So I’ve been accepted to two great schools, UPenn and USC.
For either school, my parents will be paying for the first two years and I will be paying for the second two.
USC is 18k per year, UPenn is 28k per year.
If I were to choose UPenn, can I even take out 28k in loans per year? I’m reading that the limit is 5500, which doesn’t make much sense. Even at USC 5500 doesn’t cover it, so how can I pay for going there? I’m also going to medical school after this hopefully and just trying to figure out how much debt I can take on and if UPenn (dream school ya feel) is a possibility.
Thanks
Loans more than the federal loan limit will require a cosigner (your parents).
If you take the federal loans each year ($5.5k, $6.5k, $7.5k, $7.5k), that adds up to $27k. If you save some work earnings to add to that (hard to have time for while competing for A grades and doing premed extracurriculars), you might barely be able to come up with the $36k for USC, but unlikely the $56k for Penn.
Do you have less expensive options?
2 Likes
Try asking Penn to meet USC’s offer. If they will not, it is off the table.
2 Likes
my other cheapest option is Temple University at 15k per year, but for USC’s 18k I’d much rather go to USC.
This is also an odd parental stipulation. Basically they are offering you more for Penn ($56k) than for USC ($36k) or Temple ($30k), but nowhere near enough to make it affordable, as if they are trying to tempt you with something that is out of reach, while also making it more difficult for you to afford USC or Temple.
If they offered you $56k for USC, you would need to cover only $16k, while if they offered you $56k for Temple, you would only need to cover $4k. Either of these is more doable than the options that they gave you.
5 Likes
Also, do you currently have older siblings who are undergraduates in college? I am asking because if any of that is need-based aid, it is important to note that you will get significantly less need-based aid once that older sibling graduates. Conversely, if you have younger siblings who will enter college while you are still an undergraduate, you will likely get more need-based aid for those years. But note that these rules for FAFSA-schools are changing so if this applies to you PLEASE ask the schools (before you commit to one of them) how the change in the number of siblings in college will affect you. I am not sure how the rule-change will affect CSS Profile schools, so you have to ask. USC is not known to be particularly generous with need-based aid.
1 Like
The final two years are usually more expensive than the first two years as well for a school you aren’t having need met through annual increases in tuition costs. Is your Temple price based on merit aid? What is the plan for making up the difference of annual tuition changes?
USC, if your parents pay for the first 2 years without loans. You can start taking your federal loans in freshman year, but save them for the last 2 years leaving you with a $9K ($36-$27) deficit which is not an unreasonable amount to earn from summer jobs and part-time jobs during the school year. Temple would save you from needing to work.
3 Likes
At the very least ask your parents to spread their part out over the 4 years which would allow you to get 5500 your first two years and 7500 the second two years (max out loans you can take). If they safely invest the amounts over the couple of years they aren’t spending it there should be a modest increase.
Ask them too if they are willing to go with the highest amount rather than just whichever one you choose (is it a set amount they are willing to offer)?
Be wary about going for loans above the Fed max, esp if med school is on the horizon. Med school is super expensive.
1 Like
I don’t have any siblings and all my aid for USC is merit aid so thankfully it won’t change.
2 Likes
Take the federal loans your 1st and 2nd year and bank them. That’d add up to 12k, so, 6k per year, plus the 7.5k you’re allowed to take as a junior and as a senior.
You’d have to work over the summer and during the year to complete the amount expected at usc.
Do you know why your parents said that rather than spreading the amount over 4 years? Are they worried you’ll fail put after 2 years otherwise? Do they think you’ll earn scholarships for the last 2 years?
1 Like
They’re not worried I will fail, that’s just the amount that they are willing to spend and that’s the deal that their parents made with them. I can talk with them about spreading it out over 4 years.
1 Like
My husband’s college education cost under $20,000 for all 4 years, that same education at the same college cost our daughter $120,000. In state flagship. It’s apples and oranges.
3 Likes
To be around that price point on merit at USC, you must have received a full tuition scholarship. That means you don’t have to worry about tuition increases in the out years. The bad news is that I think that you $18k only includes direct costs. I think that you are missing books, travel, and other miscellaneous costs.
What do you want to major in? If it is a lucrative field and you feel like you can pay off the loans quickly then UPenn might not be a bad idea. My nephew went there, majored in Econ, is working in finance now, and is doing well for himself (although pretty sure he didn’t have loans), bought a house, etc. If you want to be a teacher (love teachers, but the pay stinks) take the no loan situation.
1 Like
But they’re promising different amounts depending on the school you go to.
Ask them if they want you to drop out from lack of funds.
1 Like