<p>*. The loans that are taken out will be in my name, not theirs. *</p>
<p>that isn’t exactly true. You would need THEM to co-sign, so they would be “on the hook” as well.</p>
<p>How would your parents contribute if you say that they have no income?</p>
<p>Go to Berkeley or some other state school. </p>
<p>You don’t seem to understand that newish artists don’t earn enough to make loan payments.</p>
<p>Are you saying that USC didn’t give you good FA? Why not? Does your family have a lot of assets?</p>
<p>I want to study art and that can’t be done at Berkeley.</p>
<p>[Art</a> Practice](<a href=“http://art.berkeley.edu/]Art”>http://art.berkeley.edu/) at Berkeley</p>
<p>What area of art?</p>
<p>58,000 in debt for a degree in art??? You might want to re-think this! What are you expecting to do for a job when you graduate?</p>
<p>My dad isn’t unemployed permanently, it was just during this last year that he was unemployed. He anticipates a new job starting in the summer. He use to make decent money ($90,000 for a family of 4) and so once he starts earning this kind of salary again, ALL the financial aid (need based money/scholarships) I receive is GONE. Berkeley gave me a fair amount of aid ($23,000 in grants and $7,000 in loans) however, once he gets a job, all the financial aid I received I will not longer have. None of what they gave me was MERIT based. I will be stuck paying $31,000+ each year AND, on top of that, it will probably take 5 years to graduate. Assuming that my dad stars working in the fall, I will have to start paying around $21,000 in loans per year for 4 years (assuming it takes me 5 years at berkeley and not including freshman year), which would total $84,000+. </p>
<p>-I have yet to receive my finaid information from USC, I believe it comes out in the first few weeks of April. I did not get any huge scholarship (Dean/ Trustee) but I know that I did receive a small merit based scholarship of $3,000 from Roski. However, if this is my ONLY merit based scholarship I will not be attending. I have to assume that at some point my father will get a job again, sooner rather than later, and that I will be stuck paying full tuition minus any MERIT based scholarships.
-(My family has no assets, we pay mortgage.)</p>
<p>Also, as far as an “art degree” goes, it’s a BFA and I’ll customize the academic course work to emphasize art history. I would like to teach (which requires an additional year to get a certificate) or work in galleries as well as continue doing my own art.</p>
<p>With 90,000 a year for a family of four your EFC obviously won’t be 0 anymore but you definitely won’t be expected to pay for full cost of attendance. You can discuss it with the financial aid office and see if you can use some sort of online calculator or get an estimate what your aid would be under different circumstances.</p>
<p>If I’m not mistaken your financial aid for your first year of school is locked in based on how much your parents made during the year 2010 (which is what your EFC was based on). So if your dad gets another well-paying job you would have to update your financial need for the following three years (which, again, would not mean that you would lose all need based aid).</p>
<p>If you broaden your requirements to include a BA in art and not limit yourself to just a BFA, your choices will widen dramatically. Then, if you still want to teach art, you can go to graduate school and get an MFA. That is really the better way to go, anyway. Berkeley seems to have a great BA program, at least from their web site. I have a BA and an MFA and that has been more than sufficient. A great many universities have wonderful art departments (some do offer the BFA) and even if they don’t offer BFA degrees, the BA degrees in visual art are often complete and really good. Art school can be limiting anyway. A university offers wider and broader course offerings, and is a diverse environment. Graduate art school is more serious, less self-indulgent (another story for another time 
), better networking, etc. Consider changing your priorities and maybe more opportunities will come your way.</p>
<p>USC gave me $9,708 in Cal Grant A, $5,550 in Pell Grant, $31,768 in University Grant, and $500 in the SEOG grant (however, I have heard that the federal gov may be removing this grant and so I’m not sure about if I will keep it). They also gave me $2500 in work-study, and $5,550 in student loans. So I suppose, if you don’t include the work-study and loans they gave me $47,526. I’m not quite sure what the tuition is but it looks like for tuition I’m covered. I’m very grateful for this however I have two major concerns: </p>
<p>The first is that they said my EFC is $2,500…I don’t understand how they get this number because both of my parents are unemployed, my brother is in college, and we have no assets. I did receive a Roski scholarship of $3000 that wasn’t included in fin aid, I have to contact the finaid department so they can recalculate it, in which case they will probably remove $3,000 from the University Grant but I want to try and make sure they don’t. </p>
<p>Also, in June my father starts working a new job where he will earn approx $70,000 and my brother will be a Junior in college (his tuition is covered by fin aid, he is at a state school). If he starts working in June that means he will only have earned half salary ($35,000) for the new tax season so my financial aid should still be fairly good for Sophomore year. HOWEVER, starting Junior year I am very worried. My dad will be already be earning FULL salary (around $70,000) and my brother will be out of college so my financial aid will be severely decreased. (We own no assets so that should help). During the first two years my family plans on saving as much as possible and I plan on getting summer jobs and applying to as many scholarships as I can. Also, my grandparents said they would contribute too for the Junior/Senior year. Do you think this is a doable option? I’ve been told that with no assets and only making around $70,000 I should still get okay aid, I’m just worried.</p>
<p>Doesn’t California have a really great transfer program amongst their Community Colleges and public Universities?</p>
<p>If you want to teach later on down the line, then why not just go to Community College and earn an AA which will transfer you in to whichever public University you would like to go to? </p>
<p>I think that would be a really frugal and yet realistic option. </p>
<p>Here is just an idea…</p>
<p>For example. Isn’t Cal Arts right next door to a Community College? I used to live in Santa Clarita a long time ago and if memory serves me right, those two schools are close by. You could go to that College of the Canyons (unless it is way to far for you) and then maybe audit a class or two at Cal Arts in order to build up your portfolio. </p>
<p>Whatever you wind up doing. Just tweak your list of schools. No one needs massive debt upon graduating University ever. Neither you nor your parents need that at all. Trust me on that.</p>
<p>Teaching was an option but it’s not necessarily what I would like to do. At USC I have a lot of great job opportunities in the arts (like at design firms, illustration companies, etc.) I am most likely accepting USC’s offer, it is VERY generous.</p>
<p>Yep, looks like you got a great deal from USC… the loan amount is definitely reasonable. Congratulations!</p>