So I am new to this, please bare with me. Recently, I was accepted off of the waitlist for UCR and I have decided to attend this school in the fall. However, I am not sure if living on campus would be a good thing for me financially. I want to live on campus for the experience and I know i would be more involved in with the school if I did so, but living on campus requires me to take out both subsidized and unsibsidized loans, yet I would still need to pay about $4,000 out of pocket if i lived on campus. I live about 40 min away from campus, so the commute is not far and i would only need to take out the unsubsidized loan. Would it be better if i lived on or off campus?
Also, I only plan to live on campus for my first year, I really want the experience. After, I would either find an apartment with friends or go back home with my parents.
If it doesn’t affect your parents budget and you can work to help pay the housing fee, then go for it.
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i would only need to take out the unsubsidized loan
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you WANT to take out the SUB loan!!! That is the better loan
You’re right! I meant subsidized! that was my mistake. thank you!
How much would it cost you to live on campus? How much will it cost you to commute? Whatever the difference, you need to decide if it is worth borrowing that amount to have the ‘experience.’ There are intangible costs too, like your time to commute, but really you are just comparing hard costs here. Is there a ‘super cheap’ dorm and meal plan? Are you willing to live there/eat less?
I wanted my daughters to have the experience so I thought it was worth it, but if the only way for them to have gone to college was to live at home, then giving up the dorm experience would have been the first budget item to be slashed. Better to commute than not go at all.
Don’t for get to factor in additional time for commuting if you have to commute during rush hour. While I have that long a commute for work each day, a 40 minute commute to get to school can be wearing. If at all possible, I vote for you to live on campus.
I don’t think a single year of loans will kill you; it’s not the best financial choice though. The key issue is that extra $4000 out of pocket that you need. Can you really swing that?