<p>Hey everyone, I'm attending UCSB [University of California, Santa Barbara] this fall... I'm having quite a problem here and I have no idea what to do. I received my financial aid letter quite a while ago and was initially ok with it. However my family is going through some unstable financial conditions (Possible job loss/independent siblings attending graduate school, etc.) so I had waited a little longer before I determined whether or not to accept the aid package.</p>
<p>Well, I waited long enough. The aid package is unacceptable after all; my dad (the source of my family's income) job status has gone from just "unstable" to "probable loss". I have two older siblings (who are too old to be considered dependent, aka less money for me from FAFSA status) who are attending graduate school this year (more $$ from my dad), not to mention some real estate endeavors gone wrong (I really don't want to discuss this.)</p>
<p>The main problem is that they offered me not much grant money, the regular subsidized/unsubsidized loans, and smacked 19k on PLUS loans. My parents CANNOT afford to chuck that 19k onto the home loans/siblings college loans/etc. that they're already trying to pay off.</p>
<p>I know I'm cutting it far too close to determine my financial issues now, and I'm really nervous. I really want to just kick my arse for delaying this long, but truth is I was far too scared to know what to do. Now I've got my act together.. two weeks before the payment deadline. Apparently UCSB's finaid office offers these review forms that I can submit for them to reevaluate my financial situation, but I have NO idea how long it will take them to process. I'd like to call them, but I'd have to wait until Monday for their financial aid office to open.</p>
<p>I really don't know what to do right now. If anyone can provide any form of insight, please do! I'll be really grateful. Do schools often provide extra money/loans in situations like mine? Am I cutting things too close? Anything if you can help me. Thank you!</p>
<p>Unfortunately, the bottom line is that UCs don’t give much aid to anyone. Even if your dad had lost his job, they are not a meet full need school that will just provide a grant. All of the UCs are in financial crisis, getting a cent out of them at this point will probably not be possible.</p>
<p>If you want more student loans, if you’re current loans are not at maximum you can probably get an unsubsidized Stafford if you don’t already have one.</p>
<p>Bottom line, you will most probably need to do what most do when they can’t afford a UC–take 2 years at a CC.</p>
<p>You really have left it much too late to be dealing with this. You can ask the school about the possibility of a special circumstances adjustment, but it is highly unlikely they will come up with anywhere near $19k in grants. And at this late stage it may be too late to find out where you will stand before school starts.</p>
<p>Whatever you do, do not start school just assuming you will find a way to pay for this. If you start and cannot pay the bills you will end up not being able to return next semester and you won’t be able to transfer anywhere else until you pay what you owe as the school will not release your transcripts while you owe them money. I have several times seen posts from students this has happened to. If you cannot get the financing sorted out in advance then defer for a semester or, as hmom suggested, try a CC for a couple of years.</p>
<p>Oh wow, if I made it sound like I’m randomly hoping that the school can scrounge up 19k in grants, that is NOT what I meant! I"m hoping to just request other forms of loans like stafford loans/private loans in order to draw out PLUS loans as little as I can; If I can reduce my PLUS loans by about 5k my parents will already be satisfied. That’s all I’m aiming for. However I’m still wondering if even this is possible.</p>
<p>The maximum Stafford loans for a freshman are $5500. You can’t get any more than that. </p>
<p>Private loans in the students’ name require a cosigner. The cosigner must have good credit and they are ultimately just as responsible for the debt as the student. So if your parents cosign for you they are as responsible for the debt (if for any reason you do not pay it or pay it late) as they are for the PLUS loan. Private loans are not awarded by the school. They are something you go out and apply for at a lending institution.</p>
<p>Ok, thanks. I’d hate to ask for a recommendation, but what do you think I should do in this situation? I’m at a standstill until Monday, and all I can do right now is continue to look up various loans and research how they work. I believe that if I were to accept my current loan package right now, I’d easily be on time for my payment deadline. Is it possible to accept my loans (for now) and continue to work with the school afterwards? Or do I have to get a grip on my financial aid situation with UCSB before accepting the loans?</p>
<p>You are in a really tough spot. If dad’s job loss is only “probable,” there isn’t really a reason to file a special circumstances appeal. You can’t appeal based on something that hasn’t happened. The bad real estate deals probably won’t factor in, either (although I don’t know the specifics of the situation).</p>
<p>Your option at this point is a private educational loan - you can borrow up to the amount of the PLUS offer. </p>
<p>If your parents were to apply for PLUS & be denied based, you’d only get an additional $4000 unsub loan. It doesn’t sound like your parents would be denied, though. If they were, you’d still need to take out a private loan.</p>
<p>If your dad does lose his job, you can appeal at that time. I do hope that doesn’t happen, though.</p>
<p>Hm, I think my dad has come to some form of solution, though I don’t really understand how it works. Out of the 18k offered in the PLUS loans, he wants to only take out 10k and put the other 8k on his credit card… but why? Sorry, I don’t really understand credit cards/loans that well still, (still looking things up…). He tells me to trust him, does anyone know what he’s doing? Um… I don’t.</p>
<p>Sounds like a bad idea to me. CC interest rates are very high - much higher than a PLUS loan would be. I can’t imagine why he would be doing this. he presumably has his reasons though.</p>
<p>Can you ask the UCSB finaid dept about whether your siblings can be counted in the number of family members? If they are dependent students, UCs will count grad students in the mix, though I don’t know what they would do over age 24, but it is worth asking.</p>
<p>Of course, your EFC needs to be low enough that adding them to the mix would help for this to matter</p>
<p>Sounds like a bad idea to me. CC interest rates are very high - much higher than a PLUS loan would be. I can’t imagine why he would be doing this. he presumably has his reasons>></p>
<p>If your siblings are over 24, they should be paying for grad school themselves–not your dad!</p>
<p>With his current financial situation, adding $8k in credit card debt is an incredibly bad idea. And that’s just for freshman year–what’s he planning to do for the three years after that?</p>
<p>Please consider going to CC for two years or taking a gap year so you can earn some money. You’re talking about taking on a crushing amount of debt, and it’s just not worth it.</p>
<p>If you are inclined to look at private student loans, a website that I have found of great value is simpletuition.com It is an independent company that evaluates the difference student loans available, privates, Staffords, and PLUS loans. At least this way you’ll have some numbers that you can see whether or not it would be worth it.</p>