<p>I was accepted into Ohio State for the 2014/2015 academic year and I've recieved $1280 in the Pell Grant, $3500 in subsidized loans, and $2000 in unsub loans. These are not going to cover the costs for my tuition. I'll be living off campus with a job (hopefully) and I need another place to take out loans. I did submit a special scholarship app to OSU, but it seems as though I haven't received any type of aid from that scholarship...unless I receive something later in the mail. I doubt my parents will be accepted for a Parents PLUS loan so maybe my federal loans will be increased, but even after that, I think I'll still need a little more to cover everything. Tuition is a little over $10,000. I do plan on calling their office and seeing if I am eligible for any type of institutional grant, but they're not open today.</p>
<p>Any and all help/advice/suggestions are appreciated!</p>
<p>You probably can’t afford this school. Do you have any other options at all?</p>
<p>As I understand it you are at the max now for a freshman for federal loans, so you won’t get any more there. I agree with happymomof1, it probably isn’t affordable for you, since you have to pay living expenses as well. So go ahead and call the financial aid office about grants and your other scholarship application, but start seriously considering any other options you have as well.</p>
<p>If you got a $1280 Pell grant, then your FAFSA EFC is about $4000. The school will not give you grant money to cover your EFC at all.</p>
<p>The money you received from OSU will be sent directly to your bursar’s account to cover the school’s billable costs. Since you are living off campus, those loans and your Pell will be used to pay $6780 of your TUITION bill. You will be expected to pay the remaining amount of tuition and fees costs to OSU. </p>
<p>Since you won’t have a surplus, you won’t see any of this money yourself. You will have to pay your housing costs. In other words, your financial aid isn’t sufficient to cover your housing costs.</p>
<p>As for additional loans, it’s not a good idea to take out more than the direct loan limits. Even the additional if your parents don’t qualify for the Plus. And you won’t be able to get more than that without a qualified cosigner.</p>
<p>I don’t plan on going anywhere else seeing as how this is my best choice. I know it’s not ideal to take out many loans, but this is really my only choice. I’ve been at my community college for two years and I need to transfer. I will try to get a job on campus and possibly off campus so hopefully that can help, but I really don’t have any other choices. This is in state for me and academically, OSU is very good. I don’t want to take out too many loans, but it seems like my only choice. </p>
<p>If you get your transfer credits to OSU, and they can evaluate your status to be junior level, you will be entitled to $7500 totals in Direct Loans. If a parent applies for PLUS and is denied, you can automatically get $5K more. Other than that, unless you can find an independent lender who from whom you can borrow, or get your parents to cosign some of those type of loans, it’s a no go.</p>
<p>If you truly can get your degree in two years, it might make sense to do what you are. Otherwise, you should find a job to cover you living expenses, and slowly try to pay for courses, one at a time until you reach junior standing and THEN borrow what you can to finish your degree. To be in your third year of college and still be a freshman does not make you a good investment in yourself that way. You are highly likely to run out of all options in loans and funding and still not get a degree, yet owing more money than those who have gotten a degree. Don’t do that to yourself. Get on even keel first and then pick off those courses.</p>
<p>Also, I understand that none of this will help cover my housing costs, but I’m hoping that my job can pay for rent and loans can pay tuition. I’m not going anywhere else. This is my best option. I have a friend who graduated with $50,000 in loans. I’m just thankful I don’t need to take out that much.</p>
<p>Also, I haven’t taken out loans to pay for my community college. That was all paid by grants and my pocket so I currently don’t have any loans or debt to pay back. </p>
<p>@MUZIKGIRL; quite surprised that you did not get full tuition from OSU. They seem to give full-rides or full-tuition to most of their instate applicants with great GPA’s and TEST SCORES in case of freshman, even to international students as-well. Did you call to talk to the financial aid director and explain your situation?
MIAMI OXFORD usually tries to counter OSU offers as-well… not sure if you applied there either.</p>
<p>Well, I am a transfer student so maybe that plays a role in not receiving insitutional aid. I did ask on here if any transfer students received aid from OSU and a couple replied saying that they’d received the scarlet and grey grant, which was what I was hoping for. I didn’t apply to Miami because their tuition is more and they don’t have options for undergrad off campus housing so I would have to pay for dorms. Kent also has similar tuition to OSU, as well as University of Toledo. U of Akron has quite inexpensive tuition and dorming, but still the total would be around $10,000 and OSU’s academics are better.</p>
<p>I’m feeling sort of miserable and helpless here… I thought I’d be able to take out loans from other places. </p>
<p>If you did somehow manage to take out more loans, which is unlikely, 10 years from now you will be among those interviewed on TV complaining about how unfair it is that you are burdened with so much debt and blaming everyone else for your predicament. </p>
<p>No, because I would know that it was my choice to take out loans. I’m smarter than those people who blame all their problems on others.</p>
<p>If you are in school full time right now, and have filled a FAFSA for the current, soon to be ending school year, you can apply for a Direct Loan for the year, up to at least $5500 which you can bank,and use for the year starting fall 2014 in addition to borrowing for the 2014-15 school year at OSU. What is your class status according to OSU? Are you starting as a freshman again? If you can get sophomore standing with your comm college credits, you can get $6500 in Direct loans, $7500 as a junior. You need to move quickly to get the current year loan because the books close at the end of the year, June 1, I believe. Are you in school right now?</p>
<p>Do understand that the decisions one makes as a young adult are not always ones you wish you had made as you get older. I don’t know your situation, so I am not judging, just apprising, and I am trying to help you out with your options. It’s a tough go when one has those loans on ones backs. Most of the kids who say they have loans often talk about the face amounts they took. The meter keeps ticking. I know a lot of kids, very bright, directed ones, who are so sorry they took out those loans when they were younger, now that they have to pay them back, and they don’t earn enough to do so and move on with their lives. It doesn’t get easier in a lot of respects.</p>
<p>Coco…the OP is a transfer student, not a freshman. </p>
<p>To the OP, how much do you anticipate taking in loans?</p>
<p>You would need a cosigner with a good credit rating for any private loans. That might be a problem if your parents credit will not qualify them for a PLUS.</p>
<p>@thumper1 Including the federal loans they govt has offered me? I plan on taking the max $5500 and then this summer I can work and probably make around $3,000-4,000 which can help with a couple months rent after paying off tuition. I didn’t think of this before, but I do have a close relative (grandfather) who isn’t a millionaire, but he has money and barely spends anything. A friend suggested I should borrow money from him instead of taking out loans+interest. This seems like a very possible option. I would only be borrowing for the second semester since I can make enough over the summer to cover for 1st semester’s tuition and then can start working to save up. 2nd semester might be when I have to borrow from relative or otherwise. I don’t think I will apply for the PLUS loan. Thanks for all your input.</p>
<p>Borrowing from a relative is one thing, but counting on that loan a year after discussing it with a person is risky. Anything can happen in that time. </p>
<p>@cptofthehouse If you’re talking about someone changing their mind or having an emergency situation, yes, I agree. The money I’d be borrowing would be from my grandfather who is older, but my very close uncle and aunt keep an eye on his money. My father and his two brothers all take care of him together. One uncle is in charge of his money and I’m sure if I agreed to pay it back, it would be fine. Also, my parents said the money may just come out of our family’s inheritance money and I could just pay my parents back instead of my grandfather.</p>
<p>Muzik…lots of “ifs” in your scenario. I would be concerned about that.</p>