Is it worth it? PLEASE Help - 4 days left!

Paying for College
1

<p>Total amount of money I am short for my freshman year of college as a biological sciences major, using all grants, subsidized loans, and unsubsidized loans offered to me: $8,860</p>

<p>An approximation of what I will owe for the first year, including what I’ll owe at end of first semester ($730), at end of second semester ($730), and what I’ll owe after college ($3,700).</p>

<p>I need $1,877 RIGHT NOW and my parents and I have nothing in savings, due to unfortunate circumstances!! Tuition is due soon. And I’ll go through this again next semester. If I do not go to school and worked this year, I could make that $2,000 for this semester. At a higher paying job (15 an hour at Walgreens), I could make the whole $4,000, plus more. And it’s now or never because if I start school now, I won’t stop.
Either way I’d owe the $3,700 in loans (per semester)—or maybe not because Walgreens pays $9000 a year. So this sounds pretty good. But am I willing to miss a year? Am I really willing to miss this year? After going through all of this? The schedule is done. I paid the $300 enrollment fee. I just have to start. And I’d end up living with Mikey or someone else either way.</p>

<p>Going to community college would cover only two classes. I’d still be over seven credits coming back in, so I’d owe the same amount.
But I could be making money… and pay it off… plus maybe some extra for books and supplies, and next year… and maybe even a dorm for half the year.</p>

<p>I could just take the year off and not even go to community college. I’d save a few hundred dollars from the two credits. I’d just take them at ASU the year I start instead, because it won’t cost any more (it’s the same cost either way), it’ll be a higher quality class, and it’ll be fresh in my head for the upcoming years.
It’ll be fresh in my head later for no extra cost, no extra work, and I’d be making the $4,000. Actually, I’d be making about $18,000 ($15/hour at walgreens, 30 hours a week, for ten months).
But I don’t want to wait. And once I start my four years, I CAN’T stop.</p>

<p>This is unlikely, but if I go to school and get a $15 an hour job at Walgreens, and work at least 18 hours a week (3 hours after school and 3 hours on the weekends), I can make about $9,000 by the end of the school year, if they allow me to hold off on payments. But this summer working and doing a class was not working out, and I swore I wouldn’t do it again. If I had everything paid off and could just settle and do school, I’d be so much more at ease. But is taking the year off doing virtually no studying worth it?</p>

<p>What would you do if you were in my shoes?</p>

2

<p>Why is this coming up so last minute? Is this the situation? You are short 8,860 for the year. So that’s 4,430 for the semester and you don’t have it. You don’t even have the amount due shortly.</p>

<p>If so it seems clear that you can’t go, right? That is almost 1,000 a month, seems to hard to make that while going to school full time. Even if you got on a payment plan and it might be too late for that now. Payment plans would have started already.</p>

<p>Are you commuting from home or dorming? Is this ASU? Why can’t you go to CC full time and transfer after one year or two years?</p>

<p>Maybe you want to put more info on that what your package looks like vs. costs. I don’t know where those strange numbers are coming from in your 2nd sentence.</p>

3

<p>If you don’t have the money, I don’t think the college will allow you to attend. I don’t understand your figures. If you’re short $8860/year, then you owe $4430/semester. If you have a payment plan but can’t make the payments, the college is unaffordable. You can ask to defer admission for a year, but most colleges don’t allow students to take courses at other schools during that time. Going to a cc may make you a transfer student, which means you have to reapply to the 4-year school and you lose all your grants. If you work full-time for a year (or 10 months), you won’t clear $18k because you have to pay taxes. I always used to figure 30% when I was in college to be safe. I think the actual number depends on your withholding amounts. </p>

<p>@mom2collegekids‌, @thumper1‌, @cptofthehouse‌, @ucbalumnus, and/or @kelsmom‌ will all know better than I do. Search them out on the forum. </p>

4

<p>I’m confused by the post as well. If the student is short $8000 for the year…how can he be only shirt $700 for one semester. Fuzzy math.</p>

<p>Please clarify VariousTrends.</p>

<p>In the meantime…if you are actually short $8000 for the year, and you have NO money…and have already taken the Direct Loan, then this college is unaffordable for you. </p>

<p>If you are short $700 for the semester, see if you can do some extra babysitting or work NOW to earn that money. Or see if you can borrow a portion from a relative. Then plan to work 10 hours a week while you are in college. You will be able to earn the money for next term as well as pay back what you owe to the nice lender relative. </p>

<p>It is August 14. Surely you knew about this $8000 shortfall well in advance of August. What other plans did you have to pay these costs?</p>

5

<p>I don’t understand your numbers either. What exactly do you need in 4 days? $700 to make it through this first semester or $4K (half the $8k)? That’s a big difference. </p>

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<p>I owe $700 out of pocket and $4,000 in loans this semester. Next semester it will be the same. So ~$1400 that I need to pay out of pocket and ~$8,000 in loans that I have to pay back later.</p>

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<p>So do you HAVE the loans? If so, you really on,y have $700 for the semester. Did you work this past summer? Where are those earnings? </p>

<p>$700 is not an insurmountable amount…especially since you should have been planning for this. </p>

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<p>Thumper1, I did work a summer job, but that doesn’t nearly cover the costs. The $8,000 is in loans that I’ll owe after college. I suppose I can’t do much about that right now. I actually would owe $1,700 out of pocket. But work study can cover that thousand. I am trying to get a payment plan for the $700 that I owe now. If not, take out, yet another dreaded loan. The college is barely affordable, but I also can’t afford to not further my studies.</p>

<p>Also, how much is too much in loans? I was expecting maybe to borrow $4,000 this year. But $8,000? $10,000? Is this going over-board?</p>

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<p>I’m sorry this is a bit confusing. I start school in four days but I feel so tormented that I don’t know if I should even go. I owe $700 out of pocket on the 25th of this month (after subtracting grants, loans, and work-study). I was thinking of maybe trying to get a payment plan or, as a last resort, taking out yet another thousand dollars in loans.</p>

<p>I owe $8,000 in loans for this entire year already ($4,000 per semester). I will have to pay this back after college, and it seems there is no getting around this.</p>

<p>Is all of this debt worth it? How much is too much in loans? Should I not go this year and work?</p>

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<p>

What is your goal? If you want to become a doctor, the you should minimize the undergraduate debt.</p>

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<p>Most schools have a payment plan. If you only owe $700 out of pocket, then I would suggest doing that. But, keep in mind that the payment plan retroactively starts in June, plus a registration fee of about $50. So you might have to pay (right now) $260 ($70 for June, July and August + $50) and then $70 on Sept 1. Do you have that kind of money? If so, go on financial aid page on your university’s website and they should have info about a payment plan. </p>

12

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<p>Actually, this is not true. you would have $1000 over the course of the semester. You would have to actually find and get a job, work the hours (which are probably going to be very limited to cover the $1000) and get paid every 2weeks. You need a way to cover the $1700 now</p>

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<p>Can you apply for a Plus Loan? If one of your parents has bad credit, have him/her apply. Then they will get denied and you will get another $4k.</p>

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<p>Mom2…can all of that be completed in less than four days?</p>

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<p>Yes. It can be pretty much done online tonight.</p>

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<p>@4kidsdad‌ : true, though doctors at least make good money. It’s worse. If you can’t get a good paying job.</p>

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<p>That loan amount is not so bad, it is a cheap price to go to a 4 year school. it is better than not going to school in my opinion. However I’m wondering how you got 8,860k, usually freshman loan is only 5,500–maybe you got sub, unsub and Perkins? Also you say you will owe 3,700 a semester x 2 = 7,400. That plus what you are supposed to pay each semester (730) = your total yearly cost of 8,860. Took me awhile to figure out the numbers you were throwing out. So the amount you owe after graduation on this year only is 7,400.</p>

<p>So yes, in my opinion you should go. You should take another loan for the money you need the first year if your parents can’t pay it for you. Just so you aren’t stressing. Then you can get a job that isn’t too many hours. As you figure things out the first year, you can find out how you can save money on your expenses and see how many hours are reasonable for you to work, and look for jobs with good hours for you or jobs where you can study during down time. You can work next summer and come up with the money you need for next year and take less loan if possible. So likely you can graduate with 20 to 30k in loans.</p>

<p>You can help with more information. What are your costs and aid amounts? Do you save money over the COA living with 'Mikey"? Is this 8,860 your total for everything tuition, fee, room, board, books, transportation, personal?</p>

<p>ASU COA
…On Campus Off Campus With Parents
Base Tuition & Fees $10,157 $10,157 $10,157
Books… 1,000 1,000 1,000
Supplies… 300 300 300
Room… 6,754 5,728 1,224
Meals… 3,640 3,060 1,470
Travel… 1,376 2,358 2,358
Personal… 1,982 1,982 1,982
Loan Fees… 46 46 46</p>

<p>Estimated Total Costs $25,255 $24,631 $18,537</p>