<p>The university I plan to attend is beyond ideal for what I want to do in life (in matters of quality of education & connections) but it's pricey. </p>
<p>Estimated COA: ~55k
Free Aid Received: 23k
Federal Student Loans: 7.5k
PLUS Loan: ~23k</p>
<p>What's freaking me out is that this is Per Year.
So, I'd be owing >30k as a student by the time I graduate and my parents, >92k.
Of course, I became suddenly aware of the weight of my situation AFTER making deposits and doing the whole federal loans deal online. :-w </p>
<p>Basically, what I want to know is if I've made a huge mistake and backing out would be a wise thing to do. The reason I'm not sure is because what I intend to major in (Aerospace engineering) has a good job market and is financially strong, entry level salary being 69k. Is that even a good entry level salary? Oh, dear, what have I done?</p>
<p>Well, I’m not sure that 30K is necessarily too much, but what do your parents think of the debt they will owe? Can they pay that? That’s a LOT of money.</p>
<p>That seems pretty clearly unaffordable. It isn’t terrible for your student debt if you are willing to be paying it over 10 years, but most parents would need that money to have for retirement. If they didn’t save that much for your college it doesn’t seem doable. There doesn’t seem to be any saving or current income available to use?</p>
<p>Yes that is a good entry level salary if you get it and it will afford you to pay your student debt. But if you think you are going to pay the portion of your parents debt, then it is not reasonable at all. You would have a huge monkey on your back and your parents would have a huge risk. Don’t do that.</p>
<p>What are your other options at this point if you walk away? Anything or gap year and reapply?</p>
<p>Is that what was offered or what you need? When I got my first breakdown of aid for my daughter, it looked similar, with the school ‘offering’ me $30k in PLUS loans. However, that was if I had saved nothing or could pay nothing during the year. Also offered a payment plan. I have some money saved, and could, if needed, pay monthly. My daughter also has other scholarships the financial aid people weren’t aware of when the offer was made (private grant, state grants). so those amounts reduced the PLUS loans needed. You should also consider any money you can make during the 4 years through both working and participating in a co-op.</p>
<p>I think you should avoid any more than your loans. You must figure out a way to pay more now and not borrow more. Did you apply to any outside scholarships? Will you work this summer?</p>
<p>My parents told me they’d be willing to support me while in school but once I get a job, I’d be putting in as much as they were to pay it off.</p>
<p>@mom2collegekids Aerospace Engineering at Florida Tech. It’s on the space coast and they have great connections with GM and other big companies like that.</p>
<p>@twoinanddone It’s what I was offered. I intend to work during all 4 years and I applied to outside grants and scholarships but so far no dice. And yes, but nothing above minimum wage since it’s only two months.</p>
<p>@BrownParent No, no savings. I have 2 siblings already in college as well. It’d most likely be a gap year and reapply because I’m past housing and tuition deposits, etc. </p>
<p>you could apply today to uah…not too late for merit from them. Uah has super connections with high tech companies because of Cummings Research Park and NASA</p>
<p>My daughter is going to FIT also (so yes, your Parents PLUS offer is just for whatever is left not covered by your scholarship, and they didn’t even ask if you have other funds you want to apply). If you don’t need it, don’t borrow it. If you need more later, take another PLUS loan because the interest will run from disbursement.</p>
<p>Live in the cheapest dorm. That will save you $2000/yr. (down to ~$53k). Books are a lot too, but I think you can do better than they estimate (we hope to!). (down to ~$52k). Call the financial aid office and ask for a list of other scholarships you can apply for, for work study, for anything! The meal plan is really expensive, so I’ve told my daughter that she needs to eat every single meal at the dining hall. If they are all at the beach and someone suggests pizza, she’s to say “Oh, they have pizza at the dining hall!” We are hoping that her costs are about $3-4000 less than the sticker price. We’re also hoping for more scholarships for sophomore year!</p>
<p>Can your parents pay on the payment plan during the year? If so, that will save everyone interest, whether you pay or they pay the PLUS loan in the end. Consider a co-op after freshman year. Take longer to graduate if you need to earn money between semesters. I think you can do it for significantly under $90k+ in PLUS loans but it will take work on your part.</p>
<p>This is something you need to discuss with your parents, as they will be the ones taking out the loans. Can they afford those loans? They start racking up interest @7% as soon as the funds are disbursed. so unless they start paying them back immediately, they’ll owe 6 figures when you are through. You’ll have your school loans to repay which will be a tough enough go. </p>
<p>This truly is something up to your parents. If they can afford that kind of debt, can systematically pay it off, fine. If they are expecting YOU to pay it, not fine as it’s on THEIR credit report. THEY owe it. For them to expect a teenager to commit to paying off $100k in loans after college is insanity. The reason you are limited to about $30K is because that’s about what most college grads can muster in loan payments. </p>
<p>The other thing is that PLUS is NOT an award. A parent has to apply and qualify for it If your parents are more than 90 days late, have bankruptcies, writeoffs, foreclosures, things like that on the credit report, they may not qualify. What the school is doing is SUGGESTING that they look at PLUS for the loan. And it’s not guaranteed each subsequent year. It’s not like your Direct Loan which is is. </p>
<p>@arabrab I think my efc was 2100. I’m not completely sure because they’ve been dealing with loans and not directly paying schools. I’m living in South America but I’m a citizen of the U.S.A.</p>
<p>@twoinanddone Unfortunately the payment plan isn’t realistic for our situation and we’d talked about minimizing all costs (phone, dorm, food) but it still leaves us with a lot of debt! I talked to the financial aid office many times and most scholarships are past due. Plus, I qualify for work-study but it hardly puts a dent in the cost. Like another poster said, parent PLUS isnt guaranteed every year and since they already have another plus loan I think it may be too much of a risk to depend on it. </p>
<p>@cptofthehouse thank you! I hadn’t taken into account the credit report and the PLUS not being guaranteed.</p>
<p>@mom2collegekids Thank you so much! I really appreciate the info. UAH sounds like my new plan. I’m gonna look into more merit based, again thank you!</p>
<p>It’s really a matter of how much you want to be an aerospace engineer. If that’s your dream, go ahead and take the debt. 69k starting average is very good for a four year degree and life’s too short to let money hold you back from your dreams</p>
<p>I agree with m2ck. If your parents are expecting you to help pay back their loans on top of your own, you have been caught up in college application mania and are suffering real buyers regret. The advantage you have is that it is not too late to turn back.</p>
<p>I don’t know anything about aerospace engineering, but our oldest graduated with his chemE from a no-name state tech school (which would be sneered here on CC). He has a great job with very high pay. And he has zero debt b/c our costs were low enough we could pay out of pocket (which isn’t saying much b/c we can’t pay that much!) </p>
<p>You can have a great career in engineering w/o burdening both your parents’ and your futures. </p>
<p>At least apply now to UAH and see what they get back to you with. That will give you an option for right away. The last thing you want to do is spend a couple years at a school you find you have to leave because you can’t qualify for continuing massive loans. Better to take a decent school that will give you money. Possibly look into Jr transfer.</p>
<p>Sorry, @nickxxx, but “go ahead and take the debt” is NOT sound advice when there are good and affordable alternatives. And UAH is such an alternative . . .</p>
<p>@bibblezee - Contact UAH admissions ASAP! Make sure they’re still accepting applications, and that it’s not too late to apply for merit aid. Then, compare your stat’s to their [scholarship</a> requirements](<a href=“http://www.uah.edu/financial-aid/aid/scholarships/new-freshmen/merit-scholarships][b]scholarship”>http://www.uah.edu/financial-aid/aid/scholarships/new-freshmen/merit-scholarships). UAH offers both a full tuition and a full tuition-plus-housing scholarship. If you can qualify for the latter, you may be able to forget about loans altogether, or, at the very least, keep them to the bare minimum! It’s my understanding that they accept test scores through June of the applicant’s senior year of high school . . . so, you have one more shot to raise your score if you need to!</p>
<p>And if, for any reason, it’s too late for UAH this year (or if your test scores just aren’t high enough), take a year off and apply for the following year. If you’re interested in aerospace engineering, you really can’t do much better than UAH. Just make sure that if you take the year off, you take NO classes at all . . . you want to be able to apply as a freshman.</p>
<p>@BrownParent @dodgersmom @Mom2aphysicsgeek Thanks for your replies! I talked it over with my parents and they are supporting me 100%. I can breathe again! I’m going to talk to UAH but it looks like all merit scholarships will be gone by now. If they are, I’ll apply before December and go next year. Now to figure out how to cancel everything with Florida Tech X_X @nickxx Thanks! That’s what I had been telling myself but really, if I have a more financially sound option I might as well go for it. Like m2apg said, I got blinded by college application mania.
@mom2collegekids thanks again for suggesting UAH! </p>