Son may have to transfer :(

Parents Forum
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<p>He is not yet convinced of this, but DH and I just don't see how it is going to work.</p>

<p>My eldest son will be 22 next month. He is in his Junior year at Stevens IT.</p>

<p>He graduated from HS in 2006. He had acceptances to three schools. Stony Brook (a SUNY school) was the most affordable. RPI offered an out of reach FA package. Stevens offered a decent package. But we told him exactly what we could afford (about what the balance would be after loans at Stony Brook). We told him that Stevens was a great school, but he was going to have to work very hard to be able to swing it financially.</p>

<p>Stevens has an amazing co-op program, so S has been able to work in the industry for several semesters (which is why he is a Junior and not a Senior this year). But is is also what put him behind financially. We live on eastern Long Island, and most of his co-ops have been in New Jersey. He has had to pay his living expenses (other than food and medical) while on co-op.</p>

<p>We figured he was going to be very close to covering his portion of tuition this semester. But as luck would have it, he totaled his car on Saturday :( That will wipe out most of the money he would be earning this semester, and he still owes the school over $4,000 for the current term. His portion of the spring semester would be another $4,000. </p>

<p>We have already co-signed $5,000 + in loans in addition to his federal loans, and we just can't do that anymore. As an aside, I have four children, and my husband has three. Age-wise he is #5. We have a college freshman and a high school junior to still help through school.</p>

<p>Anyway I see two scenarios. He could take a one year leave of absence from Stevens. It would need to be an entire year so that he would be able to continue his science sequences. He could come home, work, and we could bank his money (he is not disciplined enough to save himself, or he wouldn't be as far behind as he is). The downside to this choice is that it would put his Senior year corresponding to having his youngest brother a Freshman and his sister a Junior - THREE in college. I can't guarantee we will be able to continue the level of support towards his tuition for that year. Plus I am concerned about his medical coverage in the interim...</p>

<p>The second option would be to transfer to Stony Brook and live at home - an option I am sure he would balk at. The tuition is cheap - easily covered by his federal loans. He could have a part time job to cover his basic expenses. The money we have been setting aside for his tuition could go towards his loans (particularly the cosigned ones), which would help him. There is also no guarantee that he would be accepted as he has partied quite a bit in college and has a GPA of 2.73 :(</p>

<p>This situation is partially because of his choices and difficulty with saving - but it is also one part the economy and one part bad luck (the car accident).</p>

<p>The reason I am posting is that maybe someone might have an idea for a third scenario that I am just not seeing...</p>

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<p>Would talking to the financial aid people at Stevens help any? They might have options we can’t thing of. They could perhaps arrange a job on campus for him to help pay his expenses next semester, or have other forms of aid available. His GPA suggests that an extra year spent working, during which he might mature a bit, could also be a good thing in the long run.</p>

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<p>Agree with M’s mom, he should go talk to the finaid people. Also if he drops out for a year what will he do for insurance and what if any are those associated costs? Does he have to have a car? What would have happened if he had not totalled the car? If you take the car out of the equation are there still financial problems? What will “your” costs be if he moves home?</p>

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<p>I do agree he should talk to the FA people @ Stevens. That is a very good suggestion.</p>

<p>He has to have a car because he is working 2 days a week @ Zimmer, which is close to an hour from Hoboken. So if he doesn’t fix/replace the car, he would have to quit his job. He also has a work-study on campus.</p>

<p>My costs if he moves home? Well we pay his food and medical now - but the insurance company will drop him if he is on LOA and not enrolled at Stony Brook and THAT is a real concern. NYS just passed a law that parents can keep unmarried kids on their insurance until they are 30, but that would be at COBRA rates. That frightens me. He would still have to work part time and pay his own car and insurance. He would need the car in order to live at home since we are about a 40 minute commute from Stony Brook. And we would mandate savings.</p>

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<p>If he quits Zimmer, what’s the financial impact? Is it greater than the cost of getting him a car and the insurance for it? If the cost of the car/insurance outweighs his earnings at Zimmer for the year, he’d be better off quitting that job even if he didn’t pick up another job. He’d have not only the time spent working at Zimmer to put toward a job he didn’t need a car for, but also the four hours a week he currently spends commuting to use for studying or working.</p>

<p>I think I’d look at options that involved being carless for a year.</p>

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<p>If he takes a year off, there are some relatively cheap insurance options available for healthy young people (no coverage for routine little things, but will cover hospitalization and catastrophic illness). </p>

<p>Having 3 kids in college at the same time could actually result in better fin aid for all 3…</p>

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<p>One thing to find out is whether Stony Brook has a residency requirement. He’d be transferring for his senior year (presumably, 30 hours) and it’s possible they require students to have more than 30 hours at SB to earn a SB degree. Also, determine what Stevens credits will transfer to SB. SB might not be generous about upper-division courses transferring (although they could be fine . . . it’s just something to research.)</p>

<p>As others have suggested, I’d talk with the FA folks at Stevens and see what they can suggest.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

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<p>My heart goes out to you. It might be hard to graduate on time if he transfers. I think it will turn out that a year’s leave of absense will work better than a transfer; he knows what he has to do to graduate from Stevens.</p>

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<p>None of my kids had or have cars at college. They had to find jobs nearby. Is he getting so much money from his job that he cannot replace it with a closer job, particularly if he does not get another car. Cars are very expensive what with insurance, maintenance, repairs, gasoline.</p>

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<p>“He could come home, work, and we could bank his money (he is not disciplined enough to save himself, or he wouldn’t be as far behind as he is).”</p>

<p>I don’t think that your banking his money for him is going to solve his main problem: That he’s not responsible with his money. If that’s really what is causing him to be in the financial situation he’s in, if he’s serious about Stevens, he’ll learn to save his money or else he’ll transfer to a college that fits within the budget he has created for himself.</p>

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<p>There is no other way to get to the job- no buses, no car pooling, no train? How much was he making two days a week, and caluclate that with his gas, insurance, maintenance on the car. An hours drive ieach way is how many $$? Before him transferring, I would look at the numbers, the alternative transportation options, the work closer to home, whil looking at the transfer options. Lots of people manage without cars. </p>

<p>Work is great, but if he is working to mostly maintain the car, is it worth having the car? 2 days a week can’t pay that much. And there must be some sort of public transportation. Evenif he sits on a bus for an hour and a half, better than leaving school</p>

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<p>"There is also no guarantee that he would be accepted as he has partied quite a bit in college and has a GPA of 2.73 "</p>

<p>This is another indication that he hasn’t been taking his responsibilities seriously. Seems it would be in his interest to let him figure out how to handle the situation he has put himself into.</p>

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<p>I went to a cost to drive calculator website. </p>

<p>Take the having to have a car out of the financial equation; add in public transportation options, and see how really in the hole son would be if he didn’t drive.</p>

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<p>I don’t know about the area the OPs son lives in but where we live there are no public transportation options. Before I came to live here I had never lived anywhere where there were not good public transportation options so, like many that post to this board, I could never conceive of places not having public transportation. But they do exist. And by no public transportation I mean no public transportation - no trains or buses or any other forms of transportation to get to or from the town, and no trains, buses, trams or rickshaws to get around the town. both my kids go to schools in towns that have no public transportation to get to the towns. One is in a town that has no public transportation within the town. The other is in a town where the university provides shuttle buses around the town. There are many areas of this country where public transportation is not available.</p>

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<p>We live in a region with no public transportation so I “get that.” My original question, however, delt with the cost of having/repairing/replacing the car vs. the job which he apparently needs to get to. Anywhere there is a college there are part-time jobs that are walking distance. If the OP takes the car out of the equation how does the picture look? If he can replace the dollars from the ‘driving distance’ job then he’s “very close to covering the cost” as the OP states maybe even taken care of with any insurance settlement and future savings from zero insurance and zero gas costs. Hopefully the OP’s son is not injured and not at fault.</p>

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<p>If he is not spending time driving to work and spending that money to maintain the car, maybe he could then spend more time on studying ;)</p>

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<p>hoboken has not public transportation, NJ has no trains, buses, etc? I think they must. </p>

<p>The kid has a 2.73 gpa, that is above a b-c average. Not that horrid. He is passing, he is interning, he was making it work, and now everyone wants him to transfer or quit school for a year because he needs to replace his car?</p>

<p>Talk about over reaction. He may not be perfect, but he is passing his classes, working 2 jobs, one that requires two hour commute and yet y’all are suggesting he leave school, take a year off, or move back home.</p>

<p>How much did that two day a week job actually contribute to his school? If he can find a way to get by without the precious car, let him stay where he is.</p>

<p>It is amazing to me that getting a 2.73 is seen as somehow not being responsible. So he isn’t the perfect student. He is going to pass all his classes, and while he may just be average, nothing wrong iwth average. And he is almost a B student. Lord have mercy. Give the kid a break.</p>

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<p>I though the OP said he needed an extra $4000 to cover this semester.</p>

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<p>^^^ good point. And then what will be needed for the next semester? And the ones after that.</p>

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<p>Before making a radical change in schools make sure student talks to the one intended for transfer. DS discovered that C’s did not transfer in his major and some other classes did not have equivalents. He lost about a years worth of credits when he relocated (following his love). And the new school did not recognize the tests he took to opt out of various beginner level classes, requiring re-test or taking those classes again. . If it adds a lot to the years in school, may not be worth it either.</p>