Has anyone here graduated debt-free?
Do you have any advice on lowering college costs?
I might attend UofM engineering, but I don’t expect a lot of aid. How are students financially when they graduate from UofM?
All I can offer is that if you take out student loans do not get caught in the trap of making minimum payments. Make sure your monthly payments on your repayment plan are designed to cover all new interest while also reducing the amount owed.
How much debt per year are you anticipating to attend U of Michigan?
I think if you want to graduate debt free, the most important decision is the initial on of where to attend college. If you can’t afford it without loans for the first year, you won’t be able to do it for future years.
There are ways to reduce the overall costs of going to college by traveling home less often, taking the lowest meal plan, living in a cheaper housing situation, getting books from the library or very cheaply off the internet. Some people reduce housing by being an RA, by getting a ‘room and board included’ position (at a church, at a sorority or frat house, by living with elderly people needing help), reduce food costs by working at a restaurant.
But the hardest cost to reduce is tuition, and that’s why it’s important to pick wisely at the beginning. Is ‘UofM’ (Michigan?) your best choice for a low tuition?
From what I have seen with my daughter choosing where she was going to go last year, most of the universities in Michigan cost almost the same, if you need to live on campus (whether it’s Grand Valley, State, MI, etc). You won’t even know what the whole total aid package looks like till next spring. We were surprised with a nice scholarship offer from U of M with just weeks till the May 1st deadline. For us Michigan was less expensive than Tech, we were only offered $4,000 a year there. If you are not expecting any aid, then hopefully your parents can chip in and help cut down your COA. Are your parents helping at all? If you are in a situation where you will have debt for any of your choices, I would really consider the one that will give you the best opportunities upon graduation. Where else did you apply?
@3js3ks For Michigan Tech I have received about $15,000 per year so far (I applied to some awards there). For Michigan, I have yet to receive aid, though it seems that they don’t send that stuff until later. My mom has offered to pay 1/3 of tuition for my first year (can’t thank her enough) but my dad is undecided right now. I also was accepted to MSU, Lawrence Tech, UofM-D, and Wayne State.
@twoinanddone No, it’s currently one of my most expensive options (I’m middle-class)
I would lean toward Tech if you are getting $15,000/year. It’s a strong engineering school.
I wouldn’t go into more debt than you need to go into. Interest accumulates.
You don’t need to make a decision yet. Wait to see what each school offers you in their aid package - it may take until spring to get all the aid info.
@kelsmom Thanks, it just seems like a lot of my classmates already know where they are going, but waiting it out a bit is definitely a good choice.
Your classmates may know where they are going but many don’t know hw to pay for it.
You can use the government’s college navigator site to see net price paid by income bracket* (net price drop down), number of students taking federal loans (financial aid drop down) and default rates(cohort default rates drop down) by school. Here is UM’s page https://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/?q=university+michigan&s=all&id=170976
Here is Mich Tech’s https://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/?q=michigan+tech&s=all&id=171128
*since these are state schools this is calculated based on in state costs, so the info. is not as accurate as it would be for a private school
As a freshman you can take $5,500 in federal loans https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/types/loans/subsidized-unsubsidized#subsidized-vs-unsubsidized, plus whatever you can earn or have saved.
You’ll need parent contributions or their willingness to take out loans that they will be responsible for paying back to cover the rest.
You can calculate your monthly student loan payments using this online calculator. http://www.finaid.org/calculators/loanpayments.phtml Pay attention to the paragraph after the mo. payment calculation that tells you the income you will need to earn to pay that debt back.
You can take 5,500 freshman year, then 6,500 sophomore then 7,500 junior and senior year. So approx 27,000 over 4 years. That payment is over $300/mo for 10 years. If you don’t qualify for having any portion of your loans subsidized the entire amount will also be accruing interest while you are in school. Only a portion of those amounts will be subsidized and only if you qualify.
Do you know what your FAFSA EFC was? If it was more than $30,000 you won’t be getting need based aid from Mich, but if it was less, you may very well qualify for something that will bring the cost down to your EFC.
My D graduated debt free. My S is well on his way to do the same. Actually, D ended up with a nice nest egg from engineering internships and S plans to follow in her foot steps. They both picked a school that was within budget, pursued scholarships, worked, saved and had parents willing to contribute.
Your mom is only going to help pay for your first year? If you have to borrow the majority of the cost you may want to consider a less expensive school.
@BuckeyeMWDSG It said EFC: 8683. How do they calculate that? My parents said not to expect a lot of financial aid.
@austinmshauri Yes, that’s what she has said so far. However, under certain circumstances, she might be willing to help more. I am also eager to partake in co-ops and internships during school or in the summer to make some money. I’m not sure how difficult it is to land one, though, if I go to UofM.
As others have said, the most critical decision is your choice of school.
Not only am I graduating debt free, I’m graduating with an amount saved + invested that people usually have in debt when they leave school. This is, I have to say, a massive advantage over my peers. I’m already seeing that, months out from graduation, because I’ve been able to choose an expensive apartment, book a nice spring break trip, book travel for after I graduate, float myself for months after graduating because I don’t want to start my job right away, plan a nice wedding (in the distance, but still), and more. Like, seriously, the advantage of coming out of college with no debt and money SAVED is super enormous. (My self-congratulations is over now, I promise).
I did this by choosing a school that, well, honestly, I wasn’t incredibly excited about. It’s a school where my stats were in the tippy top percentages – both on numerical measures (GPA, SAT), where I’d say I was at least top 5%, and also on qualitative stuff like work experience, awards, etc, going into college.
The numerical measures are what are gonna matter most for you, as the qualitative stuff is more of a hail mary thing that may or may not net scholarships for you (depends on schools and how they give out their awards, etc).
Realistically, you need to find a school where your stats are tippy top (if you’re aiming to graduate debt free through scholarships). And, realistically, UMich ain’t it.
I’m also in engineering, so you can trust me when I say that where you go for engineering undergrad super does not matter (so long as it’s ABET accredited). I went to an unranked institution (UNRANKED! Not low-ranked, UNranked) and still ended up at an elite tech company. My peers at that tech company went to the schools I wished I could go to, but wouldn’t have been able to afford. Such is life.
So: pick an affordable school (it’s not gonna be UMich).
EDIT: Alternatively, you can just go to a cheap college that you can afford out of pocket, if there are any.
Did you run the net price calculator for Michigan?
https://npc.collegeboard.org/app/umich
That will give you an estimate of your financial aid.
Are you instate for U Mich? I thought it meets all need for instate students?
Did you file FAFSA and CSS profile?
@BuckeyeMWDSG Thanks for your help, I will heed everyone’s advice in waiting to receive a financial aid estimate from them. In the meantime, I will be checking those links you sent, getting an estimate, and applying for more scholarships before I jump to conclusions.
@mommdc I am in-state. I have filed the FAFSA and CSS and will be awaiting their estimate. I should probably be more optimistic about receiving aid.
https://npc.collegeboard.org/app/umich
Net price calculator