<p>So my school's tuition is about 36k a year but after scholarships and grants I only have to pay about 5k a year. My parents both say they can't help me at all and I just feel weird about taking out tons of loans and coming out of school with a lot of debt. None of my friends are in this situation so I was just wondering about other people's parents.
I know if I lived at home for a year or two after college I'll be fine... But I still find it a bit unfair that they paid for my older brothers to go to community college when they genuinely didn't care much about school. (my oldest brother dropped out of high school -_-)</p>
<p>Parents give me 0$
Which is the way I wanted it.</p>
<p>My parents are paying exactly $0 of tuition, and room and board. Although I’m going to a school that’s only 10k a year, I got scholarships for all but 2k of it. I’m going to have to take out loans for the 2,000, but if you think about it, $8000 (or $20000 in your case) isn’t too much to pay for college. My parents are sending care packages of food once in a while however. Remember, their financial situation might have changed in the past couple years, so even if they paid for your brothers’ educations, they might not have the money now.</p>
<p>only 5K in loans per year for a 36k+ school is really good! (at least in my opinion) Assuming you go for 4 years, that is 20k when you graduate. Idk if you have the subsidized (gov pays for interest while you’re in school) or unsubsidized (you pay for interest while in school), but either way you are in a safe place. If you can get a part time job while in school, that will help you pay off the loans little by little and give you some extra spending money :). Education is the best investment out there because it will help you get a good/better job that will sustain yourself (and eventually future family) financially. Don’t be afraid of them, but do be smart about them!</p>
<p>Try not to compare your situation with your brother’s because in the end YOU will benefit from your education. :)</p>
<p>My dad is helping a little (maybe 4-5k a year?) but I am also contributing with the money I saved up from a summer job (last yr and this yr) and babysitting…which will probably be about 6-7k?</p>
<p>^^ A campus job would be a good idea. Even if you only work ~10 hours/week and make $2500, it would cut your loans in half.</p>
<p>I have everything paid for by a scholarship (tuition, fees, housing, plus $$$ left over for food, sorority dues, anything I want) but occasionally my parents will give me $100 or so, and my mother sends me a few hundred dollars a month for food.</p>
<p>I have a good chunk of scholarships that cover everything. About a $5kish gap that I cover with loans/work. I will graduate with about $20k in debt. My parents contribute absolutely nothing, which is fine by me.</p>
<p>Some of it. My dad’s employer helps pay for employees’ children’s college expenses thankfully.</p>
<p>$20,000 for all four years isn’t bad. Sure, it’s not ideal, but if you get the loans through Stafford, the interest rate should (hopefully) be manageable. I think now it’s about 7.something% for the Sub and Unsub.</p>
<p>My school is about $35k a year with room and board and I have scholarships that cover about $24k of it (as a transfer student, that’s the max amount I can get in scholarship aid) and I’m not eligible for grants. I’ve taken out Federal loans for the difference, which isn’t a big deal because I’m an incoming junior from a CC (with no prior loans) and graduate school is free (!). The difference is about $1k a semester so my mom and I are paying it together since I have a relatively good paying job until I transfer (then it’s campus job and a significant and depressing decrease, lol).</p>
<p>When I went to a CC last year, she paid for about everything that the scholarships didn’t. My mom’s great.</p>
<p>None…I let them pay for the one semester I took only to have them yank it our from under me so I am not going to trust them again…and thats how I want it</p>
<p>My parents saved up some, about enough to cover one semester at an inexpensive state school, and I’m super grateful for it. Otherwise I’m paying for everything. All the tuition, room and board, books, food, personal expenses, etc. Honestly I don’t like asking my parents for money. I’m an adult so I feel like I should pay for all of my expenses. </p>
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<p>This is probably because community colleges are dirt cheap compared to the cost of a university. A lot of families wouldn’t be able to take an extra $5,000 out of their budget each year. Plus sometimes expenses change in families so maybe they would love to help but really can’t afford to. Being only $20K in debt total for a school that costs $36K per year is REALLY good! You should be proud that you were able to get those scholarships- and that you’re being concerned about money too. It sounds like you’re going to get a fantastic education at a great deal!</p>
<p>My dad is going to be paying 10k. My COA of the school I will be going to in the fall is 20k.</p>
<p>My parents would have paid towards it, but I earned scholarships to cover the full cost of college as well as the majority of my expenses.</p>
<p>My grandparents will help me pay mine off, not my parents. I’m going out of state but I talked to my school advisers and I can get my residency (=in state tuition) if I live off of campus for one year. So, basically my family will take care of the apartment fees and stuff but the first year out of state tuition will be covered by my grandparents thankfully. I calculated the rest and with the amount of scholarships/grants I will be getting each year, the total comes out to about 40K after a graduate, which isn’t too bad. I just didn’t want to be over 50K in debt.</p>
<p>You might want to check with your university/state that the university is in about the residency requirements of that state. Some states are very rigid in their definition of a what a resident is, especially if you are a full time student. Living off campus usually is not enough. It can be difficult for a student to meet those requirements unless you know what is required in advance and can work toward meeting them. But forewarned is forearmed!</p>
<p>Parents are paying 0…All grants, scholarships, and loans</p>
<p>@lisaveeh,</p>
<p>Thanks for the heads up, but I made sure by going there and talking with the admissions/residency/housing staff. They said they will allow me to get in-state privileges.</p>
<p>Edit: but yeah, if anyone is going to try this, make sure you talk to the people at your university! Fortunately, the school i’m going to allows it IF you talk to the staff.</p>
<p>That’s great that the school you will be going to will have that flexibility! It almost sounds like they are giving you kind of a type of scholarship. Residency is usually determined by the state, not by the school, and I speak as one who has been through that mill.</p>
<p>Glad to know I’m not the only one. I was starting to feel in the dark</p>