<p>I’m still waiting on the actual mailed-version of my financial aid so I can begin the appeals process.
Such a long wait, although on the site it says that my financial aid eligible letter was sent out March 30th.</p>
<p>Is the CMU grant renewable each year provided you keep a certain GPA? Or are these need-based (so if my EFC changes next year, it gets revoked, etc?)</p>
<p>You know what’s weird, Carnegie Mellon gave me a very generous grant compared to other schools. I got $12,500 in a need based grant, plus a work-study. Surprisingly, Northwestern did not give me anything! I have a feeling someone messed up somewhere.</p>
<p>@coolstorybroski grants are entirely need based, carnegie scholarships are merit based.</p>
<p>Like a lot of other people, even with grants and loans, my total cost still comes out to almost $30,000/yr. That’s over half of my family’s annual income, and even if I work, I won’t be able to afford it. </p>
<p>USC and Rice’s packages for me were just as bad, so I’m not really sure what to do…</p>
<p>I got about $40,000 in grants and $9,000 in loans. After work study, I need to come up with $9,000 a year. My parents are still recovering from the recession, so they’d likely have to take out PLUS loans. I’m currently enrolled in MCS for Physics, but I’m considering switching to ECE if I can. I’m concerned with whether or not CMU is worth $80,000 in debt even if I switch to ECE.
High school counselors always teach us to do well on standardized tests in order to go to state school for free, but they never tell us about how much debt is okay. My parents didn’t pay much for college so they don’t know either. I don’t know if I can afford $20,000 a year or not.</p>
<p>
<a href="http://www.finaid.org/calculators/loanpayments.phtml">http://www.finaid.org/calculators/loanpayments.phtml</a>
Loan Balance: $80,000.00
Adjusted Loan Balance: $80,000.00
Loan Interest Rate: 6.80%
Loan Fees: 0.00%
Loan Term: 10 years
Minimum Payment: $50.00
Degree Program: Bachelor's Degree
Total Years in College: 4 years
Average Debt per Year: $20,000.00</p>
<p>**Monthly Loan Payment: $920.64**
Number of Payments: 120</p>
<p>Cumulative Payments: $110,477.25
Total Interest Paid: $30,477.25
</p>
<p>$20k a year is too much.</p>
<p>It depends if you are only responsible for your loans and your parents their loans.</p>
<p>$40,000 in grants from CMU is ALOT.</p>
<p>And you didn’t say if you have a free ride somewhere?</p>
<p>after loan and work study, still need come up with more than 30k a year, too much, look at other options.</p>
<p>I’ll be responsible for all of it, including the loans in my parents’ names. I do have a couple of free rides from state schools.</p>
<p>Has everyone’s estimates come out already? I’d heard that they were doing them in batches and was planning to have them all done by today, but my account still doesn’t even show that my letter has been sent. I don’t seem to have any documents missing, but should I be worried?</p>
<p>Does anyone know if Carnegie will match a school that’s not as good, like Tulane, for merit scholarships?</p>
<p>^you can call but its unlikely. And i was told the average amount Cmu matches is about $6000 if that helps.</p>