<p>I will be attending a top 15 school and I received a scholarship that said that they would guarantee me not taking out a loan to pay for college...it covers everything but $3,896. I have outside scholarships that bring that cost down to $2,246....my family makes about $62,000 a year so I guess the scholarship covered everything but what they thought my EFC was?
anyway, would it look petty to complain about paying $2,246? should i just speak to my parents about it?
ALSO (this is the important thing) my mom took out a loan for my brother but is currently not paying it...will she be able to take out one for me? can you take out more than one loan?</p>
<p>Yes…it would not only look petty but it would be petty. Are you currently working one, two or even three jobs that could cover that cost? These are the types of threads that make students receiving financial aid look entitled.</p>
<p>The amount due is probably your EFC. There may be an installment payment option at your school, if that helps any.</p>
<p>If your family will have a difficult time paying $2,246, then contact the financial aid office at your school. If you don’t have any loans currently in your award package, then you could get an unsubsidized loan. Subsidized loans are only if you have unmet need, which you don’t (not technically by their definition). This isn’t a parent plus loan so your parents would not need to qualify or pay it back, but you will need to pay it back.</p>
<p>Alright thank you.</p>
<p>I don’t think it would hurt to ask your parents if they could advance you this amount of money, which you would pay back from school year or summer jobs. </p>
<p>If they can do that, taking out a loan should not be necessary.</p>
<p>yea they probably could. i’ll ask my grandparents too…i mean my family isn’t completely poor…i just hate bothering them with money all the time.
anyway, i just found out that the amount due does not take into account work study or the employer tuition benefit…so I’m going to call the fin.aid office and see whats up. I should be okay.
thank you again</p>
<p>This is likely the school’s expected STUDENT contribution.</p>
<p>If your mom has defaulted on another loan, it is not going to be easy for her to get another loan in her name.</p>
<p>You can talk to your school re: Stafford loans. It sounds like the school awards need based aid without those…but you should still be able to get one, I believe.</p>
<p>However, you should also be able to cover this amount by working.</p>
<p>Same response as on the finaid forum.</p>
<p>Also, remember that you won’t need the $2000+ all at once. Colleges bill by the semester, so you will only need half of it at the beginning of the year.</p>
<p>it is 2000 per semester.</p>
<p>Yes, it would be petty to complain about this and would cast you in a light of one with quite an entitlement mentality. Since you raised the question you’re probably not really like that.</p>
<p>You should be able to earn that amount by having a campus job or other part time job while in school and by working in the summers either at a part time job or paid internship. </p>
<p>If your mother isn’t paying a loan she already has that she’s obliged to be paying back right now then there shouldn’t even be a thought of her trying to take out another loan for two reasons - she likely wouldn’t be able to get the loan but more importantly, it’d be unethical of her to take out a loan she knows she can’t pay back according to the terms of the loan.</p>
<p>The school may have given you a loan-free package, but you can still borrow Stafford (up to $4500 this year), with a maximum of FA + Stafford = total cost of attendance.</p>
<p>Work study will not get applied to your Bursar’s bill because you’ve got to earn that money at a job before it’s yours. Those funds usually wind up being used for your personal expenses.</p>
<p>Also – if you get funds from other relatives, you have to disclose that on your FA forms.</p>
<p>Step up and get some skin in the game. Be thankful you got an excellent FA package that made you school doable for you. The Stafford will cover your gap on the tuition bill and the work-study will give you cash during the year. Expect that you’ll need to work next summer and plan to line up a job early. When the budget is that tight, it’s good to squirrel away a small reserve fund for emergencies.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>As long as your aid doesn’t exceed the cost of attendance, your Stafford loan limit as a freshman is $5500. Your cost of attendance includes at most schools includes your personal expense monies.</p>
<p>BUT I would suggest you borrow as LITTLE as possible. If you can earn the bulk of this by working…that would be a better way to go.</p>
<p>$10k over four years in loans is easily doable, and I happen to think it is a good thing for you to have some skin in the game. (I’m not a fan of so-called no-loan policies that mostly benefit the upper middle-class.)</p>
<p>Thanks for the correction of the Stafford limit, thumper.</p>