Financial Aid Vs. Loan

Student Lounge International Students
1

I have received an offer from Purdue. My family income is around 18 lakhs per year. I will be able to pay for two years without having to take a loan. However, I won’t have any funds left for the remaining two years.
To meet the requirements should I apply for financial aid that Purdue offers or should I take a private loan from India? The interest rate on the financial aid is a lot lesser but then again I have heard lots of problems relating to this aid. First of all, do I qualify for it? I have checked the website but thought it would be better to ask a 3rd party. What are the pros and cons of asking for it? Since I already received an offer it shouldn’t affect the decision, right?

Also, what if I have a US Citizen who is planing to fund me?

Lastly, I am waiting for replies from other universities but in case I don’t make it, is Purdue Engineering worth the money? I know it is well ranked and has lots of Indians but is it really that good? Since it has a high acceptance rate, its academic quality seems questionable. Do the graduates get into ivies/MIT etc for post-grad?

2

  1. You need to speak directly with Purdue about their aid policy. You need to find out if you will even be eligible to apply for any aid in future years if you didn’t apply this year. You will not lose your acceptance if you ask about money now. Don’t worry about that.

  2. You need to speak with that US Citizen, and find out what kind of help he/she is ready, willing, and able to give you. That person may also want to speak with Purdue.

  3. Purdue has a fine engineering program. Whether or not it is better than your options in India is a whole other story. To learn about specific grad school admissions, contact the department where you plan to major, and ask where their graduates end up.

3

I figured that I won’t be getting a lot of aid anyway :stuck_out_tongue: Guess I’ll take the private loan if I go to Purdue. Thanks for the info! I will contact the departments.