Regarding Loans and paying for college

<p>Hello. I'm in a pretty bad situation, and I'm hoping someone can enlighten me on how to deal with this situation.</p>

<p>The cheapest (most financially viable option) school I've applied to and gotten in costs $17,578 a year ($70,312 for four years). (Tuition, Room and Board, and Fees) I have a $5000/year dollar scholarship leaving me with $50,578 to pay. The only financial aid I've been offered from this school is a 5500 unsubsidized loan (and I believe this increases over the years) so I will be about 25k in debt (somewhat reasonable, but not happy with it) but I still have 25k to find a way to pay. My parents can't help since they are financially strained at the moment. I've been thinking of getting a part-time job while in school to help pay this down, but I'm not sure how effective it will be.</p>

<p>I'm majoring in Computer Engineering and due to the school's statistics, their undergraduate graduates average out around 60k for their first job. If the job is close to home, I don't mind living at home for a year or so to cut the loans down fast.</p>

<p>Ughh, someone provide some insight por favor.</p>

<p>Can you commute to this school? Otherwise you will owe $50K+ at graduation and that is a lot of money. It’ll take more than a year or so to pay that off.</p>

<p>It’s actually about 6 hours driving from my house. The closest school I’ve applied to is about an hour away. I could commute with the train but it is expensive, though it would only cost me about 8k in tuition and fees alone. (maybe another 1.5k more since this school has a weird health insurance policy)</p>

<p>*My parents can’t help since they are financially strained at the moment. *</p>

<p>Will your parents’ financial condition improve in the near future? If so, would they be willing to take out a Plus Loan that they would pay back when you graduate?</p>

<p>To be honest, I don’t really see a big improvement in the near future. We’ve been financially strained for almost 2 years now, and though things are getting better slowly, it is slow improvement.</p>

<p>Kalo – Do you live in LI? Have you considered a SUNY or CuNY? Is your 5K scholarship good if you defer admission? Baruch of CCNY?</p>

<p>^</p>

<p>Yes I do. I was actually talking about Suny at Buffalo in my first post, and Stony Brook in my second. The only “good” engineering school in the CUNY system is CCNY’s, but my parents are stubborn and wouldn’t let me apply because it is in Harlem.</p>

<p>EDIT: And the scholarship will be lost if I don’t accept it now. It’s part of a special honors program kind of thing. (I also have Honors College invite too to Buffalo but no extra $$$ there sadly)</p>