<p>Hi everyone!
I'm an incoming freshman very interested in an affordable college education! I am pursuing music and have gotten many very generous scholarships (over 30k per year at 4 different colleges) based on my auditions. Boston university had come through with the best offer at 44.2 k per year in scholarships and grants. The total Coa is about 59 k per year so this would leave me about 15 k per year. My parents offered to pay 2 k a year and my grandmother 4 k a year. So assuming that I work as much as I can and get music gigs around the city, I would try to bring the loans to about 5 or 6k a year. But then with rising tuition and interest, and miscellaneous costs, I could end up with 30 k debt right? Is this too much? Any insight is appreciated!</p>
<p>I hate seeing kids or anyone borrowing too much money. But frankly, for you to go to BU with a debt of about what the Stafford total, about $26K over the 4 years, is reasonable, IMO. Congratulations in your packages.</p>
<p>Subsidized Stafford loans are the single best source of money you can borrow.
The interest is picked up by taxpayers while you’re in school. </p>
<p>Once you exhaust your subsidized Stafford stockpile, you want to move on to unsubsidized Stafford loans. </p>
<p>As a third option, parents can take out PLUS loans.</p>
<p>One category of loans to avoid is private student loans.</p>
<p>Finally, remember the consumer champ’s rule of thumb when it comes to determining what level of borrowing you can comfortably handle: Do not take on loans that exceed the likely first-year earnings in your field.</p>