$70,000 per year or $70,000 for all four years ($17,500 per year)?
What scholarships have you received? And are those for one year only? The scholarships that you’ve received are likely one year awards.
So your parents will pay $70k total? About $17k per year plus books, travel?
I have a group of scholarships (don’t have a list of them) but they are all cash scholarships which total to about $18000. These were a bunch of small local scholarships. And yes, my folks will pay $70k and books+travel.
$70,000 per year, or $70,000 total for all four years (= $17,500 per year)?
$70k for all four years + books and travel
Penn State for an OOS student is gong to total ~$160,000. How are you going to make up the rest of the $90k??? And that’s assuming you can complete your degree in four years, something that can be challenging in certain majors at PSU.
@LucieTheLakie
Due to concurrent college courses and AP Tests, I can finish my degree in 7-8 semesters depending if I want to minor. Most of my GE Requirements and a good amount of my lower divs for engineering. After fafsa and scholarships, my total for just tuition and board after four years comes to $126k. Again, travel and books are paid for, so I need only worry about tuition and lodging which my parents would pay $70k. So I’d be taking a student loan of about $56k.
$56,000 is a LOT of debt for an undergraduate degree, engineering or not.
And you can only take out $31,000 in Stafford loans. See here: https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/types/loans/subsidized-unsubsidized#how-much
Don’t forget, there’s interest on all these loans.
I’d go to UCSC over Penn State if I were you. Is Caly Poly SLO out of your price range? That seems like a better option than Penn State. Mind you, I live in PA!
I did not get into Cal Poly SLO unfortunately.
And technically, when I say I would be $56k in debt, my parents would cosign a private loan for whatever amount I can’t get with Stafford and I would be expected to pay it through them.
However, you are right, though manageable, $56k is still a lot for college. I’ll discuss with my folks and see what can be done.
BTW, what is the general consensus for how much an undergrad should take on for loans?
I have seen everything from 8% starting salary to 20%. From $30k to $60k. I know that the National average is like $50k but i understand that is from a wide variety of majors including medicine and it may not necessarily represent smart borrowing.
Average student loan debt is ~$30K. http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2015/05/08/congratulations-class-of-2015-youre-the-most-indebted-ever-for-now/ What kind of starting salary do you think you’ll have if $60K=20%? One rule of thumb is no more than one year starting salary (which in many cases ~$40K, more for engineers). Most people on the boards recommend no more than the Stafford limit (<$30K).
If you go over the limit of what you can borrow on your own, won’t you have to get your parents to cosign for you? An extra 20k of debt for them and you, after they already plan on paying for quite a bit?
PSU isn’t worth that. And I GO here. 
@sinhasunny, obviously a lot depends on the family’s circumstances, but in general, a reasonable approach is to not borrow more than you can expect to earn in your first year of employment, and to err on the conservative side. Even engineers can hit patches where employment options are not bountiful. Also, keep in mind that all that money you’re spending in loan payments is money you won’t have to buy a home or a car, etc.
You can try calculating what your monthly payments would be for any of these loan amounts you’re considering here:
Try running it with the current Stafford rate of 4.29% to calculate your monthly payments and to see how much in interest you would be paying.
Good luck!
I’m curious… how do you know that you’ve gained confirmed entry into UCSC and did not get an offer from Cal Poly SLO? What other UC’s did you apply to?
The application period just ended on November 30, so even if you had submitted an ED application to SLO,
I am not aware of any program or exception that allows students to have heard about their results as of yet.
Probably no more than the undergraduate federal direct loan limit, or a more conservative amount depending on your situation, whichever is less.
With $17,500 + books + travel from the parents, you may be able to barely afford UCSC if you add a federal direct loan and some work earnings if you live very frugally. The UCSC cost of attendance is $30,000 to $34,000, but that includes rather generous estimates for personal expenses and such, plus the cost of medical insurance if you do not already have it (so if you can continue on your parents’ medical insurance and live very frugally, that will certainly help). Penn State at a higher price would be out of reach.
How do you know that you are admitted to UCSC but not CPSLO (or any other UC or CSU) already, since the application periods have just barely closed?
Penn State is too expensive, period.
So your choice would be UCSC or one of the universities with merit scholarships.
How come you already have results?