<p>I am planning on enrolling at Duke next fall. My problem is paying, as everyone's is, I'm sure. With what my parents make, I should have to pay $30,000/year. The parental contribution is expected to be $25,000 and Duke only allows for me to take $5,000/year in loans. The problem is that my parents aren't going to contribute much at all... Surely not $25,000. I'm still determined to go to Duke, and I'm willing to take massive student loans, but how do I get past the $5,000/year limit?</p>
<p>The way it works in this country is that college is considered the parents’ responsibility in terms of payment. Duke is a private school. You knew up front that it was expensive, close to the $60K range. They are giving you about $30K in aid. The rest is up to you and your parents, just as it would have been had you applied to a private boarding high school and been accepted and given a scholarship for some of the cost.</p>
<p>As for loans, highly unlikely, next to impossible that an 18 year old will get a loan in the amounts you need. Your parents, however, can, and if they feel they can afford to borrow the amounts necessary, then that is the way to go. There are is PLUS, which are Direct Loans for Parents that they can apply for easily on line and get a quick private deny or approve. If they are denied, the Stafford loans will let you borrow an additional $4K for freshman year, still a small drop in the bucket for what you need. Otherwise, it is the private loan route for YOUR PARENTS with you cosigning so that you have to pay if they die or won’t. They want both parent and studnets on the hook.</p>
<p>The federal loan systems are geared to make it possible for you to go to college locally to a state school, not to subsidize you for an expensive private school. If your parents will not or cannot come up with what Duke says they have to pay, then you can’t go there. It’s not an entitlement in the least. If you got into Duke, there are likely to be some scholarships for other schools where you won’t have to pay nearly as much.</p>
<p>“I’m willing to take massive student loans,”</p>
<p>Your debt would be about $130k plus accumulated interest while in school. </p>
<p>Why? Why do you want to ruin your adult life? Your “willingness” to take out massive student loans just shows that you don’t understand what that kind of debt would do to you. </p>
<p>Thankfully, YOU can’t borrow that much. Your parents would have to qualify each year and cosign, which it doesn’t sound like they would do (most parents won’t because it hurts their credit and they are responsible if the child doesn’t pay. Also, many parents cannot qualify to co-sign $100k in loans.). </p>
<p>what is your career goal and how much do you think you’ll be earning upon graduation? </p>
<p>How much do you think the monthly payments would be if you borrowed $130k. ($100k from EFC plus $30k from Fed loans)</p>
<p>BTW…no college is worth anywhere close to that much debt.</p>
<p>“I’m willing to take massive student loans,”</p>
<p>That is why you can’t. You are 18, and have not worked or developed a credit history to know how it feels to pay off what you are quickly agreeing to borrow. Too many, your age in the past have borrowed far less, and it just isn’t a good investment in terms of lending someone of that age that amount of money, without the parents on the hook for it.</p>
<p>*I am a white male, from Nebraska. My parents make enough that I won’t get any money. I go to the most competetive school on the state. My GPA is a 3.65 unweighted and 4.3 weighted. I have take. 5 AP classes through junior year, and 6 senior year. I got a 33 ACT compositie, 10 on writing. </p>
<p>I play sports very competitively, thus cannot do clubs. I’m a district champion in wrestling (will be a 2 time letter winner) and a starter in football. I was also the state champion in freestyle and Greco wrestling (not school affiliated). My class rank is barely top 10%, however (like I said – very competetive). </p>
<p>I am really counting on my ACT to help me out. </p>
<p>Colleges I’m interested in:
Duke
Berkeley
Georgetown
Michigan
Cornell</p>
<p>Safeties:
Nebraska
Colorado
Wisconsin</p>
<p>I hope to get money, but I am getting nervous and just hope to get admitted. What are my chances?*</p>
<p>Did you get offered huge merit from your “safeties”? If not, then those weren’t safeties. For a school to be a safety you would have to know FOR SURE that you have all costs covered. Since you can only borrow $5k and your parents aren’t paying, how would you pay for those schools without huge merit? </p>
<p>Did you apply to any schools where you know FOR SURE that you would get LARGE merit. You wrote that you hope that your ACT “helps you out” but it doesn’t look like you applied to the schools that would give you assured large merit for your stats.</p>
<p>Hopefully, someone can recommend a couple of schools that you can still apply to and get huge merit since your parents won’t pay anything. </p>
<p>It sounds like you weren’t advised well when you made up your school list. </p>
<p>At this point, you may not have any affordable schools. If you end up taking a gap year do not take ANY CC classes because that will ruin your incoming frosh status for big merit.</p>
<p>Go to community college. Live at home. Dont bathe and stockpile used ramen cups in your closet. </p>
<p>Show your parents the dark side of not paying for college.</p>
<p>A different route is emancipation. It probably takes a year or two but when the money’s gone its time to move one. If you really want Duke, then move out after high school, get a job and support yourself. Then apply for financial aid independant of mom and dad. They will respect you for it, and some work experience will look good on the resume.</p>
<p>I guess we are coming off being a bit harsh. </p>
<p>Duke is a school that guarantees to meet 100% of need as they define from PROFILE. From what I have seen, it is a pretty generous school, and it appears as though the OP was given a full grant award for what the need is with the Stafford Loans of $5500 left intact for him to use to pay towards his part of the cost. Maybe OP can find a job this summer, or even now for weekends and breaks to come up with another $4500 towards the cost which would bring the cost to the parents to be $20K a year. </p>
<p>If the OPs parents are not going to pay a dime towards his college, then DUke or any school that is not going to give the OP a scholarship for the costs is not going to be doable unless the cost left is doable by the OP him/herself. That’s where we are.</p>
<p>OP seemed to be aware that parents made enough that getting aid was quesitonable, so that s/he got half the cost met at Duke is a good thing. The big question now, is whether the parents will come up with the $20K a year needed for the OP to go there. If not, s/he cannot afford to go, and other options have to be examined.</p>
<p>This happens a lot in many cases, when parents are gung ho about the process and say, that they will work things out somehow when the time comes. Then when the time comes, if there is a school that is free or much less in cost than the student’s first choice, the parents, who are well in their rights to do this, will not pay, the unnecessary cost to go away to a private school. </p>
<p>Sometimes, not. We paid. And our son had a free tuition alternative he could have selected and commuted from home, which he now acknowledges would not have been so terrible and even have been beneficial in some regards. But some parents don’t want to do so. They may have financial issues they do not wish to share with their kids and going the least expensive way possible is the best thing for the family all around. Taking out a $100K loan is not a small financial decision to make. </p>
<p>Many times we go into the college app process, as parents as well as students, with no idea what the choices are going to be. It could have happened that Duke just might have come up with a very doable package. Until the award was in hand, no could say for sure. Looks like an ED situation here, which was not a good idea when there was need involved. If parents won’t pay and it is undoable, the OP is going to have to let this go, even if this might be the best deal. </p>
<p>What other offers have you gotten, OP? And what is your parents’ stance on all of this? When do you have to let Duke know you aren’t going to be able to go? You may well be under a time constraint because ED schools do sent out accepted student lists and other schools on your list that subscribe to it will flush you from consideration unless you are released from ED from Duke.</p>
<p>Sosomenza, the student would need to become emancipated prior to their 18th birthday and there needs to be a very good reason for seeking and gaining this status. Parents NOT agreeing to pay for college isn’t a reason that will gain you emancipation. This would not likely be an option for this student.</p>
<p>Also, even IF this student moves out and is self supporting, as an undergrad, they will still be required to include the income and assets of their parents on the financial aid application forms until age 24.</p>
<p>Please don’t give false information about this. It is misleading, and provides false hope to folks.</p>
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<p>There are no emancipation laws in Nebraska so this is not going to help OP. Even if there were, just because on becomes independent for federal aid, will not make them independent for institutional aid.</p>
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<p>Please don’t do this. There are plenty of schools other than Duke where you can get an excellent education and have a great experience that will not require over $100,000 in loans. </p>
<p>I’m not sure if your safety schools would be financial safeties. Have they offered scholarships? My D had the same ACT as you and a slightly higher unweighted GPA last year, and frankly, she didn’t consider Wisconsin a safety. She did get in, but no money. I’m hopeful that Nebraska or Colorado offered you merit money so you have a less expensive alternative. My D ended up with a full tuition scholarship plus an additional $5000 fellowship from one of her safeties and will graduate debt free, so it’s definitely possible with your stats. </p>
<p>As for getting loans beyond the $5500 Stafford, it won’t happen unless you have a cosigner. Your parents can probably get PLUS loans, but if the expectation would be for you to pay them off, you should really think hard about whether it’s worth it to you to attend Duke. I just don’t see where it would be worth mortgaging your future for an education that isn’t significantly different from one that could be had elsewhere for a lot less.</p>
<p>Since the student indicated that the parents aren’t paying much at all, so that means most schools will not be affordable since the “family EFC” is too high for the student to cover thru a summer job or whatever.</p>
<p>Vinc…how much will your parents pay? $5k per year? More? Less? What are they SAYING??? </p>
<p>It may seem that we’re being “harsh,” but the truth is we want you to look at this from a realistic standpoint. Unless your parents naively co-sign these loans each year (a very bad decision), Duke and most schools will not be affordable. </p>
<p>Again, hopefully some people here can recommend some schools that might still award HUGE (HUGE!!!) merit. This student needs at least free tuition so that a student loan, money from parents, and a summer job can cover room, board, and books. </p>
<p>I think UAB would still offer an OOS student a full tuition scholarship, but I don’t know what this student’s goal is. If it’s some kind of health major, business, or engineering, that would work.</p>
<p>By any chance are you a NMF???</p>
<p>Thumper: Are confusing legal emancipation with financial aide emancipation? Colleges recognize, and I believe that Duke is no different, that some parents will not pay. But until a candidate establishes his own financial independance then they will assume otherwise and expect a parental contribution. There is process to it and it does take time. Anyway I don’t believe that Duke works in a vaccuum and will refuse to accept a students financial independence as long as tax returns, and other information is consistent. BTW I did mention it does take time. Age 24 seems arbitrary and too long but if that’s what it is then I will stand corrected.</p>
<p>As a Nebraska resident and graduate from a NE high school, OP would be eligible for the Regent’s scholarship at UNL (or UNO or UNK). It would cover tuition.</p>
<p>A student is considered dependent for financial aid purposes until they turn 24 or can answer yes to one of the other dependency questions (married, a veteran, supporting a dependent of your own etc). Working and supporting yourself is not one of the criteria for independence for FA purposes.</p>
<p>Colleges might recognize that some parents will not pay. HOWEVER, that does not mean the COLLEGE will make up for what the parents won’t pay. The colleges calculate a family contribution. If the parents won’t pay, the school is not going to fully fund the student. That is not how need based aid is calculated or awarded.</p>
<p>Your tax filing status has nothing whatsoever to do with your financial aid dependence or independence.</p>
<p>Soso, my information was not arbitrary. Simply moving out and supporting oneself does NOT make one independent for financial aid purposes. Age 24 IS the age of independence for financial aid purposes (if age is the criteria you are using) for the FAFSA. However, for
schools using the Profile (Duke does) they might not even deem you independent at age 24 if you are an undergraduate student.</p>
<p>Thumber’s fairly persusaive. Does the OP have to use the parent’s income even assuming financial independence? Anyone else?</p>
<p>I am a financial aid director. Thumper is correct.</p>
<p>It’s even worse than that, Sosomenza. A number of schools, maybe most, will not recognize a student as independent if that student starts out as dependent. For example if a student starts out as dependent, takes time off and returns at age 24 or with a child or married, he’s still dependent for financial aid purposes. The same if a marriage occurs. </p>
<p>It’s very difficult to be deemed independent for financial aid reasons via the courts even. Emancipation has to have occurred before age 18 and almost always has to be due to cause</p>
<p>Don’t know what the OP’s situation is here. Duke’s RD decisions have not yet been sent out. ED was a while back. Perhaps, s/he got a likely letter and ran the NPC, which would be pretty accurate for Duke since it guarantees to meet need and has very little in the way of merit awards, and it’s doubful it would include athletic scholarships in the calculator.</p>
<p>Hopefully, OP is having discussions with parents as to what the financial possibilities are.</p>