<p>I am a prospective undergraduate at USC and have been offered a Financial Aid package totaling about $51,000. However, USC says the Cost of Attendance is about $55,000. My parents are willing to pay about ($1,000 per year, 100$ a month) and my housing/meal plan is actually going to come out cheaper than USC expects it.</p>
<p>So throughout my calculations, I figure that I should pursue about 2000-2500$ in additional loans in case I need personal expenses covered. Tuition, Housing, Meal Plan, and mandatory fees will all be covered by my financial aid package even with excluding work study.</p>
<p>I have already the Stafford $5,500 loans (3500 subsidized)
So what would be my best option to get the 2000-2500$ safety loan just to make sure that I can survive, eat, and take care of myself?</p>
<p>Can I get more unsubsidized loans? What would be the best thing to do in this situation?</p>
<p>Your best bet would be to work and save money for those contingencies! If this isn’t possible, then you are eligible for an additional $2K in unsubsidized Stafford loans @ 6.8%. Did they offer you any Perkins loans? If so, take them as they’re subsidized and have a 5% interest rate. Congrats on admission to USC and your excellent award package!</p>
<p>USC allows me to request an additional increase in the cost of attendance, and they will provide more loans. Should I look into this?</p>
<p>I’m thinking about it cause I live in Florida, I’m sure they would accept an increase in transportation funds. I thought the Maximum stafford loans were 3500 subsidized, 2000 unsubsidized. That’s what they gave me.</p>
<p>At $5500 You already have the maximum in Stafford loans for a freshman. The max is $5500 of which up to $3500 may be subsidized, and you already have that. Perkins loan availability is very limited so if you were not already offered any you are probably out of luck there.</p>
<p>So swimcatsmom what would be my next option? I’ve seen loans advertised by Wells Fargo and my sister has a loan from Sallie Mae that she is using for college right now.</p>
<p>Any ideas? I don’t know if my parents have good credit, but they started paying everything off a year or two ago, and finally have no debt (yay!). </p>
<p>Plus, if it turns out that I didn’t need the extra 2000$, Couldn’t I just pay the loan off? Although I do think I’ll need the money. I won’t have a car at USC, so getting a job off campus wouldn’t be easy. No idea how I would get there, especially in an unsafe surrounding area.</p>
<p>Sorry, I misunderstood your original post and thought you were only taking the unsub portion! Yes, you need to think this plan through…I’d only borrow if it were absolutely essential. It’s far too easy to spend that money if you have it. If your parents are debt free now (good for them!), could they be your “safety net”?</p>
<p>I don’t know what others spend at school, but my D is probably at or under $50/month. There are so many free things to do on campus, and even local movies, sports, etc. give big student discounts, that you may not need to spend a ton of money. I don’t give her a set amount a month…she had about $750 in her account when she left in September and has only spent about $350 all year (not including books, of course!). YMMV</p>
<p>Many schools offer an “emergency loan” of about $500 – if you are looking to have extra money “just in case”, just knowing that something like that is available might be better than taking out a loan “just in case”. </p>
<p>One of the biggest problems I see with borrowing “extra” money is that you will likely spend it – and a few thousand “extra” dollars every year added to the student loans in your package can add up quickly.</p>
<p>siglio21 - Really? A ton of debt? We aren’t talking much debt at all. I’m very grateful for my package and about 43k I got in grants. Free money. How would 7500$ freshman year be a LOT of debt when the school costs 55k and 5500 in loans is standard FA package? I’m not getting it. The prestige at USC is worth it, in my opinion. I’ve never had this opportunity before. I’m smart with my money, some people can budget way better than others. I’m a bargain shopper no matter where I go, it’s a natural skill lol</p>
<p>My parents wouldn’t be a safety, lord only knows what can happen to their jobs. </p>
<p>They would be more comfortable with me taking out 2k a year just to be safe.</p>
<p>By the way, the gap between my COA and FA Package was about 4,300. My parents will give about 1000$ of that, leaving 3000$. But, my COA is not going to be what they estimated. My housing+meal plan were cheaper, but I will probably need some of my own money for food since the meal plan isn’t that extensive. My parents will pay travel expenses, and after my grants/loans(5500) are used towards the bill from USC, I would get like 500$ back a semester. Then, work study would give me money and so would my parents. It was just a rare opportunity that my COA was lower, because the housing I am going to live in is a special interest community. The apartment is only available to freshman living on the Rainbow Floor (essentially housing for gay students). But this apartment is significantly cheaper than the average freshman dorm, so woo :)</p>
<p>Does anyone see how it’s really hard to estimate how much I’m going to actually need? I think my sophomore year things will be better.</p>
<p>Thank you for the emergency loan information – that’s REALLY helpful. I just don’t know how much money I’ll need and how much my personal expenses will be in Los Angeles. I’m all the way across the country in South Florida =</p>
<p>The GOOD thing is that Math is my best subject :)</p>
<p>If you don’t need to use the $500 refund for books and you’re working during the school year, you should be in good shape. You can apply for loans up to a certain date each semester - it’s usually about halfway through, so around November 1 for fall/March 1 for spring, idk if it works differently for private loans but a call/email to the school or a lender they often work with would provide a quick answer. </p>
<p>On meals, does your dorm have a kitchen? Does your room have a fridge/microwave? Is there a supermarket nearby (or a shuttle bus to the mall/market area)? My D chose the smallest meal plan for freshmen, 10 meals a week. She eats breakfast in her room (cereal, granola bar, fruit, yogurt type of things) while she’s getting ready for class. Most days she’ll just grab a salad from the closest vendor (ie not dining hall and can’t use meal plan) or put a sandwich and other stuff in her backpack if she’s not planning to be back at the dorm. Dinners and weekend brunches are dining hall, weekend dinners she sometimes goes out for a meal with friends. That’s where most of her extra spending money goes but college kids usually don’t pick pricey restaurants and tend to let the friend with the smallest amount of money to spend do the choosing…as it’s about the fun, not the food! First semester I added $75 to her flexible dining account, this semester she’s not going to need any and may forfeit a little bit of her meal plan money. </p>
<p>You’ll get a better idea of what you need for books once you have a schedule. But schools are required to post textbook info in advance and some profs don’t even use the book (although one may be listed). Check sites like ratemyprofessor.com once you know your prof’s name as other kids often post “do not buy the book, he never uses it”. Then shop for what you need on the web - amazon, half.com, and many other places are significantly lower than the school’s bookstore. You can have them shipped to your school address, just check with ResLife to find out what dates they will begin accepting packages for fall semester.</p>
<p>As far as other entertainment, many activities are on campus and free/low cost. If you’re into going out to clubs, etc. your costs may be higher but certainly that’s within your control. Hope that helps a little!</p>
<p>Taking extra loans each year for spending money will add up to something you later must payback.</p>
<p>One of my DDs was attending a school with a high COA and we were not sure how it would work in reality, since loans are doled out each term, in her case 3x a year, she took the full offer of COA the first term, halved the living expenses amount 2nd term and took none the 3rd term. Had she needed that extra money later it would not have been available (we were told) so it seemed the smart way to do it and she ended up taking half of what they offered her in loans, but started the year taking the entire amount first term.</p>