<p>So, I got the financial aid letter in the mail.</p>
<p>I have $17,725 in aid, none of which is scholarship money. $10,000 is in parent loans, and my parents are not taking out loans. $2,225 is work study, and the rest ($5,500) has about a 7% interest rate. So -$7,725 from the approximate $53k leaves me with ~$45,275. My parents said they'd pay $20k each year, and they are thinking of asking my grandparents to pay $10k a year. If that works out, I'm still left with $15,275. I was thinking I could take out private loans/ get private scholarships for this, but from what I understand, private financial aid reduces the federal financial aid I recieve. How the heck am I suppose to afford going here? I'd really like to not be more than $40k in debt by graduation.. I also intend to pursue a PhD after I graduate..</p>
<p>I will be meeting with the financial aid department within the next few weeks, as well as the lady I interviewed with (I believe she is the vice president of fin aid). However, I wanted to see if anyone on here had any insight on what I could possibly do. Oh, and I obviously will get a summer job, and possibly another on campus job depending on my class schedule/ workload and my work-study schedule/ work hours.</p>
<p>Sorry to hear that Hope the meeting next week goes well!</p>
<p>In the meantime though, you should probably keep your options open. If you got into anywhere else EA, you should probably hold off on replying, and if you have any pending applications, I would hold off on withdrawing them. </p>
<p>You really don’t want to be left in the position of facing an involuntary gap year if the meeting doesn’t go well. You may feel like you’re not upholding the ED agreement, but you’re not bound by it until they uphold their side of the bargain (reasonable financial aid).</p>
<p>yeah, the meeting is going to be at the beginning of January (I tried to arrange something for next week but they said they were closed for the holidays).</p>
<p>My other option I still have open is UCs. Hopefully I’ll get into Berkeley, but if not then UCSD.</p>
<p>Yeah… I really don’t want to take a gap year (so I’m declared financially independent?)
I feel it’s not bad to take a few years off after college to work even if you intend to go to grad school, but skipping a year or two before college seems like it would cause more problems with the age gap as well as other issues.</p>
<p>Hopefully the meeting will go well. Do you know until when we have to decide/ have to withdraw our other applications?</p>
<p>Blackroses216 - You really have a huge gap to fill, and you’ll have to do so again each year. There are scholarships out there, but many are just one-time.</p>
<p>The grandparent idea could work… if they are financially comfortable they might be delighted to have the opportunity to contribute. But remember that their money was earned at much lower salaries than today, and $10,000 may seem like a huge sum to them (especially if they were hurt by the stock market crash).</p>
<p>I have heard that there may be summer research jobs on campus. Hopefully Mudd students can add detail of salary and summer living expenses. </p>
<p>I hesistate to be the killjoy here because I know you LOVE Mudd. But make sure continue to do your homework on all of your options. When the bills come due, somebody has to be ready to pay them. Again and Again. You are wise to be leery about too much debt.</p>
<p>My gradparents live in Isreal, and have lived there most of their lives. Still $10k a year is a lot of money haha.</p>
<p>Yeah, hopefully I will be able to get some scholarship money that can go on for all four years. If there isn’t a reasonable way to afford this, then I won’t be able to go, but hopefully that won’t be the case. : )</p>
<p>Just call up our financial aid office and theyll set you up. When I was having the same issue, they increased my need based aid by 5k, and helped me get the best private loans after maxing out all of my federal ones. </p>
<p>Sounds like youre college experience will be cheaper than mine =P, and ill only be here for 3 years.</p>
<p>Blackroses, take a second look at that TCOA too. Your family lives in Palm Springs; travel costs will be negligible to you. You might get by on the 12/12 meal plan, which would save you about $1k/year compared with the 16/16 plan (16/16 is too much for my son). Make friends with a rising sophomore, and you may be able to borrow textbooks (or at least HUM books). My point is just that your actual costs can be different from what you’re seeing online, and a second look might yield some ways to reduce your costs aside from the tuition/room/board. OTOH, bear in mind that tuition/room/board will go up a bit (maybe 3-5%) every year. Not sure how this affects need-based aid, but it’s important to know and worth asking the FA folks.</p>
<p>Well the main problem is that my mom had a bad year with her business, which doesn’t reflect on this years tax return I believe… at least not yet</p>
<p>geek_mom- on my financial aid letter, without transportation or loan fees… it still equates to 52,837, so approximately 53k.</p>
<p>I could go on the 12/12 meal plan, considering I usually just grab a granola bar for breakfast and i’m set for the morning (as unhealthy as it is to start your day like that).</p>
<p>Books aren’t a huge part of the cost is comparison to tuition, so I’m not too worried about finding someone to sell me books, but if I do that’s great.</p>
You will not be ‘declared financially independent’ if you take a gap year. A student is considered a dependent for financial aid purposes until they are 24.</p>
<p>^ Cat’s mom is spot on about the dependent thing. Talk with the FA folks about the business stuff – have your mom bring figures, if possible. If your financial situation is markedly different, there may be some flexibility. Good luck and best wishes to you!</p>
<p>Maybe 1/5 of HMC students do summer research on campus, for a stipend, which I heard this summer may be $4200+. But they have to pay for room and board–I’d estimate $1500 for the 10 weeks, unless they can work out a summer rental for less. Some girls get by on the 8 meal plan and buy breakfast and lunch fixings from Trader Joes 2 blocks away, which you can keep in a dorm fridge. Remember to budget for other living expenses like student health costs and prescriptions and toiletries; some kids rent zipcars to run errands ($7/hr plus registration fee). Budget for dorm room items, laptop, etc, which can add up; but you might get some things cheaply–dorms auction off left behind items in Sept. A bike is a good way to get into town and back.</p>
<p>I think the Sontag kitchens which’re attached to suites directly, those might pose a problem if you’re cooking ‘smelly’ food (e.g. with fish sauce, tons of garlic)</p>
<p>I’ve cooked alot in South kitchen and it’s cool</p>
<p>Linde has a dorm kitchen and then two rooms with small kitchens. Atwood doesn’t have a whole dorm kitchen, but it has 4 or so rooms that have really small little kitchens (basically just a stove).</p>
<p>As for using the kitchens, it really depends on the dorm. In general, as long as you have access to the kitchen, you can cook in it (they’re all behind locked doors. You have to either know the combination, have card access, or know someone who will let you in). It’s often considered good manners to send an email to the dorm chat list letting people know that you are cooking if its going to take a while or if you’re going to take up a lot of space (in other words, if you’re cooking for more people than just yourself). If you live in a dorm with a kitchen, then these rules will be discussed at the first dorm meeting. If you don’t, then you should ask whoever lets you in to the kitchen. </p>
<p>It really isn’t that hard to get to a kitchen if you really want one, especially after you’ve made some friends. For your first year, you can explain why you really really need to have a kitchen on your roommate matching form then they might put you in Sontag (worked for someone in my year). Of course, you won’t return to Sontag until your junior or senior year due to room draw, but hopefully after a year of living there you’ll make enough upperclassmen connections that you’ll be able to use their kitchen the next year. But still, don’t be bummed out if you end up in a dorm without a kitchen. It really isn’t that hard to find people who will let you cook in their dorm/suite/room.</p>
Hope the meeting next week goes well!</p>