Funding doesn’t mean full ride. I don’t think your parents will qualify for loans without a job. Even if they can borrow $20k/year for you, will they be able to repay the loans if you can’t? How will they pay for your siblings’ educations if they use up all their borrowing power for you?
@austinmshauri Private loans as in under my own name. Right now I have 10,000 from personal savings and the 5,500 federal loan.
OP- believe me- I am trying to help. But starting out a career as a newly licensed architect with a boatload of loans is not the way to go. And not every loan is the same- if you needed to borrow for your fifth year- after you’ve proven yourself academically in the program, and are on the verge of finishing- that’s quite different from borrowing for Freshman year when ANYTHING- calculus, physics, or another requirement, could lower your GPA to the point where you wouldn’t qualify for a merit award.
Do you have any options which only require the federal loans (which are less than 30K all in)? Let’s start there.
And I’m worried that you haven’t really done the math here- you post “a little bit my first year”- exactly how does $1800 or $2100 in aid help you? You aren’t looking for “a little bit my first year”; you are looking for a ton of support for the entirety of the program in order to make this affordable.
What are you using for collateral?
I think you’ll have a hard time convincing a school that your father didn’t earn $20k in overtime. Schools don’t really care that much WHERE the money comes from, just that it is there. If the 2017 income is $100k, and $20k of that is overtime, then 2018 should be $80k. If the job loss has happened and the severance been paid, even if it is in 2019, you can show them that with a final pay stub or a letter from the (former) employer.
Yes, your family needs that money from the severance to pay current bills. You have to show that to the school and they have to find it reasonable (health insurance payments, mortgage payments).
Merit aid comes from the admissions office, or in your case the department. They normally don’t care that much about finances, just why you ‘deserve’ this award through your stats and work. It is common for departments to give awards only to upperclassmen who have earned them through college work and not high school work. That has nothing to do with your parents’ employment situation or your financial need, just your work in college.
You have to decide if you can afford $20k. You’ll have the $5500 loan, you could earn $3000 between now and next Aug. You’ll need to borrow another $12000 or so to get through your first year, and even if you get a $2-3k department award as a sophomore, you’re looking at borrowing an additional $10k per year (in addition to the direct loans). That’s a lot of debt.
Two options: 1) ask if you can defer for a year (keeping the same OOS waiver); you may be offered some need based FA in the next FAFSA cycle if your father’s 2018 income was really down to just the $20k severance.
2) Ask if you can attend a community college in your state and transfer in as a junior, when it is possible your FAFSA numbers have changed enough to get a Pell grant.
My job ended in April when my kids were seniors in hs. At that time, FAFSA only used the prior year’s taxes and I was able to show that I’d earn half that amount in the following year (received vacation pay but no severance) so each school used professional judgment and my kids did receive a Pell grant although one received the full amount and the other less than half of that, so you can’t tell what schools will do using the exact same information. Even if the school uses professional judgment, you may not get the full Pell grant.
Say what? These do NOT exist without a qualified co-signer. Period.
At this point in time…you have NOTHING to negotiate with. Your dad has not yet been laid off. In addition, he will receive $20,000 in severance which sounds like about three months of his salary. So…what basis do you have for reconsideration of your awarded financial aid NOW. Your financial situation won’t actually change until at least May…and with the severance…maybe July.
Plus…your dad could get a new job in the interim…and your financial situation won’t change…at all.
What is your affordable option? What is it?
And for the record…many successful folks start out at community colleges and commute from home because that is what their family finances can sustain.
No one is going to lend you that much money without a cosigner. You don’t have the income to show that you can pay it back
Sorry ajneer. We’ve been there, done that with not much luck. Kiddo is not at KSU, but studying architecture elsewhere. read through some of these older posts found on the KSU thread.
http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/kansas-state-university/
Just for anyone else who might read this thread later on, I’d like to say after applying to a multitude of private scholarships, I won a pretty big one from a local charity foundation. So I am pleased to announce that I have signed up for enrollment, secured some options for an additional private student loan if we still need it when the final bill is due, and I’ll be starting at KSU in the architecture program, class of 2024. So a big thanks to the person(s) who told me to give up and find another school, I guess I didn’t have to?
@ajneer, That’s great news. For other people who might read this later on, please share which charity foundation provides a scholarship that’s substantial enough to cut into a $20k/year gap. Is it specifically for architecture or is any major eligible?
Congratulations on starting at KSU! My son loves it there. Make sure you are favoring in housing. It is very reasonable there but still an expense. The architecture building is wonderful. My son studies there a lot. You will enjoy it and the students and faculty are very nice. They also have a thing called Cat’s Cupboard made for students who are strapped on finances. It is a place you can just go into and get food, gloves, toilet articles etc for no cost. There is no stigma for using in and the Greek system along with other student organizations keep it stocked. So when you miss a meal at the cafeteria you can go grab something.
Enjoy it!
If the school of architecture does not give freshmen merit money, then it is no surprise that you did not get any. It’s against their policy. You are not eligible for those merit awards listed because you are in a program that does not qualify for them freshman year.
Public schools usually do not meet full need. That you are getting in state tuition is their concession to you. Many state schools focus on giving the bulk of fin aid on their state residents. You are getting federal entitlements and that’s it.
I don’t recommend co-signed loans. Both you and your parent are stuck with the loan instead of just you. The lender gets double security with two signers. Better you have your parents take out PLUS and you enter into contract to repay them.
Still, after all of this, I recommend you call your admissions officer and your financial aid officer, and ask how they put together your package and broach the subject of a review.
Congratulations! Getting that outside scholarship took you where you needed to be. You are fortunate to have received it…and your persistence in applying for scholarships paid off.
I’m curious, however. Did you ever appeal your financial situation at Kansas State, and if so…how did that go. That was the subject of this thread…
You might need to defer until next year, and work.
It might be better to wait until you know that your dad has another job before you start college, if you want this program.
Otherwise, where can you go locally?
Would you be eligible for transfer scholarships from architecture school at K state?
Could you do gen eds at community college and then transfer?
@ajneer That’s great news about the outside scholarship. Is it a 4 year scholarship or only one year? If only one, are you confident that you can fill in the gap when that scholarship goes away for years 2-5? It sounds like you expect the Architecture department to fill that gap in but what if they don’t?
Thanks, and yes the scholarship is from the Greater Kansas City Foundation. Charity might not be the best word to describe it but they sponsor a lot of local organizations, and they have multiple scholarships for all majors.
@thumper1 not yet. Like most people said we will have to wait until the actual date of unemployment. Though I received the scholarship and I’m waiting to hear back from quite a few others, if I don’t receive any I still have slightly less than half of my tuition to cover and our normal income was around the Pell grant threshold so we will see.