I was recently admitted to Mount Holyoke as a Fall 2015 transfer student. I was initially thrilled, but when I saw how much my family would have to pay, I was disappointed.
My parents are divorced, but our net price is $18,700 (excluding transportation and personal expenses.) Because I believe that paying for an expensive LAC is mostly my responsibility, I will be paying the majority of the cost (I will take out $5,500 in student loans for this year (in addition to the $5,500 loan in my aid package) and contribute $6,200 of my earnings/savings.
Therefore, I asked my parents to both contribute $3,500. My mom agreed to it, but my dad basically said that he couldn’t afford it, even though I know that’s not the case. He believes that what he pays in child support (for me and my brother) is enough, so he said that maybe he could give me $100 or $200 to go toward the cost of personal expenses.
However, whether or not I can afford to buy toiletries doesn’t matter if I can’t afford to pay the tuition and room/board.
I will already be $22,000 in debt when I graduate as it is. Should I contact MHC’s financial aid and explain my situation?
The University of Richmond is the other college I applied to, so I hope that I am admitted and its financial aid package includes a few thousand dollars more in grants.
I have to let Mount Holyoke know my decision by May 1st. What should I do?
Colleges don’t care that parents can pay, but won’t. If they gave money to every student whose parents didn’t want to pay, everybody would refuse.
Is your mom cosigning a loan for you in addition to the federal student loan? All you can take out on your own is $5500 as a freshman, $6500 as a soph, and $7500 each year as a junior and senior. If your mom is cosigning a $5500 loan, she could probably cosign a $9k one. Just be sure to keep your debt load as close to the federal limit for students as you can ($27k total). Much more than that is probably too much.
I’m not sure you have the correct numbers. The $5500 in your aid package IS your student Stafford loan, isn’t it? You can only take out $5500 as a freshman, $6500 as a sophomore, $7500 as a junior, $7500 as a senior. It sounds like you have $5500 in Stafford loans, $6200 savings/earnings and $3500 from your mom. About 15k to work with as long as your Stafford loan s not already counted in the financial aid package.
It is reasonable for a student to have $25,000-$28,000 in debt for undergrad degree.
unless your non custodial parent signed commitment to post high school support in the divorce decree, unlikely you can force payment.
Transfer students don’t always get great aid packages.
Can you stay at your current school if it is more affordable?
O’k so you are a junior. You can take $7500 in Stafford loans for the next two years. What are the loans in your package? Your mom should be getting the American Opportunity tax credit the next two years. Maybe she would give it to you? You could ask MoHo for 1 or 2k more in help and see what they say.
What your dad pays for in child support is his contribution, do you know the figure for that? Your mum’s 3500 includes the CS form your dad. At least in your own mind you should separate that out.
If you mean your Dad is currently paying child support for you and your brother, then he is already paying his share of the $3500; whatever your mother has agreed to is already partially, perhaps mostly, coming from Dad. He is already supporting you.
If you mean your Dad has paid CS for years for you and your brother, and is now paying less for your brother alone because you are in college, he might be able to cover the difference to support you directly so that the total is what he was paying before. Please clarify.
What exactly is the child support situation? Will your dad keep paying your share of that while you are in college? If so, can your mother pass that much along to you for your college expenses?
We don’t know how the financial situation is panning out for the OP. When a student goes off to college, it does not necessarily (and, in fact, rarely), means that the household expenses are going to go down as much as the child support often does–in some states it goes away entirely. Unless the parent moves into a smaller home and cuts out the costs of having a child still coming home and using home base. By far, our biggest expense is our house bill, and though we’ll get some savings when our son goes off to college in utility use, the bank still wants that mortgage payment. Child support is often given by statute and formula, so things can vary widely.
That your parents are divorced is not the only issue. Many parents simply will not for any number of reasons come up with more money out of pocket and that is what you are requesting. Your mother has decided she will give more money to you. Your father has decided he is not going to spend any more than he has in the past. Personal decisions and unless there is something spelled out in the divorce settlement about college, that’s the way it goes.
@gearmom is right - whichever parent claims you as a dependent on their tax return would be eligible for the American Opportunity Tax Credit each of the two years that you’re in college, which, if that parent has any taxable income, puts as much as $2,500/year back in that parent’s pocket. Explain this to your parents and see if the parent claiming you would be willing to contribute that $2,500 to your expenses.
You should also be borrowing up to your student loan limit of $7,500, in addition to whatever private loan you’re able to get. I assume you’ve arranged a cosigner for that additional loan?
And, yes, ask MHC if they can kick in another $1k or $2k . . . they may say no, but it’s a small amount, so it’s certainly worth asking.
The AOTC is not automatic, especially for single parents. The credit starts to phase out by $80k and is gone at $90k. The parents doesn’t have to claim the student as a dependent, the student just has to BE a dependent. However, this student is getting a lot of aid from the school and may exceed the QEE so may not qualify for the AOTC.
My mom is not co-signing a loan for me. She doesn’t want to take on more debt.
Because I will be a junior in the fall, I can take out a $7500 Stafford loan. I’m hoping to take out a $3500 Perkins loan. Do I need a cosigner to do that?
No, you don’t need a co-signer for the Perkins loan, as it is a federal loan as well. Has your school told you that you will qualify for Perkins for next year?
Unless the aid from the school is specifically designated for “tuition only,” the student can elect to treat a sufficient portion of the scholarship as taxable income to free up as much as $4k in qualified education expenses so that her parents would be eligible for the AOTC.
You’re correct, though, that I misspoke - one of her parents may be eligible for the AOTC, but that depends on the parent’s income. Given the sizable award the student is receiving, she’ll likely owe income tax on at least a portion of her award; if they get a credit, they should set part of it aside to help pay her tax bill.
The child support my dad pays goes toward my health insurance and other expenses like groceries and the electric bill.
I’m not sure I could use my half to go toward tuition because my mom would have to come up with the money for my health insurance. Also, if/when I leave for college, her expenses won’t change.
I guess I’m frustrated because I know that my dad has fewer expenses and more resources than my mom and yet, she’s the one who’s going to have to help me the most.
When I contact Financial Aid, can I email them or do I have to fill out a formal request? I’m not asking for an appeal. 1 or 2K dollars extra in grants would make a huge difference.
It’s up to financial aid as to what their procedures are. You can also talk to admissions and see if there isn’t a bit of merit money they can give you. Talk to the admissions person who admitted you, thank her profusely and ask her for her advice and assistance both from what is available from merit and how to best approach the fin aid dept.
Your mother’s expenses will likely go down somewhat unless you are commuting. If you are away at school, your part of the grocery bills and the use of electric, water, heat will dip a bit. The same with use of the car and the buying of things. But I can tell you as one who has had lots of kids go off to college, the biggest expenses are rather fixed. We are saving, (sadly) right now because my MIL and mother who were living with us both died not long ago. We can now turn down the heat, changed our cable options and reduce our food bill, but there hasn’t been a dent in the big expenses. Still the mortgage and taxes, the biggest part of our expenses. Plus in bidding them farewell, we’ve had an uptick in expenses which parents also have when launching a kid off to college. With OP having a brother still at home, it may not be the wisest thing to find other housing right now while that student is still in school and not wanting to disrupt that flow.
Usually Perkins is awarded to students with a very low EFC, and schools only have a limited amount of funding. Also, it isn’t looking like this program will be continued, so I believe schools are scaling back who is awarded this specific fund.