<p>Today, I received my financial aid package from Virginia Tech. The total cost to study there for an OOS student is around $32k. My financial aid package amounts to $21,500, including 3.5k in Direct Subsidized Loans and 2k in Direct Unsubsidized Loans. I still have to pay around $11,000 to study there. </p>
<p>I know my parents will be able to help pay off some of it, but do you guys think it's alright for me to have to figure out how to pay the rest? Are there any other ways to pay for it? Should I just not go there at all?</p>
<p>They have awarded you 5.5k in loans so far. If your parents pay half of the 11k and you take out the other half in some kind of private loan, you will end up with at least 11k of debt for each of four years. This is a total of 44k. That will buy you two economical cars, or make a big dent in the cost of a new roof for your parents house, or pay for the first year of grad school.</p>
<p>If you have a less expensive option, I would say go there instead of Virginia Tech. You have a good financial aid package for an out of state student, but it probably is nowhere near as favorable as the package you got from your home-state U.</p>
<p>It depends; are your parents willing and able to pay the $11K needed for you to attend? If not, then IMHO you shouldn’t go there. Taking on the 5.5K in loans – I think that’s okay. Taking on three times that… not okay.</p>
<p>if i may ask, how did you get your financial aid package? was it from the internet or did you get a letter, im currently waiting for my letter for VT and im having trouble accessing the online system</p>
<p>I got my package through the online system. It’s above your application status when you log in. </p>
<p>My parents are gonna pay around $7,000 each year, so there’d still be around $3k left unpaid for. We’ll see what happens.</p>
<p>And stone_cutter, that sucks to hear that happen. I was lucky to get the Presidential Campus Enrichment Grant, the VT Scholars Scholarship, and the VT Grant with my financial aid package, or else I’d only be left with around $11k in financial aid.</p>
<p>Have you and your parents discussed how much you and your family can pay for college? At our house, we had to go through the numbers. When our son had his options, we knew that we and he had to come up with the money. We borrowed, he borrowed. We hit up our savings as did he. We are paying from current income; he is working part time this term, double shifting summers and vacations. We are on an austerity regiment and he is also watching his money knowing that he is going to have to careful. So we get by. </p>
<p>It’s difficult to say whether it is worth it for you and your family to take on those expenses without a better idea of your financial situations. I don’t recommend more loans for you. The stafford maximus are a good rule of thumb for students, in my opinion. I would not even suggest loans for your parents because that may not be a good financial move for them to make. What can they afford to pay? What are they willing to pay? Can they borrow without endangering themselves financially? Can you start working weekends and evenings now to start stashing some money away towards that $11k? That a a summer of working your tail off can make a dent in the amount. Add 10-15 hours of work in the school cafeteria or elsewhere during the school year, and maybe you won’t have to borrow more.</p>
<p>Also what are your alternatives? If you are sitting there with a full ride or less of a gap from other schools, that may be the wiser way to go.</p>
<p>My only other choice is the University of Central Florida, but there’s a problem with that. I went through verification, and my EFC went from 4000 to 7500. My UCF financial aid package was calculated when my EFC was estimated at 4000. My VT package is calculated according to my current EFC. </p>
<p>So right now, I’ve removed the Pell Grants and other things that require students to be Pell Grant eligible in my UCF package, and it amounts to me owing around 9k. I’m not sure how they would go about giving me my new financial aid package, though.</p>
<p>“My parents are gonna pay around $7,000 each year, so there’d still be around $3k left unpaid for. We’ll see what happens.”</p>
<p>If you’re willing to work during the summer (3K) and part time during school (2.5K) and live frugally (shave 1K off the books and misc expense portion of the COA)- you should be able to do it and your parents would contribute less than 7K. You can make it happen, if you want it enough.</p>
<p>Just avoid going into debt more than 20 to 25K by the time you graduate.</p>