I am currently going to Burlington County College in NJ for a 2-year Computer Science AS program. I am still in my first semester. My goal is to do well and transfer out to a good four-year school. My dream is to go to Georgia Tech, but I am worried about how I will pay for it.
I am 24 years old in a few months so I will be an independent as far as FAFSA is concerned, but tuition for GT is 44,000$ a year! I am lucky enough to be working right now, and would be going into this transfer with between 10-40k in savings. I am a little worried about whether or not I will be approved for enough loans to go to GT (or other school with similar price range). My parents are unlikely to be able to help, but have good credit and would likely co-sign for a private loan if necessary. Also, I know that NJ offers NJ Class loans. They are less desirable then federal loans though.
I know that a private loan is not recommended but if necessary I will do it. College for me is not all about the potential life-earnings. I want to go to a good college primarily for the opportunity for an advanced education. I am willing to sacrifice a chunk of my potential life-time earnings to achieve a higher education.
So my real question boils down to this:
After I have accepted any scholarships I am lucky enough to receive, my federal loans, and any private loans I need to take out, do you think I will be able to receive enough financial help to even be able to go to a good college like this?
I am new to the college experience and am not sure how this works. If I am capable of getting accepted to a school like this , will I even be able to pay for it? Also, how much does my personal savings play a role into all of this?
GT is an OOS Public and they do not usually reserve funds for OOS students. Instate students get the Hope scholarship from the state–you are not eligible for that. As a transfer you can be expected to be a full payer. I don’t know that you can expect any need aid from that public as a transfer. (There is a small chance I could be wrong but that is my assumption based on how publics operate, perhaps there is discussion any transfers get need aid in the GT forum. Even if you get some you will be lucky and still have a ‘gap’.) They do merit awards for some freshman, the President’s awards that oos can get, but I doubt they do for transfers, you can check their website. You can also apply for some of the limited transfer scholarships like Jack Kent Cooke but they are limited and go to top students who are not only academically stellar but active in campus or local community too, you can look at profiles of past recipients.
You are independent for aid so you fill FAFSA so only on your own income and savings which will qualify you for Pell and Student Direct Loans. You yourself will be restricted to federal loans up to 12,500 per year each as a jr and sr. That leaves you with COA for 2 years of 95k (increases each year) total less loans = 70k less say 20k estimated work earnings leaves 50k about to finance. No one will lend that to you without a full time job or stellar credit. If your parents find a private loan for that they have to start paying right away about 575.00 per month (for 10 years), if it is allowed to defer that is not recommended as it just balloons the interest and you will already be paying back 70k total for the 50k you borrowed.
In contrast, if you got accepted to MIT, they are a ‘meets full need’ schools so they would pay the difference for you. (Although I am not entirely sure they do this for transfers they do for sure for freshmen, you will have to investigate this.) So you would have your own EFC which will be based on your income and savings and then they pick up the rest, you may have some student loan, not sure. Savings for students are assessed at about 20 pct per year.
I think being a slave to debt for 10x years is a pretty unhappy way to live and restricts choices you have in your career as well as personal life. I think a much better plan is to do your upper div at Rutgers which should have a pretty good CS dept and a well ranked grad dept, then use money for a MS to get and fulfill opportunity for advanced education. After all, undergrad is still just undergrad. You can prepare yourself for a strong grad school by getting involved in undergrad research. Sometimes you can get some funding for grad school by being a TA, so trying to TA or tutor can help too. Also often an employer will pay for your MS so you can do that. But if you don’t want to work while you do it, work for a couple years, live like a student and bank the money.
Anyway I probably wrote too much for someone who is only just starting and hasn’t shown they have the grades or potential to transfer in to that school. Just when you do look for transfer targets, look for which if any schools will give you need based aid, which have merit available and if you can get it, and overall cost to you, keeping loans down. They aren’t worth it and there are very good jobs you can get from Rutgers. You will learn a lot of real CS in jobs that you don’t learn in school too.
Get your 2 year degree, move to the state you want to go to college in (Ga if GaTech), work for a year. Then you will pay instate tuition.
I think BrownParent’s calculations are wrong as I don’t think you will qualify for Pell if you have $40k in savings. You could use that all the first year and then you’d qualify for your final year. Remember that transfer students often take more than 2 years to finish.
Twoin…I agree…but I don’t believe there is asset protection for independent students in the same way as for dependent students. Same with income protection.
So this independent student might not qualify for a Pell the first year. Even so…the full Pell is only $5730 which is not a huge amount towards the OOS costs to attend Georgia Tech.
To the OP, are there any less costly options you would be considering?
Thanks so much for your replies… I have spent a few days letting this all sink in and reviewing Rutgers CS program, and I think that I must agree with your thoughts on this. I was just a bit hopeful that excelling in Community College would give me an opportunity to get into a great college like GT.
I know that Rutgers has an excellently rated CS department, but (judging from my research) it doesn’t seem like it matches up to that of say GT or comparable schools (Austin, Texas, UCLA, ect.).
I am a bit more familiar with financial aid then I was when I posted this, and have read all about the horror stories of student loans. I do not want to get myself into that kind of situation. Judging from my earning potential, and my want to be, relatively, debt free, it looks like I will be constrained to NJ. With this said, I must ask… Is Rutgers really my best option? If you could pick and choose whatever CS program in NJ you wanted to attend (excluding Princeton), where would you attend? Rutgers, NJIT, The College of NJ, Stevens Institute, Rowan, ect… I’m a bit unsure about how to make this decision. They all have similar acceptance rates, and similar reviews…
All state flagships have exceptionally strong computer science (and engineering) programs. If I were you, I would finish my degree at Rutgers and then go to GT for a master’s.