HRS- not a single one of these schools is similar to Adelphi.
Has crossover with Hofstra, Pace, Wagner… schools of that ilk.
What is your D’s career goal?
@HRSMom: If OP is a NYS resident, her daughter qualifies for a ~$5k tuition grant if she stays in state. That and a ~$5k Pell grant would cover the tuition and books if she commutes to her local SUNY.
To me this is a clear choice of
- Lifetime of worry about debt VS.
- Pause and regroup for just one year to Plan B something without so much debt.
Why would anyone choose number 1? It isn’t sane unless Adelphi has some kind of super program in her major that can’t be replicated anywhere else. I know it’s hard to rip the bandaid off the rose colored glasses, but do it quickly. Your daughter will be upset but not as upset as she’s gonna be when she’s 27 and wants to take a different job but can’t or maybe buy a house or stay home with a baby or whatever. Rip it off quickly, OP. Or, forgo grad school for yourself and get a better paying job or two jobs.
Adelphi doesn’t have “super programs”. It has fine programs in some areas; it has ok programs in others; it has a local reputation for taking kids who can’t into the colleges their parents really wanted them to go to. It is more expensive than Stonybrook or Buffalo for families who don’t want their kids at a public U and is less of a party atmosphere than Albany for parents worried about their kids going off the rails there.
This is why I am flummoxed by this thread. We aren’t talking aerospace engineering at Cal Tech or neuroscience at Johns Hopkins (and I wouldn’t advocate that someone take on debt they could never pay back at those colleges either btw, although arguably there would reasons to take on moderate debt for those programs).
Adelphi is a great option for a kid who gets enough aid (this kid did not) or who can comfortably afford to be full pay. For anyone else, there are at least a half dozen choices in NY State that are equal or superior academically and more affordable.
The kid may need to borrow 5 x $19,000, not 4 x $19,000.
Adelphi 4-year graduation rate is 54%, 6-year graduation rate is 64%, transfer out rate is 27%.
http://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/?q=adelphi+university&s=NY&id=188429
Adelphi is basically a school for kids who live on the Island, want/need to attend school on the Island, could not get into Stony Brook. They have a few $$ want to say that they attend a private school vs. going to Westbury or Farmingdale.
Could (would?) your daughter get an ROTC scholarship?
http://www.hofstra.edu/Academics/Colleges/HCLAS/MILSCI/index.html
http://www.goarmy.com/rotc/scholarships.html
At least she’d be guaranteed a job on graduation in addition to not amassing massive debt.
This isn’t “brainstorming.” It’s incomplete thinking pretending to be a tossing around of ideas.
And the minute you hit a pothole, including the possibility the govt could change loan and forgiveness terms, you are sunk.
Toy with this https://studentloans.gov/myDirectLoan/mobile/repayment/repaymentEstimator.action#view-repayment-plans
None of the repayment options is $0 throughout.
I will be more sensitive next time I read a thread from a kid who can’t go back to their college junior year because the funding scheme hit a roadblock. I’m usually of the “you should have thought of this before you signed all those loan forms” school of thought. I think I will now realize that sometimes there is some co-dependency involved- kid has found the “perfect” college, parent wants the kid to have the “perfect” experience, never mind facts, and both of them forge ahead without a plan B, any sort of financial cushion, any bit of reality intruding.
Nothing similar to Adelphi…
@austinmshauri Perhaps CC or GAP is the best option if she is not near enough to a SUNY to commute. This is a terrible situation for OP:(
Adelphi has the best D2 women’s lacrosse team in the country. It may have other sports it excels in, or other clubs or activities. Not worth $80 grand.
If it is close enough, OPs daughter should live at home and commute, or OP should move closer to the school. That would save $15k per year and make it affordable. Since it is a merit scholarship and not a financial based one, the money from the school should stay the same, so merit+Pell+Stafford should work.
@blossom For every student with massive debt and crumbling funding, there is a parent complicit in signing loans for a school they couldn’t afford in the first place.
(except for grad students/the rare independent students ;
)
Courtney- of course. But having met some of these parents- many of them don’t understand what they are signing. The OP is a college graduate; writes fluently in English so I’m going to assume that her reading comprehension skills are adequate for understanding a bank document or similar; has a good command of societal norms and our legal system; AND is perfectly intelligent and can easily discover a dozen colleges which are more affordable and likely “just as perfect” as Adelphi.
A google search turned up tons of other schools on Long island that she can commute to. SUNY Old Westbury, Farmingdale, Hofstra, Nassu CC
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_colleges_and_universities_on_Long_Island
Let her call each one and see what her options are.
I agree that Adelphi is not superior to many of the fine public colleges available. She can also easily commute to New York City as well.
https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/repay-loans/understand/plans
here are the loan repayment plans currently being offered. It seems the only one OP would be eligible for with parent plus loans is Income Contingent Loan Repayment, which requires 20% of discretionary income being repaid monthly. That’s really a high percentage to repay each month.
There seems to be a lot of these types of conversations going on right now. I have just a couple things to add. First, regarding the name of the thread, FA has nothing to do with fairness. Beyond what the federal government offers an institution has zero obligation to provide FA. Second, in regards to the poster who feels others are being unkind, I feel just the opposite. Everyone here is attempting to prevent what will almost certainly be a catastrophic mistake. In a way people are being far kinder than they need to be. Finally, the OP is engaging in short term thinking. She seems to be primarily concerned with the short term benefits not the long term consequences. After college one has decades to live. To live them in debt is takes away opportunities before they will ever exist. If a few people telling the hard truth helps then it’s worth it.
@ivvcsf I agree. This thread, if the advice is ignored, is another sensationalized unreasonable debt news story in the making, exemplifying that the debt is a choice.
Tough crowd.
I do have to agree with the prevailing sentiment. If OP’s daughter were taking out $80,000 in loans to study engineering at MIT, and OP was borrowing $50,000 for Harvard Law, the loans would be defensible (though not necessarily the best choice). $80,000 for Adelphi or $50,000 for a Masters in microbiology at ??? could be manageable (I’d still advise against the $80K), but the two in conjunction are a recipe for disaster.
If you go ahead with this plan, your family will have close to $130,000 in loans. Subsidized Stafford loans (40K total - $27,000 over 4 years for your D, and $13,000 over two years for you) carry an interest rate over 4%. Parent PLUS loans (The remaining $76,000 your D will need) are nearly 7%. Your D will face interest payments of more than $6,000 a year when she graduates, in addition to payments on the loan principal itself. This in addition to more than $500/month in interest on your own $13,000 in Stafford loans, the interest you’ll pay on additional loans for your Masters, and payments on the principal of both.
All told, your daughter could be looking at $13,000 a year in payments. Or maybe you both spread your loans out over 20-30 years. Great idea! http://finaid.org estimates her total payments at nearly a quarter of a million dollars. Payscale puts Adelphi graduates’ early-career salary at $43,300. Then there’s the cost of any loans you take out for a Masters.
Maybe you work for the government, choose a loan forgiveness program, and hope the next 10 years are uneventful in every way. As long as the Democrats and GOP both control at least 40 seats in the Senate, either party can force a government shutdown, so that’s not a bet I’d make.
Also noting that the title of the thread focuses on the amount of aid (since attendance is seen as a given) and presupposes “magical thinking.” Framing the issues in a responsible way would have sounded something like “Is it OK to take on this amount of debt or am I naive?”
OP, are you still with us?