I have been accepted to Ohio State and UPenn, but I qualify for NO need-based $$. I really want to go to penn, but it will cost me 60k a year!!! Plus I have to pay for my own college (parents will loan me money, but I have to pay them back). SOMEBODY HELPPPPP
Congrats on your acceptances. Unfortunately, you can’t realistically pay a quarter of a million dollars for school. Students really should keep borrowing close to the federal student loan limit ($27k total). Are your parents saying they won’t help you at all?
Will your parents lend you the money interest free? See if you can get them to do that, and ask them if they will consider principal reductions for good grades.
If not, it might be time to reconsider your other options. $60K a year for four years is lunatic debt, even if your loan shark is Ma and Pa Soprano. If your parents won’t help you pay for UPenn it’s unrealistic to find some alternate source of funds this late in the game.
“Plus I have to pay for my own college”
If you have the grades and test scores for Penn, you have the grades and test scores for a number of other places that would give you huge merit money. Did you get that kind of money from Ohio State? If so, go there. If not, take a gap year and apply to places where you won’t end up owing your parents a ridiculous amount of money for your college education.
To find big merit money, read through the threads pinned at the top of this forum.
Did you not know that there would be no dollars?
You really can’t afford UPenn, sorry.
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I have been accepted to Ohio State and Penn (Wharton). OSU will cost me 15k a year, Wharton will cost me 60k. I don’t qualify for any need-based aid. I am unsure of my major (maybe math, compsci, physics, or business). I have to pay for college (parents will loan me but I have to pay them back), so 60k is EXTREMELY stifling. What should I do?
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Sounds like OSU gave you some merit. Are you instate or OOS for OSU?
UPenn isn’t affordable. Borrowing $240k is outrageously crazy for undergrad, even if it’s Wharton. (BTW…if you were accepted to Wharton, then why are saying that you may be a math, CS or physics major? )
Why are your parents saying that they won’t pay ANYTHING for college???
Are you a NMF by any chance??
I think it’s pretty obvious that you should go to OSU if your parents can pay $15K/year for that, unless you can go a different school that will give you lots of merit aid (what are your stats?). UPenn Wharton is not going to happen for you.
Some posters are being bluntly harsh, OP, but bottom line, unfortunately, its not worth spending that kind of money for Penn if its unaffordable.
^ This. Sit down with your parents and ask them exactly what their repayment terms would be, and whether there are any circumstances in which they would waive any portion of the debt. (For example, in addition to @DmitriR’s suggestion of a loan reduction for good grades, would you guess they’d waive any portion of the debt when you graduate? What about if and when you get married, so you’d be able to buy a house?)
What you’ve neglected to mention here (and it’s important) is that you were admitted to Wharton. So, as already noted in the UPenn forum, if your interest is finance, your earnings after graduation could be pretty impressive. The usual rule of thumb is not to take on more total debt than your anticipated first year earnings. But that rule applies to traditional loans. Given the unusual nature of your debt, you probably have more flexibility, depending on your parents’ repayment terms. So, unlike everyone else on this thread, I wouldn’t necessarily write Penn off as unaffordable.
I will play devil’s advocate here, and suggest that your parents are just testing you to see how badly you want to attend Penn.
Tell them that you want to attend Penn-Wharton, then see what they say. If they are happy to pay for it, even with the proviso that you have to pay them back, then they have the money.
But, make them suggest the payback plan. Do not ask them about it. If they do not give you a payment plan, then they really do NOT expect repayment. If they ask, tell them you will pay a couple of thousand per year. If they don’t argue with you about that either, then go to Penn. If they can afford to pay it, they can afford to give it to you upon graduation.
On the other hand, if they do get all legal and guilt-tripping about it, then they really don’t want you to go to Penn. In which case, OSU is your only choice.
Stats: 35 ACT, 4.0 gpa (unweighted), National Merit Finalist. Senior class president. Captain of track and cross country teams.
OSU only gave me 6k a year. Penn gave me no need-based aid. My parents won’t pay for my college. They will lend me money (interest-free), but is Wharton something I should even consider?
Believe me, I love the fact that I have the opportunity to go to Wharton for business, but I am a math guy through and through. (I convert miles per hour to meters per second while I drive or run lol.) So that’s why I’m thinking about math.
Is it even worth considering Penn? Penn is my dream school.
Also I know penn looks at all your test scores so I have a 36 ACT superscore. But the time I took it & got a 35, I got 35 E, 36 M, 34 R, and 36 S. So literally a 35.25. SOO ANNOYING.
But I need help from you guys.
OK, so what’re your parents’ rationale for lending you money instead of outright paying for Wharton? Do they actually have the money to afford Wharton? Would they have to dip in to their retirement savings or take out loans or take out a HELOC?
As a NMF, you could have gone to schools comparable to OSU for (slightly) cheaper if you had applied to them.
If you really do not like your current options… you could take a gap year and apply to schools which would give you a full tuition, or perhaps even a “full ride,” scholarship. I guarantee that your stats and ECs are good enough for a full tuition scholarship at a good college somewhere.
That’s another way to test your parents to see how serious they are about this “pay nothing” attitude is. Tell them you plan to wait a year. See what they say to that.
The rationale is that it is my education; therefore it is my responsibility to pay for it. (It sounds cold, but it’s actually very logical if you ask me…even though I’m the one the rationale harms).
I have already applied to schools which would give me full tuition (Oklahoma, Cincinnati). However I would rather go to OSU for 15k than to these schools for roughly 5k in fees.
I don’t think OSU is worth $60k in loans. How else will you pay for OSU?
(doesn’t OSU cost more than $21k per year???)
I have a 6k scholarship to OSU, but that’s it. That bumps it down to around 15k. (although youre right, it might be a little more…I’m just estimating for the sake of brevity)
Oh, that’s good that you thought to apply to some “NMF schools” like Oklahoma and Cincinnati, OP.
Like the others, I say that UPenn is out. $240K? OMG. No way.
The vast majority of kids don’t get to attend their dream schools. That’s just the way it is. Once you get established at whichever other school you choose, you will soon forget how “important” it was for you to attend UPenn.
Did you get the Cincinnatus Excellence Scholarship? That’s a really good deal. Full tuition, fees, dorm costs, and $1500 towards a computer, research, or study abroad. And of course, Oklahoma’s NMF package is awesome, too. So, you have two very good options there for close-to-free. Congratulations!
I take it you’re from Ohio and that’s why you’d prefer Ohio State for $15K a year instead of $5K in fees at the otherwise “free” schools?
Hmmm. Being the math enthusiast that you are, I assume you’ve done the math … a total of $60K for 4 years versus (is it?) $5K for 4 years (or is it $5K per year?). Either way. Compare $60K to $20K, or $60K to $5K. Those are HUGE differences when you talk about paying back your debt to your parents. A $40-55K difference may not sound like much to somebody who’s never owed a lot of money, but that amount is actually quite oppressive. You’re lucky that you have an interest-free option. That’ll save you a lot of money!
Of course, $60K for OSU is not an excessive cost for 4 years of college education. So, imo, it’s within the realm of reason if you elect to pay that much for OSU and forgo the NMF schools.
But if it were me, I’d take one of NMF schools and graduate debt-free. You’re too young to know how it feels to be strapped with a ton of debt. It feels awful. It zaps you of your freedom. So, given that you have the choice to avoid the debt, I’d take Cincinnati or Oklahoma.
Sounds like you might want to stay in the Midwest, so Cincinnati might be the best option for you, assuming that you did a great job applying to schools and chose only those that you considered to be a good fit.
Yeah. Cincinnati. That’s my vote! 
UPenn is out. 
Also, did you apply to MiamiU?
Actually, @eric45, their rationale does not hold water. It was a fine argument once upon a time, when higher education costs were tracking in accordance with the cost of living. Fifty years ago it was feasible to earn enough money to pay for one’s own education. But that’s ancient history. Expecting an 18-year old to come up with $240k (or even $60k) is absurd!
@NROTCgrad suggests that you borrow the money now, and worry about it later. I disagree and think you should have a heart-to-heart with your parents about their repayment terms. You’ve said the loan is interest-free, and that’s a start . . . but, seriously, how much of the $240k do they really expect you to pay back, and how soon? If you miss a payment, what’s going to happen - will they forgive you or stop speaking to you?
@NROTCgrad is right - legally, they’d have a hard time coming after you for the money if nothing’s in writing. But that’s not the point. What you want to avoid is having a serious falling out with your parents over an unpaid debt.
I think attending Wharton is a terrific opportunity, and since they’re making the funds available to you, I think you should accept their offer. But you know your parents better than I do . . . if you accept their offer, what are you getting yourself into? And if you’re not certain of the answer, then you need to ask them.