Alum88 Congrats to your D. Best of luck to her.
For those who don’t know (why are you on CC if you don’t know?) it is the LAC version of the Ivy League.
Hi all, OP here. Thank you for all of the advice, as I’m definitely taking it into consideration.
My family isn’t full pay in the slightest. We are middle class, and Bowdoin has given us decent financial aid. However, even with the money my parents have saved for the past 18 years, my parents tell me that they won’t be able to completely cover the EFC (and after reviewing our finances with them I believe it), hence the debt.
I knocked Northeastern off my list recently, so now it’s down to Maryland or Bowdoin. I do feel like Bowdoin will offer a better future for me, but I’m not sure where to draw the line on how much debt is too much. Does anyone have any advice specifically on the amount of debt I should take and how difficult it would be or how long it would take to pay it back?
OP please listen to these wonderful people’s advice. They are very informed about this whole process. No college is worth the higher debt, even if you believe you are going to “make it big in some high-up profession.” Paying back those loans will be a massive weight on you for a very long time. Between interest, it will be over your head for years. Your parents are trying to tell you that Bowdoin is unaffordable but you’re not listening. Bowdoin is not going to offer you a better future than Maryland will; what you make of your life is up to YOU…not the name or environment.
Rule of thumb A: No debt beyond the federal student loan maximums of $5,500 freshman year, $6,500 sophomore year, and $7,500 each in junior and senior years (grand total of $27,000).
Rule of thumb B: No debt beyond what the first year starting salary for a recent college graduate in the lowest paying career for the several majors you are looking at. i.e. engineering vs. high school science teacher? go with the entry salary for the teacher.
Rule of thumb C: When parents tell you that they can’t completely cover the EFC, they are telling you that you need to go to the cheaper school.
I suggest calling Bowdoin and telling them your predicament. Let them know that Bowdoin is your top choice, and you really want to attend, and that if they add $X to your package you will. My daughter’s classmate had a somewhat similar issue with Cornell and they offered more $ to make it happen. I think it will turn on how reasonable they think you are being about EFC, and how badly they want you there based on yield thus far, etc.
@urbanslaughter - I have not paid one single dollar in tuition. From my experience, I try to help others. If you want to be rude have at it. Go ahead and make fun of my financial solvency.
Look for a form called “appeal”, “financial need reassessment” or “financial aid review”, fill it out ASAP and send it on Monday, indicating that your family can’t pay. You need to include detailed information that would affect their view of your financial need.
Mandalorian, fair enough. In retrospect, I regretted calling you out. But it is disingenuous to act as if I was the only one being rude. Sorry to take the bait. Truce?
I continue to be surprised that everyone assumes college is a 4-year deal. Even though these elite colleges are stingy with AP credit, I would assume that the kids getting in them have taken a slew of AP classes and maybe some community college classes. The 3-year B.A. is here, ;you just have to rack up enough AP credits and/or community college classes to make it happen.
As discussed to death in previous threads, cutting out that fourth year not only saves you the amount u were going to borrow for that year, the amount u had saved for that fourth year can now be applied to the third year, in effect often cutting the total loans in half.
@SaltySpitoon - This is a very serious decision that you have to make. Yet, you are asking complete strangers on an anonymous website what to do.
Will any of them come to your aid if things don’t work out? If you go to UMD and cannot get the high paying job you seek, will those advocates give you such a job? If you go to Bowdoin and still cannot repay the debt, will those advocates provide the money. Chances are none of them will even be on here in 4 years. Will you even be back on here in 4 years to provide a lesson for others?
You, and your parents, should be talking to a Banker, a Doctor, a Financial Planner, a Lawyer… not online, but in person.
Are there any younger siblings who will be going to college? Are there any grandparents who may need financial help in the future? Is everyone in good health? Is the job security?
I hope that Life does not get in the way of your plans and I do wish you well
@moooop With very rare exception, AP courses don’t count for course credit at Bowdoin. Rather, AP test scores only count, in some instances, for placement and to exempt certain classes. It is no different at Bowdoin’s peer schools, and it tells you something about what the school is trying to accomplish.
Alum, I didn’t say it was easy at every school, but what I did with my kids was figure out which colleges they were likely to end up going to, and then we researched which AP exams the kids were likely.to get a high enough score to get credits from those colleges. That way they knew which AP classes to take and which to avoid. Throw in some college classes taken in the summers (again a little research is necessary…some colleges won’t accept community colleges courses , some won’t take online courses), and.next thing you know you have a year or even two of credits when they graduate from high school. I have one kid who, if he does even ok on this year’s AP exams, will show up at college with 60 credits already in th bag. That would be almost impossible at Bowdoin, but getting a year’s worth looks quite possible.
I think it would really help future readers of this thread, if the OP could state what the family income is.
Mooop, sorry but it sounds like you are recommending making course decisions based on transfer credits and ultimately what will save you a year’s worth of college (hopefully at a college you’ve worked terribly hard to gain admission to - so why would you want to spend less time there? Basically take APs at your high school or classes at your local CC so you can take fewer classes at the dream school you love so much because of the quality of its education. I don’t get that). Students should take courses that interest them and courses for which they have a passion. Otherwise people will only take Computer Science, engineering, or finance courses because those jobs pay well. Imagine if the students of thirty years ago had thought that way. Today we would be left with a ton of lawyers with a bunch of debt and no jobs…oh, wait.
tk21769: Agree with your argument though MHC was not an option for HIM haha.
OP here again. I did appeal once to get financial aid the first time, and I appealed again. It would now be 60k of debt over 4 years.
I am personally leaning toward Maryland right now due to a variety of factors, but I can’t help but feel like I’d be missing out on something at Bowdoin. At Maryland, I’d be free to explore practically any interest. At Bowdoin, I feel like I might be under pressure to study only the subjects that would lead to a better job and a higher salary.
Also, I did talk to a financial advisor. He said 60k debt would not be too much, but would be at the very upward boundary of where I should draw the line. Are there any more opinions now with this new number?
It sounds to me like your heart is at Bowdoin. My father, brother and stepdaughter all went to Bowdoin. It was life changing for all of them. They all had financial aid…and all are fine financially now…
@urban…“why wud u want to spend less time there?”. To save time and money! Apparently u aren’t the one signing the checks.
Some students may be at the edge of affordability, so they may want to graduate early or have a buffer against graduating late. Others may choose to take interesting free electives if their AP credit allows them to skip lower level requirements.