Hey guys! My family’s income is $150+k, living in northern VA. I received about 34k in aid from Vanderbilt and about 20k from Johns Hopkins. I have not received a packet from UVA yet. To be honest I expected way less from Vandy, but financially it’s been a rougher year for us. On the CSS it specifically asks us if there are any other relatives attending school fall of 2016? Both my mom and brother graduate from graduate school summer of this year. Is there some sort of way we could ask these schools to help us out a little more these first couple years and we’ll pick up the slack more in the final two or something? I hate to ask for more with my family’s high income, but we really do need a bit of help…
I mentioned the CSS question because I’m not sure if there’s any way of these schools knowing two immediate family members are in grad school currently.
Your aid for,the upcoming year is for,the upcoming year…and is not based on a promise to pay more in the future.
Will UVA be affordable for your family now that two other people are no longer on college?
@thumper1 UVA will be if there is a bit of help for this year. We have a lot of things that my parents will be done paying for by this time next year. Past this upcoming year, we should definitely be able to pay comfortably.
Frankly I’m surprised at the amount of aid from Vandy. That’s much better than I would expect from your income so some may be merit. I’m not sure if those schools even consider graduate school in their calculations. You can always ask, expect to be disappointed.
You will be the only one in college when you start in the fall, correct? Everyone else will be done this summer…correct?
That being the case, I doubt you are gong to get additional aid. One person in college…that’s it.
You can borrow some money using a Plus Loan for your first year…and then pay without loans in subsequent years.
How short will you be? $2000 or $20,000?
@thumper1 @“Erin’s Dad” Hello All! Thank you for all of your help and advice! I just wanted to update you guys on the current situation and I’m open to any advice you all have for me! Johns Hopkins offered to cover their loan offers with their Academic Success Award. They also added about $4,000 to their grant. I am extremely grateful for every bit of help. However, I am quite unsure about how the payment process will work. Is there a plan to pay a certain amount of the yearly tuition? Is there a way we can pay for part of it directly and borrow part of the yearly tuition in loans? We will be left with approximately 40k to pay if I go to Johns Hopkins and 34k if I go to Vanderbilt. We have in-state options, such as UVA, but it costs around 30k. Thank you so much for all your help and advice. We’ve never really been through this process before.
If your current FA package from Johns Hopkins does not include loans, you can borrow up to $5,500 on your own, and your parents can apply for a PLUS loan to cover the rest. If, for some reason, they don’t qualify for a PLUS loan, you’d be eligible to borrow another couple of thousand on your own, but that’s all.
Is that loan amount per year?
@thumper1 - The OP hasn’t said how much his parents would need to borrow, only that they’d pay “part” and borrow “part.”
Good questions. Does the amount you say is funded already include loans? If not then you can take out a Direct (Stafford) loan of $5.5K. The schools expect your family to be the primary payer of attendance costs through current income, savings, and borrowing. You need to talk to your parents about what they can pay.
Ok…I’ll weigh in. If your parents need to borrow $30,000 a year for you to attend Hopkins, you need a more affordable option.