A school is not a 100% meet need college and it has offered grant, scholarship, federal direct loan and federal work-study but still cannot cover the expenses even by adding EFC. How did you make up funding gap such as 15k, searching private student loans, borrowing from grandparents etc? Can you share? Thanks.
Going to community college instead, going to college close to home so no room and board costs, taking gap years to work and save up the money.
And sure, hit up a rich relative if you have that option.
To tell your child that this is not an affordable option for your family. Then you choose the affordable option. If one does not exist, your child may have to take a gap year and reapply to some affordable options.
Keep in mind that s/he may not be eligible for merit money at some schools because s/he would not be a current high school senior graduating June 2021.
If you are borrowing $15,000 in addition to the Direct Loans, your kid would have $87,000 or so in loans for in undergrad and that doesn’t include interest. In my opinion, that is too much to borrow for undergrad school. But each family has to make their own decision about debt.
With $90,000 or so in loans, your kid will have $1000 or more in monthly payments for 10 years. Think of it this way…if YOU can’t pay that now, why would you think your college grad will be able to? And think of what that means they won’t be able to do.
Having that debt would be about $12000 a year in loan payments. Some folks buy small condos and have less than that in mortgage payments.
To answer your question…you can take a Parent Plus Loan in your Parent name to meet the cost of attendance. If you own a home, you might be able to do a home equity line. You can look for private student loans for YOU to co-sign (the kid will need a co-signer). Are you sure you will be a qualified co-signer for all four years…or will your debt become so much that you won’t be eligible for those private loans in subsequent years.
Yes, you can borrow from grandparents, but that’s risky for all four years unless you can convince them to put the total amount you need for all four years into something like a 529 account dedicated to your kid. Otherwise…what happens if they need the money for health or any other reason, or if they die?
Remember also, work study money is not paid up front. The student needs to find a job and earn that money. So for the fall term at least, plan to have that amount available some other way because the bill will come long before the student has earned any money.
Generally, that’s what mom and dad pay for. If they can’t pay that gap, then you can’t afford it. You’ll need to consider a safety school. If you don’t have any other options, Community college is a very good option. Depending on where you live, it’s almost like getting a 2 year scholarship.
We chose a different school when the gap was too big. Yes, it sucked a little, but big student loans suck for potentially decades.
We had college savings in 529 accounts and lived frugally for a while, making our own car and house repairs, no vacations or leisure activities outside of the home.
Each child worked during their summers in high school and college. Each took out a loan of $3500-$5000 but repaid it with their summer jobs.
The only one who has a little debt is our med school student who has taken small loans to help pay for her housing costs because we’re covering mostly all of her yearly school fees.
Last July, as we were just starting to seriously look at college options for our son, I started this thread:
While it weaves all over the place at times, and has some misunderstandings, I learned a lot and it is generally on topic about the amount of debt families are taking on. Thought you might find it interesting.
Do you think the freshmen with FAFSA filed for Fall 2020 will be eligible for THE EMERGENCY FINANCIAL AID GRANT by the CARES Act?
Pretty sure that money is meant for current students who were uprooted mid semester.
Current students only. It’s intended to assist with costs directly related to the current interruption of in-person classes (e.g., necessary computer, rent, travel).
We set a budget and insisted both daughters stick to it.
One daughter from among multiple acceptances chose one of the schools that was affordable. In her case it was affordable due to a merit scholarship. She had to maintain a 3.0 GPA to keep the scholarship and we never discussed what would happen if she didn’t but fortunately her GPA was always way above this level.
The other daughter considered a few schools that the NPC showed would be way over budget. She ended up only applying to schools that were affordable.
Both ended up very happy at schools that were a good fit for them and that were within budget. One has graduated slightly under budget. The other is on track to graduate way under budget.
Right now with the pandemic and with people being furloughed from their jobs and stores and businesses being shut down I think emphasizes the value of avoiding debt if you possibly can.
No.
@compiler you don’t have an “emergency”. You have an unaffordable college you are trying to fund. There is a huge difference.
You can always tell the school you want to go but can’t go unless they offer more scholarships and see how they respond. (Negotiate, in other words.)
Many colleges are more flexible now with the economy collapsing.
@PurpleTitan this poster was given a lot of information on asking for reconsideration of financial aid at the beginning of April. This was for an OOS public university where the net costs were too high for this family.
Wondering if @compiler asked for a review.
Yes, there is a collapsing economy right now. There was an article about my instate publics, and the huge amount of revenue they are losing, and so forth. That would not seem to indicate that giving more aid to an OOS student would be in the cards.
@thumper1: Who knows. Schools have to make the numbers work to survive.
Anyway, the OP should learn to deal with all possibilities.
I don’t understand your thought process. It’s less than a week to May 1st. There’s no place to get free money right now. No stimulus package is going to cover the gap for families who want to send their child to a school that costs more than they can afford. There aren’t any outside scholarships that will cover it either. The only way to pay the difference is to take loans.
You asked months ago if saddling your kid with ~$100k in debt was reasonable. You’ve been told that it isn’t. We all understand that it’s difficult to tell your kid that you can’t afford something they really want. But the reality is that $100k is too much for them to pay off. And that’s if they’re lucky enough to graduate. If you’re approved for loans in the first year or two but denied in years 3 or 4, your child would still have $40-60k in loans (plus interest) and no degree.
It’s late in the process. It seems unkind to let your kid continue to think that this school is a possibility when you know that the only way for them to attend is for them to take on a crippling amount of debt. If you, as an adult with years of work experience, can’t pay ~$80k for college what makes you think a new college graduate will be able to afford it?
We know your heart is in the right place. Please help your child pick from their affordable options. Any school that requires more than the ~$5500/year federal student loan is not affordable.
@compiler - What school is this that you feel is worth so much debt? Have you already committed? Do you have an affordable option?
@compiler is this an out of state public university?
I would ask you the same question I asked a poster on another thread:
Why do you feel what you do? Why do you desire what you desire? And be honest with yourself.
IMO, here’s a helpful article: https://www.google.com/amp/s/m.huffpost.com/us/entry/1590707/amp