<p>Here’s the scenario I see: You have an EFC of $6000. You can afford to pay about $9000 (1 1/2 times EFC) out of pocket. D gets $5500 federal loans ($3500 subsidized). So…total funds equal $14,500 per year. </p>
<p>She won’t be able to get any more loans without a co-signer. If you are not willing to co-sign, then that’s that. </p>
<p>If this were my kid, I would advise - get a job and start saving money. Go to community college for Spring semester (and keep working and saving money). She could realistically save about $5000-$10000 between now and next fall. But, keep in mind that she will have 3 more years to pay for. So, I would think that she could afford to go to a college that costs about $20,000 total (if she continues to work during school year and summers). But this is going to take a total commitment from D. It’s really up to her. </p>
<p>Consider community college and earning an associate’s degree. If she can do it in a single semester thanks to all the AP credits, it puts her in a much better position as a transfer. With a an associate’s degree, some schools will consider gen ed completed, whether or not she really has all the classes. </p>
<p>If she could finish a major at a 4 year college in 2 or 2.5 years at another school, you would save quite a bit by not having to fund all 4 years at a 4 year institution. </p>
<p>Please don’t dismiss the community college option so quickly. They’re very affordable and many have articulation agreements with 4 year colleges. It doesn’t sound like you have an affordable 4 year option, and you’re right to be wary to taking on parent debt or saddling your d with too much student debt.</p>
<p>I agree about CC. I have a friend in OP’s state who began at a private, expensive college, also in that state as a junior with an AA degree thanks to the credits. She is a brilliant young lady who chose a challenging major and certainly didn’t feel that CC was beneath her. The family didn’t quite have the money to send her someplace for 4 years without significant aid and this was their solution. It’s doable for sure. The girl is now working in her Ph. D. and has not suffered from a lacking education because of her going the CC route.</p>
<p>Your daughter could work her way through Harvard Extension School (or another extension school). Without a clear goal after graduation, though, Î’d be hesitant to spend real money on education, though (she can discover herself through cheap classes in CC or online).</p>
<p>Your daughter has champage tastes on a beer budget.<br>
You can’t afford another 4 year school.
Together you can afford CC.
She could work to make money for tuition.
These are the options.
She is suffering from "magical thinking’…that some how this will all work out.</p>
<p>I don’t really understand how you expect your daughter, who will just be starting a career, to pay back loans you and your spouse could only afford if you sold your home. It sounds like they’d be unaffordable for her too.</p>
<p>I think most people (at least all the ones I know) who can’t afford the colleges their kids want to attend encourage them to make a new list of more affordable schools, start at cc, look for merit, and/or get a job. If your daughter hasn’t lost her freshman status, I’d do what so many of the experienced posters on this forum advise: tell her frankly how much you’ll pay per year and that anything over that needs to be covered by the $5500 +/- federal loans and/or merit. I’d run the NPCs for each school and not waste application dollars on any that weren’t reasonably close to what you can afford. If it was my daughter, at this point the list would include only financial safeties, and (no matter what the NPC said) her BF’s college wouldn’t be one of them. </p>
<p>Wait, is this the child you “gave everything”, who was so “mean” to you last year that you “couldn’t wait” to get her out of the house, who has little appreciation for the money that is spent on her, and so little ambition that she turns down extra shifts at her current job where she could be earning money to pay for what she wants? If this was my child, she’d be attending a cc and working for the privilege. In my opinion, anyone who isn’t mature enough to work and save for what they want isn’t mature enough to be trusted to pay back loans for something they’ve already done.</p>
<p><<<
Wait, is this the child you “gave everything”, who was so “mean” to you last year that you “couldn’t wait” to get her out of the house, who has little appreciation for the money that is spent on her, and so little ambition that she turns down extra shifts at her current job where she could be earning money to pay for what she wants?
<<<<</p>
<p>Maybe this is the way to get her out of the house></p>
<p>OP - I can feel your heartbreak for your D’s situation. It is a tough and unfortunate turn of events. You probably won’t be able to find a perfect situation. That’s OK. There’s plenty of parents here that have sweated tough situations… and down the road it turned out fine.</p>
<p>For now, I’m thinking CC makes sense. Good luck to you and your family! </p>
<p>She might be qualified for work study but there is no guarantee that she will be offered work study. My daughter got work study the first year but not the second even though nothing changed financially.</p>
<p>She has 2 part-time jobs and did all summer. She was offered work study. At the original school, no problem getting them. At the new school, she will be starting mid year and we hear from everyone who has been awarded work study that they never actually got jobs.</p>
<p>My husband and I are still paying back our own student loans. So if we took out a loan to pay for her that costs us $300 a month…and then proceed to do that for all our children, we are talking $2100 a month plus our own student loans, which we pay $1000 a month on. (our loans were taken out when interest was 8.25% and we had to forebear due to a medically needy child and by the time we started paying, our loans had doubled. We did refinance for a lower rate, with Direct Loans…so that helps. But when you are at $100,000 a year, almost 4% interest still adds up to $4000 a year in interest a year. So paying at the rate of $1K a month…we have now gotten it down to about $80K). </p>
<p>There is a world if difference between us paying $3100 a month, so our children can all go to dream schools, even though other schools would have offered more aid, and the one child who wants to go to the more expensive school paying $300 a month. </p>
<p>PLUS…on the CC first…IF she does CC first, she will likely not get in to any schools that offer better financial aid…which would be out of state private competitive schools. AND, as for instate goes, the schools she was already admitted to, she will lose all freshman scholarships. Which means any financial savings that would happen by taking 1 semester at CC will be completely cancelled out by losing any and all scholarship offers that are available for freshmen only. She has AP credit for pretty much the entire core (depending on college) but would have “core complete” at any of our local community colleges within a semester. Oh…and people I have known who have done CC first to get the core out of the way still have to do 3-4 years at state because within the major, which you could not really be able to do until you get there, there are pre-requisites for everything. So the entire semester is pretty much a waste. And you lose all freshman scholarships so now you pay way more.</p>
<p>“My husband and I are still paying back our own student loans” - Warning bells… you are so right to be concerned about the finances. Best of luck finding solution that works for your D without derailing the family budget. </p>
<p>People have offered you good advice and you continue to say, " yes but…" and continue advancing on the very plan everyone here has warned you against.</p>
<p>I don’t understand having seven children before you have paid off your own school debts. Paying off your home before you paid these higher interest debts makes no sense.</p>
<p>Your daughter is eighteen. She needs to take ownership of her impulsive decision to leave school. Let her work, get married, or what ever she plans to do. She is not going to value money or education until she gets a taste of what it’s like not to have either. </p>
<p>If you only came here to vent, let us know. We’ll stop making suggestions. </p>