My Parents Can't Qualify.. what to do?

<p>So, I got into my absolute dream school. I got a lot of financial aid, but still need to take out student loans to make up the difference. Due to economic issues, etc., my parents most likely won't qualify for a Parent PLUS loan. I'm only 17, so as a minor, I can't do loans on my own. Does anybody have any idea what options I have??? Any advice would be extremely appreciated.</p>

<p>How much will you need to borrow per year to make up the difference?</p>

<p>Probably right around 15000. The problem is, my parents make really decent money, but not enough to pay for college. And my parents had awesome credit, until about 6 months ago, so they really would be qualified to help me, and cosign but they just can’t.</p>

<p>The FA issue is not how much an applicant receives in non-loans. The value of that is a big pat on the back…</p>

<p>The FA issue is how much is left to pay, and is it affordable.</p>

<p>Do you have an affordable option elsewhere?</p>

<p>You need to look at more affordable schools.</p>

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<p>You can get Stafford/Direct loans without parental approval, even if you are 17 at the time you start your freshman year. (My son did this last year.) However, you are limited to $5500 freshman year.</p>

<p>If your parents apply for a PLUS loan and are turned down you can get additional Stafford loan money – I think $9,000 (someone please correct me if I’m wrong). However, there have been threads on this forum in which people have been surprised to find that parents with somewhat bad credit get approved for PLUS loans, so don’t be too surprised if that happens.</p>

<p>You cannot get private student loans without a qualified co-signer even when you turn 18. A qualified co-signer would be someone who is a citizen/legal resident and has good credit. Basically, the banks want to make sure they have someone on the hook to pay if you are not able to do so. Most people on this forum, me included, believe that you should not take out more loans than the Stafford limits, or you will be enslaving yourself to student debt that can ruin your life.</p>

<p>It would be helpful if you could post the cost of attendance, your financial aid package and how much your parents are willing to contribute, if anything.</p>

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It is only an additional $4000, which would bring the total Stafford for year one to $9500.</p>

<p>If you are borrowing 15k in your freshman year, you will have about 60k in debt (minimally) by the time you graduate. Your parents are not in a position to borrow the money (which will have to be repaid). This school may not be an affordable option for you as your dream school should not pose a financial nightmare.</p>

<p>It may be time to dream a new dream</p>

<p>Sorry, but the reality is that you cannot borrow that much - and in any event, should not borrow that much. It’s time to move on to more affordable schools.</p>

<p>My other option is a huge public state university. There, I’d need almost 10,000 a year because by their school standards, my family makes too much to qualify for fin aid basically at all. At the school I want to attend- cost of attendance is about 58k a year and I got approx. 42k in fin aid.</p>

<p>bookworm, Does the $42K include loans for you (Stafford or Perkins) or work-study? You said your parents make good $; can they give you ANY $ (like $500/month)? And what are the actual billable costs (tuition + fees+ room + board) of each school?</p>

<p>You won’t be able to borrow $10K nor $16K on your own so you will really need to give us a bit more info.</p>

<p>That isn’t your only other option. You need to look at potentially-cheaper non-flagship state universities or consider going to community college for the first two years.</p>

<p>The $64,000 gap is not going to fill itself by magic and there really aren’t lots of free money trees waiting to be harvested. If you can’t afford it, you can’t afford it. Not all problems have happy solutions.</p>

<p>@OP - are you in-steate for the “huge public university” ???</p>

<p>or, are you out-of-state for that option?</p>

<p>OP, what kind of financial difficulties do your parents have? You say things were fine until a few months ago. You also say they make decent money. If this is truly a temporary setback, it might be smart to take a Gap year. This gives them time to recover from whatever issues they have. Perhaps you can find a job and contribute to the cause and save some money for your college as well. If they do earn a decent salary they can pay for SOME college for you. You are not expecting a full ride are you? Your college has offered you a generous package so that all you need is $15K I think that you and your parents had better figure it out how to come up with it, if not this year next.</p>

<p>I am going to assume your package includes Stafford loans–if they don’t, you have an additional $5500 right there. Maybe an additional $9k, if your parents are turned down for PLUS, which they may not be. They have to apply to be turned down. You might be surprised. The credit check is not as strict for that loan. You should be working right now,making some part time bucks and be working a couple of jobs this summer to get a few thousand into the till. Most schools put it on a student’s head to come up with something. You don’t have any savings at all? Not a cent? You knew you would be wanting college. Maybe an on line rummage sale is in order. Sell your stuff and replace with cheap, cheap things. One of mine gave up his super souped up phone this year for a true pay as you go cheapie and is chortling about how little he is paying whereas his room mate has a smart phone that is so smart that it sucks 3 figures out of him each month. You want something that costs money, means you gotta give up thing, earn and borrow to get it. </p>

<p>How were you and your parents thinking that you were going to pay for college? As they were having their financial difficulties, it must have occurred to them that it was going to put a bit of a stint in those plans to pay $55K for you to go to a private, sleep away school. You too. You didn’t just put all your hopes in getting a full ride, did you? If you cannot come up with the money each year and are already all loaned up with the package the school has offered (and I suspect you are), then you need to find a local college and a part time job. Sleep away college is expensive and a luxury, just like sleep away camp. Who do you expect to pay for your room and board? Are you coming from a private, boarding high school? You didn’t expect such a school to pay for all of your costs did you? You have the exact same option as for high school to get that next year of college by going to your local state school. Not the sleep away state school that’ll cost an additional $10=15K to feed and board you. But the one where you can commute and your parents can continue to provide those 3 squares and a cot.</p>

<p>The state university i’m referring to has about 40,000 students and yes, is in my home state. As far as financial difficulties, my parents bought some property when the economy was realy great, and their supposed friend suddenly backed out on them- and screwed them over. Of course, I was not expecting a full ride; in fact I was surprised we got as much money as we did from Georgetown. If I go instate, my parents and I can swing it probably. Also, my fin aid package I mentioned before does include work study and a small loan. I don’t recall the exact number right now, but something about 2,000.</p>

<p>Additionally, my parents could probably afford about 6000 a year on some kind of payment plan- making the actual loans I need probably less.</p>

<p>Bookworm, you can get up to $5500 on your own through Staffords. You can also ask your parents to apply for PLUS for the gap. They may be approved despite bad credit. I’ve seen that happen. If not, you can get an additional $4K in loans. You can work this summer and your parents can make up the gap with payment plans. Most colleges offer a pay by the month plan. That’s what it’s going to take. Otherwise, give yourself the year to regroup financially, now that you know how it’s going to be. </p>

<p>My friends had two kids in college when they had to take a large distribution from a qualified or other sort of plan to start a business when a parent was let go from his job. That distribution quashed their kids’ financial aid options as it should–it is money that the family got. But they had to weigh putting that money towards the college or using it for a crucial business decision that would make their living for a long time. They chose to have the kids take a gap year that year while they used that money for starting that business. The following year, both kids got huge financial aid packages because the business just wasn’t putting out much income and the infusion of funds was done the year before in terms of aid determination. By sitting out a crucial year, they got a large amount of aid, and now the business is doing fairly well supporting the family</p>

<p>Timing is not going to be the way you want it all of the time in life. In fact, it rarely is. You gotta make it work sometimes by being flexible. If it’s a bad year in terms of qualifying for aid or for your parents to pay but prospects look much better for next year, sit the year out. GTU will give you a gap year, and they meet full need, so you’ll get a determination for need based on the year before’s financials. Now you and your parents can see first hand how it works.</p>

<p>Bookworm…</p>

<p>this isn’t the best idea, but it’s a possibility since your parents situation may be better in 4 years, that they could go ahead with the Plus Loan…BUT…they sign up for the delay in payments til after you graduate or their situation improves.</p>

<p>That said…the above isn’t the best idea since it involves significant debt for your parents, so it’s up to them to determine their situation. Now that I think about it, since your parents did qualify for a lot of aid at GT, I’m rethinking this a bit. It sounds like they may not really be earning that much (since GT isn’t that great with aid).</p>

<p>The better situation is to go to your state flagship. You seem to be dissing your state school by saying “huge public state school” …as if that is some big negative. </p>

<p>What school is this? You may find that it has opportunities that you wouldn’t have at GU. Larger schools have benefits, too. Does it have an honors college? Can you commute to it? If not, how come it’s not costing very much?</p>

<p>Depending on the state school, it could cost more to go there than a private that gives out good financial aid. GTU meets need as they define it. I know of some state schools that are ranging in the $30K range for non commuting students and do not give much financial aid at all. Don’t know what the OP’s options are in terms of that flagship state school Might be the same cost or more. </p>

<p>Where the savings arise significantly with in state schools are the non flagship ones, the local ones where the tuition tends to be lower and were the students can commute. Community colleges are included in that category. </p>

<p>I know a number of kids from state where the cost to go to State U is shamefully high and the kids may miss the need cut off to get any money from them or even if they show need, they don’t get it. My cousin’s son got aid from the privates that make it almost equal in cost to Penn State. He did have some need there too, but they only gave about a quarter of it and in Staffords. For the same bottom line amount, he had some private school choices that did not go into loans at all, so that he could use them as a buffer and towards the family EFC. A bitter pill of sorts, since this has been a Nittany Lions family for years. He isn’t going there.</p>

<p>^^^</p>

<p>Penn State instate cost is just tooo high. The UCs are looking to approach those rates. :(</p>

<p>My other option is a huge public state university. There, I’d need almost 10,000 a year because by their school standards</p>

<p>We don’t know what he means by the above. Is he saying that he needs $10k ABOVE the student loans that he’s been offered? If so, he says his parents can pay $6k (sounds like they need to sign up for the monthly payment plan), so he’d need to come up with the other $4k with summer job.</p>

<p>His parents could apply for the Plus loan, and if denied, he’d get an additional $4k in student loans. However, it doesn’t sound like they won’t qualify, it sounds like they’re over-extended but haven’t ruined their credit.</p>