<p>My husband and I both lost our jobs in 2009 and our son got the following award ... I have no idea if this is a good or pretty much average award for a very good small private college. </p>
<p>Award: $35,000 in Merit and Need Based financial aid that doesn't need to be paid back. </p>
<p>$10,000 in loans and $2,000 in Work Study. The loans are $6,500 unsubsidized; $3,500 subsidized. </p>
<p>Cost of attendance is $50,000 for 2010 so ... if he graduates in 4 years ... our son will be about $50,000 to $60,000 in debt with anticipated tuition and housing increases over the next few years (financial aid is not adjusted to keep up with tuition increases).</p>
<p>I guess it is good if graduating from undergrad with $50,000 to $60,000 in debt is not a problem. Is this a debt you and your husband would take on right now with your job situation? Does your son have a guaranteed high paying job right after graduation to help him tackle his impending debt? Does he have less expensive options? As harsh as I sound I strongly believe that UG debt needs to be minimized as much as possible. We can’t predict the job market four years from now, nor can we predict what twists and turns life may throw at us. Lesser debt will help your son handle whatever life throws at him.</p>
<p>Indeed those are fair and good questions. Considering “free rides” to college are the exception … I’m just trying to figure out what is a “good” financial aid offer vs. average or mediocre. We don’t have a good community college so the first year is important.</p>
<p>For comparison S1 received the following for a small LAC with $50,000 tuition.
work study $1,800<br>
Fed Unsub Loan $5,500<br>
College Scholarship $38,288</p>
<p>Most of the students I know who receive “good” FA packages are only left with a few thousand in loan debt each year. Most of the students I know who receive FA packages overall only get about half of their annual COA paid for without borrowing, so compared to those kids your son’s package is good. Honestly, I really think how good the FA package is based more on what is good for your family. In other words it is a personal choice. I know kids who have financial sources to cover a $50,000 year COA that do not have to be reported on the FAFSA form who would jump at your son’s package because they will never have to take out any loans to cover the difference. I know others who do not have that safety net who would run. It really is a personal choice.</p>
<p>Each school gives different FA packages and a lot of different factors can change the amounts. URM, first generation student, etc…</p>
<p>We really had no interest in knowing if what our son was awarded was “good” or “average” in the larger scheme of things. The only numbers that matter are our own. We set a limit of 20K total debt. A college may have given our son a record-breaking, once-in-a-lifetime financial aid package but if it left him in more than 20K debt, it was off the table. In the end he chose a college that will leave him with no debt so he will be in a much better position when it comes to either choosing a job or going to grad school. </p>
<p>As you and your husband are already having financial difficulties, I’m even less optimistic that saddling your kid with 50-60K in loans is a good idea. </p>
<p>It doesn’t have to be a choice between 50K+ private college or community college. It sounds like a gap year might be a wise choice at this point, allowing your son to apply to the literally of hundreds colleges that fall inbetween those two choices.</p>
<p>50K in debt is a lot. Think of it as 2 very decent cars that he has to pay for before he can actually buy himself a car. Now, it also seems to me that maybe you can find some money somewhere. He could live at home in the summer and work, which would probably bring in a few thousand dollars.
He could also attend this school for a year or two, during which time perhaps your finances will improve.
A gap year sounds good too - and again, he could stay at home and work for that whole year, piling up a fair bit of money for college.
To me, 10 or 20K seems a reasonable debt, but after that, it gets tough to justify.</p>
<p>Middlebrooks, if I’m doing the math correctly your EFC is about $3K per year? Is that from college savings for him? That would imply college savings of $12K, since they usually split it by four years. Is there any way that you can contribute more to help with part of the loans…for example, home equity? Obviously that depends on many significant factors, ranging from the amount of your equity, your age, your job prospects, how many other kids you have, and all sorts of stuff I don’t want to pry into.</p>
<p>$50K is an awful lot of debt for an undergrad, IMHO.</p>