Hello, I’m only a sophomore in highschool, and I’m fairly clueless haha. I need to get the general idea of how this words. I’m planning on taking out student loans for undergrad, my mother is not paying any of my college. Then, I’m planning on going to OT school, if I get accepted and all, and take out loans to do that. Will the college I undergrad in allow me to withstand loans until after I graduate from grad school? How do people pay back all these loans? Thank you.
Hello. Generally you are only allowed to borrow $5,500 freshman year, 6,500 soph, and 7,500 junior and senior year from the federal government. Anything over that amount would need to come from a private lender and they generally require a co-signer on the loan. This means your mom or another adult would need to sign the loan along with you and agree to pay if you did not. These should be minimized if at all possible.
Depending on your families financial situation, interest might accrue during your time in school. This can add thousands of dollars to your loan amount. This is called an un-subsidized loan. Lower income families qualify for subsidized loans where the government will pay the interest while you are in school.
Grad school will be more debt and will require additional loans.
Like all debt, it is paid back from earning you make while working once you graduate.
You are smart to inquire early. That trait will serve you well in life.
Good luck.
Look at merit options for undergrad. You have plenty time to prep for ACT or SAT as well as excel in HS. 32 is considered a target score but there are merit options below that. In state public will be you best option and will be just fine to apply to OT school.
If you’re very low income, you will also qualify for PELL grants for undergrad. Google this
Please look at some college websites with your parents. Check out the Net Price Calculator that each college is required to have.
Parents may not realize how expensive it is to attend college these days. It is extremely difficult to work your way through college, especially if you are thinking of a traditional 4 year live in a dorm on campus experience.
If your parents can not help you financially then you need to widen your college search. You can beef up your academic grades and test scores so you are eligible for merit aid. Need based aid and federal loans are dependent on your parents filing FAFSA paperwork.
If your parents are not married to each other, it really gets tricky. And some colleges require more in depth paperwork to be filed.
You need to be open to living at home and commuting, either to a 4 year college or even a community college. You might need to work a gap year after high school to raise funds for college.
An education is possible, but without financial support from parents, you will need to be willing to compromise your education dreams.
Seriously consider living at home while attending college, if that’s possible. People have this fantasy image of residential college or it’s not “really” college. Most college students don’t live in a residential situation. If it saves you money and you get a degree, who cares?
It’s now virtually impossible to work your way through college the way it was in our time (your mom’s time), even at a public university. Whether your mom wants to pay or not has no bearing on what you have to pay. You can borrow 5.5k - college is likely to cost you three times that if you attend a lower cost directional public university.
The only way is for you to have good grades, strong curriculum rigor, and take standardized tests starting now. You’ll need scores in the top 2% to afford college and, well, 98% never make it tonrhe scores you’ll need, so you must start early (now) and work at it. Start on Khan Academy today to get an idea, then target your mistakes.
That score will allow you to apply for merit scholarships (automatic or competitive) both instate and out of state (note that there’s no financial aid oos in most cases so if you want to go oos it’ll all rest on those test scores.) If your family makes less than 75k or less than 125k, it also allows you to apply to "meet need " colleges such as Amherst, Barnard, Carleton, or Harvey Mudd. Only about 60-80 colleges out if 3,700 “meet need” and they get to define that need. Other colleges admit you and may or may not give you the financial aid you need (often, not - and your odds are better if your test scores are high.)
OP said: if I get accepted and all, and take out loans to do that. Will the college I undergrad in allow me to withstand loans until after I graduate from grad school? How do people pay back all these loans? Thank you.
I would chime in: If I am not mistaken, the govt loan will start asking for the payments after six months you graduate. That is if you stop your education after undergrad then 6 months later they will start calling you. But, if you say to them that you want to go to grad school (of course you have to provide the proof and paper work for going to grad school) then they will not bother you until you after you finish your grad school; then again 6 months after graduation from grad school, they will call on you to start making the payments.
Anyway, regarding financing the school (university education), to begin with, you need to have stellar records GPA, SAT/ACT, LOR, etc then you will be able to get good scholarships from the school. And, browse the school website for your major as usually there are tons of information regarding internal scholarships you can apply too. In addition, you also can find tons of outside scholarships from companies, corporations, etc; you can google/yahoo those things.
Also, my son was able to get scholarships from our state (engineering society). This society(s) gave a lot of money too. If you still need more money, you can always find PT (part time) jobs to supplement your income like working in the library, computer lab, etc. Another thing also, every summer you can find internships, Co-Ops, etc and REUs (Undergraduate Research). The REU will pay you handsomely and it is done in summer time however this is a competition and not many available.
We are the best country in the world and to find the funding for schooling, it is just a matter of find those information; networking with your high school counselors, teachers, friends and neighbors, etc. Through the information highway aka internet: google/yahoo it-bing, etc.
So, take the first step and that is to get high GPA, high score of SAT/ACT and find some good teachers that will give good recommendation (LOR=Letter of Recommendation), etc. Then apply for the school and the scholarships from internal and external.
When there is a strong will, there is a way to find the answer to your problems. May the Force be with you.
I agree, if you are looking at professional grad school, you should keep borrowing to a minimum in undergrad.
I would look first at instate schools where you could get merit, and maybe even be able to commute from home.
If family income is low, you might qualify for some federal and state grants, and with summer work earnings, you might have enough for tuition if you commute, and won’t need to take undergrad loans.
Look into instate OT graduate schools, see if any have guaranteed acceptance agreements with instate community colleges or 4 yr universities.
Apply to all local scholarships for health majors and general ones. Your HS guidance counselor should have lists. Usually you apply for these in winter/early spring of senior year.
While the amounts are usually modest and one-time, they can help you take out less in loans the first year, if they are renewable, even better.