hey everyone. I’ve run out of options and I was wondering if you could help me. Basically what had happened is that I had two choices for schools; Loyola Chicago and Marquette University. Loyola is ~25 a year and Marquette is ~17. My heart is set on Loyola, so I committed there three weeks ago. Something you should know though; my biological dad left me and moved to Iran to avoid child support at the age of four. Prior to committing, I emailed him and asked him to pitch in 15 a year since he never paid for child support. He responded saying he will, and we were all so excited. Now it’s three weeks since committing day and he’s bailed on us. My mom does not have the capability of paying anything and I don’t expect her to since I have a younger sister also, so there goes all the PLUS loans. Now she just sat me down and yelled at me and told me that she won’t co sign for Loyola on any private loans since it’s about 9 thousand more. So guys, bottom line is, what should I do? I have until Tuesday to decide, but it seems pretty clear I have to go to Marquette. does anybody know an investor or anything that can loan out money at a much less interest rate? Or a different government loan? I can’t stress to you enough how badly I want to go to Loyola. Thank you guys
Peace. Love. Culvers
You need to switch to the school you can afford if they will still let you. Don’t take in a lot of debt – and don’t ever rely on your deadbeat dad again. Be strong and go what you need to do your debt is low and you get a degree. And it isn’t Ava’s trade off – Marquette is higher ranked than Loyola, you aren’t sacrificing the quality of your education.
What’s your resident state? What’s your FAFSA EFC?
I live in Chicago and EFC was around 3000
Your mom is being super smart about not signing those loans. But how are you going to pay for Marquette even? Is that $17K after your federal loans and Perkins are already taken out (so you have to come up with that still after those loans)?
Yes, that 17k I have to take out in private loans anyway. I’ve got about 10k in bonds my mom has been saving that’ll be split between the next four years, but besides that we have nothing
Sorry, but you’re wrong to be asking your low-income mom to take out Plus or co-sign those loans. Your mom will be facing the same problem when younger sibling goes to school.
You don’t realize it now, but it’s very likely you would not be able to afford to pay those loans back. That’s why students can’t sign those loans themselves.
Out of curiousity, how much do you think you’d be earning upon graduation?
Can’t imagine why anyone would have believed your bio-dad, in the first place.
"When someone shows you who they are believe them; the first time.”
― Maya Angelou
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Yes, that 17k I have to take out in private loans anyway [for the other school]
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And that’s in addition to full federal loans?
Do you realize that you’re talking about $100k in debt for the “cheaper” Marquette???
You can’t afford either school.
What other schools accepted you?
What are your stats?
What is your major and career goal?
Maybe we can find you someplace else.
^This is right. Your mom should not sign loans for either school. Both schools have gapped you on financial aid, and they are unaffordable – you need to regroup, and we can help if you answer those questions.
Both are unaffordable. If you just can’t say no to Marquette just yet, then tell them that you need to defer your enrollment for a year.
Take a gap year. Get a job and save some money. Work on a new application list of places that will be affordable for you. If you give us all of your stats, your major, and your real budget, we may be able to help you find those affordable places.
Right now, neither school is affordable.
Where else were you admitted?
What are your stats?
You could look at the nacac list (schools that miscalculated yield) or take a gap year to build a new list with affordable colleges.
What do you like about Loyola?
Do you have a friend or girl friend that will be going to Loyola Chicago? Is that why you prefer that school?
Can you commute to Loyola Chicago? If so, would you lose some aid? or would it be more affordable then?
These are both exoensive schools…and you can’t afford either one.
what other options can you pursue? Can you commute anywhere in the greater Chicago area?
I’m confused why the aid offers seem so far away from an EFC of 3k. Is that normal?
That’s normal for schools that don’t guarantee to meet FAFSA need, which is almost every school.
That is why it is super important to run the net price calculator on the website of every school on your list, and don’t apply to schools that are too expensive. Or at least make super sure that you have a couple of schools that you KNOW you can afford based on the calculators and you KNOW you are likely to get into.
The problem with net price calculators is that they’re probably not going to be accurate for divorced families – ie MOST U.S. families now.
I don’t think NPCs really help as many people as we’d like them to. In fact, a lot of people get a twisted sense of what their aid will be from running the NPC, which ends up not being accurate due to (more-likely-than-not) family situations.
Just a reminder. NPCs are helpful for the “classic” family, but not for most.
@flatKansas EFC is just a federal number. It means little to most schools. Schools don’t magically have money in their treasure chest to give just because someone is low inccome and they want to attend an expensive school. Fed tax payers arent going to fund $50k per year just so someone can go to a pricey school. Fed aid isn’t much at all.
Most schools have very little money of their own to give. In most cases, they expect you to pay…or not enroll.
You need to run the NPCs on each school’s website. Have your parents do it since they know their situation.
Most families with college-going children are divorced?!
Maybe the OP should read more stories like this one (there are many college graduates/parents in similar situations):