my son wants to attend college in the fall but I need a cosigner with credit because my credit is bad and I feel like I let him down cause he might not be able to go any suggestions as to who I can write to or talk to
Do you have any affordable college options?
If you apply for a Parent Plus loan and are refused (you won’t be turned down because of bad credit, but only for bankruptcies and defaults) your son would be able to take an extra $4000 in federal loans. If he can’t afford to go to college o that $9500, in loans, then the school is not affordable to him and he should look at a community college .
they took him in the spring of this year I was under the impression all was good he can pay back any loans after he graduated but instead when he wanted to apply for fall classes they denied him telling him we need to pay like 8000 dollars before he can come back I was dumb founded and I feel so bad that for my mistakes in life he has to suffer to further his education
he would owe $7819
What kind of loan is it?
That doesn’t sound like a loan, it sounds like the bill to attend for the Spring and it wasn’t paid so now before he can take the next semester he needs to pay the past due bill. You get a bill at the start of each semester that must be paid. Some people pay it using loans, scholarships or from savings. Did you not pay anything for the Spring Semester?
he did the fasfa but that was all we heard so we thought we were good to go until this came up
When did he do the FASFA? Has he taken out any loans?
You may want to call the school and see if someone can help explain to you what is going on. The school would have provided a financial aid package letter or description of what was being offered and the total cost to attend. Unless you had 100% of the cost covered from a loan or scholarship, then there would be a balance due and it sounds like that is the amount they are asking for. Most schools will not allow a student to enroll in the next semester if they have not paid all of their fees from the previous semester.
Just from what you are posting it appears that your son has a past due balance for his Spring Semester. They are not allowing him to enroll for the Fall Semester until he pays that past due amount. The other issue you now have is he will have another bill due for the Fall Semester and future semesters and how are you going to pay for that? Sounds like you need to talk to someone at the school that can help you figure out your current situation.
Did he already take all of his student loans? When is the last day of the spring semester? If you are applying for a loan it needs to be before the semester is finished.
What does his financial aid portal show for charges and credits (aid posted) for the spring semester?
The financial aid office must have sent him a past due notice or something if the bill was outstanding.
Don’t feel like you’ve failed @stressed mom. Many families cannot afford 16 thousand dollars a year. Your son may need to take some time to work to pay this bill and then return to a more affordable option like a community college. Sit down with the college’s financial advisor for help.
You need to contact the school. It sounds like your son did not receive a financial aid award for,the spring semester…or if he did, it was not enough to cover the costs for him to attend.
It is very likely that the bills and notifications were sent to your son’s school email address. He should check his school portal for any information he missed…and for any bills he received that didn’t get paid.
You will need to work out a payment plan for the money owed.
If his semester is not yet complete, and you did the fafsa, it’s possible he can get the Direct Loan amount for,the semester to help pay this bill.
It sounds like your son filled our FAFSA and received SOME aid, but not enough to cover the whole spring semester. He went ahead and enrolled with no means to pay the rest of the bill.
This problem will continue at this school. He’s not receiving enough aid for next year either.
Getting a cosigner is just a bandaid on a much bigger problem. Drowning him in loans for this year and the FOLLOWING years will just get him to a bad situation.
Do you want him to be drowning in debt?
Another problem with spring admissions is that the school awards a full year’s worth of loans for ONE semester, which can be VERY misleading for the following year when the loan is divided into TWO semesters.
I know you don’t want to tell your son this but he very likely shouldn’t return to that school even if he somehow gets a loan to pay off his spring balance…since fall semester will be worse.
Once he gets this loan paid off, he’ll need to learn to look at his future FA pkg to see how much is covered. It appears that he was gapped by several thousand dollars for ONE semester, but went ahead and enrolled.
Or it’s possible that he received aid for some classes that he dropped and now owes that money back.
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he did the fasfa but that was all we heard so we thought we were good to go until this came up
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FAFSA is just an application for federal aid. Federal aid isn’t a lot of money. Rarely does it cover most of college costs. Most of the time, there are REMAINING costs that the family or student must cover.
To be perfectly honest, it’s really a good thing that you can’t qualify to cosign. Otherwise, you’d likely cosign your and his life into big debt just to let him attend this school. Several years from now, when he’s completed his education in a less pricey way, you both will be grateful that you didn’t end up with big debt.
What school lets you take a semester of classes with an unpaid bill? Our colleges will drop you out of your classes if your tuition isn’t paid by a certain date.
But if the student does NOT withdraw from the school…that student will STILL be responsible for paying the bill for,the term.
My guess is this kid didn’t look at his student portal, emails or spam folder for any info about bills, pay,nets or financial aid.
It is,the STUDENT responsibility to monitor these things, my bet is there is more than one bill and reminder in this student’s portal or email.
You didn’t let him down if he failed to look at or pay his bills.
The bad thing is that he will not be able to transfer to another college until he pays that amount due. They will not release his transcript if he has a balance due.
@OspreyCV22 Nor should he transfer until he pays his debt and builds up some cash for his next college. Even if he has to work for a year. Just needs some time to regroup.