<p>mom2kids,</p>
<p>“Your parents pay <strong>0</strong>_______ towards my college costs.
Your parents are co-signing <strong><em>10k</em></strong>__ dollars of loans each year.
Your major is <strong><em>Applie Math/Econ and Comp sci minor</em></strong>_____ and intended career is <strong><em>Biostatistics/informatics or investment banking</em></strong>_
Your parents keep you from having a girlfriend at school because ___________________.”</p>
<p>The girl friend part was just a story I brought up to mention how controlling my parents were. I was talking about my high school relationships when I lived with them. Also I’m ~32k in debt. 20k from private loans and 12k from government loans.</p>
<p>It’s going to be hard to start off my career in biostatistics or informatics without a masters degree. So that’s why I decided to follow a different path with my major so I can pay off my loans then worry about grad school in the future.</p>
<p>“Do you work during the summer? If not, why not? If you did, then they would be less likely to get you up early because they know that you have a job to get to and won’t be sleeping all day.”</p>
<p>I work at the family business during the summer, but my parents don’t pay me. I still have to get up super early, which isn’t a bad thing since I have to go work, but during spring break and other short breaks they wake me up for no reason and don’t let me relax at all.</p>
<p>“Are you permitted to spend the night at other people’s home during breaks? If not, how are they stopping you?”</p>
<p>No. Absolutely not. They are completely against me spending the night at anyones house. I’m not allowed to argue about it and they always bring up the fact that they are cosigning my loans.</p>
<p>“Where do you get your spending money?”</p>
<p>I have a workstudy job that I work about 4-7 hours a week, so that’s where I get some money to spend. Other than that I tutor sometimes and make money that way.</p>
<p>"Your parents have co-signed about $40k in loans so far, is there a chance that when they attempt to co-sign for your junior and senior year that they may be rejected? If they don’t have a strong income, then at some point they may be rejected for having co-signed too much debt.</p>
<p>I do not understand how you figured that attending this LAC is cheaper than a state school. "</p>
<p>My parents have NOT cosigned 40k up to this point. They have cosigned up to ~20k at this point. The reason I mentioned 40k was because that’s the estimated amount of private loans for all 4 years that I will have.</p>
<p>Attending my LAC was cheaper than my state school because my LAC provided me with a grant, a huge scholarship, and about 7k in government loans. The remaining money would have to be paid by my parents or taken out in private loans (which was 10k).</p>
<p>My state school offered me only 7k in government loans and I had to pay 12k or get loans for 12k each year. I didn’t qualify for any scholarships. I did not get into the honors college.</p>
<p>You also have to realize that my parents have a family business and that tends to damage financial aid packages. I was surprised that my LAC gave me a better fiancial aid package than my state school.</p>
<p>Also, my parents are the ones who made the financial decision, not me. I thought that they were going to pay the rest and not taking out MORE loans on top of my government loans. Sadly, I only found this out last semester and I was shocked.</p>
<p>My parents also expected me to become a doctor and I guess that’s why they thought the loans weren’t a big deal. They were quite p/od when I changed my career this year.</p>