I’ve enrolled to attend LMU2020 as they were my dream school and I was lucky enough to get off waitlist.
They’ve offered me $17,000 , some of that is in loans, leaving me with a balance of $45,000 a year.
My situation is very prone for much need based aid. My merit is also very good as my current GPA is a 3.7 ish.
Not sure if this is bc the schools in California and I’m from NY. Or maybe because I’m off waitlist. I’m just dissappinted and this is going to be very hard for me. It’s also hard to turn down some less selective schools in my area (NYC… Pennsylvania…) that have offered me close to full rides.
I’ve heard of people getting FULL rides to LMU and even some students getting up to $42,000 in aid.
I guess I just want advice or comments , I’m curious if anyone else got low packages. (I am grateful for any aid but in comparison and to my family’s financial dispair… this is low)
Thanks
No, you can’t afford LMU.
Merit aid is usually awarded to top applicants at a school. If you were placed on the waitlist, it’s likely you were not a top applicant…or you would have been accepted from the get go.
If the school is not affordable, then you cannot attend.
Are you saying you have already turned down close to full rides…for a school you can’t afford to attend?
It would just have to be taken out in loans… I didn’t need any mean comments.
I did not intend to be mean.
How much in loans? It sounds like you had options on the tabl that were more affordable.
It also,sounds like you need $45,000 a year in loans PLUS whatever loans the LMU gave you.
Please don’t think I’m being mean…but that is WAY too much debt for an undergrad education.
Yes i understand. Thanks. I agree… I mean I just really thought LA would be worth it and this school would be well worth it.
I’d rather be in debt and progress myself to where and who i want to be. Than to go get a free edu with crappy teachers / courses in the middle of nowhere. (Referring to the one in PA)
As far as the school in NYC they gave me 25,000 less and it’s just LMU and that location was where I always pictured myself.
That $17k includes the $5500 federal student loan? So your net cost is $50k/year ($200k total)? You can’t borrow anywhere near that. It’s too much to pay anyway.
Where else were you accepted? If you haven’t deposited at one, or did and turned them down when you got off the waitlist, contact them right away to see if you can still accept their offer.
Which schools in Pennsylvania and New York are options? $50,000 a year in loans is waaaaaaay too much for undergrad, assuming you can get a co-signer and borrow that much. LMU is a good school, LA is a nice warm location (I lived there), and I’m a fan of Jesuit education, but I cannot conceive of a circumstance for which LMU is worth going $200,000 into debt. If you’re not happy with your affordable options, and you can’t afford the school you want, is taking a gap year and reapplying next year to carefully chosen schools that will give you good merit AND you’d be happy to attend an option?
Elizabethtown college in PA. Not impressed with their academics AT all and really do not want to attend.
And Pace, honors college in NYC. Though this is a patronized college for kids from my school and my ideal location is in LA.
I’ve considered a gap year before I got into LMU bc I really wasn’t happy with anything. Though it’s very late to plan for a productive gap year , which for me would be an abroad program. Bc i will sit around . I don’t want that. So now it’s very late in the whole college process and I’m not sure what to do. I was certain of LMU just not happy about the fin aid , and now after hearing what you guys have to say im pretty stressed and confused /:
The department I am (supposed to be) entering was modern languages.
Yes i was going to try for a private / bank loan with a cosigner.
I’m having wild thoughts now (I’m such a dreamer) and even thinking about staying with my friend in Czech rep in his house (he is in america currently) next year and taking it as an experience. But my mom and grandparents would NOT even consider that theyd think im crazy .
This is hard.
But again my thoughts prior to this were 100% that LMU was worth it and I would just have to pay that off in my 10 yrs after college, thinking I’ll be secure and living in LA.
Hm
http://www.etown.edu/depts/modern-languages/
According to their website you could study abroad for a full year with all the financial aid.
Think about calling to see if it is still an option to go there.
If you are going to grad school too, you should avoid such high debt for undergrad.
Do you have a cosigner that would be approved year after year for such high loans?
It’s not. Get your degree and THEN move to LA. It’s a lot cheaper that way.
$200K in loans comes out to $2300/month to pay for 10 years. That’s a good sized mortgage being paid right off the top before you eat or pay for rent.
http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/rankings/regional-colleges-north
Elizabethtown is ranked number 4 in Regional Colleges North Rankings by US News.
Loyola Marymount University’s ranking in the 2016 edition of Best Colleges is Regional Universities (West), 3.
No offense but we are not talking about Stanford here which some people will say is not worth it if you have a free ride elsewhere as well. We are talking about a nice regional school that people who do not know Jesuit schools or are in California do not really know. Either do a Gap year or find a more affordable option.
Try one of these http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/1889549-colleges-with-openings-for-fall-2016-nacac-annual-list-p1.html
You really can’t borrow that much even if you want to. And it would be very, very limiting to your future. I’d get in the phone tomorrow and see if one of your affordable offers is still available. You can move to CA after college.
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But again my thoughts prior to this were 100% that LMU was worth it and I would just have to pay that off in my 10 yrs after college, thinking I’ll be secure and living in LA.
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No school is worth it. You really have no idea of what a burden 10 years of huge debt would be. Your colleagues would be moving on, getting married, buying homes, traveling, having children…while you’d be stuck in some sort of cheap housing because too much of your monthly income would be going towards that huge debt.
4 years of college in LA is NOT worth it. Not at all.
Do you realize that you probably wouldn’t be able to afford to continue to live in Calif with that debt?
I don’t know who would be foolish enough to cosign those loans.
why do you think the professors at those other schools are “crappy teachers”? What authority has told you that?
What school did you accept by May 1st?
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Yes i was going to try for a private / bank loan with a cosigner.
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Who agreed to be your cosigner?
Thumper was not being mean. She was just dealing with facts to explain why you didn’t get merit scholarship money. Over 50% of LMUs students have a 3.75+ GPA. Merit is more based on test scores. What were your test scores?
My step dad would cosign.
And i commited to elizabethtown bfor May 1st. Then told them I will not be attending.
I just emailed them to see if a first year student can spend a year abroad… (I doubt it).
And from my own experience of about 3 mock classes with the teachers I’d have , that is where I got my interpretation of the teachers. And one thing I hate most is wasted time in a classroom /: