<p>I am currently a sophomore and commuting this year because I didn’t have my finances set straight at the end of last year. Anyway, my school absolutely has no housing for Juniors and up, and instead they have private apartment complexes build on their property. </p>
<p>As a student, I can’t apply the bill to my tuition. I also have a weird financial situation:</p>
<li><p>I have about $32,000 left as a college fund from my grandmother. I go to a state school and pay about $5000 per year. I get about $5000 in grants and scholarships, which seems like a pittance. </p></li>
<li><p>The apartments have a 1-year lease and are not billable to tuition; they expect monthly payments.</p></li>
<li><p>To access my fund each bill has to be transported across the country to be signed by my aunt and uncle. I can’t do this every month. </p></li>
</ol>
<p>So, I technically have the money to pay for an apartment bill, but no real way to access it. I am hoping to get get loans next year to pay for my bill in full, then to get enough extra to pay for an apartment. I’d just pay back the loans with my savings after graduating. </p>
<p>With this situation, I don’t really know what to do. I am scheduling a financial aid meeting this week, but I’d appreciate hearing constructive suggestions. Do keep in mind that my parents do NOT have the money to pay for housing, and “getting a job” doesn’t help when the apartment bill is $600-$800 monthly. </p>
<p>(cross-posted in Financial Aid and Student Life, because they have very different audiences. If one post must be deleted, remove the Student Life thread.)</p>
<p>I'm definitely not in a necessarily bad one, but I do need guidance on what to do for housing next year. Applying a monthly apartment bill to my savings is not possible.</p>
<p>Most students who I know who are financing their housing mainly on loans take out a student loan at the beginning of the year, then mete it out monthly to pay for their apartment. That's what you would want to do. Take out enough so that you will be able to pay the rent not only during the school year, but also during the months of December and January and during the summer months as well (don't rely on finding a job, because you might not).</p>
<p>Apartment complexes built on or near university property are generally used to working with college students and may work with you to give you a lease. I live in NYC, where it is famously difficult to get an apartment, on a research assistant job and my roommate has loans. While neither of us had any pay stubs, we showed our financial award letters and were able to get the apartment. We had to have guarantors, and my father agreed to do it for me (her mom for her). But it's my experience that guarantors are sort of an NYC thing -- my fiance had an apartment in Atlanta without one, and my brother also got an apartment on his own salary.</p>
<p>You shouldn't have a problem requesting the loans for off-campus housing (many students do), but you may want to get a job to supplement the other stuff -- living off-campus also usually means no meal plan, so you'll have to buy your own groceries and eat meals at home. You also don't specify whether the apartments are furnished -- I had to furnish my bedroom in my apartment and it cost me around $500 (IKEA is your friend!)</p>
<p>Ah, the apartments here are "school-sponsored" and rent only to students. My mom will do the guarantor thing if needed, and they are furnished. I lived in a dorm last year so I'm familiar with the deal, it's just the money part that I'm having difficulty with. I will probably get a meal plan again, since our food is pretty good and I cycle a lot, so no weight gaining. </p>
<p>Anyway, the core issue is how to pay, and it's looking like an AES loan will be the way to go, but I do like suggestions. I'm not even considering relying on a job, because the thoughts of losing a job and then needing to pay rent or owing a lease breaking fee scare me. As I said, I do actually have the money, I just can't use it.</p>
<p>my suggestion would be this, and someone please tell me if it's somehow a terrible idea because i'm planning to do something similar next year:</p>
<p>you know how much rent is going to be, right? so just multiply your rent (let's say $600) by the amount of months you'll be living there (let's say 10), get all $6000 of your college fund at once, and then sock it away in a savings account or some other account that isn't your primary checking, dipping in once a month to pay your rent. i'm going to to have to do this next year, using student loans/financial aid (which is payable once, in september) to pay my rent all year. it should work as long as you're good at handling money--no dipping into rent to go out drinking or whatever.</p>
<p>Are you male or female? If you're female I'd say consider stripping once or twice a month and you'll be guaranteed a job and $800+ a month. You only work about five hours a night so it wouldn't conflict with school scheduling.</p>
<p>Otherwise I'd see if you can get state aid for housing. Many government grants are given to students that are unable to pay for housing. They could lower your rent to about $400 or less depending on your need.</p>
<p>If you are commuting to school than you must live relatively close? What's wrong with living at home until you graduate if you don't have the means to pay?</p>
<p>egolikestomach -- I can only use my money for school purposes. Depositing the money into my own account is not allowed because it can't be verified by my lawyer and the trust holders that any withdrawal is going towards schooling. I may be able to pay all rent up front, though. It's going to be about $7500.</p>
<p>You may or may not have this stipulation for your own fund.</p>
<p>Vehicle -- I only live about 15 miles away, and I even bike commute when it's nicer out. But living there last year, and then living at home, I feel way too disconnected, not from parties or social events, but from life in general. I am missing out on opportunities to volunteer on campus and so on. The days I had class I was busy from 9am-8pm, and on my off-days I didn't feel like going in.</p>
<p>Besides, my mom charges me $200 a month to live here, and a train pass is $100 a month, so I'm not even paying much more!</p>
<p>Can't you just get a copy of the lease and send it to the lawyer in charge of doling out the money? Attach a copy of the tuition, fees, food plan, and lease. Call the lawyer (or person in charge of the fund) and see if this is sufficient.
One question--How in the world did you qualify for financial aid if you have $32,000 put away for your college expenses?</p>
<p>$32,000 isn't a lot of money for school. It's non-taxable and it's not listed as an income or asset. My mom makes under $20k, so it's not like I am coming from a $300,000 income home. I get barely $5000 a year aid, which is nothing.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Copter, basically a full ride between gov't cheese, state cheese, Temple money, PHEAA money, my school's own scholarships, etc. I think like $2,000 a year is loaned money which I can pay off immediately through more gov't cheese I will get from my dad.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Eh?</p>
<p>And you know, sadly, $32k really isnt that much in the world of college expenses...</p>
<p>Does the state you live in have some sort of college fund program? Or do any other sort of banks/institutions/whatever? There might be privately run ones, but I don't know. My college savings are through some program run either by the state of Michigan or a non-profit, and I think something like that might work for you (the Michigan one I'm in is MESP, in case you want to google it to see what it's officially called and then search for programs wherever you live). It's specifically for college money, so there are significant penalties for withdrawing money for anything other than college; I don't know the exact details, but I can send in receipts to get reimbursed (for things like books), and I assume there's a way to pay for things like tuition (and probably your housing) directly from the account. </p>
<p>Would putting the money into some sort of account like that work for the lawyer and your aunt and uncle? Or would you be able to have a lawyer in the area your school's in somehow confirm that the money went to pay for your apartment?</p>
<p>Hi, the money can not transfer until I'm 21. Thanks for the suggestion though.</p>
<p>I talked to the lawyer and she is going to examine the will. We are finding if it says "college-related expenses" or "strictly tuition," roughly speaking. I used the money to live on campus last year, and housing is housing. She said she has no reason to believe it won't be OK.</p>
<p>I have also found a place to live, so it's much ado about nothing, I think. If I don't get the fund money, I will use Stafford loans or a PLUS loan.</p>