<p>Here is my situation. Im a student at a community college in chicago. Im going to finish my 2nd year in the spring 14 and i want to transfer to UIUC for ChemE in fall 14. My gpa is 3.9 i have all the required classes, bla bla bla.. the problem is with money. I dont know much about the options that i have. If i wanted to go to UIUC , i'd have to move out of my mom's place and live on my own. This is a huge cost. $26000 is the yearly estimate if im correct. Add summer school cost and summer living cost, it will be around $28k maybe. I will get full financial aid ($6500) but thats all i can say for sure. </p>
<p>What are my other options of getting the money? </p>
<p>I have no credit at all, my mom is in debt, both credit cards and school loan she took out. She has a 20k/year job, while i make like $100 a week on a part time 2 day/week job. Assume that I wont find work while at UIUC and get no help from her. </p>
<p>Is there a way to pay all the living expenses (apartament, utilities, food, transport) + school with loans??? what are the options.</p>
<p>Sorry, but that school gives lousy aid and there aren’t other options. You’ll get a 7500 student loan and a 5500 Pell Grant. Transfers often get the worst aid. Did you try the Net Price Calculator and indicate that you’re a transfer student? What was the result?</p>
<p>Your mom won’t qualify to co-sign add’l loans. There’s a reason that you can’t get add’l loans by yourself…you don’t have the income/credit to qualify. AND…paying back big loans is very difficult.</p>
<p>What univ can you commute to?</p>
<p>Is your major offered at IIT or at UI-Chicago? Does Northwestern often admit transfers from your CC into its engineering programs? One of those should be commuting distance for you. Run the Net Price Calculators to get an estimate for financial aid.</p>
<p>chemE is offered at IIT, but IIT is ridiculously expensive. UIC has it as well, and money wise it is the best option, however it is my second choice to UIUC. Based on the general consensus UIUC totally blows UIC out of the water so id rather go there. </p>
<p>The net price calculators include grants and scholarships so theyre no good since i cant really hope much for a transfer aid.</p>
<p>Well, don’t discount UIC. Yes, another school may be “much better” ranking-wise, but in the end the graduates at both schools get the great paying jobs. You’re not going to get paid less just because you went to UIC…a company will pay grads from both schools the same.</p>
<p>so, think about that. Even if thru some miracle your mom qualified for those loans, once you were graduated and employed, you would become very annoyed to find out that the other new-hires from UIC were being paid the SAME…and they don’t have to pay back the big debt.</p>
<p>You also should apply to schools that give great aid to transfers…like Cornell or maybe Northwestern.</p>