Financial Aid Award Letters?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Barnard College
21

<p>Thank you for your honest assessment. Your daughter should consider herself lucky that you were so honest when it comes to money, a generally touchy subject in my family (as you can see) for whatever reasons. I'm still weighing the pros and cons of both schools and I'm doing overnights at both. My mom has told me that we can figure out the money situation whether through loans or otherwise, so I still have hope. With any luck, I'll be at Barnard next year fulfilling my dreams at a college I actually want to attend and will actually be happy at. Barnard '11!!!</p>

<p>PS: Sorry if I came off as rude or or spoiled ungrateful at any point in this thread. It's just a really stressful time. After getting rejected ED, I finally got accepted somewhere I am genuinely interested in and I just hate the idea that there's a chance I might have to give that up too.</p>

<p>PPS: To all you parents out there, be honest and upfront with your kids about your finances early in the admissions process. If you can only afford in-state tuition or you aren't planning on giving any funding, let your kids know early on. That way your children won't be in the same situation as me, working hard to get into a top-notch school in NYC only to discover she can only pay for half.</p>

22

<p>bad, I'm thinking that your parents might want you to spend down the money you have from your great-grandmother, first --as that probably accounts for a good chunk of your EFC. It sounds like your mom is willing to help you cosigning to borrow money -- so that's better than some situations -- cosigning is actually a very big deal because it leaves your parents on the hook for the payments if you can't keep them up at any time. </p>

<p>I personally am very grateful that my daughter is able to attend Barnard, but I wouldn't like to see my daughter end up with more than about $20K of student loans -- and I don't think any college is worth a student taking on more than $45K of debt as an uppermost limit. So what I am saying is that is that even though I am delighted that my d. can go to Barnard..... if she had to borrow $60 or $80K do do it, I would have strongly advised against it.</p>

<p>Keep in mind that college is 4 years of your life. After that comes the rest of your life. It's not long before those 4 years of college are a distant memory. The check you will have to write every single month won't be.</p>