How am I supposed to pay for college now?

<p>Hi guys, I'm going to Ohio State this fall but everything is going downhill from here. Oh I forgot to mention that I'm from Florida so I'm paying out of state tuition. I received a decent amount of aid from OSU but I'm still 24,000 short (I'm still waiting on 2 more scholarship decisions). I have all the aid I can get from federal loans so that's not an option. My high school counselor and nearly everyone else I knew said it's easy to get private loans and that you don't need a cosigner. LIES. My mom doesn't have good credit and my dad isn't working right now so they both failed the credit check for Discover. My Aunt and Uncle tried and they failed. I asked my other Uncle and he said he wouldn't do it for me. There's no one else who could sign for me because they for sure don't have good credit. The only other option is to pay for it out of pocket but who has $24,000 lying around?? I'm going to call the school Monday about appealing the financial aid but I'm not sure if that'll work. I'll probably still need a loan but again I can't find a cosigner. I don't know what other options I have</p>

<p>You are an OUT of state student planning to attend Ohio State University. You are $24,000 short. Ohio State does NOT guarantee to meet full need for all accepted students, and they don’t. Even IF they give you some more money, it is NOT going to be $24,000. </p>

<p>Even IF your parents were denied a Plus and you got $4000 more in Direct loans, you would still be $20,000 short. I can’t imagine OSU is going to increase your aid by $20,000.</p>

<p>Are you a transfer student? If not, why are you just NOW noticing this HUGE shortfall. </p>

<p>I hope you have an affordable option to consider. This school is not affordable for you and your family.</p>

<p>You can’t afford this school.
And contact your gc and let her know that it isn’t easy to get private loans…with or without cosigners.</p>

<p>You were trying to borrow too much anyway. There is a reason why too many in your family don’t qualify…they don’t understand debt and they have been poor examples for you…leading you to this point where you thought it was ok to borrow so much.</p>

<p>What is wrong with the florida schools? What were your costs at those schools?</p>

<p>Was your aid at osu mostly scholarships or what??</p>

<p>You can’t afford Ohio State, find an in-state school.</p>

<p>There seem to be quite a few students posting here who don’t want to attend one of the many public universities in Florida. </p>

<p>Sarah, do you qualify for Bright Futures? If so, do you or can you have a Florida option that is affordable?</p>

<p>@thumper1 I don’t expect OSU to give me all that money, just a little nore because my dad and I can try to put up own money. I do work but not enough to put up $24,00. And I’m just realizing this now because of the loan situation. If I knew I couldn’t get a loan I would’ve went somewhere more affordable.</p>

<p>@mom2collegekids There is specific reasons as to why they couldn’t consign the loan. If I would’ve asked my Uncle maybe a month he would’ve been able to cosign. And it’s not my family who led me to believe anything. They would rather see me go somewhere else.
UF was my second option and that’s about $25,000. The aid they offered wasn’t enough to cover the cost of attendence so I would still need a loan regardless.
My aid was scholarships, grants, and 2 loans. </p>

<p>sarah211, could you please clarify what kind of information you DO want people to give you on this thread?</p>

<p>

Take a gap year? Or attend a community college?

See <a href=“Apply for Financial Aid: Paying for College: Student Central: Indiana University Bloomington”>Apply for Financial Aid: Paying for College: Student Central: Indiana University Bloomington. If your parents denied for Direct PLUS loans, you may qualify for additional $4000 unsub. Direct loans; however, $24,000 is too much for you to cover.</p>

<p>How much can you and your dad pay.</p>

<p>It is unfortunate that you thought borrowing 20k per year in addition to your fed loans was a good idea. This is why banks don’t loan to kids.</p>

<p>So you and some naive relatives and your gc thought it was ok for you to graduate with $80k-100k of debt??? DO you have any people around you with common sense???</p>

<p>Just curious…What is your major and career goal??? And how much will you be earning upon graduation?</p>

<p>Even if you could figure out how to borrow it for one year, you likely won’t for next year. Do not go $100,000 in debt to attend OSU (probably really $127,000, as I assume you are also taking out your federal loans). </p>

<p>What can you pay toward UF if you go there instead? What kind of loans would you need then? Just trying to figure out if that is feasible for you. Have you looked into Bright Futures – I don’t know much about it, but I thought I read earlier this week on another thread out here that you have to apply before graduating from HS, not sure if you did that. With Bright Futures, any money you and your family can provide, and federal loans, what is left for UF that you would need to figure out?</p>

<p>Did you have any other in-state options where you were accepted where the cost is less than $25K?</p>

<p>If you decided to change your mind now, you could call UF or one of your other choices and ask if you can still attend. You will lose your deposit at OSU, but you really should not take on that kind of debt anyway.</p>

<p>Other options are a gap year to work/make money/possibly apply to some less expensive schools, or community college.</p>

<p>Why do you want to take on 96,000 in debt to go to Ohio State?</p>

<p>Sarah. If you qualify for Bright Futures, your cost to attend any number of the FL public universities would be less than $25,000. Add to that the direct loan, and you are looking at funding WELL less than $24,000 which is your balance after the aid you received to OSU.</p>

<p>Please explain your Bright Futures status.</p>

<p>And remember this. IF, and I mean IF you find someone to cosign, you will be doing this same song and dance next year. Will those folks qualify for a loan in subsequent years? Will they agree to cosign again and again and again.</p>

<p>Your uncle and anyone else who won’t co-sign such loans is doing you a big favor.</p>

<p>What is your intended major?</p>

<p>If Sarah paid full price, it wouldn’t cost $25000 for an instate student to attend UF. COA is about $18000, BF takes off $2300-3000, federal loans $5500. There are a lot of other sources too.</p>

<p>Ohio State isn’t do-able. UF is.</p>

<p>I’m sorry this isn’t working out for you. Honestly though, it’s better to accept it now. We know more than one kid who took out private loans the first year and were denied the large amounts sophomore year. One we knew deferred a year between freshmen and sophomore year to try and raise money but of course, loan payments start when you aren’t in school. Even with a full-time job he couldn’t pay off the 20K he’d already borrowed, save AND qualify for new loans for this fall. Sucks to be saddled paying student loans for 1 year of schooling.</p>

<p>I’d either go to a community college and transfer (perhaps in-state or to a school with high merit aid) or take a gap year, work and re-apply to some in-state colleges or private schools that meet 100 percent need. </p>

<p>It isn’t too late to go back and talk to schools where she was already admitted in state. A gap year may not be needed. Some schools will allow you to change your mind after you said no to them.</p>

<p>True!!!</p>

<p>Sarah - What is your intended major?</p>

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<p>Well, do you qualify for BF?<br>
Do you qualify for Pell?
UF is pretty good with aid for low income instate, so it would not nearly be the same as OSU.</p>