<p>Ok so when I got my financial aid award from Brown I was like, "Sweet Brown is only costing me $10k a year" but then it hit me today that there is a bill coming in the mail for $10k in two months. So I talked to my parents and they said they don't have $10k to pay. So what are my options? Should I take out a loan worth the $10k to pay it? If so, should I do this every year or should I just take out a larger amount now?</p>
<p>Brown didn't give you any loans?</p>
<p>What about the PLUS?</p>
<p>Well I had the Stafford and Perkins which were part of my aid package but I'm asking about paying the $10k that is left after financial aid. Would PLUS be the best option?</p>
<p>I think you are referring to the Expected Family Contribution, EFC of which a small portion is the student contribution from summer earnings and student assets about $2K the remainder is the parent contribution. Usually familes pay this out of a combination of current income through a montly payment plan, savings and loans taken out by the parents.</p>
<p>Can you sit down with your parents and ask them how much they think they can pay in the next year, perhaps figured out monthly? While 10K may be too much for them, they might feel comfortable with a few thousand over the course of the year, maybe $1-2K a semester, or a few hundred every month.</p>
<p>Then you can figure out what you can pay from summer work and then take out a loan to cover that (plus $ you need at first -- for books and the like -- that your parents won't cover).</p>
<p>right now, i would straight up get a loan and pay that 10K, the reason is that you still have to deal with gas + food + book money, and if you attempt to take your parrents money for that 10K you'll go hungry till the next semester. This is a tight situation but I think loans are available to student (at a high interest rate).</p>
<p>This is a serious situation, if Browns goes by the semester system, by the end of 4 years you're racking up 80K + interest in dept, that is alot of money to be paid off with a bachelor degree.</p>
<p>Well first off, to warlock, Brown is costing me $10 k a year not per semester. Also I can cover the books and other small expenses with my graduation money. Now the problem is the $10k/year which is actually $20k/year for my family because my brother is also in college with a similar financial aid package. Would it be advised to take out the PLUS every year on what we can't pay? Or should we consider taking out a large loan now (like 40k)?</p>
<p>mathematically speaking, 10K/year in the period of 4 years is better than 40K @ a time (interest rate is compound i believe).
I think this is a very obvious situation where you can't pay them now, the only way is to get loans and pay them up after you graduate, the only thing now is to plan out the least expensive way. I think someone suggest work study/part time as a solution and that's pretty good, it'll minimize the damage.</p>
<p>Take out the PLUS loan on a yearly basis.</p>