<p>I got into a college I wanted to go to, but because I'm an out-of-state applicant I need to get $23000 loan per year, which will amount to $92000 I have to pay back after I graduate university, and then apply to graduate too. The scholarships are not enough to fill this up. If you really wanted to go, how would you approach this problem?</p>
<p>I heard of Resident Assistants, and my parents are decided against me working very much during my college years, but please explain this job opportunity anyway...and any OTHER money-making opportunities.
Will working during college be able to cover your expenses at all or would it all amount to few dollars and lost studying hours?</p>
<p>I'm so worried. I want to go out of state but my parents are telling me to go in-state, where I will be with other 300+ people going there from my school. UGHHh!!!</p>
<p>23K annually in student loans is too much for most students to deal with upon graduation, IMO. What was your EFC?</p>
<p>Did you run your financials through the FinAid calculator to see what's contributing to your (apparently) high EFC?</p>
<p>I'd tend to agree with your parents re: considering in-state schools, if your parents aren't able to support the high cost of out-of-state schools, and you're not eligible for significant need-based aid.</p>
<p>Sounds like your more focused on getting out-of-state, though, than on finding a school that's good fit.</p>
<p>You have several very good in-state schools in the state of TX. Out-of-state schools with their prices are not worth it - unless they have really great program in your major. You can go to graduate schools OOS.</p>
<p>I hate to tell you this, but welcome to real-world economics. It is awfully late in the game to try and work through other options. Your best bet may be taking the in-state school for this year and look towards transferring. But you better start doing some planning right now to make it work.</p>
<p>I would definitely not allow my son to go into debt for $90,000+, or anything near that. Even if you did get a discount, or free room and board after freshman year by being a resident assistant, it seems like your debt would still be over $50,000. This is also too much debt, IMO.</p>
<p>ssaga, I feel we're in the same spot. Albeit, i may not be 90k+ in debt, I too am having problems trying to pay for my projected out-of-state college. What college are you looking at?</p>
<p>cornell, UT (prolly going to this college), Johns Hopkins, Carnegie Mellon, NYU, UPenn.... The college that gave me these high loans is UCLA. I had $1870 EFC, which is pretty high (compared to some other ppl with 0)</p>
<p>Yeah,, it's too much loan for me to take. I guess I'm going in-state. Besides, UT accepted me in Plan II honors =D So I'm not disappointed.
UT's starting to sound real nice. Thanks for the great advice. I'll follow yall out of staters during my graduate years. ^^</p>
<p>The resident assistant job varies from school to school. At most schools a student cannot be a RA until sophmore year. At some schools being an RA will get your free room and board (by D is an RA at her school and does not get free room/board but a stipend of $3000 for the school year). At some schools it is an extremely competitive process (although at D school, there is no free room/board hundreds of students still apply for the job).</p>
<p>Attaching the thread on RAs form College life to give you a better idea about being an RA at different schools, the pros and the cons.</p>
<p>With such a low EFC, it seems like a good chance that Cornell, JHU, CMU and Penn may well give you good fin aid packages. Just hang on and wait for the rest! It would be pretty depressing to go on to college with 300 kids from your high school. It sounds like you'll do much better.</p>
<p>The question that was asked in the middle of this thread still hasn't been answered. What's a reasonable amount to be in-debt?</p>
<p>I had a friend last year who applied to the school I wanted to go to, and he basically got in with a rather decent financial package. Northeastern costs around $40k and my friend got slightly below $20k in fin aid but the rest had to be taken out in loans and stuff. $20k *4rs (sometimes 5yrs b/c they have the co-op program there) is a big load of money. I hear many people say that they have had to turn down colleges because of the costs but I keep asking myself why? We go to college with the idea that once we graduate we're going to be able to get a good job because that's what those 4 years of studying and doing internships will get you. That good job will allow us to pay off the loan. Of course the world isn't perfect and not everyone will get a good job but eventually it'll happen and you'll be able to pay off those loans.</p>
<p>On a side note, I had asked my teacher about this situation and she told me that money should not stop you from going to the college you really are set on. I mean if you have 2-3 top choices and money is the difference maker then fine but if you only have one school that you're set on then money shouldn't deter you from going there because once you graduate no one is going to be able to take away what you've learned those 4 years.</p>
<p>Just a quick note about Northeastern: Students don't pay tuition while they are on co-op, so even if they do the five year program, the cost is still the same as the four year plan. Plus most of the co-ops are paid so that cuts the cost down quite a bit (the average NEU co-op student earns $14K- $16K per co-op term).</p>
<p>Actually I know that they pay during the co-op. It skipped my mind though. Right away I just thought that $80k was a lot, even though the co-op is paid. But after thinking about it, this is why I definitely want to go to Northeastern if I'm accepted. It's like that perfect school for me because it has everything I was looking for.</p>
<p>Btw with a couple of assumptions, lets say I get a fin aid of $20k in grants and the other $20k in loans. That's $80k over 4 yrs. Now assuming I make that average salary per co-op term which for our sakes we'll say is $15k rather than $14-16k. From my understanding there are 2 co-op terms, with a possible third one depending on how things are scheduled. That would mean $30k to $45k earned while not paying tuition. Right away, that's like more than half of the loans paid and if all of it is used just to pay loans (which probably won't happen because of other personal expenses) then I would be left with just $35-50k to pay off after I graduate. Would that be too much?</p>
<p>Btw where did you get those averages because when I went to visit they didn't mention them.</p>
<p>co-ops? I searched and it says it's a different style of housing, but what you guys are talking about seem to be something different. what are the co-ops that you're talking about?</p>
<p>Co-op program we're talking about is definitely different from co-op housing.</p>
<p>Co-op program is a way the school gets its students a job in whatever field they are studying. The difference between a co-op and say an internship is a bit big when you think about it. An internship is something the school helps you get but you have to still go to classes and you aren't guaranteed money either. A co-op for the most part is set aside from school time. This means you'll do 6 months of work, and 6 months of school. It allows you to focus on one thing rather than both and it gives you experience as well. Now the way Northeastern does it, and I don't want to speak for other schools, although they may be similar, is that they don't make you pay tuition for the school while you're doing your co-op and they may even discount room and board if you decide to go away to do the co-op. And on top of that co-ops are PAID jobs. (At least from what the admissions counselors have told me, Northeastern makes sure all jobs pay anyways.) They also make sure it isn't the kind of work where you get coffee for someone and run errands for a boss. You'll be really doing work and seeing what the job entails because that's the whole idea behind the co-op program. This is real work whereas in an internship none of this is guaranteed. You may be stuck getting coffee for someone the entire time there.</p>
<p>Again this is what I've heard from Northeastern.</p>
<p>The great part about it is that you can work anywhere you want essentially - in Boston, out west, in Europe, in New York City, Asia, etc. So you can really enjoy those 6 months, gain experience and money, plus you'll find out of that major is right for you. You may be majoring in accounting and you may find out that after the co-op you want to switch to financing or simply to another completely different major b/c business accounting wasn't what you thought it was going to be.</p>
<p>Northeastern is basically known for their co-op program. It's why many of the students go there but certianly not the only reason. The co-op program takes 5 years but really when you come out you're a step ahead of most students because you'll have some experience which is a big plus when you go out there to look for a job when you graduate. Heck you may not even need to look for a job, as many of the companies that hire students through the co-op program offer those same students jobs once they graduate.</p>
<p>I can't wait to hear from Northeastern!!!</p>
<p>EDIT: The co-op program is not very common. Many schools just help students get internships. But you should definitely check out the schools you applied to and see if they have it.</p>