^ @thumper : I know, what I’m saying is it’d be rotten to make the kid pay for it all by himself, and then pocket the AOTC money for their own purpose.
In OP’s case, sure. But what about when the parents are paying for all (or the majority) of the college expenses for the kid? Is it OK then in your opinion for the parents to use the AOTC money for whatever they want?
Where is the college fund from? If the parents saved that money for the OP then they are not letting him pay for it all
UC Davis instate tuition and fees is about $14,000
The OP can use the college fund money for most of this, and the $7,500 loan and work earnings towards rent, food, books, etc
UC Davis cost of attendance:
2016–2017 Undergraduate Cost of Attendance
Student Expense Budgets On-Campus/Off-Campus
CA Resident tuition/Fees: $14,046/$14,046
Books & Supplies: $1,601/$1,601
Room & Board: $14,838/$8,598
Personal Expenses: $1,561/$1,979
Apartments can range from $1200-2000/month depending upon # of bedrooms and roommates.
UCD takes few 2nd year transfers and OP has not stated that their GPA would be competitive for a transfer to UCD or even all the AP credits would transfer. OP should consider TAGing to UCD and apply for next Fall for the best chances along with accumulating more money to pay for the school.
@BelknapPoint: of course.
I think the discussion of ethics and the AOTC maybe should be a different thread. It isn’t helping the OP on this one.
It looks like the OP has the situation of high income parents who are unable or unwilling to contribute the amount that financial aid calculations expect them to. It looks like they will be able to contribute about two years’ worth of UC tuition or about three to four years’ worth of CSU tuition, but not any more for living expenses.
If any UC or CSU is in commuting range, a federal direct loan ($5,500, no cosigner needed) or some part time work earnings would cover the living and commuting expenses at home if the parents charge for that (rather than living him/her stay at no charge). But living at the school would cost more than what could be expected to be covered by a federal direct loan and some part time work earnings.
So perhaps the OP can look at studying the first two years at a community college, then transferring to a UC or CSU (preferably one within commuting range, given the cost constraints, although the lower CSU tuition may allow for living on his/her own near campus) for the last two years. Use http://www.assist.org to plan courses to cover general education requirements and prerequisites for the intended major at each target UC or CSU campus.
Parental cosigned loans are generally a bad idea for both the student and parent.
Since the student is using the PARENTS money (college fund) to pay, then AOTC sounds fine to me.
However, since the family is “well off” then likely they don’t qualify. We hear AOTC thrown around a lot here, but many people do not qualify.
ATOC is after the fact. You only get the credit if expenses were incurred, so it’s silly to talk about it in moralistic or emotional terms. If you qualify for it, expenses were incurred. Period.
To the OP. Our family also had sufficient income…difference is we were able to pay the costs.
But while your parents look well off, you have to consider their costs of living, and other expenses.
We asked our kids to take the Direct Loans,mass it helped US with cash flow during those expensive college years.
There is NO WAY we would have cosigned loans…at all…for out kids to go to college. No way.