<p>Hello everyone.
I am a international student and I applied to US college for the class of 2017.
As a international I asked for almost full aid and thus was faced with many rejections.
I applied to 19 colleges, I was accepted by 3, rejected by the rest.
I was accepted by
Drexel with $15000 per year scholarship
Hofstra with $22000 per year scholarship
Carroll University with $18000 aid
My situation is that my parents can only pay $1000 per year. Thus in order to attend these schools I would have to take a loan of about $30000-$40000 per year. I have a cosigner in US so there's no problem with that. But I want to should I take this huge amount of loan and are these universities worth it?</p>
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<p>Not a problem at all . . . as long as your cosigner is willing to pay off the loans when you default.</p>
<p>And you will, in all likelihood, default. That’s an unmanageable amount of debt for any undergraduate - regardless of area of study. It’s simply more than a 22 or 23-year old, straight out of school, can pay back, even if he or she is able to get a job immediately.</p>
<p>Further, since these are private loans, you won’t have the luxury of waiting until you graduate to start making payments - repayment will start immediately, while you are still in school. How do you plan to manage that??? (Keep in mind that you’d be entering the U.S. on a student visa - which would not allow you to work!!!)</p>
<p>Of course, it’s also quite possible that your loan amount will never rise above the first $40,000 . . . because your cosigner will have to qualify again every year in order to borrow more money. Just because he or she qualifies the first time does NOT mean he or she will qualify the second or third time. So it’s quite possible you’ll end up owing $40k or $80k . . . and still not have the money you need to complete your degree!</p>
<p>So, like I said, as long as your cosigner is willing to pay off the loan for you, it’s no problem at all.</p>
<p>Your parents can only pay $1000 a year, and you are thinking of taking out loans that will total about $160K, probably a lot more as interest accrues on these loans as soon as you take them out and the schools are going to go up in cost, you know, every single year. And you have a co signer who will take full responsibility for that much money for you, because, you know that is how it works. It’s the co-signer’s loans–goes on his credit record, has to pay every cent if you don’t, die, drop out or become disabled. The four D’s that can happen. Plus he will have to credit worthy. Unless this is a rich grandma or grandpa, I don’t even want to think about what you are going to have to do to pay off this loan. Just keep in mind that slavery and certain things are illegal. </p>
<p>No, as a rule it is not worth it. Not for most any American student. But I don’t know what your particular situation is. Do you have a grandparent who is guaranateeing these loans who will help you while you find a job and get situated and maybe even pay some of them? Are you facing torture, imprisonment or death in your country? Or practically no chance of making much money? I’d like to say, if you have to ask, it isn’t worth it, because unless there is something out of my range of likely possibilities, the answer is no. But as someone who is well aware that there are some extreme scenarios out there that I cannot understand, I have to say, there just might be a reason.</p>
<p>But I will tell you, that YOU had better understand the implications of owing that kind of money, and how difficult it is going to be to repay it. Not many good paying jobs here. I have a friend whose life has been hurt terribly because she and her DD can’t pay back their loans and they have swollen up to close to a quarter million dollars, and they are hamstrung in terms of finding work that requires credit checks and getting apartments, business loans, a lot of things. All started out with taking out loans that they really could not afford for less than you are contemplating. </p>
<p>So my opinion is that they are not worth it for anyone who has to ask that question. If you are going to do this, you had better do the research and math and fully understand the implications of taking out that kind of loan money and how difficult it is going ot be to pay it back. The job scene is not good here at all. </p>
<p>Also, do bear in mind that if your US sponsor is saying that he will vouch for this amount for you to get your student visa to get into this country, is not the same as qualifying for loans in that amount. To borrow $40K with an undergraduate no cred international student as the cosigner is likely to mean needing good credit and maybe some stiff terms. When that is spelled out to your US cosigner to be , he might not want to do this because borrowing that amount and having it on his credit record–and this is a loan that does not expire, can’t bankrupt out of it because it is federally backed ( in fact I don’t even know if you could qualify as a cosigner being international ) is a whole other thing than signing that form saying that he will take care of your expenses and having his pension, home equity and other assets verified just as a check, not as security to be taken if payment is not made, My BIL signed for my SIL to live in France, guaranteeing to meet her expenses, but that doesn’t mean he will do so. She will be shipped back stateside the minute she needs dollar one from him. I have seen foreign students come here because Cousin Packtel said he would cover the cost on the student visa forms, but when it came time to actually pay the school bills, and he read the fine print on the loans HE has to take, it was a no go. So do be very aware of this.</p>
<p>All your student loans over your entire college career should not add up to more than the first-year salary of the job you expect to have after college. Otherwise, you will have money problems. Many students can’t afford to go to the college they want.</p>
<p>This is way too much in loans. Also $1000 per year barely pays for books. </p>
<p>What other options do you have? Have you considered other schools that offer more aid to international students if there are any? </p>
<p>I would also being very careful assuming someone is going to cosign that amount in loans, because if you default they default.</p>
<p>Frankly, does anyone know ANYONE who is not a parent who would co sign school loans for an international young adult with no credit from a family that can only come up with $1K a year towards the education in the amounts of $160K without any of that money being repaid for at least 4 years? Unless it is a close relative like grandma, who would do that? That means that would be on the credit report and the interest would be sky rocketing on it for 4 years with that first set of loans and be of consideration when such a person should want to buy a car, house, switch jobs, etc. And we are talking about this being on the assumption that some student is going to finish college in a major and net a job so that he can pay this amount off? Who would do that? So, yes, i am very suspicious of this. I think the person is just willing to certify that he has the money so that the kid can come into this country. I see this a lot here. Then the kids is here, hoping to get the money out of the school or somewhere to attend, of course can’t because where the heck is he gonna get $40K for even one year, so he finds a job and voila, another illegal immigrant who got in on a student visa. It happens all of the time here. I personally know about a dozen such cases.</p>
<p>Thank You all for your opinions. I was thinking in the same way. My cosigner is a family friend but I have decided not to take loan. I still have to hear back from Berea College. If I don’t get accepted then I study in my home country and apply as a transfer next year. I just wanted to be assured that I was taking the right decision.
Thank You :)</p>
<p>You might want to consider finishing your bachelors degree in your home country. Aid for transfer students is typically worse than for incoming freshmen. There are some schools that do meet full need even for international transfers, but they accept VERY few transfer students.</p>
<p>yes planning to do that if I don’t get accepted as a transfer with full aid but worth a try. Thank You</p>
<p>Thank for for letting us know your decision. It is reassuring to know that you won’t be trying to borrow that much!</p>