<p>Tuition rates are really astronomical and wages are not keeping up with them. This is at many, many Us, not only the “for profit” diploma mills. We are glad we only have two kids because more than my entire salary goes toward my D’s COA! We hope she will be able to get a degree but there are no guarantees. Her school has great name recognition, especially in her major, but who knows?</p>
<p>I am glad our S was able to get a significant merit award, but even so, it was expensive paying 1/2 tuition PLUS room & board & other expenses in an expensive area. Very grateful that he has a good job he is satisfied with & hope it remains that way.</p>
<p>I recently was told my niece, whose father (divorced parents) would take them on all kinds of luxury vacations but would not fill out the Fafsa or CSS forms, is going to graduate from a small LAC as a religion major with over $80K worth of debt. I was beyond shocked and flabbergasted. She would have been MUCH better off to attend a state U for UG and taking on debt for grad school. A religion degree with that kind of debt? Irresponsible. And oh, her dad will help her pay off exactly none of it. Honestly, how can any responsible bank let a kid take on that much debt?? That’s just signing your name and not understanding the fine print. I surely hope she finds a job. Here’s a question though… if she DOES go on to grad school, are her loans deferred?</p>
<p>I consider myself ortunate that I haven’t needed to immerse myself in the ins-and-outs of student loans, but I am curious - is it possible for Modadunn’s niece to take out $80,000 in undergrad loans without an adult co-signer?</p>
<p>Undergraduate? No. No one is going to loan a 18-20 year old $80k by themselves.</p>
<p>ETA: MAYBE if the loan was somehow made through the school. I’ve never heard of this, but my U gives small, temporary loans so maybe some schools give large loans?</p>
<p>So some adult would have to aid-and-abet a student’s decision to take out loans in that amount for undergrad. I don’t understand why any adult would do that, although apparently it isn’t uncommon. It seems to me that students get a bum rap for taking on these large amounts of debt, when some adult they trust enabled them by co-signing.</p>
<p>Last time I looked the gov would not subsidize a religion degree. That would mean her loans are all unsubsidized. Plus she had to have had a co-signer. The co-signer thing is a fairly recent change. You didn’t need one prior to about 2006-2008.</p>
<p>How much can you afford to pay per year for your son’s schooling? </p>
<p>Also, you listed grades and rank, but what are his scores (ACT or SAT)? Any leadership, EC’s, etc?</p>
<p>Because we already have a sophomore at U of I basically nothing! But the FAFSA says 11,000.00 for the senior in high school. We were so strapped when they were growing up, I worked part time, my husband and I bought a house with a 15 year mortgage so we’re closing in on that thank god! My husband says paying off their college will just be like a new mortgage payment, so I try to look at it that way! Also, senior in HS had 27 on ACT and is a soccer player only, who was cut from varsity senior year. Super heart breaking. He has gotten very involved in car club junior year and then signed up for auto technology this year instead of foreign language. He is so into cars that he drives out to junkyards and has been rebuilding an old Toyota Corolla with over 200,000 miles on it. He wants to work in auto industry as an engineer, but discovered this late in junior year. He is struggling in Calculus this year, but skating through physics, so I don’t know if he’ll be able to handle engineering programs or not. He wants to go to Miami because they have a car building and racing club called Baja? But will go to U of I and try to transfer into engineering if the financial aid does not come through. We did get quite a lot of merit aid from Miami of Ohio. They really want him! :)) Thanks for asking!</p>
<p>In a society in which education is of great value, one cannot look down on college loans. I took a huge loan for me to have an excellent graduate degree from a top tier B-School. Even though, it took more than a decade to pay off the loans, I can honestly say that I have a better life because of that. Education is a huge investment. Good investors stay on course and do whatever it takes to succeed. There is no gain without pain!!!</p>
<p>Loans can limit options and cripple the people saddled with them, especially when the loans are much, much larger than the ability to repay them. Even loans with the best intent and for fantastic and worthy causes require repayment and crushing debt can be overwhelming. </p>
<p>Even though education is valued, risk/benefit analysis is always useful to determine whether taking on the specific debt for the particular purpose is worth the cost–at the time and compared with whatever else could have been done with the time and resources devoted to education or whatever else was an option.</p>
<p>Just FYI, nearly every engineering school that has a Mechanical Engineering department will have a Baja team. The larger schools tend to have an SAE (formula) team.</p>
<p>UIUC is one of the best engineering schools in the country. If, according to your FAFSA, your EFC is $11,000, then your son may get merit/need based aid.</p>
<p>He wants to work in auto industry as an engineer, but discovered this late in junior year. He is struggling in Calculus this year, but skating through physics, so I don’t know if he’ll be able to handle engineering programs or not. </p>
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<p>He will need to get an excellent handle on calculus to do well in engineering. High school physics is not calc-based, but engineering physics is. The fact that he is struggling in calc now doesn’t necessarily mean he can’t do well in it, though. Calc is so different from other math, and so often not taught well in high school … he can audit a CC calc class in the summer, then have a good background for first semester college calc. The more you see it, taught in different ways by different people, the better.</p>
<p>Can you afford Miami of Ohio with the merit? He doesn’t have to go to a school with auto engineering to be involved in it. He can apply for co-ops and internships, he can join clubs, etc.</p>
<p>Thanks so much for the link! I will tell my son! Beloit just offerred him a monster financial aid package to play soccer in their 3/2 program. He would then transfer to U of I engineering with hopefully tuition waiver program intact. Well, that is if Miami doesn’t offer anything more…they are starting a new engineering/business program for those of you juniors looking for new opportunities in the engineering field. Looks pretty sweet if we could only afford it! You are the best friends ever. Now I know he can go to college, I feel so much better. Sorry for all the dramatic posts!</p>
<p>Thank you so much for the tip! He has the worst teacher ever who basically is telling them to watch videos at home and then do their homework in class. They put him in the AP Calculus class with all the kids who took regular math assuming they couldn’t learn math. Public School is a bummer!! So ready for college! He has a job this summer but your post makes me feel so much better. You’re words are the best news I’ve had all week! The kid is motivated. He’ll even play soccer so he can graduate from a good engineering program! (Well he loves to play soccer of course!) Don’t we love our kids?? vocemom</p>
<p>I mentor a young man who went to Wesleyan. His younger brother is at Beloit … he was a good but not stellar student, and he applied to a number of schools that I just knew would not give him enough money. I talked him into applying to Beloit, because I had heard that they are good with aid. He was accepted, got a wonderful aid package, and hopped in the car for a visit. He fell in love with it. Beloit is the best thing that happened to him. I hope your son enjoys it as much as the young man I know (who is currently a junior).</p>