PARENT PLUS LOAN (Was it really approved?)

Paying for College
21

What’s so great about Colorado state? You can do biochemistry and Spanish at your own state schools much cheape or if you have good stats you might get full tuition at a number of schools. Leaving your mom to only pay room and board which she will only have to borrow about $10-15 k a year. She could pay your whole education with the money you want her to borrow for just one year.

UA for example is very generous to OOS students and accepts lots of AP credits, allowing you to either graduate earlier or double major. They also have a new STEM to MBA program.

Please be sensible. If this school is not affordable look at other options.

To attain instate residency in another state for tuition purposes is made hard for a reason. If you start there as a OOS student simply living there will not do it. Usually you have to have a fulltime job, be independent financially from your parents, live in an apartment that is not school affiliated, and CO it seems also throws in an age requirement.

It is not feasible, no matter how much you want it to be.

You need to make a reasonable plan to attain your goal of getting your BS with the least amount of debt so you can go to med school. Where you get that degree doesn’t matter as much as your GPA, MCAT scores, med related ECs.

22

OP- I know it’s hard hearing from a bunch of strangers that your very well thought out plan is full of holes. BUT- your plan is based on a couple of erroneous assumptions (you will never become in-state for tuition paying purposes if you move to Colorado in order to enroll in college) plus some downright false statements (you will not be establishing the kind of credit score that will make you loan-worthy without a co-signer just by working a part-time job and paying rent to a university owned apartment).

You need to take a deep breathe. Forget med school (you will not, cannot, won’t qualify for med school admissions if you graduate in two years. It doesn’t give you any time to work in a research lab with a mentor or get to know any of your professors so they can write you recommendations)- but the immediate problem is that you are loading up on debt early in the game.

Go back and start again. What can your mom afford out of pocket, what are your stats, perhaps we can help you come up with a plan that is not going to cripple you with debt that you won’t be able to pay back.

23

You have a number of options to keep your UG debt low. That should be a goal with wanting to continue into medical school.

My advice would be to see if you can ‘restore’ any merit/FA at a much less costly alternative (many schools do have some students change their mind, and you may be able to attend a 4 yr school with 4 yr merit already awarded). A friend’s DD last year realized that she made a mistake on her school choice, and she was able to have a scholarship restored at another school. But you have to act very timely now.

If you will not have merit anywhere, my advice would be to go to a low cost school where you can have excellent grades.

24

I think you should take a gap year and apply to schools that you can afford either instate or thru large merit for your stats. Don’t TAKE ANY CLASSES this year ANYWHERE…not even at a CC.

If you are a strong enough student to become a dermatologist (one of the most competitive specialties), then you may have the stats to get HUGE merit elsewhere.

Again, we’re not trying to be mean to you, even tho our words (especially mine) have been harsh. We’re trying to give you a cyber slap wake up call, which any sane person would do if they saw someone about to fall off a cliff, which you are.

I know that you’ve had loan disappointments this week, and therefore you’re likely on some “high” now that your mom has been approved for this Plus Loan, but I promise you, that “high” will become a “trip to hell” real soon.

@jzlacrosseplayer Please come back so we can help you before you make some serious mistakes that could easily mess up your college career.

25

This makes me incredibly sad.

26

It doesn’t seem like you are aware of the residency requirements. Staying there in the summers or living in an apartment while in school doesn’t help.

27

My neighbor’s daughter graduated from UChicago med school last year. For her undergrad, she was on a FULL RIDE and got through debt free at Loyola University in Chicago. She told me it was the smartest thing she did. She turned down UMichigan, Notre Dame and the like as an undergrad where she would have to have debt after 4 years. Med school is plenty expensive, you should heed the advice of others on this thread.

28

^ Yes.

I also wanted to point out that in-state residency could still happen but the student has to delay school for a year and the mom has to move there in the next couple of weeks and start working there ASAP. She (the mom) needs to get working on the drivers license, voting application, library card, etc. right away. After the mother is there for a year, then the student can apply to get in-state tuition. For students under the age of 23, it is the parent or guardian who needs to start to demonstrate residency a year before the first day of classes.

29

Thanks for your time, but seriously you’re all wasting your time. I’ve got in covered.

30

JZ- enjoy Colorado. Namaste.

31

OP, for future readers of this post, can you explain what is covered? If commenters are confused about Colorado residency, it would be great if you could clear this up. Good luck in CO.

32

@CheddarcheeseMN by saying “I’ve got it covered”, that was my polite way of asking you all to stop commenting on my loan situation. I really do understand that you’re trying to help, but once again, I was not asking for advice, I simply asked a question and expected a simple response. In my 18 years of life, my parents and I have always been able to do what is best for me and my future and I’m pretty sure we can handle my college situation without the help of a bunch of strangers who know nothing about me nor my situation. But once again, thank you!

33

Then why did you need to post a question here at all…if you have it all covered.

34

^^^

True. Your mom should have been able to tell you that her loan was approved…not a bunch of “strangers” who don’t know you, your mom, or her loan app.

That aside…we may be a bunch of strangers, but I can assure you that collectively we know more about the college process than your family does. Instead of pooh poohing us, you should be taking advantage of the vast knowledge base here so as to save your family thousands of dollars, particularly thousands of dollars in debt.


[QUOTE=""]
In my 18 years of life, my parents and I have always been able to do what is best for me

[/QUOTE]

sure, that’s why your parents had to BORROW $37k, rather than pay for it…even after a year of lots of overtime… Hmmmmm…

35

Dear OP.
@mom2collegekids is right.
I imagine that you feel a little miffed that the posters here are not supportive.
But consider this… the posters here have communicated over 100,000 thoughts about the subject that interests you .
Heaven knows the un-communicated thoughts.
That’s free money. That’s gold.

36

OP, surely you must know how hard it is to save $148k ($37k * 4)…it’s much harder to pay it back with interest.

37

This ties in with the other thread about how families get $100,000+ into debt without knowing how it happened. THIS is how it happens. Even if the family never has to borrow another dime, this $37000 plus whatever Stafford loans the student has taken out.

38

@jzlacrosseplayer, I was a low income student and I’d like to give you my perspective. Taking on debt to attend college when you’re low income is risky. When expenses are tight, any unexpected change could ruin everything. If the Plus loan isn’t approved next year, you won’t be able to continue in CO and your loans will start coming due before you can transfer. You’d likely have to get a full-time job to repay them. If you don’t get in-state rates, you’re in the same situation regarding your loans, but worse because now you’re not in-state anywhere.

I commuted to a local cc paid for with state grants before transferring to a 4-year school. After one semester I decided dorming wasn’t worth the money so I got a job near a 4-year state school and commuted there to finish my degree. I graduated with very little debt and paid it off within a year of graduation and was able to start saving for a home.

The best gift you can give yourself is a college education obtained with minimal (if any) debt. Your choices for the next decade (if not longer) will be affected by the decision you make now. I’d suggest taking a deferral from the CO school so you can spend a year working and exploring your options. If, a year from now, you’re certain that’s what you want to do, CO will still be there.

39

Merit aid is available for undergraduate schooling. I don’t know much about med school, but am thinking that it is mostly straight loans, no way to get any free money towards med school. I have learned from reading on this site that the best way to pay for med school is to attend undergraduate school with as little debt as possible. This sets you up for being credit worthy enough to borrow for med school.

Please check some med school websites and understand what their costs are and figure out how you and your family will save for that. If you are committed to med school, then it is in your best interest to get the big picture and make sure you don’t put yourself in a position where you are accepted into med school but can’t attend due to finances.

At any point you are forced to drop out of your undergrad college, your loan clock starts ticking and you will have to start making loan payments after 6 months.

Read through this forum, it has valuable information. A lot of parents came here to learn for their own children’s education, then have stuck around and passed along info to upcoming students and their families. There is a lot of knowledge here, even if it is hard to accept.

Best wishes to you on your educational future.

40

“And I’m double majoring in biochemistry and Spanish with a minor in business. My ultimate career goal is to become a dermatologist. Oh and I forgot to mention that I have enough credits already from various AP and IB courses along with the summer credits that I will be acquiring that I’ll be in my undergrad for three years at most and 2 if I work extremely hard and take 21 credit hours per semester rather than the usual 16.”

Navigating an UG degree with low debt and advancing to a professional degree (like MD) takes working hard and working smart. You have to direct yourself in smart ways, and work hard in the right direction.

There is a process with being a good med school applicant. However if you are swimming in UG debt, you may not finish UG to get to your ultimate career goals.

Just received my Aug 17 issue of Forbes yesterday - which is largely a college issue, with long argicle about their America’s Top 200 Colleges, Best Values, etc. Interestingly, there is a long article about student debt (called debt and deceit - 40 M Americans are carrying nearly $1.4 Trillion in student debt, and 8 M of those borrowers are already in default). the subtitle of the debt article “The hucksters who once preyed on underwater mortgage holders have a new set of victims - those sinking under student loans”. The reason - student loans are not bankrupt-able.

If your CO state school has merit in the package, and your mom is moving to CO so that with taking a gap year (no classes anywhere) and the school will apply your four year merit fall 2016, take the gap year! Work FT and save up money! In any free time, volunteer in a hospital, shadow MDs, do things that will educate you w/o college classes.

You asked for some advice, but now you want to stick to your tunnel vision plan that is wrought with financial disaster all over it. Do you want your mom to never be able to retire because she had signed for student loans for you? People in loan default can and do get their wages garnished.

Federal loans are on the National Student Loan Data System at nslds.ed.gov. Private loans won’t be there - you have to track balance and interest rate of each of those.

Whatever loans you/your mom take out, you need to understand what the loan balance will be (loan amount and accrued interest) by the time you begin paying. Having the loans make you ‘more broke’. You are starting with a big financial hole starting with your first year at college - you need to calculate what that year of loans is going to cost you when you are ready to start paying on it.

For your mom to be working OT to help you for college, and then you want to press her to take out parent loans when she clearly cannot afford to, that is not being a responsible son.

I believe you honestly need to take a gap year and apply to all the schools that with merit will make an UG degree be low cost.

I am also posting this for other parents/students who are following this thread.