Please help me make an important decision about college regarding financial aid.

Paying for College
1

<p>the college I registered for is an out of state private school with tuition around 50,000 dollars a year. According to my college counselor I got a "pretty good" package from them in grants and loans which cuts the out of pocket cost down to 20,000 a year. My question is if its worth it? I will probably have to take out another loan to play off the remaining costs. My dream is to study engineering there and transfer after 3 years to Columbia as part of a dual degree engineering program. The other option is to attend community college for a semester and then transfer to a private college in the state (which costs significantly less to attend) maybe 700 dollars a year plus about 3-4 thousand in loans provided.</p>

<p>Please help me decide.</p>

2

<p>The other option is to attend community college for a semester and then transfer to a private college in the state (which costs significantly less to attend) maybe 700 dollars a year plus about 3-4 thousand in loans provided.</p>

<p>If you transfer after one semester to an instate private, how would that ONLY cost you “700 dollars a year plus about 3-4 thousand in loans provided.”???</p>

<p>All privates are pretty expensive and transfer students (especially mid year ones) don’t get much money.</p>

3

<p>

</p>

<p>A loan from where? If it’s a private loan, you’ll need a cosigner with good credit or else that’s going to turn into a cluster and you don’t want that. Do you have someone lined up (a parent)?</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>He might have some sort of guaranteed state grant that is only available in-state or something.</p>

4

<p>^^^
Can’t imagine a state grant being so big that after paying private college tuition, you’d only have to pay less than $5k.</p>

<p>Unless the tuition is quite low, the student gets Pell and state grant, and the student commutes from home. </p>

<p>The OP is from Calif. State grants aren’t that big for privates (up to about $10k) and may not continue for privates.</p>

<p>What is your EFC?</p>

5

<p>My EFC is O. </p>

<p>Here is a breakdown of my financial aid package for the alternative private school in the state for one year (Cal Lutheran University):
Cal Grant A Estimate: $9,708
Founders scholarship: $15,000
Pell Grant: $5,550</p>

<p>Total gift aid: $30,258</p>

<p>Loan Aid:
Stafford subsidized: $3,500
Unsubsidized Stafford Loan: $2,000
less 1% loan fee: $55</p>

<p>Total loan aid: $5,445</p>

<p>Parent PLUS Direct loan: $4,000
less 4% loan fee: $160
Total Parent Loan: $3,840</p>

<p>Fed Work study: $2,500</p>

<p>Total aid: $42,043</p>

<p>What is due out of pocket is 463 dollars plus the 300 registration fee for a 763 dollar out of pocket cost. I am getting about $9,285 in federal loans. For Cal Lutheran University, they already accepted me so they could take me in the spring semester (since all the spots for Fall registration are booked up). I spoke to them today and they said the financial aid package would remain on the table but be slightly modified since I am since I wont be there for one semester. They said I could actually get more aid if my grades are good should I go to community college.</p>

<p>For the school that I registered for originally, this is my package (University of Puget Sound):</p>

<p>Puget Sound Grant: $8,000
Puget Sound Opportunity Grant: $4,500
Academic Competitiveness Grant: $750
Federal Pell Grant: $5,550
Federal SEOG Grant: $2,000
Federal Perkins Loan: $2,000
Federal Stafford Loan-Subsidized: $3,500
Federal Stafford Loan-Unsubsidized: $2,000
Work-Study Employment Opportunity: $2,900
Total Financial Aid: $31,200
Total Aid Applied to Direct Costs: $28,274</p>

<p>After the financial aid has been applied toward the direct costs, the remaining estimated balance due is $18,601. To cover the difference the school wants my parents to take out a PLUS loan which could cover up to $19,985 if they chose. On top of this loan, I would still have to pay back about $5,500 in federal loans so I would be running up a cost of about $24,101 dollars in loans to go to this school for a year. Do students normally rack up this kind of depth at colleges? I am completely in the dark when it comes to this kind of stuff. My preference is to go to University of Puget Sound but I am nervous taking out those loans.</p>

6

<p>How do you know you would get the Founder’s scholarship at Cal Lutheran if you attend as a transfer student? Even if it was already offered to you as a freshman incoming doesn’t mean it will be offered to you as a transfer. So – looking for more info about that.</p>

<p>I don’t see how 20K a <em>year</em> in Parent Loans makes much sense–your parents have an EFC of 0, which means they don’t have a lot of income in the first place. 20K for one year is too much for them to take on and as you can already tell, 80K total for the four years (if they can even qualify for that in time) is completely too much.</p>

<p>Go for one of your Plan B options. Save that 20K and stay home. Can you get back into Cal Lutheran for fall semester?</p>

<p>I am curious why you don’t just do a California state school. Either CC for two years followed by a CSU/UC or straight to CSU/UC. Very affordable, great ranked schools. Not to mention several of the CSUs (Cal Poly, SJSU) have amazing engineering programs–and UC Berk and UC Davis as well. </p>

<p>Columbia is not going to give you a significantly “better” education than the colleges I just named. It will likely not give you as much aid and cost far far more to attend than any of the California schools. Cal Luth sounds like a good financial package, but how is its engineering program? Seems to me the CA CSU/UC system is a better fit there.</p>

7

<p>

No students do not normally borrow this much though there are the exceptions we keep reading about in the news who have foolishly borrowed this and more then struggle for years to repay it. This is NOT a good package for a student with a 0 EFC. You are borrowing $7500 a year in federal student loans ($5500 Staffor plus $2000 Perkins) plus your parents are expected to take out additional loans of almost $20,000 a year. With a 0 EFC your parents must have a fairly low income so it would be an enormous burden on them to have to take out almost $80,000 in loans. This is a terrible aid package. Do not go here.</p>

<p>The other is also fairly high in loans, though not as bad. Did you not apply to any financial safeties where you will not have as much debt? I think you need to rethink your college choices.</p>

8

<p>I talked to one of the financial officers there today, they said that the founder’s scholarship would still be available even if I go there in the spring. The package would just be modified since the one shown above is only good for an entire year there. They said the earliest I can enter is the spring since I missed the registration for fall. They said for the fall semester to go to CC then transfer. </p>

<p>As for Cal Lutheran they offer just Bioengineering in terms of engineering. If I end up going to Cal Lutheran, I guess my new plan would be to transfer to a UC like berkeley or UCLA, maybe even UCSD since they have better engineering programs after 2 years. I originally got accepted to UC Riverside and Santa Cruz but turned them down. You probably all are thinking I am a complete idiot right now, I just was pretty disappointed I didnt get into better UCs so I looked elsewhere for school.</p>

9

<p>if you are gonna get financial aid and take out a loan then stick with one school. if not, go to a CC for 2 years then transfer. If you have a 4.0 in CC you can go almost anywhere</p>

10

<p>Both of these schools will result in far more debt than the average student takes and could easily put you in trouble upon graduation.</p>

<p>The Federal loan limit goes up each year, you will end up with well over $40K in loans including the Plus loans. This is far too much, IMO, for a low income family. I’m guessing you would have to help pay back those Plus loans and it will delay your having a home, a car and so much else later.</p>

<p>Puget Sound should be ashamed asking a zero EFC family to borrow over $100K.</p>

11

<p>The weird thing is that I ran this entire package through my college counselor and he said it was a “good deal” for my family’s situation. I really wish I thought this over more carefully, with another advisor or something. I messed up badly and now I have to waste my time at CC.</p>

12

<p>as for Puget Sound, I called them multiple times over the last couple of weeks and I get the same answer. Since my EFC is 0, they cant give me any more aid. They said the only option for covering the debt was a PLUS loan. I sent an appeal letter a while back to request for a better deal, and they didnt even bother to respond to it with and email or call. I had to call them to get a reply.</p>

13

<p>Shaq,</p>

<p>Cal Lutheran didn’t apply your ACG. That should be another $750 of grant money for first year that would reduce your loans. A lot of schools don’t add that in until the fall, so they can be sure you qualify. I don’t know if you would qualify as a transfer. </p>

<p>I honestly think the Puget Sound package is completely unreasonable for your family. You also added up your portion of the loans incorrectly. You said you would be paying $5500 in federal loans. The Perkins is also a federal alone so you would have $7500 in loans for the first year and loan amounts increase every year. </p>

<p>Federal Perkins Loan: $2,000
Federal Stafford Loan-Subsidized: $3,500
Federal Stafford Loan-Unsubsidized: $2,000</p>

<p>I don’t see how you will repay over $30K in loans and I don’t see how your parents would qualify or repay over $80K. You need another plan. </p>

<p>The Cal Lutheran plan would leave you and your parents with over $40K in debt for 4 years, assuming package levels remain similar. The only way I could see this work is if you have a way to pay at least half of that ($5K/year) during school-- relatives, summer job, outside scholarship, etc). </p>

<p>What would your package be if you went to CC and transfered to a Cal State?</p>

14

<p>I didnt apply to any Cal States, only UC schools. My mom was pretty mad that I didnt apply to Cal Poly Pomona or SLO. The earliest I can go to either is after 2 years. </p>

<p>I looked into Cal Poly Pomona and the cost on average is estimated $4,500 a year.</p>

15

<p>Actually, at this point the best option is 2 years at CC and then transfer to a top UC. </p>

<p>While you didn’t get into a “top” UC as a freshman, there is every chance that you will be able to doso as a transfer.</p>

<p>Please know that on College Confidential there is often a snob-factor about conmmunity college. The reality is that thousands and thousands and thousands of students get into the top UCs via community college. And the final degree is from the <em>UC</em>.</p>

<p>In the real world–your neighbors when you buy your first house, your future employers, your dentist, your children’s playmates-very very very very few people will ever know or ask or care where you spent your first two years of college.</p>

<p>Also note it will be MUCH harder to transfer into a top UC, CalPoly and other CSUs from a private university… so don’t do that… the UC/CSU <em>must</em> first take from the California Community College transfer students… so put yourself in <em>that</em> bucket, because it lifts your chances significantly.</p>

<p>So, seriously, skip Cal Luth and the other privates entirely and do the 2 year CCC route. Talk on the UC Transfer forum if looking for more info about the transfer process.</p>

<p>I also suggest that you kick your “I’m too good for community college” attitude–CCC is not a waste of time, it is your best bet to get into an <em>affordable</em> <em>top ranked</em> UC or CSU. You are obviously a good student… good enough for some scholarships and to get into lower-ranked UCs… but you were shut out of top ranked UCs which is an indication that you are not the elite of the elite of high school students. I know many extremely bright students who attended CCC and have gone on to transfer to Berkeley, Davis, UCLA, Stanford, SLO and a whole range of schools ranked better than your current options… </p>

<p>So, you can let your pride get the best of you and limp around in mid-tier privates that will cripple both you and your parents for life with insanely high loans (and if you try to transfer out, find out the hard way that CCC students have priority over you)… or approach this rationally and leverage yourself for an end goal of a top-ranked in-state AFFORDABLE college via CCC followed by transfer.</p>

16

<p>*I talked to one of the financial officers there today, they said that the founder’s scholarship would still be available even if I go there in the spring. The package would just be modified since the one shown above is only good for an entire year there. They said the earliest I can enter is the spring since I missed the registration for fall. They said for the fall semester to go to CC then transfer. *</p>

<p>I would get that in writing…by email at least and then save the email. I would make sure that they understood I would be a transfer…not an incoming frosh.</p>

<p>To cover the difference the school wants my parents to take out a PLUS loan which could cover up to $19,985 if they chose. On top of this loan, I would still have to pay back about $5,500 in federal loans so I would be running up a cost of about $24,101 dollars in loans to go to this school for a year.</p>

<p>So, you would be responsible for the Plus Loan? BTW…your parents wouldn’t likely qualify after the first year or so since your EFC is 0.</p>

<p>*
I looked into Cal Poly Pomona and the cost on average is estimated $4,500 a year. *</p>

<p>That is NOT the average cost for CPP. That is the tuition ONLY. The COA for CPP is about $19k per year. If you can commute to CPP, your costs will be more than just tuition. There will also be books and other costs.</p>

<p><a href=“http://dsa.csupomona.edu/financial_aid/costs_odd.asp[/url]”>http://dsa.csupomona.edu/financial_aid/costs_odd.asp&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Skip the privates. The Cal Grant may go away since Calif is considering getting rid of those - especially for private schools. </p>

<p>Yes, it was a mistake not to have applied to some Cal States. With your EFC, you probably would have gotten better aid packages. </p>

<p>Did you get into any UCs?</p>

17

<p>Isn’t there some school where you got accepted where you can GET a degree in engineering without transferring??? That is a better choice than planning to transfer because you don’t even KNOW if you will get accepted as a transfer student to Columbia.</p>

<p>Pick a school you would like to attend and that you can afford with the least amount of debt. There are tons of schools that offer degrees in engineering. I hope you applied to and were accepted to one that is affordable to you.</p>

18

<p>Just to throw in my two cents…don’t feel bad about how you got to this situation, it does happen to many kids who are not well-informed about the process. However, do take immediate action and take the great and seasoned advice that has been offered to you.</p>

<p>I will give you an example. My son had his heart set on a program at our state flagship and was also given two scholarships, one of which covered tuition. STILL he accrues $5500 in student loan each year, PLUS I contribute about the same, PLUS he works. Now, he will graduate with about $22,000 or more in debt, which will cost him at least $240 a month or more for the first 10 years of his working life. We were comfortable with this debtload, but it will affect whether or not he is comfortable going for a MFA when he is finished.</p>

<p>COMPARE my son to his equally bright friend, who has a zero EFC. Said friend has attended his local community college which has an agreement with the state flagship to accept their credits. Said friend has maintained a 3.8 GPA, made the dean’s list every semester, and has gathered significant recommendations from his CC profs. Next winter term, he will be attending Son’s flagship-hard-to-get-into school. His maximum debt will be $11,000 approx, or about $120 a month for 10 years.</p>

<p>He and my son will likely graduate in May of 2013 (friend may graduate a term early, or may take a lighter course load, since he has sixty transfer credits already.) They will go out and find work in their respective fields. My son will be able to afford a slightly smaller house or cheaper car because his debt load ratio will be higher than his friend’s.</p>

<p>We do not regret supporting my son’s decision to attend university right out of the gate, because in his case his degree is highly specialized (in a school of music) and compared to most high level music schools, we had a VERY GREAT financial package that minimized debt or the need for cash. However, in the end, it may be his friend who went to CC who was the “smartest” in terms of leaving himself financially free.</p>

<p>So, ESPECIALLY in California, you would be VERY VERY wise to enroll immediately in your local CC, ensure that you take the foundation engineering courses (eg. higher level calc etc., look at any UC curriculae), take the most rigorous classes available, pre-meet prereqs or get distribution credits out of the way, and prepare to win a transfer after two years with great marks and recommendations. The benefit from a wise strategy like this is that you will better be able to live a life you enjoy.</p>

<p>Even if you were “only” on the hook for $40,000 over four years (the best scenario you wrote) that is about a $400 a month payment for 10 years. That’s a car payment, a partial mortgage payment, or utilities every month that you would have to go without. Be smart, now that you know!
Good luck to you!</p>

19

<p>Don’t waste time feeling bad about getting into your current dilemma - lesson learned, move on. Your best option is to enroll at community college, get fabulous grades and transfer to the UC of your dreams after two years. You will have a top notch education, a lower debt load and a decision you won’t regret.</p>

<p>You and your parents shouldn’t even consider the kind of debt that Puget Sound and Cal Lutheran are proposing. This is a business decision - distance yourself from all the pretty posters and slick advertising of the private colleges and buckle down at your local cc. In your spare time explore the engineering schools in the UC system so you know which one you want when the time comes.</p>

<p>Best of luck!</p>

20

<p>Agree with the don’t feel bad about it sentiments. The important thing is that you have realized this now before you have gone into debt. In 4-5 years time you will have got to where you are going (degree) just by a different route. You are going to be so so happy that you don’t have a huge debt hanging over you. Take a moment to brood about the what coulda shoulda beens then make a plan about what you are going to do next. If you can do a CC then transfer to a 4 year to finish up you may be able to end up with minimal or no debt. That is going to feel so good.</p>