<p>Virginia tech is the cheapest school I got accepted to. ( Im OOS) it estimates my total expense to be about 40,000 a year. The financial aid award they offered me would account for 13,600 $ of that... more than half of which is in Loans. I am devastated. I will definitely not be able to afford this. Is going more than 120,000$ in debt worth it to even go to university. Do I have to end up just going to community college ?!!?</p>
<p>anyone ?? input</p>
<p>I’m OOS too. After reviewing the VT’s financial package, I think I’m gonna end up studying in-state (NC) 
Here is some info on my Financial Aid Award Letter
Total cose (OOS) : $39,260.00
My total aid : $23,550.00 (including these loans :Federal Direct Sub Loan ($3,500.00), Federal Direct Unsub Loan ($2,000.00), Federal Perkins Loan ($2,400.00))</p>
<p>I know my financial aid is still relatively high in general but I dont think I can afford to pay off the rest of it. :(</p>
<p>I know. Is it reasonable to go 120k in debt ?</p>
<p>120k is a huge amount of debt. If I were you, I wouldn’t do it (this is just my thought). However, I know that there are some scholarships that would help you pay some of your debt (I think Microsoft has one that pay off 4-year tuition if you major in CS and maintain certain GPA in college).
Did you got accepted to any in-state colleges?</p>
<p>I did but it is just as expensive. I got waitlisted at UCSD but the accounting program is not as respected and the big 4 dont recruit there.</p>
<p>That’s a lot of debt. Have you called the Financial Aid office to explain your situation?</p>
<p>@hokiegirl do you think that would help? I tried but they didn’t seem to be of much help.</p>
<p>I’ve heard of going for 1 year, than establishing in state residency. And reducing you’re tuition like that.</p>
<p>Getting in-state residency as an undergraduate student just in VA for school is difficult so don’t count on that as an option. Here is the link to the residency page with the requirements and the application for in-state rates: [Virginia</a> Residency | Applying to Virginia Tech](<a href=“http://www.admiss.vt.edu/apply/residency.php]Virginia”>http://www.admiss.vt.edu/apply/residency.php)</p>
<p>Is there any other alternatives?</p>
<p>Unfortunately, not many at this late date. Call financial aid and work on an appeal. If there has been some sort of change in you or your family’s circumstances in the past year that the FAFSA didn’t indicate you’ll have a better shot.</p>
<p>If VT is the least expensive of your options then I would suggest looking at community college for a year or two and transferring to a four-year school to finish your degree. Taking out 120k in loans for an undergraduate degree at ANY school is insane; even half that amount is a scary prospect in this economy. </p>
<p>A good guide regarding how much to borrow is to keep your monthly loan payments to 10% or less of your post-grad income (pre-tax), so take a look at what new grads in your field of study make per year and work from that. A student loan calculator like this one [FinAid</a> | Calculators | Loan Calculator](<a href=“Your Guide for College Financial Aid - Finaid”>Loan Payment Calculator - Finaid) will help.</p>
<p>Good luck.</p>
<p>Oh god no don’t go into 120k debt. 50k is a pretty reasonable ceiling.</p>
<p>where were you able to view your financial aid package?</p>
<p>Yes I was. I explained it up there ^</p>
<p>What we want and what we can afford are often two different things. There’s no way you should take on 120K in debt for VT or any of the UC system colleges. I suggest cc and work towards the highest grades you can get. Then transfer to the UC system.</p>