<p>A job will NOT cover it. You need a job which will NOT cover COA. </p>
<p>Sorry therefore you need a job, but I’ve already stated that a job won’t cover COA even with a loan. Therefore its not possible to work through school as a traditional student.</p>
<p>San Diego State</p>
<p>Tuition and fees… $6,578 </p>
<p>Books and supplies… $1,661 (this is a VERY high estimate! You can cut that in HALF!))</p>
<p>There is no reason to need to borrow $10k per year. With summer earnings, a part-time job during the school year, a little money from parents, and a 5500 loan, you should have all costs covered.</p>
<p>Sit down with your parents and find out what they’ll pay for…your gas? your books?</p>
<p>You said you needed loans to cover tuition. You can’t get loans to cover tuition at most 4 years on your own. Therefore, you need a job to cover tuition as well as living expenses. Even working full time at minimum wage would not be sufficient.</p>
<p>Romani…You’re right about your situation since you live in a state with very high instate rates. You have a bad situation.</p>
<p>The OP has the benefit of living within a commuting distance of a CSU with much lower tuition costs. He can pull this off with loans and working. I know that you could, and so could he. :)</p>
<p>roman, OK. I thought that federal student loans were available to anyone. I sill contend that one can work to at least finance living expenses and borrow the rest. Best wishes to all. My advice is be willing to sacrifice. There is light at the end of the tunnel.</p>
<p>One other fly in your plan, OP. Many of the best on-campus jobs are reserved for work-study students. Unless you can get work study, you do not qualify to even apply for or get hired for those jobs. Our D has an on-campus job but had to be let go because it became work-study only.</p>
<p>OK, if you plan to attend a school which will cost $11K/year, you will need to budget carefully and save like crazy via summer jobs to help reduce that debt so that you won’t have such a huge crushing debt when you graduate. Remember that if you commute to school, you also need to factor in cost of gas, car, insurance, etc. as part of school expenses.</p>
<p>Also, you need to factor in rising costs of tuition that will likely increase while you’re attending school.</p>
<p>I really think it’s important to at least carefully explore going to CC & transferring. That was the option that our D took & it worked very well for her, saving her & us a LOT of money that we were able to apply toward her expenses when she started expensive 4-year private U. It also allowed her to get courses out of the way so she could focus on her major when she transferred.</p>
<p>There are a LOT of very bright kids & great faculty at CCs–you could be happily surprised, especially at the savings. My niece has also attended CC & 4-year college so she could graduate with little or no debt. It is an excellent strategy that works for a LOT of very great students.</p>
<p>They are but 5500 is the frosh limit and that doesn’t cover that much.</p>
<p>Yes m2ck, I know but it really bugs me when parents don’t understand the difference between then and now. That’s all.</p>
<p>Anxious…</p>
<p>Yes, all Americans and green card holders can get a 5500 loan for frosh year. The problem is that in some states (like Romani’s), instate tuition is very high, so a loan doesn’t even cover half…and then there’s the other expenses if you can’t commute.</p>
<p>Thankfully, for the OP, commuting to a CSU doesn’t cost a lot of money (not $10k-11k). He will have to find work. </p>
<p>San Diego State</p>
<p>Tuition and fees… $6,578 (this is per YEAR!)</p>
<p>Books and supplies… $1,661 (this is a VERY high estimate! You can cut that in HALF!))</p>
<p>I think a job by his HOME is best for the following reasons…</p>
<p>1) he can then work weekends and some evenings while in school.</p>
<p>2) he can work lots of hours during the summer.</p>
<p>3) he can work during semester breaks.</p>
<p>If he were to get a job near campus, then he’d have to commute on weekends to his job (gas waste), and it wouldn’t be convenient to transition from school year to summer.</p>
<p>roman, I somewhat understand the difference between then and now. You see, I have two children in college, and I face the same difficulties that many parents posting here have. The EFC for each of my children is over 20K. I, too, have a mortgage and other expenses. Moreover, my wife and I help support our aging parents. We are the sandwich generation, supporting the earlier and the younger generations, not to mention the rest of society:-)</p>
<p>I wanted to chime in on YoJayyy feelings about CC’s. I currently have a S who states the same message as you. My son is 4.0GPA w/ strong SATs who is currently waiting to make decision on UCD or possibly going to LAC to continue to play football where he was recruited.
He states the same thing that why did I work so hard to only go to school at CC’s as it seems to be a slap in his face. Makin it worse talking with my S coach during recruiting times last year when I brought up my son going CC, play football and look to transfer to his dream school UCB he stated that if he was my son he would be upset also after working so hard to achieve his current academic status. Needless to say I was not happy with the coach’s opinion on the topic. We are currently struggling with costs of education with EFC at 35K for my S with 2 kids coming right behind him.
Not to hijack this tread but I just wanted to state I as a parent too am having a difficult time with our S’s refusal to look at CC… Sometimes I think maybe we would of been better off with him slacking in school and being a 3- 3.5GPA student… We are looking at 20+ parent COA because we won’t allow S to loan out more than 5.5K per year as his part.</p>
<p>kb, then bite the bullet and pay up. If your son’s EFC is 35K, it means you have a decent income and/or substantial assets, with the ability to pay. It’s similar to mine:-)</p>
<p>Face it, there is no free lunch. Your son, and you, should be proud of his academic work. The value of having good grades should be a reward in and of itself. There is no entitlement for doing well in school. Everyone should do well in school.</p>
<p>*</p>
<p>We are looking at 20+ parent COA because we won’t allow S to loan out more than 5.5K per year as his part.*</p>
<p>When did “loan out” become the same as “borrow”? I see this often. Your son wouldn’t be “loaning out” any money. He’d be borrowing. The bank would be “loaning out.”</p>
<p>*
I wanted to chime in on YoJayyy feelings about CC’s. I currently have a S who states the same message as you. My son is 4.0GPA w/ strong SATs who is currently waiting to make decision on UCD or possibly going to LAC to continue to play football where he was recruited.</p>
<p>He states the same thing that why did I work so hard to only go to school at CC’s as it seems to be a slap in his face.*</p>
<p>Well, there’s several things going on.</p>
<p>He worked hard so he’d be a strong student. It’s not his fault that his family can’t pay its EFC. </p>
<p>Also, he could have applied where his strong stats would have gotten him large merit. What were his stats?</p>
<p>he could go to a CSU which is much cheaper; he doesn’t have to go to a CC.</p>
<p>*
. We are currently struggling with costs of education with EFC at 35K for my S with 2 kids coming right behind him.*</p>
<p>How much can you pay per year?</p>
<p>Not to hijack this tread but I just wanted to state I as a parent too am having a difficult time with our S’s refusal to look at CC… Sometimes I think maybe we would of been better off with him slacking in school and being a 3- 3.5GPA student…</p>
<p>I don’t blame him for not wanting to go to a CC. Maybe he should do a gap year and apply to schools that will work…merit wise, etc.</p>
<p>It doesn’t sound like your son was advised well for schools to apply to.</p>
<p>My daughter is going to Va Tech in the fall. She will most likely be borrowing some money for tuition and books and dorm. I am anticipating her being in debt up to 80k when she graduates. I will help her with her payments for every “A” she gets, but that isnt really pertinent to this discussion.</p>
<p>I am comfortable with her borrowing this amount of money because she is taking up engineering(Biological Science and Architecture). Right now there are a lot of engineers retiring and most high school students dont have the math skills that are required for this curriculum. They are predicting shortages in engineering to be up to 70%. As a result, she has the potential to make 60k a year or more right out of school. </p>
<p>I would be worried if she was taking up computer science or liberal arts. Many graduates in these fields cant find jobs because the competition is so great and the economy is poor. Look in your local newspapers for the type of job you could expect right after graduation. Then compare that salary to the cost of your education. I really feel for the kids who borrow 60k in loans and can only make 24 to 30k upon graduation.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>POTENTIAL is the key word here. </p>
<p>What if she decides she hates engineering? What if she just can’t do it (sorry, but those weeder courses are tough for a reason)? What if she DOESN’T make 60k out of college?</p>
<p>IMO, it’s way too much.</p>
<p>komobu…</p>
<p>You need to realize that a new grad earning $60k per year can’t afford the payments on $80k of loans. Those new grads making (what seems like) big money can’t afford big loan payments. </p>
<p>At most, she should have $30k-40k of debt with that income potential. </p>
<p>Maybe you’re expecting her to live at home to pay these debts, but you can’t count on that. She may not find a job near your home. Or, she may be involved with a significant other at that point and living at home won’t work out. </p>
<p>I don’t think you realize how much a single person pays in taxes, rent, car expenses, utilities, etc.</p>
<p>Is your D out of state for VT? How much are you paying each year?</p>
<p>I’m getting mixed opinions from everyone around. Some of my counselors tell me to go for it, UCSB is prestigious and has a 5 year master plan. SDSU doesn’t even have a guaranteed 4 year bachelor’s. Others on here say I should go to SDSU because its cheaper but I feel my education won’t be as good.</p>
<p>*. Some of my counselors tell me to go for it, UCSB is prestigious *</p>
<p>Oh really, so ask them to co-sign those loans. </p>
<p>Honestly, most GCs are absolute idiots when it comes to these issues. </p>
<p>Oh, and, UCSB is a very good school, but it’s not prestigious. No one goes, “oh wow, you went to UCSB.”</p>
<p>(I don’t think UCSB has a guaranteed 4 year bachelors either.)</p>
<p>An engineering degree from a CSU will get you the SAME salary as one from UCSB. Believe me. I know this.</p>
<p>yojay, honestly your education is what you make of it. I have received a much better “education” than many of my friends at the more prestigious U of M because I’ve taken advantage of numerous resources available to me- internships, study abroad, etc. The name brand of the school is not NEARLY as important as what you do there. So you shouldn’t feel that your education won’t be “as good”.</p>
<p>m2ck is giving you very good advice.</p>
<p>Thanks for the opinions. I’ve heard from a lot of people that the school doesn’t matter unless it’s a VERY well known college. I’m beginning to lean to SDSU, but I feel I’d enjoy myself and education more at UCSB.</p>