<p>Neither of my parents work currently and my EFC is 0. I though RISD would be a little more generous with their aid but they were not. The total COA at RISD is about $57,000. They gave me a $2,500 grant and $10,000 in loan (some ubsub, a parent PLUS, and one small subsidized). However, that only totals $12,500. My parents don't have good credit so I don't get how they can take out a PLUS loan. Also, what am I suppose to do with the rest of the $45,000 tuition? Do I have to take out a private loan? Also, I already called and spoke to their office twice and they said they are not able to re-evaluate. Should I remain persistent?</p>
<p>You aren’t going to get a better package from RISD. You cannot afford to attend that program. Sorry, but you need to come up with an affordable option for yourself.</p>
<p>I see from your other posts that you got accepted at Berkeley - congratulations, and I think you should go there. As an in-state, you should get excellent financial aid via the Blue and Gold Program, and of course it’s a beyond-awesome school.</p>
<p>Thanks for the input. I want to study art and that can’t be done at Berkeley. I also got into NYU for art and they have given me $30,000 in scholarship/grant money and $30,000 in loan options. According to some other CC conversations, this is considered very generous and far less expensive than RISD. Does the NYU package seem more reasonable?</p>
<p>You can’t afford NYU either with $120k+ debt at the end of 4 years. Let them both go and move forward.</p>
<p>My father had a job before. It’s not like he never worked. It was only this last year that he lost his job but he should be working soon. I feel like there are many people who take out loans, I find it hard to believe that it would be completely impossible. </p>
<p>Aren’t there students who receive NO AID whatsoever? Don’t they all have to take out loans?</p>
<p>You need to run the numbers for yourself and see what happens when you borrow that much money.</p>
<p><a href=“Your Guide for College Financial Aid - Finaid”>Your Guide for College Financial Aid - Finaid;
<p>$120,000 in college loans (IF you could even get approval for that much) means you would owe $1,400 per month for the next 10 years. That’s almost $17,000 per year.</p>
<p>If you go on the income-based repayment plan, you’d be paying off your loans for the next 25 years. Do you want to be almost 50 and still writing checks to pay for college?</p>
<p>The vast majority of people who go to expensive private universities are rich. For the rest of us, we attend reasonably-priced colleges and borrow reasonable amounts of money. I have a total of $17,000 in debt from my entire bachelor’s degree - about half of what you’d have to borrow for one year of NYU.</p>
<p>I don’t know why you think you can’t study art at Berkeley - they have a program and major in the field. <a href=“http://art.berkeley.edu/[/url]”>http://art.berkeley.edu/</a></p>
<p>“The vast majority of people who go to expensive private universities are rich.”</p>
<p>That is SO NOT true! Polarscribe you like to make broad generalizations. People from all backgrounds go to “expensive private universities” including the middle class. There are many ways they work it out–like saving, investing, living frugally and by getting good merit aid. My D has gotten merit aid at 5 schools, so far, that bring down the cost to nearly what it would cost to go to our state u. We are far from rich!</p>
<p>upstatemom, yes, a few kids get scholarships. (I’m happy for your daughter.) That doesn’t change the fact that most students at such universities are rich, or at least well-off. How do you think they pay for their operations? Hint: they have a large population of students who are full-pay.</p>
<p>Only a tiny fraction of private schools have endowments that enable them to be need-blind/full-need.</p>
<p>At private 4-year doctorate-granting schools, one-third of the student body has a family income of more than $100,000 and 47 percent has a family making at least $80,000 per year. This means nearly half of their students have a household income in about the top 20 percent of all Americans. Add in students whose families make at least $60,000 (upper-middle-class, top 40 percent of households) and you’re over 60 percent.</p>
<p>femmefatal</p>
<p>My own kid is at the local community college because it is all we can afford right now. RISD is a very special place but if you can’t afford it you can’t. You have other options. Take a good long look at them, and figure out which of the affordable options are best for you.</p>
<p>This is all so stressful. It’s hard to have to say no to schools like NYU, USC, or RISD, because of financial issues. I was amazed that I got into any of them and I just don’t want to settle for anything less. Also, considering that at UC Berkeley I will most likely graduate in 5 years and the fact that the moment my dad starts working again (which will be soon) I lose my financial aid. In which case, I will have to take out loans anyways. I know, I know, the difference between loans at NYU/RISD and Berkeley are night and day.</p>
<p>Since you are not going to be able to borrow this $120,000, have you asked your parents how they feel about being on the hook and having to pay this money(provided that they are approved for a loan)?</p>
<p>Hi, accepted RISD student-- you are just where we were one year ago. Have no fear — there are other EXCELLENT art programs so open your heart and your creative mind. RISD is stingy with their aid, period. They are not very considerate of accepted students with low EFCs, I concluded that an economically diverse RISD student body is not a priority. Celebrate your acceptance to RISD and move on quickly to a school that invests in you & has a solid art program. A year later, my son could not be happier, better mentored, challenged intellectually as an artist or given more exposure to collected artists, top professors in art fields - no grad assistants! - and feel more wanted and appreciated as a student & person. He is finishing freshman year at Kansas City Art Institute. RISD has its $350 million endowment & offers little to accepted students with serious need. Stark contrast -KCAI invests in students and nurtures the artists within. It’s a rigorous college with demanding professors & access to some of the world’s best art @ KCMO’s Nelson & Kemper next door. Even a RISD financial aid staffer will tell you that it is NOT worth going in debt enough to buy a very nice home just to get a degree from RISD. The colleges that have accepted you have fine programs, start there, and explore options to transfer if you feel the need. Get busy tonight exploring the programs @ the schools you can afford - deadlines are looming for $ aid decisions. Smile. Relax. Best wishes from a parent & student who’ve been there! You’ll be fine --just move on from RISD anxiety asap.</p>
<p>@sybbie719: My parents are obviously weary of the RISD offer, or lack there of. The loans that are taken out will be in my name, not theirs. Unless a Parent PLUS loan is taken out, which wouldn’t even be feasible because of their credit. I’m sure RISD is out of the question no matter which way the loans re dispersed however, they are still optimistic about NYU. I’m waiting to hear back on my USC finaid package.</p>
<p>@EagleBayou: For me, the only financial backup would be a state school. I don’t think I want to give up on my other options just yet but if I have to, I will.</p>
<p>Best wishes to find that fits you and that you/family can afford. Cheers to your success!</p>
<p>NYU is not even remotely an option if your parents don’t have good enough credit for PLUS loans. You will not qualify to borrow $100,000 in your own name.</p>
<p>I know it’s difficult, but you need to move on from these unaffordable schools. Borrowing $120,000 for college will saddle you and your family with an enormous debt that you could literally be paying off for the next quarter-century. It will leave you perpetually worrying about the next student loan payment, with the spectre of default and destroyed credit hanging over your head well into middle age. It is not healthy for you and your loved ones. Please think about your future - not just four years down the road, but 10 or 20.</p>
<p>Alright so just for an update, I have officially removed RISD for my options. Their frugality is just absurd. </p>
<p>So this is an offer from another art school. Their school tuition is approx. $26,370 (not including room+board/living expenses). They offered me $15,502 in pure merit based scholarship that is renewable each year. They also are giving me $5,550 in Pell Grant and $750 in work study. So that totals $21,802 in “free” money. For loans they are offering the subsidized and unsubsidized student loans for whatever the remaining cost is (around $5,500). With processing fees the school is around $27,270. The room+board/COA is around $15,000 per year. My dad said that he could actually pay some of this because my brother was able to receive full financial aid (without loans) for his state school and so he will no longer have to pay for the second tuition. So, assuming that my parents are able to pay $6,000 in room/board/expenses and the loans, we’re looking at $14,500 (plus interest) in loans per year, or, $58,000 (plus interest) over 4 years.</p>
<p>bump???</p>
<p>It looks like you will have $58,000 in debt assuming that tuition doesn’t increase and you graduate in 4 years and don’t have any additional expenses. Look at the income you anticipate once you graduate and the amount of debt you will be in.</p>