<p>Okay, so in short....
Combined, my parents make around 100 k a year combined. However, with the cost of living in New Jersey as well as other debts, my parents would have struggled to pay for college because they only see about 60 k of this money.</p>
<p>But now, my parents are separating, which I know will get me more federal aid. However, since my mom can't deal with her financial problems anymore, she's filing for bankruptcy.</p>
<p>Will this affect my ability to pay for college? I'm gonna be a senior and I'm seriously freaking out. this whole situation sucks.</p>
<p>btw if it's any help, I'm a B+ to A- student with a 30 ACT so I might get a bit of merit money from some schools I'm applying to, but not enough.</p>
<p>It won’t affect your ability to get Stafford Loans, but will certainly affect her ability to borrow. Also she won’t be able to cosign for additional loans.</p>
<p>Why would your uncle do this? It would make him responsible for your debt in the event you don’t pay. I would not do it for my niece and nephew. You need to check with him to see if this is true.</p>
<p>Whether or not your uncle will co-sign loans is not really the issue.</p>
<p>You can get federal student loans for the following amounts: $5500, 6500, 7500, 7500. That totals about $27k. You might also get some small Perkins loans.</p>
<p>If you borrow the above amounts, your monthly payments will be about $360 per month. That’s high enough for most near grads. </p>
<p>you don’t need a co-signer for the above amounts.</p>
<p>Any loans greater than those amounts will likely be very hard to pay back after graduation.</p>
<p>What is your likely major and career? </p>
<p>Will your dad help pay for college? your mom might get that specified in their divorce.</p>
<p>Your uncle may “do the math” at some point and realize that the future loan payments would be too difficult for you to repay and refuse to co-sign for loans in the later years.</p>
<p>I would have your mom run her income/asset numbers through one of the online EFC calculators like college board’s or the fafsa4caster. If your EFC is low enough based on her income alone (assuming she’ll be your custodial parent) you may qualify for a Pell grant and state aid. You’ll also be offered Stafford loans, which will be in your name alone, and possibly some work study and Perkins loans. Beyond that, you’ll want to target schools and other sources that will offer you gift aid - scholarships and grants. Your mom will be unable to cosign a loan but she can apply for a Parent Plus loan and when she’s denied you’ll become eligible for up to an additional $4K in unsubsidized Stafford loans.</p>
<p>Try to save as much money as possible over the next year to help with your initial expenses, but make sure you maintain your good grades! If you post the size, region, and type of school/program you’re interested in you may get some suggestions here.</p>
<p>Any Federal aid will depend on your custodial parent’s income. You will probably need to look at in state publics and schools that will give you merit aid.</p>
<p>Assuming your mother is your custodial parent, it will be primarily her income that will generate the EFC through FAFSA. So bankruptcy may not affect all that much. What bankruptcy generally does is discharge the responsibility from debts the individual may have and college financial aid does not even take that into consideration. She most likely won’t be qualifying for the PLUS which would give you an additonal $4K in loans you can take. But even without the bankruptcy, it does not look like she should be taking any loans anyways.</p>
<p>So financial aid/merit money/low cost are all things you need to watch in picking your schools. With a combined income of $100K, even most of the more generous schools are not going to be giving you huge packages, and the more generous schools do tend to include BOTH parents’ financials despite a divorce situation. So you father will be in the picture whether you like it or not.</p>
<p>Again, I am directing a poster to MomfromTexas’s thread on full ride scholarships. Also look at local schools to which you can commute. You certainly can add schools to your list that offer generous financial aid and/or merit money, but you really can’t count on admissions or getting that money, so you need some sure bets that you can afford. </p>
<p>With things so dicey in the financial area with your family, why would you even be contemplating borrowing loads of money? You’ve seen what that can do firsthand with your mother’s situation. You can’t discharge some of these school loans through bankruptcy so you won’t even have that out. So the goal is not to find a co signer so that you can borrow a lot of money but to keep your costs to the minimum so that you don’t have to borrow much.</p>
<p>I’m planning on going to which ever school gives me the most money. </p>
<p>I’m interested in East Carolina University, Saint Joseph’s, University of South Carolina, Rutgers (in-state but I don’t want to stay in state and my mom believes leaving NJ would be a good experience as well), Elon, High Point and UDel.</p>
<p>my dad will not be contributing because he doesn’t make enough (but then again, neither does my mom)</p>
<p>HOWEVER, it is an amicable divorce in which they pretty much have nothing to fight over belongings-wise.</p>
<p>Soooo, my mom isn’t getting any money from him or anything.</p>
<p>I’m planning on majoring in History and either becoming a teacher, or business.</p>
<p>And cpofthhouse, my mom’s debts were credit card based. I do plan on paying back my student loans. Most of you are probably laughing at this, but I’m going to.</p>
<p>*
I’m planning on majoring in History and either becoming a teacher, or business. *</p>
<p>Do you realize how hard it will be to pay back BIG loans on a teacher’s salary or with an entry-level business job?</p>
<p>That’s why people don’t want you to go the private loan route. If you ONLY borrow the federal loan amounts (Stafford and maybe Pell), you’ll owe $30k at graduation. Your payments will be about $350 per month. That is a lot for a young person. That’s about the cost of an extra car payment (in addition to your own REAL car payment) for TEN long years. </p>
<p>Keep in mind that you’ll be paying back these loans while also supporting yourself. People don’t have a lot of money left over after paying rent, food, transportation costs, utilities, cell phone, etc. </p>
<p>I would think that you’d learn from your parents’ situation that a lot of debt can lead to a lot of problems.</p>
<p>Don’t go the private loan route. You’ll deeply regret it.</p>
<p>ilovecolegge, I commend you for even looking into this matter, most kids have no idea about finances or even paying for college. At least you are taking the necessary steps to insure your best possible advantage for college.</p>
<p>Based on your EFC forecaster, you will be eligilbe for the Pell grant and also if your mother doesn’t qualify for the PLUS that is an additional $4,000. If you become a teacher, look into other ways of getting some aid for that. TEACH AMERICA, which is one of the FAFSA questions is a program to help people become teachers affordably and there is a “give-back” associated. Also I believe there is some loan forgiveness as well. You will have to research it.</p>
<p>Well, we can help you come up with the best strategy to get much of your costs covered without taking out much in loans. :)</p>
<p>What are your stats?</p>
<p>We know that you want to major in history or business. </p>
<p>What else do you want in a school?</p>
<p>You’re instate for Rutgers. </p>
<p>Unless you have really high stats, don’t bother with most OOS publics…they won’t give you their aid. For instance… UDel won’t give you their aid. Neither will schools in South Carolina. </p>
<p>However, if your stats are high, we can recommend some OOS schools that will be generous with merit.</p>
<p>What are your stats (including SAT breakdown)</p>
<p>As terrible as this sounds,
my mom and I both AGREE on sending me out of state. My mom believes it’s best even with the current financial situation we’re in. This is why I feel so helpless because I really don’t know what to do to cover OOS tuition.</p>
<p>Stats are pretty avg.
I’m female, white…so no money there haha.</p>
<p>Basic rundown would be:
GPA: 3.5
ACT: 31
Class rank: I will know by this summer. Hoping for top 30%
Extracurriculars: Lots of community service (over 300 hours), part time job 25 hours a week, playing guitar, ect.</p>
<p>So in short, with such crappy stats, I’m absolutely screwed.</p>