<p>@WayOutWestMom </p>
<p>Do you know if UNM has family housing for undergrads? If not, does it have low cost housing near the campus? </p>
<p>I’ll look up the transfer awards.</p>
<p>I’m concerned that this young family might be tempted to borrow a lot, but this situation is not comparable to a single person who’d just be starting out and supporting him/herself. Once the H graduates (about age 27/28), his family will be at an expensive stage…and paying back a bunch of student loans will be very difficult. I’m not saying that he shouldn’t borrow anything, but if he can keep debt to under $25k, that should be the goal. </p>
<p>IF he can NOW take SUBSIDIZED loans ( I think he can do that NOW), maybe he should for THIS school year and bank that money. AND…do that again for NEXT school year…bank the money. That would provide about $5k in subsidized loans to put towards those last 2 years of college…which he could add to other sub loans offered. This would minimize his need for unsub loans. </p>
<p>Yes, UNM has family housing available for undergrad and grad students.</p>
<p><a href=“http://housing.unm.edu/student-family-housing/”>http://housing.unm.edu/student-family-housing/</a></p>
<p>Floor plans & rates here:</p>
<p><a href=“http://housing.unm.edu/student-family-housing/details-rates-floorplans.html”>http://housing.unm.edu/student-family-housing/details-rates-floorplans.html</a></p>
<p>There are 2 bedroom apartments and 2 or 3 bedroom townhouses available.</p>
<p>However, if the student were willing to commute 30-40 minutes, they can find rentals for less than the cost of student housing. </p>
<p>~~~</p>
<p>For transfers, UNM offers both the WUE scholarship (150% of in-state tuition) and the Amigo Scholarship (in state tuition rates). For engineering admission, WUE is dependent upon the availability of spaces in a specific dept.</p>
<p><a href=“http://scholarship.unm.edu/scholarships/transfer-scholarships.html”>http://scholarship.unm.edu/scholarships/transfer-scholarships.html</a></p>
<p>Much will likely depend on whether the student qualifies for a Cal Grant. If so, then attending a Calif public would probably be the best situation. </p>
<p>My husband is eligible for the cal grant. We have already calculated that his Pell grant will still be good for another three years. So far he has only used it a year and a half. He has completed five quarters. His CC is one of the few that are quarter based in California.</p>
<p>We are looking into as many alternatives as we can as we do not want to rack up excessive student loans. I work full-time now, and will continue to do so wherever he goes to complete his BS.</p>
<p>At the moment he can not bank student loans because the cc he attends does not offer loans directly through them, the financial aid office said we must go to the individual bank that we would want to get a loan from and get it that way.</p>
<p>^^
??
Would that loan be a federal loan? or a bank loan? You’d want the fed sub loan, not a loan that accumulates interest while attending school.</p>
<p>Also, do either of you have family in Calif? If so, it may be a good idea to attend a univ that is near some relatives. With you working, your H in school, and 3 small children, you may find it helpful to have family nearby who can help out with the kids or whatever when needed.</p>
<p>Both. When my husband completes his FASFA it states that he qualifies for up to $9500 in a Stafford loan, but when he questioned the financial aid department at his college, they said they don’t do them. That the only way to get a student loan at his college is by getting one from a bank.</p>
<p>The only family I really have is an uncle near cal poly slo, and my husband doesn’t have family in California either. Unfortunately our families are both spread out. </p>
<p>It’s a small community college. The cities population is around 25,000</p>
<p>There ar a number of community colleges that do NOT participate in the Direct Loan program. It sounds like your husband’s school is one of them.</p>
<p>In terms of family friendly collegss…you might also see if any of the schools have on site day care facilities that would be available for your children.</p>
<p>You and your husband need to do the research on what colleges would work the best for your family. A problem that you will be facing is that few colleges guarantee to meet full need. When you are looking at private or OOS tuition, it can be way up there, much more than what you are paying for his community college. Pell is highly unlikely to cover even the tuition costs. </p>
<p>Another pressing issue are your living expenses. A lone student can look for a room share and get away rock bottom cheap, but you are a family with 3 children. How are you meeting your living expenses right now? How do you expect to pay for the move and for the housing costs whereever your husband ends up at school? I can see how college provided student housing for families is an important factor as it would make a move much easier but you still have to pay for it. UMich runs $55K a year with room and board, and that’ s the cost of attendance considered average for a single OOS student, not for one with a family needing more than half a dorm room and an average meal plan. PELL barely covers 10% of that cost. You can borrow about $12500 from Direct Loans which still leaves more than $35K to pay and those are single student prices. Highly unlikely Mich will come up with that much money to bridge the gap…</p>
<p>BUT: sometimes things happen that are unexpected. So do include a few “lottery tickets” in the mix. No problem giving UMich or any other school a flier (try Cornell–they do meet need for transfer students; look for other schools that will guarantee full need met for transfers). Just make sure you spend the most time looking at the more affordable alternatives. Find some schools where you are pretty sure of getting the need met. Can’t help you with the married student housing and other quality of life issues that are in the mix as a family moving there. Need to look specifically for boards that address that.</p>
<p>When looking into the finances, we’re sure to go to the college’s financial calculators to give us an idea of which colleges to pursue. We had went to the umich site and done this as well and it even had us input the fact that he would be out of state, the cost to us ended up being around $13,000 based on the calculator, which is why we were considering umich, along with the fact that they have student family housing and three different on-site child care facilities. But now that we know that transfers are the last to receive any type of aid and that they may not give a decision until all pre req classes are completed, we will probably stick with in state colleges.</p>
<p>We are saving up money to help us with any move that we will have to do. We tried to figure what the costs would be to have me and the kids stay behind, but the cost to run two household is more than if we were to move together and pay the higher cost of living. </p>
<p>@thumper1 you are correct about his college being one of the ones that does not participate in the dirt loans.</p>
<p>So far the college’s my husband wants to apply to are: Cal Poly SLO, UCD, UCSD, and CSU Sacramento. </p>
<p>But we wanted to get as much advice and information concerning our situation as possible. So we really appreciate the help we’ve received. </p>
<p>I think the California schools will probably work out best for you, but look at the WICHE/WUE schools. Some of those, with you paying 1.5x instate tuition, might be cheaper than your overall costs in California. Many are in places with a low cost of living. I’m thinking Utah may be a good spot for your family, and Utah allows you to become instate residents quickly. Many of the WUE schools have good engineering schools. My daughter attends Wyoming, which doesn’t have WUE for upper classmen, but does have some scholarships for transfer students and does have extra scholarships available for engineers. Because your entire family would be moving, it’s likely you’d get instate rates after a year. Lots of family housing. I’m sure Idaho, Montana, N Dak and S D</p>
<p>Since your H is Cal Grant eligible, then he should apply to ALL UCs that are appropriate for his major. </p>
<p>The UCs give add’l grants to 0 EFC students. You’d likely get your best pkg from a UC.</p>
<p>With your Cal Grant, your H’s tuition would get paid. With a Pell Grant, he’d have money to put towards housing. With a UC grant, he’d have add’l money to put towards housing. Then loans would be awarded cover anything else.</p>
<p>I doubt that any OOS public could be even close to being as cheap, since none would likely give you free tuition. </p>
<p>Your husband is a married, independent student. The net price calculators will not be accurate for you. They are designed for incoming freshmen (your husband isn’t an incoming freshman either) who are dependent for financial aid purposes. </p>
<p>I would not rely on them in terms of accuracy at as an independent, married student.</p>
<p>@mom2collegekids & @thumper1 thank you both. We have been researching quite a bit, and feel that what you have told us is best. He’s going to focus on applying to UCs. The aid he would receive at a UC vs CSU seems to be more as well, especially considering that UCs have more grants to offer than the CSUs. Thanks again for everyone’s help!</p>
<p>Read posts 19 and 21 again. If you would not minding moving to NM, this might be an option to at least try.</p>
<p>OTOH, if you currently have a job, plus maybe family in the area to help you out, staying in CA is sure worth pursuing. </p>
<p>@thumper1 ill add those colleges to the list so that we can further research them. Thank you. </p>
<p>I am working full time, so that will definitely help. </p>