<p>I have a question about Parent PLUS loans. I sent in my FAFSA last year and this year to UT and they keep giving me Parent PLUS loans (a HUGE chunk of my financial aid ends up being Parent PLUS loans for some odd reason). The problem is, due to the fact that my parents have .... "not so splendid" credit, I'm automatically denied these Parent PLUS loans by the banks. I know with UT that if you get denied, you can send in a copy of your denial letter and they give you around a 25% Stafford Loan extra of the original amount of the Parent PLUS loan. This still doesn't help me much , leaving me with 75% unpaid (which is around 5k-6k). I tried looking into other options but most require a co-signer which none of my parents know/can get. Anyone have any suggestions on what to do at this point?</p>
<p>If private loans are off the table and the government loans offered aren’t enough, you might want to consider taking a few gap years and enter the workforce immediately. That way, you can save some money by working full-time and save up enough money to reduce your gap so that when you reapply in two or three years you will be able to meet your EFC with the aid package you have now. Alternatively, you might want to consider doing community college for the first two years. If you transfer in as a junior, you will have a much larger Stafford loan limit.</p>
<p>Are you out-of-state for UTexas?</p>
<p>What is the breakdown of the COA for UT?</p>
<p>What is the breakdown of your FA package?</p>
<p><a href=“a%20HUGE%20chunk%20of%20my%20financial%20aid%20ends%20up%20being%20Parent%20PLUS%20loans%20for%20some%20odd%20reason”>I</a>. *</p>
<p>Because most schools do not have the money to subsidize students’ costs, and they don’t charge a sliding scale.</p>
<p>No I am not out of state for UTexas- I’m in state, top 10% which gave me automatic admission. The COA for UT is around $21,000, but I ended up (for my freshman year) having an ACTUAL cost of attendance of around $17,000-$17,500.
My financial aid break down was</p>
<p>7,176.00=> Scholarships (No Grants for some odd reason…)
9,500=> Subsidized/Unsubsidized Federal Loans</p>
<p>My parents ended up paying around $1,400 to clear off my housing/rooming payment. Books I ended up taking around $500 dollars out of my own pocket. so yeah the total cost of attendance for me was around ~~18k give or take a few. I don’t think quitting school and joining the work force or going to a community college would be a great option for me - I’ve already built up 25 credit around just on AP credit which cleared my basic plus I’ve had 29 credit hours completed at UT.</p>
<p>I think that you need to work as much as you can this summer (maybe even take 2 jobs) to save as much as you can to put towards the shortfall. </p>
<p>Can one of your parents take a part-time job to help out?</p>