<p>Hey everyone.
So, I'm having a huge setback in life. I've been accepted to west Virginia University and The Ohio State University. Ohio State is my dream school, and want to attend it. The problem is money. I'm an out of state student at both, and am in serious need of financial help. I have offers from both and they would be very good if I could afford to pay anything. My parents have decided not to contribute anything, so I'm stuck trying to pay for these school on my own. Ohio State's offer not including loans is about 19,000 out of 42,000. Loans can push it up to about 35,000. Now, I have no money so I'd probably have to take out another loan to pay for the full thing. I plan on moving wherever I go, hopefully to get in state tuition my third year. WVU's offer is more affordable, paying 27,000 out of 29,000 with loans and such included. I know if I don't go to OSU i'm going to regret it. But I'll regret it more not being able to afford it. Any help would be much appreciated. I'm trying to break my families mold and do something with my life, start anew. I think OSU would be a great school to do it at, but doing it all on my own is extremely stressful and difficult. Thanks!</p>
<p>I’m not sure I understand. Ohio State would cost you $35,000 / year and WVU would cost $27,000 / year? If so both schools really are unaffordable.</p>
<p>As a freshman you are entitled to $5500 woth of loans in your name. Anything over that amount would require a co-signer. Even if your parents are willing to cosign for the large loans to cover the balance it will saddle you with debt for a long time.</p>
<p>Did you apply to a more affordable instate option? A lot of kids attend an instate school or community college to keep costs down, especially if their parents are unable or unwilling to help with college costs.</p>
<p>You may also want to check on the requirements for gaining instate residency. Most states make it very difficult to do so otherwise all OOS students would do so to avoid paying additional fees.</p>
<p>It’s great that you want to do something with your life but starting it out with a lot of debt isn’t going to help you achieve your goals.</p>
<p>These schools are unaffordable options for you, as are most OOS schools for most students. What about your own State Us?</p>
<p>You can do a lot with your life and be a great success without going to an OOS University. You definitely do not want to start your life with crippling debt.</p>
<p>Go have a big cry and a quart of ice cream – and then get to work. </p>
<p>It is INSANE for you to borrow that amount of money. You will be a debt slave for the rest of your life. I’m sorry, but Ohio State is no better than a public college in your home state. It’s not. </p>
<p>What has happened is you’ve “fallen in love” – just like Romeo and Juliet and we know that didn’t work out well. You are not alone. There were hundreds of girls in Britain who were crushed when Prince William took himself off the singles market last Saturday. </p>
<p>Fortunately, for them and you, there are other fabulous choices. </p>
<p>You haven’t (I suspect) researched this path you love that well – most states do NOT let you attain in state residency status while attending college.<br>
See here:
[Ohio</a> University Residency Requirements 2003-04](<a href=“http://www.ohio.edu/catalog/03-04/general/resid.htm]Ohio”>Ohio University Residency Requirements 2003-04)</p>
<p>So here are your choices:
- Move to Ohio and become employed so you are supporting yourself. Check requirements carefully. You are a dependent, for college financial aid purposes until you are age 24 (sucks, but that’s the way the game is played). Start college at 24. </p>
<p>2) Join the military and earn bucks. Try to get stationed in Ohio so you can use the base as your residency</p>
<p>3) Find an alternative in your home state that gets you educated for a fraction of the cost. Identify what you like about OSU (community spirit? Football zaniness? Great opportunities in a particular field?) and use those as your search criteria. </p>
<p>I am so sorry that your parents are not willing to help. I have more hard news for you: Even if you were willing to take on gazillions of loans, you may not be able to get them. Most students end up with a split offer. The student takes on so much loan (Stafford, etc) and then the parents pay up or take Parent Plus loans. </p>
<p>Why should a bank loan you a ton of money if it is unlikely for you to be able to repay? Answer: They won’t. Not anymore. Any banker will look at your application and say “I’d loan her $20K a year for four years for her to attend Home State U because I think she could pay $80K plus interest back – but why should I loan her $160K for an OSU degree in X when that same program can be earned in our state for half the price?”</p>
<p>I am so very sorry that you are at this hard point – but I promise you that there are marvelous people in your state – and you CAN break the family mold and go do things differently. By the way, OSU has graduate programs and some graduate programs pay the students (you can earn a Master’s by working as a TA or Research Assistant). </p>
<p>So put OSU on hold and figure out your next steps. This is not the answer you want – but the sinking economy is breaking a lot of student hearts this spring. Please rebound and move forward. We’re rooting for you.</p>
<p>You won’t be breaking any mold by going to these schools. You’ll just be putting yourself in some frustrating mold with lots of debt.</p>
<p>It’s very unlikely you can get instate residency while in college and while under age 24. </p>
<p>What are your instate options?</p>
<p>* Ohio State’s offer not including loans is about 19,000 out of 42,000. Loans can push it up to about 35,000. Now, I have no money so I’d probably have to take out another loan to pay for the full thing.*</p>
<p>I don’t understand the above. If OSU gave you $19k, then how will loans bring that amount up to $35k? That is a $16k difference. I doubt OSU gave you $16k in loans. They probably gave you about $6k in loans. If so, that would mean that you’d have funding for about $25k out of the $42k cost. You’d need to borrow about $15k more each year. That would require private loans AND co-signers (which it doesn’t sound like your family will do - and they should NOT do)</p>
<p>No school is worth that kind of debt.</p>
<p>*GPA: 3.55
SAT: 1640. Writing: 520. Math: 550. Reading: 570.
*</p>
<p>What kind of aid did you get from OSU? Did you get a Pell grant and some other grants? I’m wondering because your stats don’t seem high enough for a lot of merit from OSU.</p>
<p>Did you apply to any schools in your state? My son was not interested in the state options either, but he danged well applied to our state schools, and yes, for each of our kids who did so, the state schools were the cheapest option (with one school exception for the oldest). By far. OOS schools are not going to meet the base price and it is not easy to get financial aid from them, especially in amounts you need. You have to be a top student with high test scores to get enough merit to make a difference too. Getting a full ride or close to it, is not easy.</p>
<p>My brother has a D at West Virginia. It wasn’t her first choice school. The family is well to do and probably could have paid for a top priced college. But WV was their state school, and the price was right and there wasn’t anything other schools had that made the differential worth while. She is going to WVU. Same as a cousin who is going to her state school. When the chips were down, the best choice was State U and that is where she is going, mainly for financial reasons. I can’t be sympathetic that you are putting your nose up to WVU and aren’t even considering state and local options.</p>