Hey guys! This is my first post! I made an account specifically to ask this question. I’m an out of state high school senior with good EC’s, a 4.3 GPA, and a 2250 SAT. I’m planning on majoring in finance. I have already been accepted to Hofstra University with very generous Merit Aid (total cost will be around 14,000/ year). Today I was accepted to UVA as well! I wanted to see whether the higher price tag for a UVA education is worth it. Thanks guys!
What’s your cost of attendance for U VA? Can your parents afford it? Obviously it’s much more prestigious than Hofstra, but is it doable?
I won’t get my official financial aid packet until April 1st, but according to the net price calculator it should be about 25,000 a year. My parents are middle class but expect me to fully fund my college education so money is an issue, but the value of a UVA education could be worth that extra 11,000 per year.
$11,000 more a year certainly sounds worth it, but how cay you afford $14,000, let alone $25,000 a year without help? You can only take $5,500 for the year in loans.
That’s probably something I should look into. I know my fafsa offers me about 5500 in loans but I assume I will take out private loans to pay for the rest of it. I haven’t done this before so I’m not sure how it works.
You can’t take out any more loans, your parents would have to take out the loans in their name.
The amount of federal loans per year available to a student starts out at 5500, and then goes up to 6500 a year and then 7500 fourth year.
If your parents cannot or will not contribute, it will be very hard for you to cover 25K a year., if that is what your UVa cost ends up being. As noted above, parents have to sign for federal PLUS loans, which do not have great terms. The terms for private loans are often worse, and they may require a co-signer.
If you are in a position to graduate in 3.5 years with AP credits, it may help. However, I don’t know if that is possible in the Comm School.
One option is to attend a less expensive college for two years, and then if you are unsatisfied, apply to transfer to a university that may have a higher net cost. However, keep in mind that most colleges that offer merit aid do not offer that aid to transfer students. The more selective colleges that mainly provide need-based aid (such as UVa) do usually offer need based aid to transfers.
Therefore, if you run out of money while attending a more expensive college, the deal from a university such as Hofstra will probably not be available to you in the future.
UVA will open many more doors than Hofstra. It’s likely worth the investment.