So, my family is telling me not to stress, yet of course I can’t help it.
I got my aid package a little bit ago, in short it looks like this
Since I’m not getting room and board (The college is like 5 minutes from where I live) the total cost is 43,170.
Merit Scholarship: 22,000
School Grant: 6,880
Total Gift Aid: 28,880
After federal loans, my total out of pocket cost is 8,790k/y, however I was granted a federal work study for 2k, which if I accepted, my cost per year would be 6,790/y. I don’t know if I will accept the work study, since I have a job already and could just take more hours but, I might accept depending on the positions during the job fair. So that’s up in the air. Anyway, I will have about 10k saved up before starting school, so I could pay that out of pocket cost. And after calculating it, I should be able to continue paying that fee. However I understand there are so many variables I can’t account for, but the college seems really great. My biggest goal was to ensure my parents don’t take out loans for me because A) I don’t want to put them in the position and B) My older brother will probably have to have them do the same for him, granted he is going into engineering
I’m mostly worried because I will probably get either a masters or phd afterwards, considering I want to major in neuroscience and minor in genetics. Either wanna do neuroscience research or genetic counseling. But that will of course cost money. Again, I’m probably just stressing, it’s what I do best.
43,170 - 28,880 = 14,290 - 5,500 = 8,790
8,790 - 2,000 w/s - 3,000 summer = 3,790
It looks do-able using your 10k.
Accept the work/study. It doesn’t obligate you to anything. You can decide later to take one of the campus jobs or not. Ideally you don’t want to work more than 15 hours a week, unless you have a short commute and are really familiar with the job maybe you can push it to 20.
If you find Jr year you are interested in the PhD and it seems the right path, those are funded, meaning your tuition is waived and you get a research or teaching assistant job to pay your expenses. MS are not funded usually, though sometimes you might get it or a Teaching assistantship or RA position anyway. You will have access to graduate student federal loans. You can do an analysis then when you have more info and profs to consult. I think you are just borrowing worry in advance for nothing right now.
Being analytical and looking to the future is find, but one of the best things you can do for yourself and your life is to learn to manage stress and have some measure of equanimity. Use mental and physical resources like yoga etc.
If you choose to start PhD after college, it probably would not cost you a dime extra as there are usually stipends or TA/RA positions in graduate school. I started grad school with only $500 in my pocket and graduated with a lot more.
Remember that your work study is paid to you like a regular job during the year. It’s meant to be used for daily expenses or to be saved towards later payments. It won’t be available to you when you pay that first bill (which should be fine since you have savings.) You can earn “up to” 2K which means you can accept it and only earn a grand if that is what you have time for (or none of it if you can’t find a work study position or get enough hours from it.)
You say you don’t want your parents to take out loans which is smart but do you know if they are planning to contribute past housing and feeding you? If you are on your own, I do think you can manage it but if they throw in a couple hundred a month that would be something to factor in. Make sure to look for additional scholarships on campus over the next 4 years…many schools have some within their majors. Find out how those scholarships will be used (some schools will let you use them towards the “gap”… difference between financial aid and EFC before cancelling out grant funds.)
You might look into whether the school offers a no interest payment plan. For example, for my D, we break up what we owe over 10 months (June through March.) There was a small fee but it allows us to use monthly income as opposed to emptying out savings or taking out loans. I’m not positive it’s available to students but would be worth looking into.
What are your other options? Are they more affordable? Would they also include student loans?
When I was in college I had a work study job where I had to sit in an office for an hour while the workers took their lunch break. I would answer the phone and take messages. Sometimes they would have me do some typing. Five hours a week in the middle of the day. Accept the work study and see if there is something that can easily fit into your day and keep your off campus job.
Thanks for the comments guys!