I applied to three schools: the University of Georgia, Georgia Tech, and the University of Pennsylvania. I got into UGA with the honors program and UPenn early, still waiting to hear back from Tech. My parents really made me believe that if I got into Penn, I would be able to go, regardless of finances; turns out that is not the case. My EFC at Penn is about 50k whereas at UGA it’s around 17k and it’s looking more and more like I’m not going to be able to go to my dream school. I have until Monday to confirm my enrollment at Penn but I’m just not sure if it’s worth killing myself for the next ten years to pay back a bunch of debts. I’m really bummed about this because I felt like I had my whole future planned after my acceptance to Penn. I was going to be a PPE major and was really excited about that and haven’t been able to find any equivalents at either UGA or Tech. I know that realistically, UGA and GT are ok options but I can’t help but feel super bitter, embarrassed, and upset about not being able to go where I want to and have been working towards.
Has anyone been in this situation and have any advice for avoiding bitterness/getting over passing up a school?
I’m sorry to hear about your situation. I will say that if your offer is way off from the net price calculator you can call Penn to ask the school to review your situation. But this really points out why it is so important to have that “money talk” so parents and kids are on the same page from the start. It is impossible to go back in time and now you have to deal with the disappointment of not being able to afford your dream school. I’m an alum of Penn and loved the school, but I don’t think any school is worth getting into a debilitating amount of debt for.
I think you need to start looking forward and realizing that your glass is half full not half empty. Your hard work and achievements have earned for you a debt free college education at a 4 year university. People all over the world would give up almost anything for that opportunity. Do well in the school that makes sense for you to attend. Remember that to a large extent your college experience will be what you make of it – get involved in the school, meet professors, find friends you want to be with, seek out classes that interest you etc.
I am sorry things didn’t work out as you planned, but I do wish you the best.
@TomSrOfBoston it would probably be around 140k after graduation, so I’d have to make loan payments of about 2,000 each month
I actually already appealed my original FA package, and ended up getting a couple thousand more, but definitely not enough…we’re trying to make a final appeal before Monday to see if we can get anything else. I think I’m going to try to stay positive about going to one of the other schools, but I’m just having a hard time with it right now. Thank you for your replies, I really appreciate you taking the time
@ClarinetDad16 I would probably try to major in finance at either. I’m not planning on going to grad school and also won’t be applying to any other undergraduate schools because I would prefer to stay in-state if I’m not going to Penn since Georgia gives decent merit-based scholarships to residents.
Get your undergrad from UGA or tech, then get a graduate degree from Penn.
I’m wondering what “made you believe” actually meant with regards to Penn. Did they say “you can go and we can pay” or did they say “we’ll figure something out” which turned out to mean “you get to take on a crushing amount of debt if you choose this school but you won’t listen to us anyway so go ahead”.
Did your parents commit to 50k then changed their mind?
Ask for professional judgement if there’s a big difference between your npc results and their offer.
If you hadn’t run the NPC before you applied do so now and see if there’s a big difference. Then, change some parameters, especially equity - since you can’t easily liquidate your house, it’d be an important point to make. They also take into account medical expenses.
It’s true Wharton for finance is just… not in the same universe as UGA or Tech. But any debt you’d take would be your parents’ (you can only take on 5.5k), are they really willing to go 140k in debt for you? Because that’s crazy. Even for a Wharton degree.
@suzyQ7 they’re willing to pay 30k a year @MotherOfDragons I was basically told they would pay; to be fair they told me after they did Penn’s Net Price Calculator, which turned out to be pretty inaccurate. We have a household income of over 200k so I really don’t understand how they thought we would get a ton of financial aid but I don’t blame them for being idealistic @bodangles yes; I have spoken to both the FA offices and Admissions and they said it was easy for us to break the ED agreement since it will be based on our financial situation.
@MYOS1634 Yeah, at this point, I’ve pretty much ruled out Penn unless something drastic happens in the next few days. I’m still trying to figure out what I’ll do if I end up at Tech or UGA. I’m feeling pretty lost but I’ll end up okay.
Have you talked to the FA office at Penn to ask about the discrepancy of the NPC with your actual aid package? NPCs often aren’t accurate for those who are divorced, own a small business, or rental real estate. But if you aren’t in one of those categories and want more info, ask them. You can possible get an extension on your ED decision date if they are still reviewing your FA.
You personally can’t borrow $140K. You can only borrow $5,500 frosh year, and slightly increasing amounts each year after that. You would need a cosigner for more loans or your parents would have to take them out. But you are targeting a finance major, so you know this amount of debt is crazy anyway.
@HRSMom when I started this thread, I meant to say around 60k instead of 50k and couldn’t go back and edit it. I’ve also been talking with my parents for the past hour and they ran some numbers & decided they could up their contribution from what it was originally. So it’s around 30k in loans a year; my mistake, sorry that it keeps changing
@ClarinetDad16@intparent I don’t remember what the FAC exactly said as my mom did it, but it was larger than the 6k I was originally awarded. We contacted them about the discrepancy and some unique financial situations (supporting family members on both sides of my family) and they upped it to 9k.
Run the NPC again with our parents, take a screenshot and send that to Penn, explaining you applied thinking the net cost would e among those lines and that’s what your parents committed to. However checking the role of equity in your expected family contribution will be more important.
All in all parents are expected to dedicate 25-35% of their income to college expenses.
Apply to other colleges - strong ‘finance’ schools. Run the NPC first to see if they’ll be within budget.
So, your budget is 30k + 5.5k (federal loans) + 3-4k savings from your job (if you didn’t have one, start looking now and plan to work full time over the summer.) =39-40k. It’s a decent budget. Since you have the stats to get into Wharton, the goal is to find quickly whether there are any better ‘finance’ schools than UGA honors (a top tier honors program) that are affordable AND where you can still apply.
