To rich for financial aid, too poor to pay for college

Paying for College
1

This is a long story, so please bear with me.

Coming from a religious family, I pushed long and hard to attend a local private high school. My parents said that before I could, we would have to receive enough in aid and find a carpool (the school is 30-40 mi away). Both occurred, and I enrolled four years ago. However, in the past three years, the tuition has increased at an astounding rate, with our aid failing to keep up with the rising costs of education. Needless to say that the school was a major financial burden.

Looking back, attending this school was a good thing for me, but financially, it was a killer. I found myself saying that I would make up for it by being self-sufficient in college, something I still think I can deliver on. With the rate being so high this year, my father took a part time job to help cover those costs. So, when we filled out the FAFSA, the EFC came out especially high.

My goal is to attend SDSU, and being in-state but having to live on campus, my total cost of attendance will most likely exceed $20,000. With such a high EFC, the school is giving me around $5,000 in federal loans, and expecting the rest to come from my family (for some reason, the school believes I will be living off campus, assuming this until I apply for housing).

Luckily for me, with all the AP credits I have or will have by Fall of 2015, I should have enough credit to enter SDSU as a sophomore. My GPA exceeds 4.0, and I received a 30 on the ACT.

I have applied for over $25,000 in scholarships from outside sources, and plan to work as many hours as humanly possible, but I also desperately need a cosigner to apply for a private loan. My parents will not take out a PLUS loan, which I understand. I just need them to cosign on my behalf, but I am meeting opposition on this as well.

Does anyone have any advice? I can provide more background info on this issue need be. I just need help/advice on how many hours one can expect to work during the week, how I can get more in scholarships/loans, or any other general advice.

Thank you so much!

2

One thing I will add for clarification, without detailing too much on personal finances. My EFC is about the same as the cost of attendance that SDSU is calculating as of now, but when I apply for housing, that number will change (as they said it would), far surpassing the EFC. Originally, I didn’t receive any work study or other financing options. Would I be eligible for that once I apply for housing?

3

It sounds like your income is too high to qualify for a Calgrant. But even if you did, the aid would not have provided enough money for you to live on campus.

Is there a CSU close enough for you to commute from your family home?

4

If your EFC is already $20,000 as of now, you will not receive a federal Pell grant or federal work-study since these are means-tested; your cost of attendance going up won’t help in that regard. It’s not realistic to anticipate that you will receive any additional federal financial aid for this year at this stage to be honest since your family circumstances haven’t actually changed since you applied for aid.

As far as working during the semester, most full-time students stick to 10-20 hours a week during the semester. If you can find a job on-campus that will be ideal since on-campus employers know how to work around student schedules. Additionally, this probably won’t help you very much for this year but I would inquire for next year if there are positions working for the residence halls; some places will pay a generous stipend and/or waive housing costs. I don’t know how SDSU handles it but it’s probably something you can research on your own.

(You should also try your best to work full-time/close to full-time during summer before college and between semesters; you may also be able to pick up hours during breaks too.)

Your grades and scores are good so it’s probably worthwhile [checking out the SDSU scholarship page](http://go.sdsu.edu/student_affairs/financialaid/sdsuscholarshipshowtosearch.aspx) if you haven’t already tried.

Regarding loans – you won’t be able to borrow any more than the federal loans you mentioned without your parents’ assistance. Assuming you don’t already have a job or significant assets on your own, your parents will have to borrow the money with you (co-signing) or on their own (Parent PLUS loans), and if they are resistant to that then it just won’t work.

Do you think your father will be leaving the part-time job this year? If so, one thing that might help is to go to SDSU and re-run their Net Price Calculator (financial aid calculator) with your family income minus the additional income from the part-time job. This will not change anything for this year but it might be a good predictor to see if you will qualify for more aid in subsequent years. Your EFC will go down as your family income goes down but it may not be enough to trigger any additional financial aid.

5

This is the closest CSU. However, we are in the process of selling our house, and my father could be going anywhere from LA and SF to Houston. The uncertainty is holding up the process. I want to live on campus, which would mean I wouldn’t need to work off campus or have a car, saving more money while being able to work more efficiently.

6

The EFC isn’t $20,000, but isn’t far off from it. Besides living in CA, my parents are older and my father will be retiring within the decade.

I will absolutely pursue SDSU scholarships, and would have no problem being an RA or holding another on-campus job if it helps.

I also have a job and have been working since May of last year.

I would be completely comfortable being responsible for paying $6,000 from the money earned from working during both semesters…

7

But $6000 is not enough. Ypu will need a lot more than that to pay dorm costs and any other tuition, fees, books, loving costs that your parents will not pay.

Where will all of that money come from?

How much WILL your family contribute for college every year. Add that amount to the $5500 Direct loan, and add your earnings to that. THAT is your budget for college costs.

8

From what I understand, a rough budget could look like this (keep in mind that I will even take a course at a local CC over the summer to ensure I enter as a sophomore in the fall of 2015):

Tuition: $7,000
Room/Board: $12,000
Book/Expenses:$2,000-$3,000

At this moment, it looks like $22,000 is an accurate number for how much I can expect to put down per year at SDSU. I think I will make more than $6,000 during the year, and that money will go directly to paying off any private loans I am able to receive.

So, with the $5,500 from the gov, $6,000 out of pocket, there is still about $11,000/year for, say, three years. I don’t believe a $33,000 loan is terribly bad. I am working on scholarships that I can hopefully use to pay down some of that loan.

9

I guess my main question would be how to overcome cosigner fear. Is there any way a cosigner could be released after college? I would be making payments in school, and hope to build up credit and a reputation. Is that realistic to think a loan could release my parent’s responsibility to back the loan?

10

The good thing about being an RA is that you can just sit around doing homework most nights so work won’t inconvenience your studies that much.

I think you should probably sit down with your parents and work out the numbers.

It won’t be a $33,000 loan. You want to borrow the federal loan for $5,500 for the first year, right? That bumps it up to $38,500 in total. Will you borrow that again the remaining two years?

I think you should sit your parents down and get them to discuss with you how much they can pay. If they won’t take out a loan, then you can only borrow the federal loan amounts which are $5,500 for your first year, $6,500 for your second year, and $7,500 for your last two years.

Your parents might be able to help you with the tuition and fees but they might have trouble coming up with the full amount up front. If so, consider – [there is an installment plan](http://bfa.sdsu.edu/fm/co/cashiers/installment.html) that they might find more palatable than borrowing. Instead, they can make monthly payments which some find more manageable, and it will be less expensive/risky than borrowing. It’s worth considering if your parents are adamant about not taking out a student loan.

11

Becoming an RA is not a slam dunk, and should not be considered a reliable since of revenue. You might get the nod, and you might not.

I believe COSIGNERS can be released from Sallie Mae loans if the signer makes all payments ON TIME for a certain period of time.

If your parents won’t cosign your loans, you will need to go back to the drawing board.

I would discuss this financial plan with them. What will they expect you to do if you can’t secure a loan without their signature as well?

12

They aren’y against student loans, but they are unsure about the cosigning. One of my parents fears that they will be stuck with the bill at the end of the day.

I have reservations about the loan as well, but I’d rather take out too much than not enough. And I am working very hard to receive scholarships that could go towards paying the loan back early, making repaying the loan much more feasible.

13

SDSU housing is on a 8 month payment plan plus depositi. Housing bills you separately from the tuition so you can spread out the payments. Also to cut costs, you might want to consider a triple and a smaller meal plan.
Tuition and fees can also be setup on a payment plan. If you are considering working at the dorms or the bookstore, apply early since the jobs go quickly and they are very flexible about working around your class schedule.

https://newscenter.sdsu.edu/housing/2015-16reshallpayments.aspx

14

Some lenders offer cosigner release, but it’s not automatic. Generally you have to be personally making principal and interest payments for a long period of time before applying, as well as demonstrate proof of significant income before applying for the release. It’s generally not available prior to graduation either. I don’t know your parents so I don’t know how much confidence they would put in that.

Which of course is reasonable – no one can foretell the future, and it’s very tempting to be extremely confident about future earnings and prospects now when you’re trying to convince them to help you with a loan. The fact is, though, you don’t know that you will get those scholarships, you can’t be 100% sure that you will have enough money to pay $6000 towards college costs (an amount that may have to go up each year) as well as make principal and interest payments. You don’t know what kind of on-campus job that you will get. You can’t be sure that you will get a well-paying job right away after graduation. Your parents are likely worried that if any one thing goes wrong with all of these plans that they will be left ‘holding the bag’ so to speak.

You seem like a determined and driven person, and that’s great, but it’s also important to be cognizant of risks that may come about if plans don’t work. If you borrow $11,000 a year plus maximum federal loans for three years, that’s over $50,000 of debt – which is close to wice what the average student borrows.

15

Re the RA job: usually, these jobs go to someone who has lived in the dorms and is familiar with the on-campus rules and dorms. RA positions are uber competitive.

You can’t afford SDSU if your parents won’t cosign on a loan. You need to go to the financial aid office and let them know that your FA status will be changing and the ask them if there are any more scholarships available.

16

I plan on walking into the financial aid office and discussing my situation one-on-one. Perhaps they’ll have something to say, but so far thank you to everyone who has contributed! :smile: It’s all been very helpful

17

If you take a gap year, and your parents income drops because they are no longer paying your private school fees, will SDSU become affordable?

If that doesn’t make SDSU affordable (and remember you have to come up with the money for all four years, not just for one), then a gap year while you look for places where your GPA and test score will land you serious merit aid might be in order.

18

where else did you apply?

19

Also re the RA job: I recommend against applying to be an RA unless you think you really like that kind of work. My older daughter thought she’d like it but found it to be quite stressful: having to repeatedly tell the same students to quiet down; talking for hours with a few students when they were extremely emotionally distraught; regularly working on Friday and Saturday nights, meaning she couldn’t go out. She’s very friendly and approachable; having to be a disciplinarian of sorts was unpleasant for her.

20

Scholarship monies typically go directly to the school so cannot be used to pay off loans taken out. In this case I too would look for a school to commute to to eliminate the high cost of housing.