<p>my efc is close to nothing. Now, i dont want any loans because its a burden to pay it back. Can it be possible to receive grants upto 30k a year? I am accepted at a university. they say i am eligible for a STAFFORD LOAN, but i am told to keep away.
Are the scholarship doors closed after one enters a university or college? what can i do about financial aid?</p>
<p>It is possible to receive 30K+ grants a year. I got 35K myself this year and 31K before.</p>
<p>You'll probably have to get some kind of a loan because financial aid won't just give you all the free money. I got 6K debt on top of 35K grant so... (and 2750 workstudy and 2000 scholarship.)</p>
<p>most college students get a loan around 20K or so for the 4 years at school.
You can't even get a 30K loan at once ANYWAY (stafford has like 3K limit for freshmen for the first year)</p>
<p>Did you apply for financial aid when you were suppose to? i dunno which school you are going to, but if it has some kinda prestige, it should give you some kinda financial aid (except NYU.. I heard they like covering alot of their financial aid with PLUS loans. bad bad bad)</p>
<p>I didn't apply for scholarship when I had to, so after thati had very little chances with them.. i would start looking into an outside scholarship..</p>
<p>I talked to them today.</p>
<p>STATS: Tuition is 30,000++</p>
<p>THEY GAVE ME(actually the college gave me NOTHING!)</p>
<p>NYC TAP--- 5000 whole year
ACG-- 745
PELL GRANT - 4310
and they are offering me federal stafford loan. How the hell am i gonna come up with 16 grand? they are not giving me any scholarships(SO FAR) but i am going to send them some letters.</p>
<p>This is for Polytech University. I cant believe how bad the package is! US NEWS says it covers 93% of need based students. DAMN! its worser than NYU!</p>
<p>I didnt do well on my SATs. I have good grades though and everything else. what can of scholarships are available within one month of school?</p>
<p>a few things- stafford loans, subsidized or not, are a good option. They are federal loans that carry decent rates, i dont know why people told you to back away. And I also dont know why there is such a fin.aid problem, since you efc was so low- polytech should have given you more grants/work study money, or in some way found you more loans, which is how schools usually handle this. Your only options now are to go on, say,fastweb, to apply for scholarships, but most of these, if you get them, wont pay within a month. The other option is more loans, sadly. How do your parents feel about this?</p>
<p>How much exactly was your efc?? because mine was around 1000 or something so my school covered all the tuition (35K) with grants.</p>
<p>You should've chosen a school with a good financial aid program...
I don't think there'll be a scholarship that'll cover 16K..
Only option you have at the moment is asking your parents to take out a plus loan or something.
I suggest you ask your school why your financial aid sucks. seriously it sucks.</p>
<p>my efc is 0. I need to come up with not 16 but almost 18K! ther are NO grants offered by polytech. Everything they gave was ALLL federal stuff. whcih equals to about 13500.(with the stafford loan). They have allot of scholarships minimum or 8k to 22k. I have applied to it. Even if i can get 10k, i am in good shape i guess.... :(</p>
<p>^^ Is this for Fall 07? Getting real late in the game to realize that the colleges FA Package stinks. Good Luck. </p>
<p>You don't have a rich uncle with one foot in the grave or anything like that do you?</p>
<p>no. guys pray for me! i am applying to a million scholarships.</p>
<p>hey did you apply for the scholarships at cappex?</p>
<p>Unfortunately, not all schools have the internal funding to be able to help bridge the gap between federal aid & the cost of attendance. I worked at such a school years ago, and I had a lot of upset families to deal with ... I know how you feel! The 93% you saw means that 93% of the kids who attend your school have their need met ... obviously, most of that would be in loans (and your student population is not particularly "needy"). </p>
<p>The best alternative for you would probably be to look into a PLUS loan. This is taken out by the parent & has a reasonable interest rate. Unlike the Stafford loans, the principle & interest have to be repaid starting right when you take out the loan. You can borrow up to the cost of attendance. Take out all lower interest student loans that are available before taking out a PLUS. These loans have a lower interest rate & can be repaid AFTER graduation. Subsidized Stafford loans have both principle & interest repayment postponed until after graduation. Unsubsidized Staffords have interest accrue right away, so it makes sense to start paying that right away if possible (although it can be rolled into the loan & paid off later --- you'll owe interest on the interest, that way) and principle repayment is postponed until after graduation. By graduation, I mean 6 months after.</p>
<p>You are going to be taking on a lot of debt. Please consider carefully whether or not you want to do this for 4 years. It's up to you ... but talk to your financial aid dept. to get some loan counseling. You need to see what this translates into in terms of repayment.</p>
<p>My father has good credit. now would it be smart to take a 20k loan with no apr for one year? and about the plus loan, do i apply online or through college? </p>
<p>now should i take all the money at once or take money per semster wise? what would be wiser? i dont know anything about the loan system.</p>
<p>If you can take out a $20k loan with no apr for a year, that buys you a year ... but at the end of the year, you would probably have a ridiculously high interest rate. That's the only reason a lender would lend you money interest free for a year ... they hope to get the money on the other end. I suppose you could do it & pay it before interest kicks in by taking out a PLUS loan when the first loan comes due. The problem is, you can only take out a PLUS up to the amount of your cost of attendance. You might need too much to pay off the first loan & finance the second year. In short, you will end up paying too much interest if you don't play your cards right. This is how a lot of people end up in trouble with credit.</p>
<p>I strongly suggest that you schedule an appointment with someone in your college's financial aid department. That person can go through different options with you & show you the costs associated with those options. Another good place to talk to someone for advice is a credit union. They exist for the benefit of their members, and they will probably be very helpful.</p>
<p>It is usually best to take out only what you need, because you will probably be paying interest on it ... or even paying interest & principle ... as soon as you get the money. You don't want to pay more than you have to. That's why it's important to talk to someone who can advise you on your individual needs. Good luck to you ... welcome to adulthood!</p>
<p>Good luck to you and DON"T DO IT!!!! Take your first two years at a community college, work summers, save your money, then transfer into a 4year school for your last two years. You should not graduate with more than $20,000 in debts - not unless your parents have the money and desire to pay it off for you. Adults above, why are you encouraging this kid to ruin is future with huge debts!!!!!! :eek:
EDIT: If you have an EFC of $0, your parents don't have the money to help you out. Find other ways to get your education; Americorps , City year, ROTC, night school, .. please don't ruin your future with all this debt!</p>
<p>Anxiousmom, I agree with you. However, I have come to realize that we are in the minority these days. People just don't seem to have any trouble borrowing large sums of money. I thought about telling the poster not to do it, as well ... and I think that I will do so now. The reason I didn't is because ... I don't know. I guess that's why I pushed talking to someone in financial aid to get a dose of reality.</p>
<p>I agree that community college for 2 years makes the most sense (or for a year, until you find something that isn't so darned expensive).</p>
<p>My parents dont want me anywhere near a community college. here in NYC, many hs dropouts end up there after getting their GED. Polytech is very prestigious and i really want to go there. i can go to another 4 year school but I DONT WANT TO! i know its my problem. I talked to the counselor, they told me to request money/scholarship in written form. I did. I actually had a professional essay writer fix up my sentences. lol. anyway if it aint working now, it aint working ever.</p>
<p>I'm not sure that the community college for two years and then transfer is always a good option when a lot of financial aid is needed or you can't attend at all. Our experience with FA available/offered to transfer students for higher tier and private schools is that it not generous. MAYBE if your first 2 years at CC you have excellent grades (3.8+)...also be careful, some private LAC schools to not articulate/accept all of the CC credits.</p>
<p>FYI to greenvision - we couldn't get a PLUS loan, sent the rejection to the school and got more grant $ and an unsubsidized stafford...might be worth applying for the PLUS anyway, you might need it as part of your bargaining with the FA people </p>
<p>keep talking with the FA people, with a good attitude of course.</p>