How will I pay?

Paying for College
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<p>Exactly. </p>

<p>If you work 2 jobs summers, I could see how you could do this with Stafford (and Plus if your parents get approved) loans and a part-time school year job. So $9500 in loans, save $4,000 from summer and make $2000 during school year. Hopefully your parents can help with a little spending money. </p>

<p>It’s about double the average loans, and I’d think hard about borrowing that much, but it would be doable. Go to finaid.com and see what $40K in loans will look like in terms of monthly payments when you graduate. Depending on major (engineering/accounting good, English/history bad), it may or may not be practical.</p>

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<p>Heres my 2 cents:</p>

<p>-You might as well apply for Financial Aid cuz you never know what you will get. Even though your parents make 100K doesnt necessarily mean that you will get nothing. Afterall, Im sure they will take into account your brother going to a private school.<br>
-To be honest, your GPA is good but not exceptional, however, you will probably receive a minimal to moderate award from TCU. Were talking 2000 minimum to possibly 10 K(the later is highly unlikely but who knows).
-Think scholarships, i would be cranking out the scholarship essays like mad if I was you
-Get a Stafford loan
-Get a loan from a bank if you have to
-Another possibility is ROTC. I think the service commitment is like 3-5 yrs. I had a bunch of ROTC friends and the 5 AM morning workouts were terrible yet it paid for their college. They went where they wanted to go to school and they are not going to have the weight of college loans on their shoulders 6 months after graduation.</p>

<p>All in all, weigh your options. Im pretty sure you can find a way to finance your dream of going to TCU through loans,scholarships, or misc. These next 4 years are irreplaceable, spend them at the place you love and paying the price will be something you are fine with.</p>

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<p>Wow Scronjsn11, thanks for all of that, I was really starting to get down from all of these posts saying UTA might be hard to pay for. I’ll definately be cranking out thos scholarship essays come October. But I keep hearing my mom say, “We’ll be finished paying off our bankruptcy in 18 more months.” Does that mean we’ll go back to the norm and have the 100k a year again instead of having to pay off this stuff? I’m not really an economic whiz so I don’t know much about bankruptcy. But once were out of bankruptcy then that means were back to normal right?</p>

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<p>Is your brother in COLLEGE? Or is this a private high school? You aren’t clear on that.</p>

<p>Having two kiddos in college at the same time would help you in terms of what YOUR EFC will be. Having a sibling in a private high school will not usually help (some schools will consider this but most view it as a choice). </p>

<p>Again…I tell you. PLEASE TALK TO YOUR PARENTS about your college plans and future. This is a very important thing for you to do. In addition to finding out if they will be able to contribute, you also have to see if they are even ABLE to secure or cosign loans. I’m not a bankruptcy expert (I can’t even spell it correctly!!) but I would think this would have an impact on their ability to even help you cosign for a loan. </p>

<p>If they are denied a PLUS loan (due to their credit or extensive debt or debt history), you are eligible for addition Stafford loans in your name. HOWEVER, I will caution you…try to limit your undergraduate debt to the least amount possible. Paying back college loans can be very costly. A $40,000 loan (remember, there is interest too…and your loan is likely to be unsubsidized), will likely be over $500 a month in repayments for at least 10 years.</p>

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<p>“Another possibility is ROTC. I think the service commitment is like 3-5 yrs. I had a bunch of ROTC friends and the 5 AM morning workouts were terrible yet it paid for their college. They went where they wanted to go to school and they are not going to have the weight of college loans on their shoulders 6 months after graduation.”
^^^
Depending on your major the ROTC program is something you should definitely consider. In fact, you may want to start applying NOW for one of their 4 year scholarships. The deadline is not too far away and if you actually get one you can decided if you want to actually use it or not. You can also accept the scholarship for one year and try out the program if you want. At the end of your freshman year if it isn’t right for you you can walk away without owing the military anything. Obviously you shouldn’t take their money if you’re not serious, but it is a financial alternative to your dilemma.</p>

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<p>First of all, depending on loans to pay for a high-cost education is not a good idea. You might not even be able to get approval for the loans!! How the heck would you pay if you can’t find a lender willing to lend you the money? I don’t think your parents would be able to co-sign, given their bankruptcy. Their bankruptcy would mean their parent PLUS loan would be denied if they applied (most likely - depends on whether the bankruptcy is active at the time of application), so you would be able to borrow Stafford loans at the independent freshman level … a max of $9500 in Stafford as a freshman. That would be ALL you are guaranteed. Again, if a private loan is not approved, where would you get the rest of the money?</p>

<p>My suggestion is to find at least one school you know you can afford based on the reality of your situation. You can apply to a couple schools where you might get merit aid. And apply to your first choice school with the knowledge that if the aid isn’t good enough, you can go to another school. </p>

<p>Please do not borrow a huge amount to attend school. There are more affordable options out there.</p>

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<p>“I keep hearing my mom say, “We’ll be finished paying off our bankruptcy in 18 more months.” Does that mean we’ll go back to the norm and have the 100k a year again instead of having to pay off this stuff?”</p>

<p>Here again, you really need to talk to your parents and find out how they expect things to work. If you aren’t sure what questions to ask, go to the public library and borrow a copy of “Personal Bankruptcy for Dummies” by James Caher, or another book on the topic, so that you can read up a little bit first. </p>

<p>One thing to consider is that when your mom says things will be OK in 18 months, it really is short-hand for “Bear with me kid, and go to the cheapest school you can find for two years and then transfer to a more expensive place.”</p>

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<p>happymomof1 I kind of don’t appreciate that last thought. Please don’t put words in my mothers mouth. I know your trying to help out, but to be honest you seem like a very negative person.</p>

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<p>First, I really applaud you for looking into the financial aspects of college now. So many students do not do this and are in for heart break when they are accepted to their favorite school and find that they cannot afford it come next April or May.</p>

<p>That said, I will echo the other posters who said that you really do need to have a discussion with your parents about their finances and what they might be able to afford to give you next year and after the bankrupcy is cleared. You should also use one of the calculators to estimate your FAFSA EFC so you will know up front the minimum that the colleges would expect you and your family to pay.</p>

<p>The reason you need to discuss this ASAP with your parents is because you are facing two potentially different situations. If they say, “We can’t give you anything next year, but after that we can give you $XX,” then you might think about short term solutions, like local scholarships, that would help you afford the first year. And then you’d have their contribution to help you through future years.</p>

<p>If they say, “We really can’t give you anything now, and after the bankrupcy clears, we still can’t give you anything,” then you are in a whole different situation. If this is the case, then you really need to look at less expensive options – ones that you can pay for with your own earnings from a job and loans. These might include community college for two years and then transferring, or possibly living at home and attending a local state university.</p>

<p>Regardless of your family’s financial situation, I’d still encourage you to apply to one or two schools that are more expensive and that you’d really like to attend. You never know what kind of scholarships/aid they might offer. Just tell yourself that going there would be a long shot. You might also find it satisfying to be able to say, “I got accepted to TCU, but in this darned recession, I just couldn’t afford it.” There’s no shame in that.</p>

<p>Also pick some schools where your grades & SAT/ACT scores would put you in the top 10 - 20% of applicants. These schools would be more likely to give you merit scholarships. Lastly, apply to a couple of local state schools that you could afford on your own earnings and loans. </p>

<p>Things might seem kind of dire now, but even if you have to go to a local college, you will still get an excellent education if you put your time, effort, and heart into it. And maybe you will get some surprises (scholarships, etc.) that would put you where you want to be. Who knows, but it’s best to prepare for all scenarios.</p>

<p>Best wishes!</p>

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<p>“But I keep hearing my mom say, “We’ll be finished paying off our bankruptcy in 18 more months.” Does that mean we’ll go back to the norm and have the 100k a year again instead of having to pay off this stuff? I’m not really an economic whiz so I don’t know much about bankruptcy. But once were out of bankruptcy then that means were back to normal right?”</p>

<p>If you don’t want other peoples interpretations of what your parents “mean”, perhaps you should ask them instead of posting it on a public forum. Either that or tune down the sensitivity towards people attempting to help you. Just my opinion…</p>

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<p>To the original poster. Please don’t assume that posters who say what you want to hear are correct in their information and the other posters are being negative.
They are being realistic. These are people who deal with financial aid every day. They are giving you the ugly truth.<br>
In your situation you are looking at a lot of loans. Right now students are finishing their undergrad degrees with some pretty lousy job prospects. Student loans are not forgiven by bankruptcy. They stay with you until they are paid. To take out a lot of loans to get an undergraduate degree is, in my opinion and lots of other adults on this board, irresponsible.
The poster who says you could get up to 10K from TCU is guessing. Unless he or she works in FA at TCU or has a student with similar stats and FA at TCU is not responsible.
Talk to your parents, apply to a range of schools and be realistic.<br>
The poster who talks about outside scholarships is reaching. There are outside scholarships out there but they are very competitive. With a parental income of 100K you are not going to qualify for many of the need based scholarships.<br>
Please take the posts by kelsmom and the others in the spirit they are written. These are people who are trying to give you some very good background and advice. They know what they are talking about.</p>

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<p>ebeeee: You are correct, I was merely guessing…mind you, I said, “highly unlikely.” </p>

<p>Tayrash: You are hearing a lot of realistic points of view here. In the current economy we are in, job prospects in 4 years maybe as **** poor as they are now. </p>

<p>I would advise that you have a sit-down conversation with your Mom and Dad. If your parents will be able to pay off your family’s debt in 18 months or so, then you can possibly pay for your 1st 2 years of school through loans(mainly), scholarships(to help things), and hopefully a little something from TCU. </p>

<p>-I went out of state this last year and I got a $2000 scholarship…I know not very much. But it paid for books every semester and offset some other costs. </p>

<p>When I first read your post, I got the impression that TCU is your dream school. If thats the case, go there. And heres why: Going to the place you want to go to for the next 4 years will make you a happier person. It will show in your grades, social life, and anything extra you decide to do. </p>

<p>-I understand for your family it would be a lot cheaper for you to attend a JC and then possibly transfer to the school you want to…like, whatever"mom" was trying to tell you. I dont think you should do this and heres why. The first 2 years away at TCU, you should build your social network(establish your inner circle of friends, your rep in the party scene, and anything that leads to more of the aforementioned). The last 2 years you will reap the benefits of building this network. Going to a JC 1st you can build up as much a social network as possible but this will not carry over to TCU and you will start again…besides having less time to fool around cuz you will be in your upper-divisions by then. </p>

<p>Again just my thoughts, in the end, do whats best for you. I can only imagine the feeling of getting out of college someday and feeling unhappy about where I went. And knowing that I could have gone somewhere else but I didnt cause I wanted to play it safe.</p>

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<p>I sort of think that every time I go and visit a college I put it on this pedestall and I get so hyped to go to college that I’m kind of blind to pick out the cons towarsds the college. So TCU wasn’t really my dream school, I guess I just posted this on pure excitement and worry. idk</p>

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<p>You might have a better shot than you think. If your parents are making payments in bankruptcy, that means that filed for chapter 13. The court determined the amount of these payments based on your parents ability to pay. The court made your parents pay as much of their income each month as they could possible afford to pay. Colleges use a similar calculation. If your parents are already paying all disposable income to the bankruptcy court, then it’s a pretty safe bet that when colleges do the same calculation, they will see that your parents do not have much, if any, disposable income. And even if that doesn’t work, the bankruptcy system allows your parents to petition for lower payments each month. The summer before you go to college, have your payments ask the court to reduce their monthly payments based on the fact that they must now start paying for your education. The court will work with them.</p>

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<p>“have your payments ask the court”
Good advice but it would require an actual conversation with his parents concerning their financial situation.</p>