<p>You haven’t mentioned your parents in all this, but from the numbers you gave, it sounds like you are a dependent student.</p>
<p>1) You could get $4000 more in loans if your parents applied for a Plus loan and were denied a loan. If your parents are approved for the loan, that Plus loan would be in their name and not yours. If your parents don’t want to apply for a Plus loan, you cannot get any additional loans unless they co-sign for you. If they don’t want Plus loans, they probably also won’t want to co-sign private loans for you.</p>
<p>2) Federal loans use simple interest, so the interest does not compound, which is the only nice thing about them.</p>
<p>3) The subsidized loans do not accrue interest while you are in school, but when you get out, they will start accruing interest. So if you had $3500 you could use to pay it back on graduation day, that’s all you’d have to pay. But if you pay it back over 10 years, you will pay a good chunk of interest on it.</p>
<p>4) The money that you don’t get loans for, you have to pay up front in order to register for the semester. So if you took the $5500 in loans, your remaining expenses are <em>estimated</em> at $5649 for the year, but that includes both direct costs (things the school will bill you for) and indirect costs (things like textbooks and incidentals that you will pay for yourself over the course of the year)</p>
<p>The direct costs for Stony Brook are $20,250. If you subtract your grants/scholarships and $5500 in loans, that leaves $2825 that you are going to be billed for. Half of that will be due sometime before fall classes begin (usually due around early August, but it depends on your school’s calendar) and the other half before spring classes begin. You MUST pay or you will not be allowed to register for classes. Most schools have a payment plan that will allow you to pay in monthly installments instead of two lump sums, but there is normally an additional (small) fee for this.</p>
<p>5) I would strongly suggest you avoid taking $11K in loans each year, even if you can get them. Can your parents help at all? Do you have any money saved? Do you have a job? Can you get one for summer? Try to earn as much of that $5649 as you can! Will you work while in school? Does your package include work study?</p>
<p>Here’s what you need to come up with to start school, to cover your first semester. (You’ll have to come up with this again in December or January to cover second semester.)<br>
$1413 for the remainder of your direct expenses not covered by your financial aid
enough money to buy/rent textbooks – they estimate 450/semester but you can do some bargain hunting on that
Enough money to travel to school
Enough money to equip a dorm room – really you probably don’t need to buy anything more than twin XL sheets, but you may want some other items
Enough money for incidentals along the way (laundry, toiletries, etc.) - at least enough to get you through until you start bringing in some income from a work study or other job
Enough money for “surprise” expenses like this one: “All resident first year students are charged an additional fee for required opening weekend meals.”</p>
<p>You may be able to reduce the $1413 amount by choosing cheaper housing (ask for a triple) or meal plan than the one they assume in their computation. </p>
<p>If anyone asks what you want for graduation, think about things you will need (bedding, dorm items, Amazon gift cards for textbooks, etc.)</p>
<p>There’s a good loan calculator here that you can use to try out a few scenarios:
<a href=“Loan Payment Calculator - Finaid”>Your Guide for College Financial Aid - Finaid;