial, but learn from that, too. You said that you’re not aware of the family finances, but there seems to be enough money to buy things, etc. Since there are credit issues, that suggests that the family uses credit cards to “fill in” budgeting gaps, and then can’t make the payments on-time. Plus Loans aren’t denied over income; they’re denied because of late payments and other serious defaults.

Maybe you should contact SLO and see if you can still go there.

Or, take a gap year and apply to affordable schools…CPP, CSUFullerton, CSUSB, and to schools that will give you HUGE merit.

You got about a half-tuition award from Redlands. That is NOT enough for someone in your situation. You need your remaining costs to be well under $20k per year. You really need schools that will give you FREE tuition. UAH would give you free tuition right now if you applied today.

Is Azusa Pacific near you? If so, their costs after merit would likely be lower. So would Whittier.

What is your major and career goal?

What is your M+CR SAT score? I know that you have a 31 ACT.


[QUOTE=""]
If you can commute to UR then you can commute to CSU San Bernardino. It looks like the cost there will be $6600 in tuition and fees. http://sfs.csusb.edu/tuitionAndFees/CurrentFees.html

[/QUOTE]

Exactly. That’s why I doubted the claim that CSUN is her closest CSU. If SB isn’t the closest to her, then maybe Fullerton or Cal Poly Pomona are.

31

Right now, the situation is a mess.
Call URedlands and tell them of the situation, then ask to defer for a year.

Use that year to find out about the merit scholarships mentioned above, to check out financial aid policies at UCs and CSUs, to apply to some private universities (if your dad makes 80k you still qualify for need-based aid at many universities). Work and volunteer, and DO NOT take any class.
Then you can apply to colleges, some of which will cost less than what Uredlands costs (depending on what your financial aid award looks like - are the Stafford loans included in your package to get to the 15K you owe?) URedlands is a very good college but it doesn’t sound like you can afford it right now; Deferring for a year while you sort the financials out would make the most sense.
What’s your EFC?

32

OP - pull yourself together! You have a big decision to make.

Your ‘dream school’ bubble has burst. Your parents tried to make it happen. Finances are what they are. Water now under the bridge. Pull your big girl pants on.

However do not screw up starting somewhere and then you are short of $$.

You have to decide if you have enough to start (and finish) somewhere that you will be happy with. Make sure with the school FA officer based on your specific details. Maybe there can be some kind of work-study or someone pulling a rabbit out of a hat.

Although a gap year is maybe not desired at first look - you can have some excellent school options that you overlooked on your first go-around, and you can work to save up $$.

Perhaps you can spell out your situation a little better answering some of the questions on this thread, so more custom responses to your situation.

It also doesn’t hurt to check at the schools that you were accepted at that are financially eligible, to see if you can still attend with merit/FA…

Re-read through this thread so that you do clearly communicate your situation (like the question in post #25 about what was your offer including or not including the loans?) Based on your panic, I am guessing shortfall because loans were part of the reduced amount and then parents denied.

33

<<<
if your dad makes 80k you still qualify for need-based aid at many universities


[QUOTE=""]

my dad makes more than 80k a year himself.

[/QUOTE]

Those words suggest that the dad’s income is more than $80k and the mom also has an income.

The problem really isn’t getting some need-based aid at some expensive univs. The problem is that the family can’t pay its EFC.

I agree with asking Redlands if you can defer a year and keep the merit…and use this next year to apply to cheaper schools or schools that will give you free tuition.

@MYOS1634

34

OP why didn’t you apply to Cal Poly Pomona, Cal State SB? If you can commute to UR, then these schools would have been within commuting distance and affordable. Again, heed the advice of these experienced posters.

35

^^^
The student posted last fall about not liking Calif so not wanting to apply to very many Calif schools. The problem is that parents weren’t honest with her and allowed her to apply to several OOS publics that clearly wouldn’t have been affordable.

If they had been upfront with her and she had posted here in the FA/Scholarships forum, she would have been better advised. Many parents get caught up with the hype, claim that a child can follow their dreams, but they’re in denial as to how it will all get paid. There’s a mom who posted awhile ago saying that she’ll gladly pay $15k more per year for her D’s chosen school (over a cheaper school). Now, the mom is wondering if the school will give more money if they can’t pay the tuition bill.

Yes, it does appear that Fullerton, San Bernadino, CPP and maybe some others would have been better choices.

36

BTW…I know that CSUN announced in Feb that it was going to reject all students that didn’t live in the nearby area. However, are any of the denied applicants angry that CSUN accepted many int’l students? In fact, 500 of them are incoming freshman this fall…while the school auto-rejected Californians living outside the 30 mile radius.

CSUN was my first dream school (for kinesiology it’s a good school) and I was really mad I got denied. I kind of assumed I’d get a higher priority than an international student rather than getting denied for living too far. /:

Right now I’m going for Communicative Disorders instead of kinesiology, because I heard that’s almost akin to a Psych degree where unless you specialize and even when you do, you might have issues getting a job.
I got rejected from Cal Poly Pomona. /:
Neither of my parents have credit cards. I talked to my mom and it’s due to missed payments from when she was really sick last year and was on disability, but we’re fine now because she had surgery.
My mom is going to call Redlands today, and since she still doesn’t really want me dropping out of Redlands she’s going to ask to go on a payment plan (which she told me we can afford, she had talked to my dad and my dad talked to me).
Stafford loans are not included, I’m going to inquire about those when my mom calls the school.

(@mom2collegekids, I wish you were my mom and had been helping me through this, I think I’d be in a lot better situation. ): haha)

37

The problem really isn’t getting some need-based aid at some expensive univs. The problem is that the family can’t pay its EFC.

My parents CAN. I just don’t think they really intended to help me. /: They told me I could go to my dream school and that they’d help pay my loans, but I don’t think they really actually were going to help besides letting my live at home. My mom told me that on a payment plan (which Redlands provides) she can easily pay for the tuition between her and my dad.

38

Also, I had thought I matured past the point of “I want to get out of California” but I guess I didn’t really mature enough because I got myself in this situation. ): I have a guaranteed work study program for $3,000 throughout the year, and I’m pretty eligible for a summer job there as well. This summer I can’t work because I didn’t have my license until recently (my parents work constantly and I had no one to teach me to drive.)

39

It sounds like your parents don’t necessarily have “bad credit,” but as you’ve indicated, your mom had some cash flow issues while she was on disability and likely there were some “late payments” which caused Plus to deny. Their FICO score may still be decent, but those couple of dings would exclude them.

Is the $3k of Work Study also part of the Redlands $30k of aid. How much from UR did you get in “free money” merit scholarship?

When your parents say that they will do the payment plan, can you please get a commitment from them as to whether this will be for ALL four years? Or will this be for just frosh year and then your mom will expect you to transfer. Make sure that everyone is on board with whatever is decided. You don’t want to think they’ll do the payment plan for 4 years and then post again next summer with bad news that your parents wont pay the second year.

AND…make sure you get the commitment from BOTH parents. You’ll want BOTH parents committed to paying for all four years.

What is your career goal with kinesiology or communicative disorders? One seems very different than the other one.

If your mom and dad say that they’ll only pay for ONE year, and then they expect you to transfer, then do the gap year and apply where your test scores will get at least free tuition. What is your M+CR score?

I also want you to think about this…Calif is a huge long state. The north is nothing like the south. It’s like a totally different state…lol…some of us think it’s like a different country. ha ha.

So, even if you don’t like the part of Calif where you live, another part would be totally different. It sounds like you live along I-10 or I-60…and there are many other more enticing places in Calif.

I think that an ACT 31 might be in the running for full tuition award to an incoming frosh at some schools if you took a gap year.

40

The 3k is not part of the 30k. M+CR was 1250. My mom and dad agreed for all 4 years. I want to be a speech-language pathologist and possibly go for a Ph.D in audiology later in life. I can’t really afford to dorm anywhere/I’m very very introverted and I have very bad social anxiety which is why I leaned towards a smaller, private school. I’ve been to Northern California and loved it though. :slight_smile: