<p>Be aware that the Cal Grant program is on the chopping block in the state budget discussions. I don’t know if they will rescind current awards but it’s something to consider. The state budget resolution will probably also affect tuition/fees at state universities. There’s a huge amount of uncertainty in your state at the moment.</p>
<p>Go go Berkeley. They love you more. (Or maybe you did yourself in by not filing that FAFSA). It’s a different environment and a different experience than UCLA, but you will be a lot happier and have more options in the long run with less debt and less worries about finances.</p>
<p>I guess ive just always had my heart set on UCLA. either way, ill have debt…</p>
<p>$40k minimum in EXTRA debt when coming out of undergrad can make hearts skip more than a few beats… (If I were your parents, this wouldn’t be a choice.)</p>
<p>Is your heart set enough on going to UCLA that you would be willing to forego or postpone grad school? The amount of debt you’ll have when you finish undergrad may well be enough to keep you from being able to afford grad school in the humanities. </p>
<p>Either way, you’ll have debt. But one way you’ll have debt AND grad school AND a Cal degree. The other way, you’ll have debt AND a UCLA degree.</p>
<p>Lets say you graduate with around 40K in Student loans and CC debt, but you were able to get through school. Now you in your undergrad were able to study a topic which will land you a well paying professional job, lets say you studied Engineering.</p>
<p>Now lets say you graduate and get a below average engineering salary. 50K a year with benefits and all the rest. </p>
<p>Lets say you live in NYC, the highest tax rates in the country and you live at home with mom and dad. </p>
<p>You will take home after taxes $2,869.64.</p>
<p>Apply that right to repayment and in 1 year you paid of 86% of your loans and will be done in 14. A small sacrifice for getting 4-5 years of vacation in college and you making a good salary,</p>
<p>or am I wrong?</p>
<p>Anyone have any thoughts on Boroleum’s post? LOL</p>
<p>$40k at 8.5% (if you can get it), spread over 10 years, is $495 month. If you live at home with mom and dad for those 10 years (as you might in Italy, so I don’t put it down), you’d be just fine.</p>
<p>There are a lot of assumptions there (that you’ll get a job right out of college, that you will be able to live at home with your parents for free, that you won’t have any other financial obligations, that nothing bad will happen to you, your parents, or any dependents you might have, that you have the discipline to give your entire take-home pay to a bank every month for 14 years (am I reading that right?))</p>
<p>It could work for some people, but for a lot of people it won’t.</p>
<p>go to ucla CaliChick650 - you don’t sound smart enough for cal. besides, the best lesson in history you’ll ever get is that people don’t learn from history. if there weren’t proof enough already, you’re the latest example - you requested, received and ignored good advice here.</p>
<p>^
She made her decision two years ago…</p>
<p>Ha the assumption you can just “pay it off” is kind of funny. Depending on who has the note and the terms of it they might only take your monthly payment. You contracted with them and they have the right to receive interest for the period in which the loan was intended to be paid. Some of these private loan companies probably want to span that thing out as long as you possibly can!</p>
<p>The maximum doesn’t mean anything like that is how much you “should” borrow. It is all relative. The maximum in loans for a liberal studies degree with a 2.4 gpa from UC Berkeley is far too much. Just like the maximum in loans for a top honors accounting graduate from CSU Bakersfield might be no problem at all. It is all relative. You should borrow no more than your anticipated starting salary.</p>
<p>Well, I understand that some home loans had a penalty clause for early repayment. I’m a bit surprised that student loans do this too - I don’t think that the Federal student loans do this but I guess that it’s the wild west in the private loan business. What I read (after looking up a few articles on Google) is that lenders have prepayment penalties so it appears that you can prepay but you’d have to pay extra for the right. I don’t know how much the penalties are.</p>