@austinmshauri , I meant that it is affordable with loans. my parents don’t really want to go over 25-30k a year. They are fine with 18k a year though.
These are my net costs so far:
Nevada-Reno: 12k
San Jose State: 13k
San Diego St: 14k
Nebraska-Lincoln: 18k
Arizona St: 27k
U Iowa: 36k
Michigan St: 46k
Still waiting for: U Washington, U Oregon, Temple, U Delaware, CU Boulder
Can you parents pay 25K WITHOUT LOANS ON THEIR PART or would YOU take the 5.5K loans and your parents would contribute 20K out of pocket, from income and savings?
“affordable with loans” means “unaffordable”.
Affordable means “I take the 5.5K federal loans and my parents, thanks to their income and savings, can pay the rest without loans through the college installment plan”.
Taking 254 or 30K4 in Parent PLUS loans for undergrad is unfair to your parents.
Right now, your best value is SDSU at 14K. Nebraska Lincoln would take you to another State and region in the US and if your parents HAVE 20K then it’s within budget – although I’d be willing to bet good money most kids in Nebraska would give anything for SDSU at 14K! - but it is NOT worth debt when you have SDSU for 14K.
I don’t think any of those you are waiting for are going to come in under $30k. Pick from those under $20k. All are good, all will be fun.
Net costs after what! Grants? Student loans and grants? Plus loans? How much can your parents pay without borrowing? Anything over that is unaffordable. You don’t want to have them borrow $20k for your first year then get denied. You’d have debt but no degree.
Start with what they can pay out-of-pocket, add the $5500/year federal student loan and the $3k you can earn from working summers. That’s your budget. Can they pay for any of those schools without having to take a loan to pay for it?
@MYOS1634 But don’t most people get loans that are in the 25-30k range? If that’s not the case than how do people pay for a private like Boston U where costs are around 65-70k a year?
@austinmshauri net costs after grants, no counting loans is 18k a year at Nebraska.
Most people don’t attend private colleges. Most don’t attend residential colleges at all. Can your parents pay $18k/year without borrowing? Post 17 seems to say no. How much can they pay?
@austinmshauri What is the average amount a student takes out each year in loans, isn’t it around 20-25k a year, since you have to take in account the people who end up at privates or expensive out of states?
No. Students can only borrow $5500 as freshman, $6500 as sophs, and $7500/year as Junior’s and seniors.
@austinmshauri Then how to people pay for Boston U, 65k a year. I’m pretty sure not everyone that goes there is paying the full price. or even 40-50k for that matter?
@Lehigh2022 - Most students don’t borrow that kind of money. Most students only borrow the student loans, and go to places that they can afford without loans bigger than that. That is why nationwide most students go to community colleges or commuting distance 4-years.
The students who attend the expensive places have:
My kid went to community college for two years, and then to an in-state U, because that was what fit our budget. She graduated with only the junior and senior year student loans. We didn’t take on any debt. This has not kept her from being successful in her career.
Run all the numbers that you have so far here: http://www.finaid.org/calculators/awardletter.phtml
Look at what the loan amounts mean here: http://www.finaid.org/calculators/loanpayments.phtml
Then run the numbers again assuming you do your first two years at a CA CC, and finish up at a UC or CSU. That may be your best option overall.
@Lehigh2022, happymomof1 describes the options pretty clearly. Students can’t borrow that kind of money and most parents shouldn’t. Most students commute to a local school.
Are there any colleges within commuting distance of your home? Did you apply to any financial safeties (schools you’re sure you can get in, can afford without loans, and would be happy to attend)?
The average is around 29k for FOUR YEARS, which is below the national federal loans numbers (27k over 4years with interest make 31k at graduation.) That’s the amount a college graduate can reasonably expect to pay back over ten years.
Not 25-30 per year.
So, to go back: what can your parents pay if they don’t take loans for you? If they pay from their income and savings and use the college’s payment plan to spread payments over ten months, what can they pay per year?
Just got my Temple offer today: 33k, that’s without loans.
@Lehigh2022 that’s the cost or that’s the aid? That would be ALOT of aid from Temple.
@jnkam24 my bad that’s the cost, I got about 16k in aid.
So, Temple is out of the picture.
How much are your parents willing to pay per year?
If they can pay $15k per year, adding the $5.5k student loan puts your annual budget at $20.5k. Adding a summer job maybe puts your budget st $25k.
With that budget, you could afford Nebraska, SDSU, SJSU, and UNR – including fees and reasonable travel costs. If you desired additional “pizza money” and it would take you over that $25k budget, you could take a part-time job during the school year.
@Lehigh2022, What’s your EFC? If it’s low enough you may qualify for need based aid at some of your schools. Do you qualify for Pell and/or state grants, or is your family income too high?
I was vacantly watching a hockey game on TV just now and running through some numbers in my head.
This is not directly related to your ability to afford college, maybe, but it could be, and it certainly could improve your ability to have fun in college and provide for your future:
Let’s say you took a 15-hr (per week) job making $10/hour. Let’s say you’re at Nebraska and the state/local taxes are low-to-nil, so you’re keeping about $130 of that per week. That comes to about $550 per month (since months average more than four full weeks).
If you adopted a “spend half, save half” mentality, you could:
That $10,000 is $10,000 worth of access to opportunity and added security. It can help you put down a down payment on a house, it can come in handy if you are out of work for months, you can take a piece of it and do some traveling, etc.