<p>We live in a major metropolitan city with two children in expensive private schools that we can barely afford. But we made our choice, and so far, no regrets. In a few years, they'll be off to college, which will likely be even more expensive than the schools they attend now. We've been unable to save for college with these staggering tuition bills. But we will not qualify for financial aid, and it's likely they will be accepted into some excellent and expensive schools. </p>
<p>How does this work? Suppose Junior 1 is accepted to Bates or Yale or some very fine and expensive university at $55 K per year. We can probably afford to pay half of that in monthly payments, but no more. Are private loans our only option to bridge the gap? Will the loans be for us parents, or for our children? </p>
<p>I can't seem to find answers to these questions anywhere. Just information about financial aid and government loans that max out at just a few thousand dollars. Any advice would be much appreciated.</p>
<p>If you live in a state with a good state university, that may be a good option. Given the $30,000+/year tuition at some expensive private high schools, the entire in-state cost of attendance (including room and board, books, etc.) at many state universities may be less than the private high school.</p>
<p>Even some out-of-state state universities might not be more expensive than the expensive private high schools, like Minnesota, Virginia Tech, and Cal Poly.</p>
<p>There are federal student loans, which as you have found out are very limited - $5500 freshman year.</p>
<p>Then there are parent PLUS loans. Those are federal loans in the parent name. You can borrow much higher amounts in PLUS loans than your student can. You could probably borrow the full amount you need if your credit rating is good. The interest rate is high for current times though - 7.9%. If you have good credit you might do better with private.</p>
<p>Private loans. Can be in parent name. Or student name with the parent as cosigner (Personally, I am not a proponent of cosigning loans at all - to little control for too much risk. If I could afford the loan I would have the loan in my name, I would never cosign). </p>
<p>Home equity loans used to be another option. Not sure how that market is nowadays.</p>
<p>If your kids are Bates- or Yale-caliber then they’d probably be great candidates for merit-based (a.k.a. academic) scholarships. These scholarships may - or may not - fill the gap between what you can afford and what your kid can borrow. </p>
<p>In order to find schools that offer merit-based scholarships, you’ll have be willing to aim a little lower than the tippy top schools. Not much lower, just a little. You can start by seeing what these threads have to say:</p>
<p>Your son/daughter can take loans but the interest will start from when they are taken. You will have to take plus loans in your name. This is why some of us are not sending our kids to expensive schools anymore.</p>
<p>ETA: In my experience, colleges always think you can afford more than you can comfortable afford.</p>
<p>Finaid.org also has very good information on a variety of subjects from scholarships to loans, including loan calculators. I agree that seeking merit scholarships would certainly be in your best interest. It’s also important to figure out early - preferably in advance of application season - how much you can afford to contribute and let your student know that target figure. There is nothing worse than reading the late spring/summer posts here from kids whose parents let them apply to “dream schools” and then discovered that they couldn’t afford to go anywhere they were accepted.</p>
<p>Before you listen to others just take a look at the financial aid sites for those schools. It may be less expensive to send your kid to a school like you mentioned than a state university. Check to see what the income for parents are in relationship to the aid that is given at Yale or any other school in that category.</p>
<p>I am speaking from experience in that the top schools were very generous while my daughter LAC was not even though her first year in school she had three siblings in college.</p>
<p>It sounds to me as though the OP’s kids are in private schools specifically because they live in a major city where the public schools are inferior. The cost of those schools was the sacrifice the parents made when they decided to stay in the city and not move to the suburbs, where the public schools would have been acceptable but the commute to work would have been much more difficult and the time spent commuting would have interfered with family life.</p>
<p>People in this position don’t necessarily find state colleges unacceptable. </p>
<p>On the other hand, people who mention Bates or Yale probably live in a city in the Northeast, where, unfortunately, the state university may not be highly regarded as those in some other parts of the country. It’s hard for some people to generate any enthusiasm for UMass or the SUNY schools.</p>
<p>It’s good you’re thinking about all this now, but let me just point out that many schools that are not ranked as highly as those two also cost $55K+/year. “Expensive” doesn’t guarantee or imply fine. And “fine” isn’t necessarily expensive. Looking for schools take a lot of effort – more than I realized a year ago. I remember wishing I could just avoid all the hard work of finding schools and reading up on them. I wished I could just bite the bullet, pay up, and get a great school that’s perfect for your specific kid. But it’s more like buying wine – is the $60 bottle always better than the $20 bottle? Not always. You just have to do more research to find the affordable gems. But this is a great place to find ideas and support. Good luck.</p>
<p>Op makes enough money so as not to expect FA,live in a major metropolitan city,attends an expensive private school…I repeat, a state college is not likely on the top of their list…</p>
<p>Perhaps they should be… at the expensive (> $30,000 tuition/year) private high schools around here, state universities definitely are on the application lists, and non-trivial numbers of students at such private high schools do go to state universities.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the terrific answers. Very helpful. I’ll address a few things, and then follow up with another question or two based on what I’m hearing. </p>
<p>First, state schools and merit scholarships are probably an option for one of my kids based on his aptitude and interests. The other is a very driven and high-performing student who, I’m quite certain, will set sights on a top school and we’re going to have to figure out how to pay for it. I know that day is coming. </p>
<p>We will be laughed out of financial aid because statistics say we are rich. But with two private school tuitions and one graduate school student loan payment each month, and us living in an expensive city, our bank account does not back up those statistics! Like I said, we have no regrets. We chose to sacrifice certain things in our lives for the education of our children. We had children early in life and we will just probably have to work until we drop dead, but we accept that!</p>
<p>So my questions are these: Is there any difference in the terms of the loans based on whether they are in the students’ names vs. the parents’? And how important is “great credit”? I think ours is good, but probably not great. We’ve been late on some grad school loans, but never delinquent. Other than that, we have no assets like cars or a mortgage. Just two decent jobs that bring in just enough money to pay the bills.</p>
<p>You need to run your finances through one of the financial aid predictor websites before you conclude that you’ll be laughed out of a financial aid office. I think Princeton’s is considered reasonably predictive for that top slice of schools which are both need-blind in admissions (i.e. your ability to pay will not impact the admissions decision) and generous in the no-loan component of the aid package. If you absolutely can’t swing what the predictor tells you will be your end of the deal (known as “EFC”) then it’s great you are looking into other alternatives now while you’ve got time to shape everyone’s expectations.</p>
<p>But if you’re managing to pay for private school AND put dinner on the table every night, you may find the top schools doable as well. Whether your kids can get in is another matter- which is why exploring options early is a great idea.</p>
<p>Some of the top schools in the US for some subjects are state schools. Of course, it helps to live in those states to get in-state tuition, since many state schools are expensive with little or no financial aid for out-of-state students.</p>
<p>What state you live in and what subjects the students intend to study can have a significant impact in what schools will work well for the students.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Some of the most selective (“reach for everyone”) schools are very generous with need-based financial aid. Of course, a student applying to those schools still needs a safety or few which s/he will definitely be admitted to and which is definitely affordable.</p>
<p>Try putting “cost of attendance” and “financial aid estimator” in various schools’ web site search boxes.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>A mortgage is not an asset (unless you are the lender); it is a debt. The house that a mortgage would be secured by would be the asset involved.</p>
<p>There are a couple of different loans you could do. You could co-sign a loan with your children or you could do a Parent Loan. I’m sure if you have decent income you could qualify for either of these types of loans.</p>
<p>I have 2 kids currently in college. My oldest attends a private LAC. Her first year was tough. We make enough money that we had to pay full ride. Ouch! It was better her 2nd year. She received more scholarship money and it was a little easier.</p>
<p>This year my youngest started college at an Ivy. It cost us the least amount even compared to our state U. My D1’s private LAC was considerably more afforable this year as. Our EFC was cut in half since we have 2 kids in college at the same time. I am thrilled but it is still a stretch having 2 in college at the same time. </p>
<p>My dear friend has 2 kids the same age as my D’s. Her sons attend our state U and they did not receive a cut in EFC. They are paying full ride for both of their sons.</p>
<p>Why would one pay for a very expensive,private HS, then attend a state school? Not to say there aren’t very good state flagships,but around the NY/NJ area these state university’s aren’t that well regarded by those state residents…</p>