<p>Rollins College, in Winter Park, FL offered my daughter a $22,0000 scholarship, and with Bright Futures and FL resident it's a total of almost $28,000.00. We are able to help her wtih about $6,000.00 that she would need up front every year to go, but she would ultimately end up with $28,000.00 in loans.....all in her name, no parent loans. We will not do that. She is in love with the school, it is a perfect fit. We are 20 minutes away, so she can commute and live at home. Option #2 is UCF, 10 minutes away, a very nice, respectable state college, that we can cover all of the costs for her, and she could live at home. But she hates it. Hates the thought of a school that large....50,000 kids. She just hates it. But says she doesn't want to be stupid and think about the reality of coming out of college debt free, but is not sure if she wants to go to a huge state school that she hates. On the other hand, she realizes what $28,000 in loans means, that she will be paying it for a while, live in a crappy apartment, not get the new car sooner than if she had no loans. If she goes to UCF she could get an apartment, after her first year, because we would be covering all of her costs that bright futures didn't cover. I guess she could do that at Rollins too, but with $28,000 in potential loans she has said it would make more sense to put any money from a pt job towards that rather than an apartment. She is taking a few days to think this over before she decides. I told her I don't want to talk her out of her dream school. Rollins is small, it's beautiful, it has opened so many doors for people that we know. How does one decide? This decision making is brutal!!!</p>
<p>28k is not an outrageous amount of loans. It is just above average.</p>
<p>I guess it still is outrageous, but in comparison to others, not as much.</p>
<p>28k over the course of four years is only 1k more than the Stafford Loan maximum. It is probably do-able for most students.</p>
<p>28k each year, on the other hand, is more than four times the Stafford Loan maximum, and would require co-signers. That would be a ridiculous amount of debt.</p>
<p>There are nice calculators at [FinAid</a>! Financial Aid, College Scholarships and Student Loans](<a href=“http://www.finaid.org%5DFinAid”>http://www.finaid.org). Have her run her numbers through the one for evaluating Award Letters. That may help her evaluate the situation.</p>
<p>I am a little confused, the COA is 50K a year. She has a 28k in scholarships, you can cover the 6k EFC, where is the balance of the $$ coming from? If she is going to have to take 28k in loans a year, then it is too much money.</p>
<p>However, if she only needs to borrow 28K over the course of 4 years, which is not an extreme amount of debt she should attend Rollins. It is pretty much in line what she can borrow through the stafford loan program:</p>
<p>5500 freshman
6500 Sophomore year
7500 junior year
7500 senior year</p>
<p>If you really want to help her you can pay the interest on the unsubsidized loans while she is in school (or you can pay of the unsub loans all together if you can swing it). She can also look for ways to reduce her costs; purchasing used textbooks, getting an on campus job, working over the summer, living off campus after freshman year, etc.</p>
<p>Elated to get such quick responses. Yes, it is only a total of $28,000, and I did also think it was doable. And this is with her NOT living on campus, we have already come to the realization that another $12,000 is NOT something we can afford, on top of the $6,000 we will have to pay up front for what is not covered. That is not including the books either, but we will also take care of that, and grandma will help too with that. Thank you for the advice of paying the interest, excellent idea, not sure if we will be in a position to help with more than that but she is also willing to work a part time job to put away some money towards some of these loans as she goes. Thank you so much for your comments!</p>
<p>It depends on your family situation as to whether it is really that bad or not. It’s that amount if she lives at the school, not if she commutes so you aren’t really giving an apples to apples comparison as to what UCF would cost vs Rollins. The cost of the Rollins in loans comes to what a very nice brand new car costs. I don’t think that is outrageous. It is an excellent school with top rate academics. I agree that it is at the max of what she should be borrowing, but unless you have some outstanding financial issues, I think it is a respectable, expectable amount to have to pay to go to a private boarding college of that caliber. Congratulations to your daughter in snagging such a choice.</p>
<p>You know, back in 1989 I graduated with $10,000 in loans. I paid it back, $100 a month over 10 years. (actually paid it off a little quicker than that). My salary was only $25,000 that first year of teaching, and I had a cute little apartment, and a newish car. Having those loans taught me to manage my money, and be careful about splurging. It also helped me establish credit. It wasn’t so horrible. Depending on what your D will choose as a career, and that most salaries are better than 1989, even with $28,000 in debt to pay over 10 or so years, I think it is manageable, and your D will have some responsibility for her education this way. Too many kids don’t realize the expense, etc, and drop classes left and right, party, etc.</p>
<p>I agree that $28,000 in loans over four years is doable.
However, please allow for the possibility that she may want to live closer to the school/on campus, at some point. Commuting, even a short distance does impact their experience. The aid office should be able to tell you if the package will change if she needs to include room&board.</p>
<p>How many hours can your student work per week at the part-time job you mentioned? Putting even a modest amount of a weekly paycheck into a savings account could add up to a couple of thousand dollars a year. Then she would have that money to start paying back the loans when she finishes school. Having 4-8 thousand in the bank would make the $28,000 in loans look less daunting when the time comes to pay them. She sounds sensible, so if she’s also disciplined enough to save…</p>
<p>She is a pretty sensible, smart girl, and has already mentioned that she will put aside a portion of whatever she makes to go towards these loans. They offered her a work study, but it’s $2,000.00 so she plans to find a decent part time job somewhere else as well. She is going to commute, because we cannot afford $12,000 for room and board. It takes 20-30 minutes to commute there, which is pretty standard to go anywhere in the Orlando area where we live, and she currently commutes 20 minutes to her school now anyway, so we are sort of used to the cost of that, although I’m sure it will be more once she is in college. Her plan is to live at home the first year, hopefully makes some friends, find a roommate off campus the next year. Oh, and the tuition is $39,900 not $50, not sure if I said that wrong. She is still weighing her options of $28,000 versus none but going to the local state college, which is UCF and is a great school too, but she loves Rollins. I think she is beginning to waver a bit now that she has several friends who have decided that they are going to UCF. I hope she sticks with Rollins, I think it’s a better fit for her. Thanks again for all the wonderful advice.</p>
<p>I’m not sure how you are breaking down the numbers here. How much is Rollins total if she lived there? She then has a $22K award, right? Plus Bright Futures and whatever you, the parents can pay. </p>
<p>Also make sure that her award is not contingent upon living on campus. My friend’s daughter lost a significant amount of aid when a school was notified she was going to commute.</p>
<p>One of the first things we asked was, can she still live at home and if so, will this reduce her scholarship offer. They told us she could, it is the only instance they will let a freshman live at home is if we are local and close, which we are. She got the Alonzo Scholarship, which is $22,000 per year, plus she gets with bright futures and FL resident, she gets close to $28,000 per year, every year, as long as she keeps a 3.0. If she lived on campus, we would have to pay an extra $12,000 for room and board, which would be a deal breaker for us, because we could not afford it and will not take out loans to pay for room and board when we are 20 minutes away. A 20 minute commute here is typical going anywhere, traffic is awful.</p>