My grandmother adopted me. She didn’t go to college, her kids didn’t go to college. I’m going to Temple University in the fall and she told me she didn’t want me living at home, that she’s sick of me, which is fine. Because the feeling is mutual, I don’t want to live at home either. It’s just a bad environment. There’s love there but she just has a lot of negative energy. She yells at the slightest thing, she is very strict about letting me go out, and I know the leash wouldn’t loosen if I stayed. And she’s older and she has my brother too, so I think I’d be a burden if I stayed. Her friend who is a nurse and makes about $100,000/ a year agrees with her that I should live on-campus my first year and take out a private loan. Her son did it, he still has loans but he’s fine, apparently. He was also an engineering major.
My grandmother lives on Social Security. She doesn’t have the money but she won’t let me live off-campus. She thinks it’s dangerous, it’s a new city, etc. But she said I could live off campus the second year. Sure, I wanted to live in a dorm for the first year, but I’ve been reading a lot on here and I read a book on personal finance/financing for college and I don’t want to do that. My good high school friend and I have paid our deposit for a dorm. If I cancel before June 2, the only thing I lose is the $250 housing deposit. If I wait longer, they’ll make me pay 25% of the housing cost.
I don’t know what to do. Temple gave me an $18,000 financial package that includes the max Federal loans, work study, and grants. I acknowledge that’s a good package. I’ve talked with the financial aid officer. I can use that for tuition, books, living expenses and it shouldn’t change if I don’t live on campus. That’s enough for my tuition/fees, books, and leaves about $2,000 left. I’m 17 and won’t be 18 til September so that limits my option on getting an apartment. The average yearly rent for university apartments is $3,000. I was planning on working part-time anyway. And I have two jobs for the summer so I could save enough money to pay for rent.
My grandmom just wants me to keep applying for outside scholarships but I’ve applied for over 30 and she doesn’t understand that most I don’t qualify for, or there are too many applicants, and they take forever. I’m a semi-finalist for one but it’s only for $6,000 anyway. My problem is I’m still searching all the apartments but pretty much all of them require a cosigner who is at least 25 and has good credit. I have no one else besides my grandmother who can cosign so I’m stuck. And for whatever reason, everyone is taking her side and saying that the loan won’t be a big deal. What do I do?
Who will co-sign the private loan? How old is grandma? Did grandma apply for a Parent Plus loan? If she is turned down you can increase your federal loan a but (which is better than a private loan).
Are you in-state for temple? Even without the room/board component, it seems that they did not give you enough aid to cover the tuition.
Move forward, eat the loss for the 240 as Temple is not affordable
One of my favorite quotes from Scandal:
You are not going to be able to get a loan with out a co-signer. Even at this rate you are talking about some fool with a pen (co-signer) putting themselves on the line for 72k + interest.
Your grandmother lives off of social security. How is she going to be able to cosign for the loan? Will she be able to pay the loan back if you don’t? I don’t think she will be approved for the loans.
Would that be 13K loans per year for four years? What are you majoring in and what field do you want to go into? I can tell you that Sallie Mae is evil and if you can avoid it, I would not deal with them. If you also have government loans as part of your fin-aid package, you’ll have a lot of loan repayments to manage post-grad, which will severely limit your life and choices. It sounds like you’d be taking about as much in loans as I did, and my SM loans were HORRIBLE and the best thing that every happened to me was my sainted mother helping me pay the balance a few years ago. B/c SM was sucking me dry and the money wasn’t even going to the principle! I was just paying and paying and they made it impossible to defer/consolidate and I hope they DIAF. (sorry! I have Feelings about this!)
If your grandmother is willing to co-sign evil private student loans… couldn’t she just co-sign your lease, instead? 3K for rent (+ maybe 2K a year for utilities and food) is wayyyyy cheaper than 13K for university room & board. If I were you, I would do everything in my power to avoid SM/private loans. Did your grandmother apply for a Parent PLUS loan? That’s a much better option for getting some money to cover your expenses, as it has more forgiving repayment terms.
Yes, I applied to about 5 others. Temple is nationally ranked for Journalism, I wanted an urban school, if I went to a suburban school, I’d need a car and then they’d equal Temple. I really did my research and Temple was the best option for me. I would have gotten more if she hadn’t adopted. She is 69 and I wasn’t eligible for Parent Plus or any of those other loans.
I have tried tirelessly, I showed her interest rates everything. One apartment said they wouldn’t need a cosigner if I had steady income. But I don’t know if part-time counts and it would take a couple weeks to get. Perhaps if I show them I have enough cash saved for a year’s rent?
It is awkward for me because my friend will need a new roommate and my grandmom’s already bought all this dorm stuff so short of directly defying her (she’s extremely stubborn) I don’t know what else to do because I’ve showed her all the information that I have that made me know the private loan was a bad choice.
Also, if Grandma is currently receiving additional SS benefits for you, that will end when you graduate from high school, so her total income will be lower. Are there any lower-cost schools you could attend? One of the PASSHE schools (e.g., West Chester, Bloomsburg, IUP)? Or even a community college with dorms (e.g., Northampton).
So, does the $15,096 include $5,500 student loan as part of the package? If so, this isn’t a great package.
So let’s say you do get a loan for $13,000, plus add the $5,500 in the package that’s $18,500 you plan on borrowing for the first year. It’s a lot!
You might have to go against your grandmother wishes in order to make this school affordable.
Our neighbors daughter attends Temple. She spend quite a bit on off campus housing rent. And the place isn’t in a nice place.
Why would you need a car for suburban college? Most do not have cars. Most carpool home, take trains, or buses.
@PERplexD I don’t mean to be rude and while I did come asking for advice, PLEASE STOP suggesting other colleges. I do not want to go to a different college, she doesn’t want me to go, my teachers at school don’t want me to go to another school besides Temple. I have thoroughly searched all of the colleges in my PA. We have the 3rd highest public tuition rate in the country. The average in 2011 for public tuition in PA was $12,000. Each year tuition rises so Temple is on par with the average. Other public schools ie Penn State Abington has near identical tuition. Bloomsberg is about half the cost but I wanted a big school and bloomsburg is smaller than my high school. West Chester would be cheaper as well but I have a lot of AP Credits and wanted to double major in 4 years in Human Resources and Journalism. West Chester doesn’t have Journalism or Human Resources. That would be stifling for me. Believe me, I had a college board account since freshman year. I researched colleges more than any of my classmates, made charts, spreadsheets, spent hours on it.I really wanted to go to school in NYC but the cost wound up being too much. I settled with Temple and there’s only so much settling I can do. I also don’t know a single person who hasn’t taken out federal loans when offered. Their deferment plans are better than any privates and lower than privates. My teacher had them and in his ten years since graduation has paid them off and paid off his car and his house on a Catholic school teacher and medical assistant’s salary, while raising two kids. Just because I take out the federal loan does not mean I will be poor for the next 15-20 years.
My cousin is also a teacher, in her early 30s and her loans are all paid off and her and her husband are financially stable. I am just trying to avoid the private loans.