Help Paying for UW Madison

Paying for College
1

Hello, I’m a freshman one month into my first semester at UW Madison. I’m thinking pre med and currently a bio degree.

My parents are just deciding to get a divorce, and I am one month into school here. My tuition bill hasn’t been paid because my father does not have the money ( even though he told me this school is affordable and now suddenly says he can’t pay),and it’s 13K because I’m out of state. My father also refuses to consign any private loans I could take out, so I feel very stuck in paying this bill. If this split happens, I would be with my mom, who would then go find a factory job that would make 25-30K per year, drastically changing my EFC and what I can afford. If I was with my dad, the family income would be 75-100K per year. However, I am going to be with my mom, and no longer think I can afford this school.

FAFSA came out already for the 2017-18 school year and the divorce case hasn’t been solved yet, which means I would still have to pay 13K per year. Is there any other way this cost could be brought down? Should I just transfer out before first semester ends? I haven’t paid any bills for tuition yet, so it would be easy to leave I guess. Would it be smarter to finish the semester and then transfer to a more affordable college? Any advice at all would be great, I’m lost and I don’t know what to do(I am a first generation college student, so I really don’t have a clue). Thank you.

My questions would be:

  • Can my mom co sign a loan with me and get approved when her income is 25-30k, she hasn't been working for a good 2 years, but her credit score is good?
  • Should I stay at UW for the semester, the first year, or the first two years?
  • Is it smart to take out all these loans for just an undergrad in biology?
  • Are there any loans that don't require a co signer?
  • Should I stay at UW for two semesters and wait for the divorce to be settled out, then the fafsa to be properly filled out with my moms info (so it's more affordable)
  • Talk to the financial aid office? Do you think they would do much at all to help me?

Thank you all for reading this.

2

Sorry to hear about your situation. A few questions:

  1. How is it that you were able to start without paying your bill?
  2. How are you calculating $13,000? Out-of-state tuition, room, board, and fees total about $48,000.
  3. What is your home state?
3

Have you contacted the financial aid office to ask about nonpayment consequences?

How did you pay for your dorm or apartment and food/books?

Did you get accepted to any affordable schools in your home state?

4

My father paid for it all, but now he’s backing out. No, I haven’t called them but I do know that my spring classes will be put on hold. I did get accepted into uic, but do all the offers made to me my senior year of high school still stand?

5

@brantly

  1. I was able to start because the tuition bill comes out the end of the month September, so 2 weeks into the start of first semester classes.
  2. I had gotten 5k from fafsa, a private 1k scholarship, and 6k non resident grant. This is 13k in tuition for one semester, not including room and board. For the total year, it would be 26k in tuition plus 10k board and other misc charges that makes it 38-39k ish total.
  3. Home state is Illinois.
6

Right, you won’t be able to register for Spring semester with a hold for unpaid tuition. You won’t be able to transfer after your first semester if the tuition bill remains unpaid because UW won’t release your grades/transcript to the new school.

Can you beg your dad to pay so that you don’t have to withdraw/drop out of college?

What about grandparents or other relatives?

7

What happens if I withdraw? Do I still owe them the money? I’ve begged already enough it’s not going to happen. I have to find others that are willing to co sign a loan because it’s a high risk for them, and even relatives say no.

But is there anything that the school can do for me if I pay the first semester bill? Is it ok if I pay the bill late? I’ve heard it takes a good month for the money from a loan to go through to the school.

Will they do anything at all?

8

The tuition 50% refund date was 9/30 if all classes were dropped by that date. Not sure when/if there is a 25% refund date. You really need to call the financial aid office as soon as possible to discuss your issues and options.

9

Yes, you can pay it late. The $100 late fee has likely already been added.

10

I am so sorry this is happening to you. During orientation at my son’s college a speaker said the #1 reason students drop out mid year is finances. His school seems to have some emergency plan in place for students like you. I think you should make an appointment with someone in the financial aid office and tell them what you are telling us. They might have some sort of emergency funds available. Your mother can probably qualify for Parent Plus loans but she might not feel comfortable taking that debt. The merit aid you were offered at the other school is probably not still on the table but you can try. You probably know that FAFSA for 2017-18 will be last years income but for 2018-19 if she makes less than $30k and she is the parent you primarily live with you’ll probably qualify for a full Pell grant of about $5500. That’s really not enough to make it “worth it” to have a low income. I hope you can get some answers from your financial aid office. I’d also be doing some COA calculations for some in state schools and think about transferring after you finish the semester or year. Good luck to you. I can’t imagine a parent doing this.

11

^Not to pile onto your dad, but it’s a jerk move to tell your kid you’ll help to pay for college and then just back out of it. He gets an F.

As for what you can do, talk to UW and ask if anything can be done to get you paid through this first semester, so that you can successfully transfer. That also sort of buys you time in hopes that your dad comes around.

Meanwhile, look at Green Bay, Whitewater, Point, Platteville, etc. Since we have reciprocity with Minnesota, you can check pricing on Minnesota-Morris and others in the MN system too. Ah, and do check on the other school that admitted you – if enough merit aid is still there, that might work too.

Wherever you decide to transfer, do well in school this semester so that you can successfully transfer.

12

I believe that your mom can co-sign a parent PLUS loan, but other people here may know better. I’m sorry you are going through this.

13

You may need to withdraw. You certainly should NOT go to this school next semester. Your mom probably does not want to sign a plus loan since she’d be responsible for it.

If you truly are premed, then the LAST thing you should be doing is taking out a bunch of loans!!!

This school is not (and never was) affordable for you or your family. Have no idea why your dad thought it was.


[QUOTE=""]
My father paid for it all, but now he's backing out.

[/QUOTE]

? What does this mean? PLEASE be more clear in your posts. On one hand you’ve said that nothing has been paid for (except thru FA), and on the other you’ve said, “my father paid for it all.” I think the truth is that he hasn’t paid a dime. Please clarify.

I am so sorry that your dad said he’d pay, and now won’t. Frankly, even without the divorce this school wasn’t affordable…your dad’s income isn’t high enough. With a current family income of $75k-100k it makes no sense that your dad said this school is affordable (since obviously there isn’t a college fund and his income isn’t high enough).

Today, go to the FA office and tell them that you have NO means to pay anything more towards your bill. Find out what happens if you withdraw NOW vs finishing the semester.

PLEASE BE AWARE that if you complete this semester, and owe any money, you will NOT be allowed to enroll at any other school while you still owe this school money!!! (sounds like you’d owe around $10k-12k for THIS semester)

Asking dad to pay now isn’t going to work. DAD COULD NEVER afford this school. There are people who are so lousy with money that they’ll say that X is affordable and that they’ll pay for X even though their paycheck says a BIG FAT NO. And someone with his income isn’t likely going to take on a Plus loan when also facing a divorce.

Even using mom’s income in the future is NOT going to help enough. This school is not affordable. Period.

NO! DO NOT stay for 2 years. NO!

DO NOT on a bunch of loans for a bio degree or premed!

So sorry that you’re going thru this. I hope that the school will be able to cancel your debt if you withdraw now.

If the school tells you that you’ll owe for the entire semester, even if you drop out now, then you should stay for the semester (not longer).

14

I’m sorry you’re in this situation. Do not try to take PLUS loans to pay for this school. If you have to borrow more than the federal student loans (~$5500/year), then the college is unaffordable.

Has your dad paid or not? Visit the financial aid office and find out. If he has, finish the semester. If he hasn’t but you’ll owe if you leave now, finish so you get the credits you’re paying for. If he’s on a payment plan and only paid for part of it, you may have to drop out before any more payments come due. In that case, you’d have to completely withdraw (registration, dorm, food plan) in writing.

When you apply to other colleges you can ask for a professional judgment if your parents divorce because that’s a huge change in situation, but I don’t think that will get you enough extra money at a state school to make it affordable. If there’s an unpaid balance, you may end up having to take a gap year to work so you can pay it off and get your transcripts released. You may have to commute to a local school or finish your first two years at a cc.

15

Don’t take on huge loans.

You don’t mention your family income. Does your mom work? What is her income?

What about dad?

It sounds like you got a $5500 loan by completing the FAFSA, but only 1/2 of that would apply to this term. Ditto any scholarships or grants.

Please, immediately go and talk to the dean of students. Explain your financial situation. He isn’t going to be able to get you money, but perhaps he can help you withdraw in such a way that your financial impact will be less. You will need to have documentation of your parents’ separation.

The reality is…the school isn’t going to give you money because your parents are going too get divorced. Many couples separate, but get back together.

And as hard as this might be…please talk to your mom about having something in her divorce settlement about college costs.

16

I think the OP’s comment that the “dad paid for it all” was in response to my question about how was dorm/apartment and books paid for thus the OP was not saying the tuition for the first semester has been paid.

17

@prezbucky The home state is Illinois, and not Wisconsin so not sure if your comments about other UW schools and MN reciprocity are applicable?

UW-Platteville does have a special tuition agreement for Illinois residents: http://www.uwplatt.edu/admission/tsi

There’s also the MSEP for certain UW campuses (not UW-Madison): http://uwhelp.wisconsin.edu/paying/nonresident.aspx

18

Just to emphasize what has been said - you will owe at least half of the tuition for this semester even if you withdraw now. Even though the bill isn’t due yet, you will still have to pay at least half of the semester’s tuition. If you don’t pay, you won’t be able to enroll next semester and more importantly, you won’t be able to enroll anywhere else because your transcript won’t be released by the UW. You need to make this clear to your dad.

19

oh, ok. I missed that.

Under the MSEP program, annual “all-in” price is around $18,500 at UW-Eau Claire – $9250 per semester. I imagine the price would be similar at the other UW system schools that participate (most do).

UW-Platteville’s Tri-State price is about $19,300 for the year ($9650 per semester).

20

UW Madison is an excellent school, but like all excellent schools, not worth massive debt – ESPECIALLY not when you’ll be going into massive debt for med school (if you make it there).

One of my professors went to UW Plateville and is widely regarded as the best physics professor here (and I go to a strong physics school). Ain’t no shame in going to a less “prestigious” UW. It’s a strong system.