<p>Even though you may have a repayment agreement with your parents which you fully intend to honor, the loans will still be in your parents’ names. They’re the ones who have to feel comfortable taking on this level of debt. </p>
<p>I don’t know your parents’ financial situation, so it’s impossible to say whether paying full freight for Wesleyan is reasonable or insane, but for you, a potential BA art & economics/IR, a $150,000 debt is economic suicide.</p>
<p>You need to have a heart to heart with your parents to see whether it’s workable for them to increase their contribution, especially since they’re encouraging you to attend Wesleyan. If your family EFC is full cost, then it’s possible that they could do better than $25,000 a year. It really depends on their age, income, assets, other children etc. </p>
<p>If not, then wait and see the outcome the outstanding decisions. If it comes down to $150,000 for you (on the honor system) vs low ranked but well within your parents budget plus some left over for graduate school, then I’d lean toward low ranked. </p>
<p>There must have been something about the other college that led you to apply in the first place. Visit again, maybe take your parents. </p>
<p>You might also appeal Wesleyan’s financial offer.</p>
<p>Wes is a great school, but there is NO WAY it is worth that kind of debt. In fact, I would say that no undergraduate school is, unless you have a rock solid ability to pay it off without crippling yourself with debt for a long time. If you are coming into a substantial trust fund at age 25 that will make the debt trivial, then fine. Otherwise, no way, no how.</p>
<p>If your parents are making you responsible for everything over $100K, then they should shut up about any school that would require you to incur more than minimal debt. Especially if their EFC is such that you qualify for no FA at all.</p>
<p>Not to mention the fact that I don’t think you can incur that kind of debt on your own in any case. Someone who knows, please weigh in.</p>
<p>Maybe this is another one of those situations where well to do parents say the kid has to pay off some huge debt, but actually plan to pay it of themselves after the fact. I am increasingly sick of this kind of game-playing. If you want your kid to have skin in the game, the federal amount will do it. Teaching them that incurring crushing debt is okay because the fairy godmother will eventually wave her wand and make it go away is probably NOT a constructive life lesson.</p>
<p>Parent’s ability to contribute…haha funny story about that. I have an older sister who went to another state school for a full ride. Originally my parents set aside 100k each for our colleges. I asked if my sister’s 100k could possibly go to me since she’s covered with full ride, but they said they couldn’t do that because it wouldn’t be fair to her and that they’re giving the 100k to her for her to use for grad school.</p>
<p>I’ll definitely talk to them again tomorrow about it.</p>
<p>I understand your parents’ intentions regarding the money for your sister’s education, and it makes sense, but unfortunately unless it is in her name colleges will probably regard such savings as available for you. :(</p>
<p>$150,000 in debt is far too much. That decides your choice against Wesleyan.</p>
<p>If your parents want you to go to Wesleyan, they should contribute enough so that you won’t have to take on more debt than the federal direct loan amount. Even that may be risky for an art major, although perhaps somewhat less so if you add a second major in something like applied math or CS (since you seem to have high math ability) that can help get you a reasonable day job while you do your art in the evening.</p>
<p>Would you consider ROTC? Wesleyan students can participate through Yale ROTC and that could possibly make up the gap between what your parents will pay and the full cost. It’s not for everyone, obviously, but worth mentioning.</p>
<p>Merely participating in ROTC does not mean that one will get one of the competitive ROTC scholarships. Also, one has to want to become a military officer for ROTC to be an appropriate choice.</p>
<p>OP you sound like a bright young man. Ask your Dad about how he feels about co-signing your loans and paying them off while you hunt for work. Expecting to graduate into a career with a fat paycheck, even any paycheck is naive. You will probably be moving back home and looking for work for a long time while he pays the loans and interest, etc. He won’t get off as co-signer until after 2 years of on-time payments.</p>
<p>I think going to Weslayan is a better option than a LAC which is ranked below 130. You want to be getting something out of your college experience, and I wonder how easy it will be to get a job with a school that low. </p>
<p>Instead of the low-ranking LAC, you may be better off going to a community college for a year or two and then transferring to a decent 4-year institution. Or your best option would be to get your parents to contribute more, or have them co-sign your loans and help to pay them off as rumrunner suggests. </p>
<p>If you live in NJ, why is Rutgers off the table? I understand that you want the LAC experience, but if your other choices are massive debt or a third-tier LAC, I would think it is the obvious choice. </p>
<p>Go to Wes. Do all stuff in Wes to decrease your debt. Work as an RA. Work in campus. Take summer jobs/internships. All of these will decrease your debt load.</p>
<p>Just had a really long talk with my parents…they told me that their conditions were that they could pay my entire tuition and they would expect me to pay them back the over 150k over time, but without any loans…they said something about them taking out a home equity loan. They told me believed I would succeed in whatever I decide to go into…I felt kindof uneasy because they were being a tad vague, but they told me they put my education first and I should go with whatever I truly want. Still on the fence about everything, but I’ll visit everywhere first. </p>
<p>@moneyp–I never thought about being an RA…I just did calculations about how quickly I could even make a dent in the debt if I took a minimum wage job this summer and it was depressing lolol</p>
<p>My ds works as RA in addition to other jobs in his top LAC. In return he gets free housing. He also has no meal plan now as there are so many activities there with free food. Of course he does not get to eat free all the time and so he still pays for cafeteria use but having no meal plan has saves him and us so much. (Of course, you are required to have a meal plan in your first year though and won’t be able to become an RA in the first semester). I am sure there are tons of jobs in campus you can take while studying. Work in the library, work in applicant tour guide, etc. Good luck.</p>
<p>$150,000 is still a scary amount of debt. It is also worrisome that your parents could lose their house if something goes wrong financially for them.</p>
<p>Preference is given to juniors and seniors, so being an RA junior year and HR senior year would pay $8,197.05 + $9,289,78 = $17,486.83. The most you could get as a sophomore RA and junior and senior HR would be $6,556.36 + $9,289.78 + $9,289.78 = $25,135.92. This does not go very far against $150,000.</p>
<p>FullOut, Can we assume that the decisions you were waiting for didn’t pan out? </p>
<p>Your parents’ want the best for you, but their vagueness could become a burden. Do they really expect you to repay them, or is this just face-saving gesture? You don’t sound like the kind of kid who would walk away from a commitment, so do the math based on starting salaries and rentals. It’s grim.</p>
<p>Unless you’re headed for Wall Street, it will take you decades to repay $150,000. For graduate or professional school, maybe. For an undergraduate liberal arts BA, absolutely not. This kind of debt load will cripple your life style and career choices. Summer internships that are so critical to career development are often unpaid. You don’t want to be in a position to turn down opportunities while you’re in school and just after graduation.</p>
<p>I think the real issue here is that you have two unacceptable choices. Maybe you should think about taking a gap year and reapplying next year at academically solid schools that offer merit aid. Or take another look at your state university.</p>
<p>I’m not totally comfortable with the ethics of deferring Wesleyan for a year while you apply to other schools but I’m sure it’s not uncommon.</p>
<p>$150K is too much debt for undergrad-- if your parents have to borrow to pay, then the school is simply unaffordable. You don’t want to be indebted to your parents for that amount post-grad – it will undermine your relationship with them. Every decision you make – what jobs to take, whether to go grad school, whether to marry, where to live, etc. – would be colored by your indebtedness to your parents. And your experience at Wesleyan would be clouded from the start by the awareness that each year represented another $38K worth of debt. </p>
<p>Your parents have been very considerate and generous by setting aside $100K to cover your expenses – that is far more than many students have! But that also establishes a budget for you – and unfortunately Wesleyan doesn’t fit within those limits. </p>
<p>I wouldn’t recommend 150K in debt for any school. None are “that much better” IMO. It doesn’t matter who’s holding the debt.</p>
<p>Few kids regret where they went to college (top to bottom), but those who do are almost always those up to their chins in debt and chained by it.</p>
<p>Either pick the lower cost school or see who still has space (and merit aid) available in May when the list comes out and see if there is a more affordable better option on there.</p>
<p>If neither of those choices appeals, take a year off, work, save, and pick other places to apply to for next year.</p>
<p>Regarding being an RA - at many schools these are competitive positions. You do not KNOW you will be chosen.</p>