Stanford - Parents Won't Cosign for Loans

Paying for College
1

<p>So I got admitted to Stanford, where my financial aid offered is about 13k. My parents are contributing about 10k a year, and I can take stafford loans (5500, then slightly more after freshman year).</p>

<p>Do I have any options? I am considering deferring admission to work for a year, but in that case I could only make about 20k. Do you think that would be worth it, and then work during the school year at Stanford?</p>

<p>I'm assuming there's no way I could get private loans right now without a cosigner. Would talking to the Stanford financial aid office help at all?</p>

2

<p>Yes, you should definitely speak with a financial aid officer regarding your situation. :)</p>

3

<p>Working a year may actually be detrimental to how much you get from Stanford. Look into private loans which are deferred till after graduation.</p>

4

<p>Your best option is to go to that cheap safety school that you and your parents actually can afford. Get good grades. Make friends with your professors. Do well on the GRE. Go to Stanford for grad school.</p>

5

<p>Why might working be detrimental to the aid I receive?</p>

6

<p>Because it will produce income which will raise your EFC.</p>

7

<p>I think that you’d be hard pressed to earn more than $7000 a year as a student, and that still leaves you with a very big gap between your resources and Stanford’s costs. Stanford has very generous FA, and offers average grants of $13K a year for families with $200,000 and up in income. If that’s where your family is really at, then you probably need to have some in-depth discussions at home to learn more about why your parents have decided to support college only to the extent of $10K a year. If that is solid, then you’re probably going to need to apply at a school you are either able to afford straight up – and that’s probably a CC or Cal-State if you’re in California, or a school where you probably (since you were qualified for Stanford) would be in line for major merit scholarships – perhaps ASU’s Barrett Honors College. March to almost April of senior year is very late to be having these kinds of discussions, unfortunately.</p>

8

<p>Has something changed in your parents financial matters since you applied to Stanford? Did you know before you applied that they would contribute no more than 10K, or is that news to you? I think the FA will want to know before considering changing your aid package. I would not count on finding a job in this climate.</p>