<p>Am I the only one thinking that OP’s mom is not going to be approved for loan?</p>
<p>If the “investments” are under the table or overseas and not totally reported than that won’t be exposed on the minor credit check that happens and who knows what was put on the finaid forms. If, on taxes, it “looks” like she can manage the payments, then she’ll get approved. The only thing that the OP needs to worry about is if this situation is sustainable for 4 years, if the OP will be at NYU for one year and then need to find a different college and if the amount of debt the OP is taking on can be paid back by the OP after college. It “sounds” shaky because the OP doesn’t understand all the ins and outs, “we” can’t really tell from the information and we don’t know why the “mom” doesn’t understand or why the “mom” doesn’t work. There are many potential scenarios…maybe there’s a dad hiding who is going to “help” the mom or says will help the mom. We can speculate many things.</p>
<p>Why oh why do these crazy stories always come out of NYU bound kids?</p>
<p>kalyfornya, it doesn’t sound like you have some adults who can give you a good explanation of what you are getting into in terms of financial aid. All the posters above are trying to help you, but it adds to your confusion. If I were you, I’d PM mom2collegekids to see if she’s willing to talk to you on the phone. I bet a 30 minute conversation with her will save your life. I’d try that.</p>
<p>kalifornya -</p>
<p>Are you still living outside the US? Is that why your mom will only allow you to study at NYU? Is it the “most respectable” of the colleges and universities that you were admitted to in the US? Do you have any reasonable options in the country where you have been living?</p>
<p>NYU has given you an unaffordable aid package. If your mom isn’t a US citizen and doesn’t have reasonable US assets, it is hard for me to believe that she will qualify for a PLUS or for any other kind of loan originated in the US. You need to sit down with her and work through the numbers. You might need to take a gap year. In your particular case, that could be a very good idea because you could re-locate to the US (if necessary) which might allow you to qualify for in-state status. Check the specific policies of the public colleges/universities in the states where you might like to study. Sometimes this can be done, other times it can’t.</p>
<p>Wishing you all the best.</p>
<p>I’m beginning to regret asking my question here now… But thanks for your help anyway, those who helped. I’ll try to ask my mom to make things more clear for me, but she seems to be extremely confident with her financial situation right now. </p>
<p>The only thing I’m getting from her is that apparently she has enough money to pay for tuition without financial aid (it was actually a random decision to apply for financial aid - we didn’t plan on it at first) but she says something about rather having someone pay for it for her first, since her investment interest is higher than the loan interest… and something about repaying back the loan quickly, about not having to pay back either the interest or the loan itself until I’m out of college (the “at least half-time college student” thing), all that. So she seems pretty confident… She did research on financial aid stuff so I’m (sort of) trusting her. </p>
<p>Again, I’m asking - I’m not exactly sure what an MPN is for. Do I fill out one for my unsubsidized loan and does my mom fill out one for the PLUS Loan?</p>
<p>Momofthreeboys - I’m not sure exactly what you’re trying to say and why you needed to put “mom” in quotes… My dad has been dead for six years, so I’m a bit offended right now, but maybe I’m misunderstanding your meaning. My mom just chooses not to be employed; she hasn’t been since my dad died. We get our money from her investments. </p>
<p>happymomof1 - Sadly, it’s true. I wanted so badly to go to Northeastern, one main reason being that the program I’m in at NYU is horrible and seems like it’s going to be a waste of my time (especially due to the fact that everyone I’ve asked said that the program is incredibly easy, especially for IB students). So I’m not very happy with my situation like everyone else in this thread. My mom doesn’t seem to listen, either (yes, I know, it’s stupid). My mom and I are American citizens. I grew up in America. I would never consider a university in the country I am in now.</p>
<p>@kalifornya</p>
<p>I am also starting NYU in the fall. Our situations are kind of similar… kind of. My mom took out a $24000 PLUS Loan for the year, and I’m taking out $6900 in loans. I was offered at total of $25,800 in scholarships, (which I thought was pretty good for NYU fin-aid and was told countless times that it was a good offer).</p>
<p>I know that it’s quite an investment, which is what I’m sure everyone is trying to say, but as a student in your same situation, (just about), I say, “Go for it.”</p>
<p>It’s a scary thing and may end up being a horrible decision, but that’s not set in stone. Trust yourself, no matter how scary it is. </p>
<p>And be sure to talk with your mom extensively about this. My mom and I talk about it all the time and have come up with a way for me to help pay her to pay my loan. Make sure you work out a plan! A plan is necessary.</p>
<p>I wish you the best of luck because I know that you’re gonna need it as much as I do.</p>
<p>Kalifornya,</p>
<p>If your mom has worked the numbers, this plan may well be workable for the two of you. I do encourage you to have a sit down meeting with her and her accountant or financial advisor so that you can start learning more about your family financials. Should (heaven forbid) anything happen to her, you will need to know where the money is and how she wants it to be administered. If she can pay NYU out of her investments and their income, there must be a serious amount of money there. You do not need to know every single blessed detail of her financial plans, but you do need to thoroughly understand the larger outlines.</p>
<p>Pasdeclaude, your mother took out a $24,000 PLUS loan?
How will she pay that back if she makes $42,000 as you have said earlier?
I would never allow my parent to take out that much debt topay my expenses.
You also said you recieved $40,000 in scholarships.
Why did they drop to $25,800?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Ain’t it the truth!!! Boy, we could create quite a thread if we could copy/paste all the posts from NYU-bound kids with lousy aid pkgs and huge loans on their backs…and for what? Kalifornya doesn’t even like the program he’s in at NYU!!! </p>
<p>And, why are so many of these NYU-bound kids with lousy aid/big loans often either the children of single moms or very low income parents?</p>
<p>@emeraldkity4</p>
<p>Yup, my mom did take out about half her year’s earnings for one year of my college education. Why she did it? I still don’t know. I really didn’t want her to do that, but I think it’s more of an emotional thing for her. I had settled on going to a state university, (UT Austin), and I guess she saw how unhappy I was for a variety of reasons, so she took out the loan. She said she wants me to have a life experience. Now, is it worth it? I have no idea. You have no idea. No one does. It’s scary and daunting. I’m terrified.</p>
<p>As per the scholarship amount dropping, I think I might’ve used the $40000 in the wrong way. I think I was meaning to say that’s somewhere around my mom’s annual income. Going back and reading my posts, I remember what happens now. Lol. For some reason I thought that the scholarship amounts were semesterly, (and obviously they’re not),. So I guess you can imagine my disappointment when I finally realized just how much I miscalculated.</p>
<p>my mom did take out about half her year’s earnings for one year of my college education.>></p>
<p>I forget, are you a rising freshman. It is highly unlikely that she is going to be approved that amount of loans each year since her debt-to-income ratio will be ridiculous. What are you going to do then?</p>
<p>@cap</p>
<p>We’ve talked about it over and over and over again. I know that I’ll come back to UT Austin if things don’t work out. It’s a great school, and I know I will have no problem being accepted. </p>
<p>I know it’s best that you don’t go to a college that you can’t afford, but my mom rather me have that experience. Once again, I don’t know why, but she says that it’s something that she wants to do for me.</p>
<p>Again…a lot of people with very poor financial sense. Who the heck borrows a bunch of money, is lowish income, AND…after all is said and done…likely won’t keep getting approved and then the DEGREE will be from the state school??? (and the big debt from pricey U will still be there!)</p>
<p>If anything, why not go to UT first, then go to NYU for the last two years so the DEGREE has the NYU name on it? </p>
<p>Just nutty!!</p>
<p>@mom2collegekids</p>
<p>I am in no way trying to initiate a conflict over the Internet, but you can address me directly before, (yes, you did offend me with your comment about families with poor financial sense) offending me and belittling my family.</p>
<p>I do understand that me openly posting stuff on here and on the Internet subjects me to all kinds of attitudes, but making me feel belittled on a College help website is not what I expected when I posted on here.</p>
<p>Pasdeclaud, </p>
<p>Mom2ck is not bellitling you. By being honest with you, she is trying get through you. </p>
<p>Your plan does not make any financial sense. You and your mom would have known this, if you calculated monthly payment on 100k loan your family will need to take out over 4 years. Do you even know what it is? </p>
<p>And everyone with any financial sense would know that no experience is worth 100k loan. People who can’t pay cash should not be taking out this much debt for education.</p>
<p>And no offense, but your inability to initially understand financial aid package shows how little you understand about how things work.</p>
<p>@lerkin and @mom2ck</p>
<p>I thank you for your honesty, and I understand what you’re both trying to instill and get me to understand.</p>
<p>I was simply trying to be optimistic for another NYU bound student. All of us NYUers need it, but many of us can’t seem to find it.</p>
<p>Once again, good luck @kalifornya! 
Remember not everything is set in stone, and no one can tell what the future holds! Best wishes!</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Actually, those student loans you are both taking out ARE set in stone - that’s what everyone here is trying to tell you!</p>
<p>I appreciate your optimism . . . but it won’t change the unbearably heavy debt load that both you and your families will have to live with. Sadly, many of us on CC do know, from personal experience, what the future holds for students taking on massive student debt: years (and sometimes decades!) spent struggling to pay off those loans.</p>
<p>I know that your mother is wishing nothing but the best for you . . . but you and she may both be getting more than you bargained for.</p>
<p>Pasdeclaud,</p>
<p>I sincerely hope you and your mom will change your minds. Being optimistic is not going to pay the bills, nor is it going to get your mom approved for parent PLUS loans in subsequent years. </p>
<p>You might google occupy student debt or student debt stories before making your final decision. Read through the stories and see if you still feel optimistic. If you decide to proceed NYU route, please do us a favor and report back in couple of years and upon graduation how it all worked out.</p>
<p>Does NYU offer any kind of guaranteed transfer program? I wonder if these students could arrange to do 2 years elsewhere first without losing the opportunity to attend NYU, and then graduate with the degree from NYU.</p>
<p>pasdeclaud,</p>
<p>Do think through the whole one year at NYU followed by three years at UT thing. Will UT be affordable for you without any aid? How much debt will you & your momneed for those last three years? Financial aid for transfers usually is lousycompared to aid for freshmen. Choosing to start at NYU may ruin your chance of good aid at UT when you transfer back.</p>
<p>I can totally understand that your mom wants you to have at least part of your dream experience. But ask her: would she take out this size of a loan so that you could have a brand new car, or would she insist that you choose a car that is secondhand and has a significantly lower price? Sit down with her and read through the “Voices” section at [Project</a> on Student Debt: Home](<a href=“http://www.projectonstudentdebt.org%5DProject”>http://www.projectonstudentdebt.org) Both of you need to fully understand what you are getting yourselves into. If the two of you do decide that the NYU experience is unique, and worth the financial sacrifice (her PLUS loan for just this one year will work out to something like $250 a month for ten long years) then it is OK to make that sacrifice. But please do be dead certain that both of you fully understand what this kind of sacrifice will mean on her budget.</p>
<p>In our case, $250 is half our grocery bill for the month. I can’t make that size of commitment for Happykid, because the rest of us still have to eat.</p>