<p>I do not understand how you are not getting any Financial Aid? If you are not a dependant of your parents, wouldnt you qualify for some aid? </p>
<p>It is horrifying to any parent reading this that you would have $45,000 in loans for one year of college. (if you are wondering why so many people are responding to you in disbelief, this is why). If your parents are planning on “helping you out”, now is the time to do it, not after you graduate and that original $45,000 has become $65,000 (at 10%).
The clock is ticking on interest and has been since the moment you took the loan.</p>
<p>Get with your Financial Aid Office, and see what can be done. Graduating with
$150,000 in debt is a very, very bad idea. You are already in over your head, you just dont know it yet.</p>
<p>megpmom, but I will have the same amount of debt even if i go back to VA because UVA costs 27k a year instate and VA Tech costs like 18k a year instate. I would need to take out loans for both!</p>
<p>OP, have you considered transfer into a private school where they meet 100% of your need? Since you are independent and have a EFC close to zero, you might attend one of those schools for next to nothing.</p>
<p>You may gain instate residency status for tuition purposes although I seriously have my doubts about that. How will you demonstrate to the UT system that YOU have established a domicile on 10 hours a week of employment?</p>
<p>Regardless…even WITH instate residency for tuition purposes, you will NOT be independent for financial aid purposes.</p>
<p>OP, are you 24, married, a parent, or a former member of the armed forces? If not, you will not be considered independent for FA purposes regardless of whether your parents declare you on their taxes.</p>
<p>The COA for VTech is ~$16K. You wouldn’t need to take that all out in loans. Get a summer job and you can get that down to $12K. $48K total is MUCH better than $100K.</p>
<p>Erin’s Dad, Yes that is one of my options right now. I could drop my second semester at Texas, and work for a while and then apply to VA Tech. </p>
<p>I feel like such a dropout thinking about stuff like this though! I thought I was going to go to college, graduate in 4 years, dabble in startup companies through my 20s and then settle down in a large firm or start my own company once I hit my 30s. That was the plan. </p>
<p>you guys are all scaring the crap out of me and Im just very dissapointed right now. I’m lost. :(</p>
<p>Another thing to add to the situation is that I’ve already paid 23k for my first semester at texas, and I have to pay the housing bill for the rest of the year because its a contract. Even if I drop out, I would have to pay the rest for housing…This would just basically go to waste because obviously I wouldn’t live in the dorms anymore if I went thought with this.</p>
<p>The date for applications for transfers is usually much later than for first year students. Those dates have probably NOT passed.</p>
<p>YOU need to pay a visit to your college, and discuss your instate “potential”. I think both you and your mom are misinterpreting the guidelines in Texas for establishing instate residency. If all it took was the parents NOT declaring their kids on their taxes for a year, AND the student working 10 hours a week , there would be virtually NO out of state tuition payers in the upperclasses in the UT system. That is NOT the case.</p>
<p>Do you live in the dorm as a freshman? If so, that is a huge red flag that your domicile is NOT Texas. Also, if you live off campus and someone else (parents) had to cosign your lease, another red flag.</p>
<p>The thing of it is, it’s time to grow up. I say this with much love and respect, because I made a very similar mistake to the one you are making, so it’s not like I am looking down my nose at you-- I am telling you something I wish someone had told me. If you have to pay all of your college expenses with loans, you need to consider CC and find a cheaper university to attend. I am smart too and CC may be boring, but sometimes adults have to do things they aren’t thrilled with and this debt you are talking about taking on is a very adult problem that I am not sure if you have the maturity to understand right now. You have got to get your priorities in line. NOTHING is worth being a slave to the bank for the next several decades. As someone who is graduating in a few months buried in debt, I am telling you, nothing is worth that. You do WHATEVER you have to do to graduate with a REASONABLE debt load. With the kind of degree you’re getting you should have good prospects, you should be able to take out some loans and pay them without worrying, but 100k+ needs to be off the table. Considering that SHOULD have you scared. That is a big mistake. If your parents support this, they are misguiding you, and unless they are going to pull out their wallets to pay these bills for you, you need to take responsibility yourself and make good choices.</p>