Parents are hung up on loans, advice? [LONG]

Paying for College
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<p>She does not have to co-sign for regular student loans. It is only when you go above and beyond when you need a co-signer.</p>

<p>AND…I would never ever recommend taking out more loans than the $20,000 total for the degree. AND, I would highly recommend taking out less.</p>

<p>I graudated with about $35,000 in loans. I am 42 now and despite paying the minimum payment all these years, and being in deferment for a few years, I now owe closer to $100,000. Granted, when I took the loans out, the interest rate was over 8%, but it could easily get there again. It is currently closer to 3%. The law that is keeping the interest rate down expired and was renewed and will expire again.</p>

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<p>I feel even worse that you wasted the time reading everything I said. How delightful it must be that you can sit here and say these things behind your computer screen.</p>

<p>Obviously I gave you my own “schizophrenic and blatantly ignorant” opinion, because it’s my own opinion. I can’t frame the situation objectively, because I am not objective in this situation. I would expect more out of an adult than slamming an obviously deluded 17 year-old girl, but again, the anonymity of the Internet.</p>

<p>Um, anyways. Still thinking about all of the advice given in this thread. My mom made me promise i’d live on campus because my home life sucks, so that’s the only new development. Also, I visited That Other State’s Flagship and really loved it.</p>

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<p>Aomame, please ignore Swamyswamy’s rude ranting.</p>

<p>As a parent, I have found the discussion here quite useful. It helps me remember what this time of life was like for me as a teenager, which helps a lot as my son and I are working on the whole college financing thing.</p>

<p>Hang in there.</p>

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<p>CTScoutmom, I’m confused by what you said. Can you give me a link to something that will convince me that when a student has been financially independent for at least a year, he is still required to submit a FAFSA from his parents, in addition to his own FAFSA?</p>

<p>When I went back to school some years after doing my Bachelor’s, the financial aid officer asked me if my parents had put me down as a dependent on her income tax return the previous year, and when I said no, she handed me a FAFSA and asked me to fill it out with my financial information. No further mention of my parents.</p>

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<p>aparente001, all you have to do is look at the FAFSA directions. Perhaps you met some other criteria for independence or for dependency override, but these are the ones listed on FAFSA (p AVG-21): </p>

<p><a href=“http://ifap.ed.gov/fsahandbook/attachments/1213AVGCh2.pdf[/url]”>http://ifap.ed.gov/fsahandbook/attachments/1213AVGCh2.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Criteria for independence
For the 2012–2013 year, a student is
independent if he meets any of the following
criteria from HEA Sec. 480(d):
• was born before January 1, 1989
• is married as of the date he applies
• will be a graduate or professional student
at the start of the award year
• is currently serving on active duty for
purposes other than training
• is a veteran of the U.S. Armed Forces
• has dependents other than a spouse
• was an orphan, foster child, or ward/
dependent of the court at any time
since the age of 13
• is an emancipated minor or in legal
guardianship or was when he reached
the age of majority in his state
• was determined at any time since
July 1, 2011, to be an unaccompanied
youth who was homeless or self-supporting
and at risk of being homeless.</p>

<p>Purpose: The law governing the FSA programs is based on the premise
that the family is the first source of the student’s support, and the law
provides several criteria that decide if the student is considered independent of her parents for aid eligibility. Note that a student reaching the age of 18 or 21 or living apart from her parents does not affect her dependency status.
If a student is considered a dependent of his parents, their income and
assets must be included on the FAFSA. The CPS will calculate a parent
contribution and add it to the student’s contribution to derive an EFC.
In unusual cases an aid administrator can determine that a student who
doesn’t meet any of the independence criteria should still be treated as an independent student. (See “Dependency Overrides” in Chapter 5.)</p>

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<p>aparente001 -</p>

<p>In some cases, students can move to a different state, become self-supporting, and eventually qualify for in-state residence for tuition and fees at a public community college or public 4-year institution. However, even when that is possible, it is exceedingly rare for a student to get an independence override for financial aid.</p>

<p>Yes, things have changed since your day.</p>

67

<p>“AND…I would never ever recommend taking out more loans than the $20,000 total for the degree. AND, I would highly recommend taking out less.”</p>

<p>This is near impossible to do for many students. </p>

<p>"I graudated with about $35,000 in loans. I am 42 now and despite paying the minimum payment all these years, and being in deferment for a few years, I now owe closer to $100,000. Granted, when I took the loans out, the interest rate was over 8%, but it could easily get there again. It is currently closer to 3%. The law that is keeping the interest rate down expired and was renewed and will expire again. "</p>

<p>This shouldn’t happen. Most of these loans minimum payments are calculated with a 10 year payback period. However, some students are able to choose to stretch it out over 20 years. However, if you make the minimum payments there is no reason that your total loan amount should go up, because the minimum payment takes into account your interest rate. I think there is more to the story here. Part of it may be the interest that builds during deferment (does it?). </p>

<p>FYI: I just graduated and only took out govt loans and my interest rates range from 4.5-6.8%. </p>

<p>“I’m confused by what you said. Can you give me a link to something that will convince me that when a student has been financially independent for at least a year, he is still required to submit a FAFSA from his parents, in addition to his own FAFSA?”</p>

<p>I hope you weren’t blindsided by this. It is near impossible for you to be considered independent if you are under 24. Without this rule, there would be too much abuse. Parents who are willing and able to contribute would game the system.</p>

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<p>A grad student is always considered independent. I don’t think it even matters if their parents claim them as a dependent or not. An undergraduate, however, is almost always considered dependent, even if their parents don’t claim them, don’t support them, and don’t plan on paying for college.</p>

69

<p>Just to clarify to mathmomvt – I should have said:</p>

<p>When I went back to school for more undergraduate courses some years after completing my Bachelor’s…</p>

<p>Thanks to everyone for the eye-opening info about dependence.</p>

70

<p>Looking at the rules 2collegewego copied from the FAFSA instructions (thank you!), I see that because I was over 24 when I went back to school, some of these rules didn’t apply to me.</p>

<p>I looked at some materials that various financial aid offices have put online. Here’s what I understood: suppose you are under 24 and truly not getting any financial support from your parents. If you are managing to support yourself in a stable standard of living, you can go to court and become an emancipated minor; if on the other hand you are indigent and finding yourself needing charity or government support for a safe place to live, then you can demonstrate that you are homeless or at risk of being homeless.</p>

<p>It looks to me that if a student is being emotionally blackmailed by his/her parent(s), to the point that the student wants out of the relationship, it is possible to “divorce” the parents and apply for financial aid independently.</p>

<p>That is a big step. However, I think it could be reassuring for a young person to know that if all else fails, i.e. if the parents behave consistently, or increasingly, in a nutty or destructive fashion toward the young person, then it is possible to get out from under. Not easy, but possible.</p>

<p>It could also be helpful for parents who are spiralling out there to know that the child does have recourse!</p>

<p>I’m not saying Aomame and her parents are at an irreconcilable point, but for me, the mother’s willingness to cooperate depending on the choice of major was a red flag.</p>

<p>So back to you, Aomame. In our town we have a mediation service that especially targets teens and their families. If your town doesn’t have one, maybe you could mutually agree on someone you all know and respect, as an objective third party that could sit down and listen while the three of you talk things over and try to understand each others’ points of view better.</p>

<p>Such an opportunity might make it easier for all three of you to express complex ideas and feelings in a way that seems more rational to others. In your first post, it seemed to me that there was some confusion in your family about what each person FELT and what s/he was WILLING TO DO.</p>

<p>For example, it seems that your mother feels that the FAFSA is intrusive to the privacy of her family’s finances. She’s entitled to feel that way! But it’s also important for you to know whether she’s going to cooperate with you and fill the darn thing out.</p>

<p>If she refuses to pay ANY private college application fees, then I suggest you choose one or two to apply to, and write a letter to them explaining why you are requesting a fee waiver.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

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<p>I believe you can only become an emancipated minor if you’re supporting yourself comfortably and you’re still under 18. If you take over your own support at age 18 or 20 or whenever, even if you’re still under 24 and considered dependent for financial aid purposes, it’s too late to go to court and become an emancipated minor, and so that route to being considered independent for financial aid purposes is closed to you.</p>

<p>You can at any point apply for a “dependency override” but this is not easy to have granted.</p>

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<p>mathmomvt is correct - emancipated minors are under the age of 18, hence “minor.” It’s not a process one goes through because the parents are not willing to pay for college; no court is going to rule in favor of the student just over money. It’s a situation where the court is forever severing the parent’s rights, and places the state in a position of having to care for the student (foster care or otherwise) if the student proves unable to care for him/herself. While many states allow for this, foster care is a far more likely outcome.</p>

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<p>Wow!! read the words again of lmkh70. As another poster said that shoudn’t happen : but it did and it does every day!! I just talked to a young man in a similar situation - graduated from one of our state schools, been out of school 8 years, still has over $100,000 in loans and the school costs were a lot less when he graduated. I know another person who workes in a collection agency. He said student loans are one of the biggest things he collects and he sees people every day working in $10 an hour jobs with tons of student loans. If there is a way you can do this without all these loans - do it. This is like going to a fancy restaurant you can’t afford and putting it on the credit card so you can pay it off over the next year or so. I am sure it will be great going to the dream school but it won’t feel as great after the fact when you have all those loans.</p>

<p>I haven’t read every post in this thread and I imagine this has been suggested, but how about going to CC for your first two years. I know our CC’s are so reasonably priced you could earn the money over the summer to pay for it. Use your parents money to finish up your last 2 years. If you can stay at home then you don’t have to take out loans to pay for living expenses.</p>