Honestly, How are YOU Paying for College?

<p>scholarships and financial aid. even though my mom isn’t paying for school, she gives me barely any spending money which sucks haha</p>

<p>20k in merit scholarships, 12k parents, 2k summer work, 3.5k loans, 2.5k Grandparents/other</p>

<p>Modupe…I’m sorry to say that NYU is one of the VERY worst aspirations if finances are a concern. It’s one of THE most expensive colleges, with COA pushing $60,000 this year. It is pretty stingy with aid, the most I’ve personally ever heard of is someone on CC who just had their $30,000 increased to $32,000. And I’m guessing THAT is for someone who is both very low income and very high stats. Better to concentrate on a less expensive school if you are trying to foot the bill yourself. Even with $32,000 in aid…and let’s say cost is $55,000…that leaves $23,000 x 4 years debt. That is just NOT a smart choice for anyone. If you were going to med school and going to be in that debt, at least you’d assume you could pay it off. But…undergrad? At NYU versus a good in-state school? I KNOW the draw (it’s my D’s dream school too), and I KNOW the education could be arguably called “better” than your state school. But…will it PAY for that debt? For someone young, it’s SO hard to know what it’s like to live with such high debt. It will eat at you and your income to the point where you’ll be saying “why oh WHY did I make that choice?” Take it from someone who has been near bankruptcy, and certainly poverty level most of her life, and now knows what it’s like to live like “the other half” (…well…quarter at least). HAVING money is MUCH better than OWING money. Hands down. Then, if you have it later…invest in grad school where you might actually get a return on your investment. As you can see from anyone who answered your question…you don’t see any kids who can cough up $23,000 a year of their own money. And you see the loan amounts are in the $5000 range…not $92,000. I’m actually considering giving my daughter any money that I have available, to use toward a house, whatever, if she elects a good but cheaper instate college and saves me the pain and debt and headache of loans which, at my age, are ALSO not a smart move. Good luck to you though. Sometimes we don’t get our first choice in life. Well…let’s face it…MOST of the time. Find a way to LOVE the school you do go to.</p>

<p>I notice that a lot of students mentioned not being able to afford NYU. Let me be very very blunt: NYU is NOT worth any debt, not a dime. I don’t understand why so many people take out crazy loans to go there. It’s ranked #1 for most unhappy students, has one of the highest suicide rates in the country, the administration is horrible, class sizes are large and professors will shove you off to a TA if you need help, and it’s not even ranked as a top school - I can understand justifying major loans for Harvard, but for a non-elite school? that’s ridiculous. Seriously, I go here and know so many students in serious debt, and many are getting degrees in stuff like Africana Studies and Theatre - to be very blunt, that debt ain’t going away for a while. Undergrad isn’t like Law/Med school where you’re expected to take out ridiculous loans, I don’t understand why people screw themselves over by taking out debt they’ll struggle to pay back for so long.</p>

<p>Approximately $3000 per year (tuition, room/board, books, personal expenses) for Pomona after grant aid (no loans).</p>

<p>(out of state) tuition total= $38,000
Merit scholarships= $20,000
No Financial Aid recieved
Amount to be paid= $18,000</p>

<p>Parents pay $5000/yr, the rest of the $13,000 is up to me…
I work 3 jobs (totaling 30 hours/week)
Savings from summer work.<br>
Permanent fund dividends (yay for being Alaskan, free oil money!).<br>
No loans yet…but I will have to take some out most likely next year.</p>

<p>I get a state lottery scholarship, and after that there’s about $400 I pay out of pocket. I also pay for my books, gas, and anything else I need out of pocket. I work part time all year around, which I hate doing even though I love my job. It’s really not bad hours, but I can’t wait until I transfer to a 4-year school. Then I’m going to try my best to not have to work during the school year at all, and I’m so excited about that!</p>

<p>Each year I have a merit scholarship that’s for 22,000, other smaller grants and scholarships that add up to about 10,000, work study, and then around 13,000 in loans between me and my parents. I’ve also had summer jobs that helped cover smaller things throughout the year.</p>

<p>I’ll be graduating a semester early, but last summer I did an internship program in London, so the cost basically evens out.</p>