Desperate for Aid

<p>What are your stats? IU gives merit scholarships. Did you not get any?</p>

<p>My stats were not good enough to receive merit scholarships. If I end up there I plan on trying to get as close to a 4.0 as I can so hopefully I can get some scholarships for current students. I realize that I won’t be able to delete my entire college debt, but I hope to minimize it as much as I can.</p>

<p>Usually merit scholarship are biggest for freshman so they can draw a more attractive class. So that plan probably is a non-starter. And if your stats from high school weren’t good enough, why do you think you can pull a 4.0 in a more competitive college environment? Pretty unlikely… and irrelevant anyway because you cannot afford this school.</p>

<p>What is the cost of attendance at Holy Cross? The scholarship amount isn’t very interesting, it is what it will actually cost you annually to attend that matters. Are those your only two choices besides community college or a gap year? Note that if you take community college classes post-high school graduation, you are then considered a transfer student, which can reduce whatever need based or merit aid you are eligible for. </p>

<p>Dini, I feel very bad for you because you were very poorly advised. Public universities do not give financial aid to out of state students. They admit OOS students for the purpose either of incrasing the talent (ie., very high stats kids) or for the money they bring (no financial aid + OOS surchage = a way to offset the budget cuts.) Clearly you expected Indiana to treat you as an in-state student because no one had told you the OOS public vs. OOS private situation… So Indiana doesn’t, and won’t, because your parents aren’t paying taxes there.
They may give merit, but only if you get it Freshman year.(Indiana has a few merit scholarships for OOS but they’re negligible anyway so it wouldn’t have helped). There are some merit awards per department but they’re typically $500 or $1,000.
Most financial aid is institutional - it comes from the college you attend (such as Perkins); next comes federal aid, that’s Pell, federal “Stafford” loans, federal work-study. Then there’s State Aid for students who attend their instate colleges. Outside scholarships are only little crumbs, with two or three you can pay for books. </p>

<p>I assume no one advised you to create a good college list with financial and academic safeties, and no one told you to run the Net Price Calculators on each website before you applied.
This is truly a horrible situation you’re in since I assume you declined other schools and deposited at Indiana already.</p>

<p>But, if you truly are determined to break into IB, Kelley isn’t going to be it.</p>

<p>If that’s your goal, truly your goal, and you have the math skills for it, then you need to take a gap year during which you will seriously prep to get your ACT or SAT scores as high as possible while you work and study math on your own, and apply to some semi-targets. Those you’d apply to would be private schools that will cover 100% of your financial need. In addition, you’d apply to Baruch.</p>

<p>Right now, the only amount you, yourself, can borrow, is $5,500.
The recommended limit for all 4 years of undergraduate school is $27,000. TOTAL. For all 4 years. Because that’s how much a college graduate can reasonably pay back in 10 years. </p>

<p>Let us assume, as you posited above, that your parents agree on taking this amount of debt. Well, first of all, it’l cripple them for years. And probably prevent any sibling you have from going to college. But let’s say your sibling’s goal in life is to get an apprenticeship to become a plumber (a cushy position actually) and your parents have zero debt as of now so they don’t mind taking some on for you.
If they have paid all debt promptly and have no late balance on <em>any</em> loan, they could qualify for a Parent PLUS loan. However, since they’re low income, it’s very unlikely they will qualify for more than a year or two. After two years at Kelley max, you’ll have to transfer to another school, TCNJ, Rowan, or Rutgers. Yo’ull be allowed to borrow more if your parents weren’t approved for PLUS but it won’t be enough for Kelley OOS. You won’t be able to get into IB and you’ll have huge debt for a degree that isn’t from Kelley.
If they accept to cosign a loan, it means you and they are now shackled to that loan. Even if one person dies the other person is still shackeled to the debt and needs to pay everything off. It means you and they won’t qualify for other loans, therefore you won’t be able to buy a car, have a house, plan for a wedding, live on your own (and let me tell you when you’re in your 20’s you’ll want to have a bf/gf and live with them, not sneak around and have to show them around the bedroom you had when you were 17.)You won’t be able to go out with friends, or if you do you’ll be the one who can’t pay and after a while it gets very frustrating for you. In addition, unless your parents live close to Manhattan by train, you will not be able to live with them as someone who works in Ibanking. In fact, if your plan depends on living with them, it relies heavily on your parents living near a job you can get to by train or subway or bus since you won’t have a car. It will limit the jobs you can have. And you’ll be giving 95% of your take home pay to the loan, with even less pocket money than you do today. </p>

<p>What are your stats (GPA, SAT CR+M, SAT CR+M+W, any AP, SAT Subjects…)?</p>

<p>Agree that if you want the perks of a great business education, you have to think like a savvy business person. On 40k, you’d be lucky to take home $2640/month. Add transpo costs to everything else- and some contribnution to the family expenses if you live at home, are earning- and they are already struggling. Now imagine living on about $400/month - month in and month out…for ten years. Do the math. You’re digging yourself one big hole.</p>

<p>Myo…the student is a NJ resident, not a NY resident. Would Baruch really end up being affordable for him as an OOS student?</p>

<p>To the OP, a very important thing to remember…your undergrad costs will be for FOUR years. You may be able to cobble together the money for the upcoming school year, but there will be three more after that. very year will be a harder financial struggle, especially if your parents become ineligible for loans…which very well could happen.</p>

<p>Think about it like a banker! Debt is extended to this with significant collateral and income to support repayment. Neither you nor your parents have both of these things. </p>

<p>And my arithmetic and Lookingforward’s are in agreement…you will have very little money for ten years if you really take out $160,000 in loans…assuming you could actually do so.</p>

<p>As someone interested in banking, I hope you read about how some of our largest banks got into very significant financial trouble by extending loans to folks who really shouldn’t have gotten them. The restrictions on loans have become more stringent. The last thing banks need is default on loans.</p>

<p>^ Well, Baruch tuition is cheap even OOS and OP is assuming s/he can commute to Manhattan to work, so I assume s/he can commute to college too. Plus, it may be easier to get a scholarship, depending on OP’s stats. Clearly, living in NYC isn’t going to be very cheap (even if the total is still cheaper than Indiana OOS!) so this is only a plan if commuting to Baruch is feasible. (On the other hand, if it isn’t, then the plan of living at home, paying zero rent to the parents, and giving $2,200 out of every $2,500 paycheck to the repay the loan, turns even more undoable as previously if the parents don’t live within commuting distance of Manhattan. Hoboken, Montclair, Newark, Bergen would all be fine for instance.)</p>

<p>As a potential business kid, you have to ask your self if this really “makes good business sense.” We adults are saying, it doesn’t. The NPC would have shown the low aid potential, forewarning you. Just studying at School X is not what it takes to have a secure business future. Being from NJ, why not come up with a local plan and aim for internships and other experience in NYC (or Phila or Wilmington, depending on where you are,) to build your resume and perceived value, after grad. Kelley isn’t a magic key. </p>

<p>Plus, say it worked out perfectly and you landed a great job after college. You want to be they guy with the debt, the guy living by train schedules, unable to participate in the business-related social life, on a miniscule personal budget when you travel on business, packing your own lunch? Or you want to be one of the many with modest debt (the student Direct Loans max would be about $300/month) who can live his life and move forward? Think about it.</p>

<p>To the OP…you are low income. Is your family income sufficiently low that you qualified for the Pell Grant?</p>

<p>The OP’s words in another thread sounded like he was from NY, but he is from NJ.</p>

<p>Can anyone recommend any publics in NJ that could give him a good foundation for investment banking (assuming that he has the chops for that)?</p>

<p>My nephew is in investment banking for GS, but he went to Columbia for undergrad and Stanford for grad school. He had a perfect SAT, NMF, and Val of his high school class…in other words…he was a tippy top student. I would almost wager that someone who didnt have the stats to get merit from IU probably doesnt have what it takes to be successful in Investment Banking. I know it sounds cool, and the folks make a lot of money, but if all it took was going to Kelley, then a whole bunch more would do so. It is not that easy.</p>

<p>Dini…you are too young to be taking such a risk financially on a career that may never happen. I say the same to kids who are premed who want to take out huge loans. most premeds never make it to med school, so taking out big loans as an 18 year old because you want to be an investment banker (or doctor) is just too risky.</p>

<p>Start at a local CC or state school, see how you do, and then transfer.</p>

<p>"“unless you have good advice as far as receiving scholarships or any money towards college.”"</p>

<p>There are none at this point. And if you start school, and try to get them as a current student, you will find that there are very few and they are for tiny amounts.</p>

<p>A couple of other things the OP needs to consider.</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Will his parents allow him to live rent free in their home for ten years post college graduation?</p></li>
<li><p>Will his parents be living where he plans to work? Maybe they plan to retire, and move to a less expensive part of the country, in a one bedroom apartment, in a very rural setting. Anything is possible.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>I don’t want to say exactly my families income but it is between 50k and 80k per year. My GPA was very low in High School, only a 3.23. My SAT score was 1860. No matter where I go to school I do plan on stepping it up BIG time. I recieved 2k in Pell Grant. It really sucks that NJ schools are so bad.</p>

<p>"“If I could land a job of even 40,000 salary by my graduation, I would think I could pay it off in 10 years if I live at home for some time and spend most of my salary towards the loan.”"</p>

<p>ha…first of all, you wont likely be able to live at home. You will have to live where you find a job. You’ll also be hit hard with taxes since you are a single person. I know that low income kids aren’t often used to dealing with/hearing about paying a lot of income taxes because often their families’ incomes fall below the thresholds. Likely, your parents don’t pay any federal taxes.</p>

<p>Plus in that profession, you will have to have professional attire…very nice suits, shoes, car, etc. You’ll be spending a good bit on lunches, dinners, etc. And if you have a love interest at the time, money will go towards that. </p>

<p>I dont think you have any idea how “old” it gets putting much of your money towards a loan. After about a year of living like a pauper while your colleagues are living nicely, you will be kicking yourself for taking on those loans.</p>

<p>AND…worse…what will you do if after TWO years of college and 80k of debt, your parents find out that they no longer can qualify to co-sign? What kind of job can you get at that point? And you’ll be stuck with all that debt and NO DEGREE!!!</p>

<p>low income parents cant qualify for 4 years of co-signing.</p>

<p>Good luck to you. If you get outside awards and if your parents will come up with enough money to make it work, you are good. Even if they are in debt to their eyebrows and it may affect them adversely,what do you care? You will have gotten what you wanted. If they won’t take out loans for you, then you go to community college. </p>

<p>At this point my only options are St. Johns, Indiana, or Community College. By graduation from St Johns I will probably be a bit under 100k in debt. I realize that is 60k better than Indiana, but is it worth that debt considering its less prestigious? Regardless of where I go, I really think that summer internships can help me start paying off whatever debt im in. I know it is uncommon, but I will try to get one after my freshmen year. Also, my uncle owns an apartment building in NYC, so if the commute from home was too much, I would be able to stay there for little or no money.</p>

<p>You need some finaid info that covers loan options. This is the sort of thing you should be educating yourself on, separate from CC. Especially as a potential banker. You can get about 27k in student loans. If your parents borrow a total of 30k, it looks like, when you grad, their payments will be 360+/month. Can they afford that? Be analytical, hunt down the facts. Start here: <a href=“Loans - Finaid”>Your Guide for College Financial Aid - Finaid; Some of their info isn’t updated, so you search for that. This stuff is serious.</p>

<p>You may not be in a position to ask, which is more prestigious. Run the numbers.</p>

<p>

It’s easier to stepping up at a community college.</p>

<p>OP you absolutely CANNOT count on paid summer internships. Very, very few summer internships are paid, and those that are are extremely competitive and go to juniors and seniors. Go to CC for two years and transfer. Tons of people do it and are very successful</p>

<p>

That’s low income in NJ?</p>

<p>Actually, I would say that at this point your best option is a gap year.
At the very least you could retake the SAT and get into Baruch.
100k debt for St John’s is insane, and Indiana is impossible.
CC is a possibility but it doesn’t seem optimal, especially with your career goals.
If you can wait till Tuesday, there’ll be colleges on the NACAC list that are better than St John’s and
will cost you less. At least you can get through your freshman year for cheaper before you try
to transfer into Baruch.</p>

<p>This is a budget for Baruch - it’s a bit higher now but still much cheaper than St John’s, and for a better school for what you want to major in.</p>

<p>Full-Time, Out of state Students, Living with Parent</p>

<p>Tuition: $ 11,040.00
Fees: $ 480.00
Other Expenses: $ 6,804.00
Total: $18,324.00</p>