<p>what if the EFC is way more than we can afford? this may sound very basic so I apologize now. But, what if your EFC is more than the remaining amount after your childs scholaship money is deducted from the price of admission? does the school provide different resources for the remaining amount, for example different types of loans etc.? and... what if you don't qualify for those loans? what if you have too much debt and can't qualify? </p>
<p>help!!! thank you in advance</p>
<p>Schools may offer you a Parent Plus loan if you can’t pay your EFC, but if you can’t qualify then all your child will be offered is an additional $4k in student loans.</p>
<p>Many people find that they can’t afford their EFCs, so they have to employ a strategy.</p>
<p>1) Attend a school that costs less than the EFC.</p>
<p>2) commute to a local CC or state school and pay with student loans, student summer earnings, and parent contribution.</p>
<p>3) Attend a school where the merit scholarship is so huge that the remaining amount can be covered with a student loan and/or family funds.</p>
<p>What is your EFC? How much can you pay?</p>
<p>Does your child have the GPA and test scores to get large merit scholarships at some schools?</p>
<p>Keep in mind that merit scholarships do NOT get applied to EFC first. To reduce your EFC, merit scholarships have to be sooooo big that they cover all of need, and THEN the excess cuts into EFC.</p>
<p>thanks for the information. our EFC is about 30,000. the thing is that we have quite a bit in cc debt. and we are paying for our son’s college straight up without loans. he’s a senior this year, but will be going to law school next year. </p>
<p>I always thought the school provided different options for the difference in the cost of admission and the scholarship money. I didnt know we had to look for loans ourselves.</p>
<p>They do. </p>
<p>The student is eligible for federal student loans in their own name. The amounts are limited - $5500 freshman year, 6500 sophomore year, $7500 3rd year and up with a total aggregate limit of $31,000.</p>
<p>Parents are offered PLUS loans. If you are denied a PLUS loan then the student is eligible for $4000 more in unsub federal student loans. (PLUS loans are usually easier to qualify for than private loans.)</p>
<p>For law school any loans would be in your son’s name. The direct student loans have a much higher limit for professional school. And there are also Grad PLUS loans - also in the name of the student.</p>
<p>CC debt is not taken into account at all when determining eligibility for aid. FWIW, the interest on student loans and parent PLUS loans is not fantastic, but much better than credit card interest. Plus the interest is also tax deductible. Have you considered taking out loans for college and using the other money to pay down your CC debt?</p>
<p>*I always thought the school provided different options for the difference in the cost of admission and the scholarship money. I didnt know we had to look for loans ourselves. *</p>
<p>I think you misunderstood. The school won’t provide MANY options, but it will provide you with a Plus loan option. (and your child will be offered standard federal Stafford Direct student loans)</p>
<p>However, you mentioned possibly not being able to qualify for such loans. In such a case, your options will be few. Your child will be offered $4k more per year in loans, but the school isn’t going to do any more for you at that point. </p>
<p>Once your older child graduates, he’ll be independent so his grad school loans will be his alone. He can borrow large amounts, but may not be enough to pay for a pricey private law school. </p>
<p>*Our EFC is about 30,000. the thing is that we have quite a bit in cc debt. and we are paying for our son’s college straight up without loans. he’s a senior this year, but will be going to law school next year. *</p>
<p>Is this child going to a school where you’re actually paying less than $30k per year?</p>
<p>Are you concerned about your younger child? Will your child be going to a school that meets need? Or will give large merit scholarships for his/her stats?</p>
<p>If you can’t pay the family contribution, it will be little help if the school meets your full need…that does NOT include the family contribution.</p>
<p>I would suggest that you look at schools whereby your child had either guaranteed or very strong likelihood of getting very good merit aid. </p>
<p>How much CAN you afford? You will want to look at options that are affordable to you.</p>
<p>Once your older child is done with college, and is in law school, will you be able to help the younger one at the same level? If there is an anticipated overlap, perhaps the younger one would take a gap year…not perhaps the ideal but it might help with your family cash flow.</p>
<p>I think some clarification is needed. </p>
<p>The OP says that their EFC is $30k, and that they paid for Child #1’s education without loans. So, either they paid their full $30k EFC or the child went to a school that cost them less than EFC (after subtracting merit or whatever).</p>
<p>yes, our son is a senior this year and we pay about 13,000 per year. Much less than our EFC. My dtr was just accepted at a school that runs about 31,000 per year and earned 13,000 per year in scholarship money. so, the rest is up to us to pay. because of all of our cc debt we are not able to come up with monthly pmts to pay the 18,000 per year that remains after the scholarship money. thank you all so much for your kind help</p>
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<p>The only controversial question I have is it sounds like you are expecting to pay for your son’s law school? We have three kids and our EFC is alittle north of yours but we cannot realistically afford to pay for graduate school and pay all three of our children equivalent undergraduate costs. I think you need to crunch the numbers and see what you can really do for both kids, but that is just my opinion. Or you make a decision to assist in funding your son’s graduate school and figure out what to do with #2 with what budget you have left remaining. Tough decisions, but yes that’s sometimes what it comes down to. I think and someone correct me if I’m wrong, while some schools might consider parental payments for graduate school, most will discount that and assume that is optional and a discretionary expense on the part of the parent.</p>
<p>She got $13000 in scholarship money…and she would also get $5500 in Stafford loans as a freshman. That totals $18500. Subtract that from the costs and you have a balance of $12,500. If she works and can earn even $2000…to contribute to these costs…you would have just north of $10,000 a month…maybe that is doable for your family.</p>
<p>Are you able to continue paying $13K a year for your D or were you planning to continue funding your son’s education? She could manage the remaining $5K with a combination of federal student loans and work. Obviously your son will have access to much higher loan limits once he’s in law school. Many, if not most, parents here expect their kids to find alternate funding for grad school, particularly if there are younger siblings involved.</p>
<p>*our son is a senior this year and we pay about 13,000 per year. Much less than our EFC. </p>
<p>My dtr was just accepted at a school that runs about 31,000 per year and earned 13,000 per year in scholarship money. so, the rest is up to us to pay. </p>
<p>because of all of our cc debt we are not able to come up with monthly pmts to pay the 18,000 per year that remains after the scholarship money. thank you all so much for your kind help *</p>
<p>Is the school that your D is considering Baylor? Your recent posts indicate that your D was just accepted to Baylor. Is she planning on commuting? Baylor’s tuition is (for THIS year) about $31,700. Of course there will be books and fees as well…which could be another $1500 or so. So, about $33k per year. </p>
<p>You need to keep in mind that the scholarship amount will not increase each year, but each year the tuition will likely go up…which will increase the amount that needs to get covered.</p>
<p>If your D will not be commuting, then the costs will be much higher than $33k…more like $45k.</p>
<p>To be blunt, $31,000 per year minus $13,000 in scholarships minus $13,000 you are paying for #1 undergraduate which now would go to #2 minus Stafford gets you there so it really comes down to what can you do for your #1 if anything for graduate school if you want to fund #2 like you did #1. Touch decision… hopefully you can figure out what will work for you.</p>
<p>thank you all for being so kind and providing good opinions. Does anyone know what the qualifications are for Parent PLUS loans? does credit score play into the mix? would having too much cc debt be a detriment? thanks again!</p>
<p>I am not a financial expert, but as long as you are paying on your credit cards, that doesn’t seem to hurt your credit score.
When we first took out PLUS loans, we had also just paid off bills that we were having a credit counseling agency handle, but we qualified for PLUS loans OK.</p>
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<p>Unless I’m misreading…the above came from the Baylor website…and freshmen are REQUIRED to live on campus for one year. That would increase the cost of attending Baylor to $45,000 or so.</p>
<p>RE: Plus loans…the qualification criteria are much more liberal than for other loans. Still…you need to qualify for FOUR years, not just one. I would not suggest overextending yourselves financially. This is not in yours or your student’s best interest.</p>
<p>Hopefully she has also applied to some schools that are within the financial criteria your family can meet.</p>
<p>*does credit score play into the mix? would having too much cc debt be a detriment? thanks again! *</p>
<p>YES credit score is in the mix.</p>
<p>I am not a financial expert, but as long as you are paying on your credit cards, that doesn’t seem to hurt your credit score.</p>
<p>If a person has a lot of debt, then his debt ratio is not healthy and that does hurt one’s rating…even if you’re not behind on your debt.</p>
<p>Still…you need to qualify for FOUR years, not just one. I would not suggest overextending yourselves financially. This is not in yours or your student’s best interest.</p>
<p>Bingo! That’s the problem that families with debt have. They may qualify for the first year or two, but when they go to re-apply, their debt level has now risen too much and then they’re denied. …then the child can’t afford the school.</p>
<h2>*Baylor University is committed to providing residence halls and apartments where students can form friendships, cultivate social and leadership skills, and grow in integrity and faith. Currently, 40 percent of students live on campus. Freshmen are required to live on campus for one year.</h2>
<p>Thumper quote: Unless I’m misreading…the above came from the Baylor website…and freshmen are REQUIRED to live on campus for one year. That would increase the cost of attending Baylor to $45,000 or so.
*</p>
<p>If the school is Baylor, then this req’t will raise the cost to at least $45k.</p>
<p>Is the school Baylor? Was the plan to have her commute?</p>
<p>We can’t afford our EFC. My son was unable to attend his first choice school because the aid didn’t work out for us. He is in school, all is well … sometimes, they just have to find another option. We can afford costs at our public U’s, but the private school he liked was still too expensive even with a scholarship. Sometimes we just have to say no.</p>
<p>yes, I have no problem saying no. I’m just looking for the most affordable way for her to go to college. It doesnt matter if it’s private or public. I’ve just noticed that private tends to give more out in merit money</p>
<p>guitars…I hope it all works out. Just make sure you include room/board if this is indeed Baylor. And I hope you get it all figured out.</p>