Parents have a lot of debt.

Paying for College
1

<p>Recently I got accepted to Lehigh with a pretty good financial offer - it included around 18,000 in grants, perkins loans, stafford loans, and a 2,000 work study. the total aid package was around 24,000. i plan to pay for the perkins and stafford loans myself.</p>

<p>basically, with the 24,000 aid, my family is expected to contribute around 22,000 - including living expenses, travel expenses, etc. i think the 22,000 is a pretty reasonable amount, considering that my state university costs around 18,000 to attend.</p>

<p>however, although relatively satisfied, my dad wants to petition for more aid... with our income of 85,000, we got a fafsa efc of around 20,000. my dad believes that with a 85,000 income, it is fair to be expected to pay 20,000. however, my parents have A LOT OF DEBT.</p>

<p>my parents are blue collar business owners (business=no assets) and only in the last few years have we been in stable condition... when i was a sophomore we bought a house (payments are 4,000 a month), and according to my parents we have nearly 80,000 in debt... mostly credit card bills, since my parents immigrated to the states in 1992 and had to build everything from the 'ground up'. my dad believes that this may be justification for receiving more aid, even if only a 1,000 more a year in grants (in addition to the aprox 24,000 already received)</p>

<p>how should i proceed with lehigh? my parents cannot speak english very well, so i am left to my own devices. all this financial numers..... they seem blank to me</p>

<p>also.. perkins? stafford? can you explain? whats good about these loans?</p>

2

<p>"when i was a sophomore we bought a house (payments are 4,000 a month), and according to my parents we have nearly 80,000 in debt... mostly credit card bills,"</p>

<p>In general, colleges don't have a lot of sympathy for credit card debt or for people who buy homes that they can't afford. If your parents have an income of $85,000, paying $4,000 a month in house payments seems like the kind of unwise financial decision that's not going to loosen colleges' wallets.</p>

<p>My guess is that your best bet is to find a college that you can afford. I'm sorry that I can't give you more hope for a better outcome.</p>

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<p>northstarmom, that was the response i expected. :)</p>

<p>i realize that my parents have made somewhat bad financial decisions, but everything they have done seems right for the time. we live in an area where real estate has skyrocketed, and the fact that they even got a house in this area is VERY lucky for us. if we hadn't bought earlier, we would've had to move away - something impossible with our business.</p>

<p>so... my parents made bad financial decisions. that's a consensus i am willing to agree to, because on paper it certainly looks that way.</p>

<p>but i still think its a worth taking a shot at. lehigh's been one of my top choices since i was a sophomore.</p>

<p>so the question is: how do i bring this to the lehigh financial department? what information will they want? should i email them? mail them? what are they exactly looking for?</p>

<p>any tips would be much appreciated.</p>

4

<p>Call them and talk to the financial aid officer. You have nothing to lose by doing this. If they need additional info, they'll tell you. Meanwhile, have a back-up plan of a college to go to that you can afford.</p>

<p>Best of luck.</p>

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<p>You should be able to work out something. Your family and Lehigh are only 2000 for this year. Just keep in mind that tuition goes up every year, and the loans will increase and grants might decrease as you move along at Lehigh. Lots of luck.</p>