<p>I'm am hoping to get accepted into the University of Michigan. If that does end up happening, I was wondering how most people paid all of their tuition. Michigans full price is around 24K right now and probably going up every year. If I went here, for a minimum of ofur years thats around 100K, and I have no idea how I would ever get that payed off.</p>
<p>How much are your parents willing to contribute per year? Do you know your EFC and will you be eligible for federal grants (ie Pell) and MI state aid? You can take Stafford loans but they’re capped at $5500-$7500 per year, depending on your class.</p>
<p>You should do your best to find and apply to all Financial Aids, when all is final and done and you cannot afford the school you simply cannot go there. I would not take a unsubsidized loan for any reason, the interest alone will kill you.</p>
<p>^The interest on an unsub loan is only 6.8%…it’s relatively low for an unsecured loan and it’s not difficult to just pay the interest every quarter/year as it accrues.</p>
<p>You need to be applying to every scholarship you can find. Start early and make sure you have all the paper work done on time. You most likely will get only get a few scholarships but if you cast your net wide enough you will catch some of them. It can be very dishearting processes but when it pays, it is great. </p>
<p>Not sure about every state but try your senators and congressional people for scholarships. </p>
<p>You need to find out how much mom and dad are going to pay. Doesn’t matter what the EFC is because for the most part us parents laugh at how much they say we can spend.</p>
<p>Most people who “go away” to school have their parents pay for much, most, all of the costs. How much will your family pay?</p>
<p>Private scholarships are nice, but they’re often for only freshman year, so that won’t help you for soph, jr, and sr years.</p>
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The current federal financial aid programs expect parents to help pay for a students college through savings, current income and loans.</p>
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<p>I won’t call a loan unsecured, of which the balance will be with you until death do it apart, not even bankruptcy. At least you can get out of your mortgage by forclosure. And for a non-income producing student, it is pretty risky to shoulder a loan that requires full amortization on day one, at least that is what NYU offered to my DD. If you are not careful, the 6.8% interest rate will grow on you in 4 years. For a total of 200k coa, your debt will still be 200k, after monthly payment for 4 years.</p>
<p>I’m not sure I understand artlovers. Are you talking about student loans in general or commenting just on the Stafford loans at 6.8%? From what I undestand the most anyone can take out in Stafford loans is @$27,000 over 4 years. Not sure how a $200,000 COA fits in. </p>
<p>Anything above the Stafford loans will need a co-signer.</p>
<p>Well my older brother is a freshman in college this year. When my parents filled out his papers and government stuff, they EFC (I think?) said we had $18,000 we could spend on college per year. The down side of that is that they don’t account for all of the previous debts, loans, and bills that we have from our move a few years ago. Overall they probably can spare a few grand at most per year, but the goverment people didn’t factor that in. Didn’t or Won’t? I’m not sure</p>
<p>Alabo21, make sure you fill out all the required financial aid forms for UofM. Make sure you check with your guidance offer about any local scholarships and ask if there are any state grants anymore…I’m two years past the last application cycle and one year before my last kiddo so have not looked at anything local. I’m assuming based on the cost you quoted you are in-state…so figure out what you need to fill out and when for othe best chance of aid from Michigan.</p>
<p>FAFSA doesn’t guarantee aid beyond federal loans. Your family’s EFC is too high for federal grants such as the Pell. Debts and loans (other than home mortgages) are not taken into account - they’re considered personal choices.</p>
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<p><a href=“http://www.finaid.umich.edu/TopNav/AboutUMFinancialAid/HowFinancialAidisAwarded.aspx[/url]”>http://www.finaid.umich.edu/TopNav/AboutUMFinancialAid/HowFinancialAidisAwarded.aspx</a></p>
<p>If admitted, then, you will likely receive a good amount of institutional aid - however, that still means you and your parents will need to come up with your EFC, which should be around $9,000 if nothing changes significantly in your family’s finances.</p>
<p>EFC (I think?) said we had $18,000 we could spend on college per year. The down side of that is that they don’t account for all of the previous debts, loans, and bills that we have from our move a few years ago. Overall they probably can spare a few grand at most per year,</p>
<p>If your EFC is about $18k per year and your parents can only pay a few thousand, then that will be an issue since you’ll have a student loan in your FA package. You won’t be able to take out a student loan to cover their EFC shortfall. </p>
<p>It is unlikely that UMich will be affordable.</p>
<p>With 2 kids in school, your EFC may be about $9k for each child (about $18k total)… </p>
<p>When you say that your parents can only contribute a few thousand does that mean a few thousand TOTAL divided by 2 kids or what. How much are they paying for your sibling? Ask them how much they can pay for each child when BOTH are in school at the same time. </p>
<p>The University of Michigan has made a commitment to meeting the demonstrated financial need of Michigan resident undergraduates.</p>
<p>Keep in mind that UMich is a CSS profile school, so EFC is NOT split in half and they use a different formula which could be higher than FAFSA EFC. And, when CSS family contribution is split, it is split about 60/60. So if your CSS family contribution is about $18k for one, then it could be about $10k each for two students (about $20k per year total). </p>
<p>What are your stats? You may need to include some schools that will give you large merit for your stats since you have an unaffordable EFC. I know that this is frustrating, but this is one reason why most kids do not get to “go away” to school…too expensive. However, if you have strong stats, you can get merit scholarships to some schools.</p>
<p>*I have a 3.94 and a 28 on my ACT. *</p>
<p>Are you going to retest? If so, you might get merit elsewhere.</p>
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<p>Won’t, unless those are medical bills or something that would qualify for professional judgement. Colleges and the government believe that the family should be using past, present, and future income/resources to educate their kids. If your folks haven’t saved for college expenses and can’t contribute much from current income that presents a problem. It will be in your best interest to figure out and learn as much as you can about financial aid and scholarships now - both at Michigan and at other schools - so that you can make responsible choices and actually have a school to attend next fall. Finaid.org has a lot of info on financial aid and loans, including loan calculators.</p>
<p>OP if you are in state your GC might have an idea of how UofM will work. With COA well over $20,000 (and it goes up as you go through the 4 years) it is a very, very expensive public school even for in-state kids but we know alot of kids that have been able to make it work so see if your GC has any intel on how packages might come in.</p>
<p>We are in-state</p>
<p>I will ask my parents on this information and re-inform you all shortly, thank you very much for the advice!</p>