<p>Hi everyone! I've committed to PSU a while ago and I finally was able to see my
financial aid package from elion website.</p>
<p>It looks like they gave me about 15.5k(I know it's a lot coming from psu lol; however, I am now a bit lost to how I am going to pay for room and boards.</p>
<p>I've applied to several third party scholarships (which I didn't hear back yet), but to be safe, I'm trying to find back up plans.</p>
<p>I've talked with my counselor about how I'm going to come up with 10k and she said I should try to apply for stafford loan(which i do not know how to apply nor if penn state offers??) and look for private loans.</p>
<p>I was wondering, is it better to take private loans from like pnc or get stafford loans?</p>
<p>Thank You!!</p>
<p>I recommend that you post this over on the financial aid forum; there are a few parents who are very familiar with the ins and out of financial aid. (Did you ask your counselor how to apply for a Stafford?) I believe you will be able to take out a $5500 Stafford your freshman year and that you will need a co-signer for any additional borrowing. (Banks do not typically make unsecured loans to people with no credit history.) You might also be able to close the gap by working over breaks and part-time during the school year. Did PSU offer you work study?</p>
<p>thank you for the information! I’ll definitely talk to my counselor, and see what other people said in the financial aid forum. </p>
<p>By the way, PSU didn’t offer me a work study… which is a bummer…actually they might have, but work study wasn’t listed in my financial aid summary so I’m just going to assume that they didn’t give me one :(</p>
<p>You could try emailing the finaid office, but I’d wait until you talk to your counselor in case other questions come up. You can still work part-time, even if it’s not strictly work study. My son did.</p>