Colleg Money/loans

stay far FAR away from student loans. My husband is in over his head with those awful things and he will be for the rest of his life. Literally, we will never be able to buy a home now because they have completly ruined his credit. If you really only live 35 minutes from the college, just have her live at home and drive there. Also (I could be wrong), but as far as I know, you don't pay student loans until you graduate. My husband tried to start making payments but they wouldn't let him. So, now we are also dealing with interest on them. Trust me, student loans are worse than just getting a credit card. Don't do it

Does the school have a work/study program?

Does she really want to take out $44K in loans?

Would she do better by attending something closer to home and commuting.

Can she work and get on a payment plan?

She delay admission for two years and go to a state school for now. She can live at home, work, save. Then she can move to the University for the last 2 years and she wont have to live on campus. She can get an apartment and roommate. Much less than traditional room and board.

Student Loans are the devil. They are what is keeping me from buying a house right now. They are what makes my car insurance high and my interest rate high on my car. My financial situation is seriously hamstringed by loans. Avoid them at all costs. Who cares if you go to a prestigous private college if you get out and owe $60,000. She will be starting her life behind the 8 ball.

I understand the lure of being accepted into elite schools. I was accepted by 3 of them, all of which were hundreds of miles away from home. I chose the closest of the 3, and am STILL paying back my room and board loan. After my freshman year (2000-2001) I determined that I simply could not stay there any longer because the expense was too great. I transfered to another great school and lived off campus, with my sister. Even so, I STILL had large living expense loans that I got through Citibank. I graduated 7 years ago, and have been making huge payments for the past 5 years, but it is hardly even a dent in the principal.

She may be angry with you for telling her so, but I firmly believe you should tell her she needs to go to a school closer to home so that she can live at home. Attend community college for the first 2 yrs while working and saving enough money for her to live on her own at the school of her choosing for the remainder of her undergrad. Believe me, you'd be doing her a HUGE favor. Wish my parents would have insisted that I stay local and live at home. Would make a world of difference right now!

ETA: Based on your SWH. Wow, DEFINITELY have her commute!! I bet she could find someone to carpool with! My university here in Chicago was predominantly commuters. My sister and I used to commute with her then BF(now husband). While her plan might be to dorm the first year and then move back home, in reality, when it comes time to move back home she might not be willing to give up her newfound freedom and might talk you into letting her live in off-campus housing which is STILL expensive.

I would just caution you to think about the debt your daughter is about to incur. So many young people graduate with huge debt and spend many, many years paying it off. I don't know what field she wants to study, but just make sure it's worth incurring all that debt.

Right now law students going to school in Berkeley are graduating with about a quarter of a million dollars debt! ($47,000 tuition, plus books, plus living expenses! To me that's just ridiculous!)

once you have applied for and have been turned down for the parent plus loans, send that proof to the school, (the plus loan will immediatly email you a denial that you can mail or fax to the fin. aid office at her college), and then your daughter will be automatically offered more in her student loans, secured and unsecured, up to the amount of the total cost of attendance at her college, after all of her scholarships, etc, after the recieve the denial letter for your loans. If you want to expedite this process, have your daughter contact the fin. aid department at the college and let them know that she will need additional money in her loans because you were unable to secure the parent plus loans for her. (it is pretty common) They will tell her what to do and how much more she will have available. We just went through this last year, and trust me, the college does NOT volunteer this information to parents of first time college students. It's SO frustrating! My husband and I really didn't care WHO took out the loans since we were going to make the payments, buut it was nice having the option to have our daughter take out the subsidized loans since they don't accrue any interest until she gets out of school. The unsubsidized ones do start right away. She will be offered both. Neither one will have payments due until after she graduates college. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me by private message. :) (I'm in Florida too, and I have 2 girls in college in Florida, both in Orlando)

Even if she manages to get a loan at this point, by the time she graduates, she'll be in debt.

I understand the perk of being accepted and going to a prime school but is the outcome really going to be better?

Our daughter starts college in the fall of 2013... we've been planning it since before she was born so that she would not graduate in debt.

Student loans are killing college grads right now, keeping them from buying homes, destroying their credit, etc.

In this area, there is a community college that is rated very high in the country and students who are left to fend for their own but want a good education, go there for 1-2 years and transfer in to the good schools such as SMU, UT, etc. It makes it more affordable for them and they get the best of both worlds.

I was one of those students with no parental help and I vowed I would not do that to any child of mine. I made it by academic scholarships, 2 work study jobs, and a job on the side and maintained the academic scholrship. It can be done if you want it bad enough. Talk to Financial Aid and get more options. Also, once you are in the program of your chosen field, more scholarships open up for specific fields.

Good luck

Sounds like she shouldn't go to college right now...especially if her career job doesn't gaurantee her at least 50k a year upon graduation.

This is coming from a student who graduated in the current times and knows very well how classmates are coming out of school. Major debt, no experience and no good paying job!

11k times 4 years equals 44k in debt thats a good $600 month payment for over 15 years! Why do that to yourself or your child. Go to a smaller school and get a job to pay as you go!

Congrats to you and your daughter on getting in to a good school!

Can your daughter's current financial aid package be used to cover her room and board? By being frugal, she may be able to live on less and apply some of her award money to living expenses.

Will you daughter be working while in school? If not, look into work study programs for her. She may have to take a lighter load to make time to work, but she will get work experience and references in exchange. A work study job will also allow her to schedule her work hours around her constantly changing school schedule.

Have you already talked to the school's financial aid office? They should be able to direct you to loans that will not need your co-signature.

What are your daughter's room and board alternatives? Does she have to live on campus or can she rent an apartment with roommates and cook her own food? My daugher lived in a non-profit coop her first year at school. She had her own room in a former frat house, cooked her own food and the building was across the street from school. Rent was just over 300/month, food about 200/mo, about $5K for the year.

If your daughter qualifies for student aid she may also qualify for a work program at the school or she can find a job off campus. My family was in a low income situation when I attended college and there was a gap each year. I took some college loans but I also ended up working at a coffee shop in town (I walked there on work days) and dropped off partial payment at the bursars office every Friday afternoon. My grades were good and I was actively involved in the cost of my education.
Aslo - is the campus anywhere close to you? I am not a big fan of paying for the college "experience" - which really is having all the priviledges with none of the responsibilities of an adult. The financial gap is room & board at about $10K - if she commuted what would the cost be?
My kids already know they will be commuting for the first year or two - higher education is supposed to be about education - which can be easily accomplished while living at home. We live on Long Island, a suburb of NYC and there are probably about 15 colleges within a 45 min drive of our home. The cost to run a used car cost less than $10K a year...

Jen has a great suggestion. If that doesn't work the answer is fairly simple and quite obvious - let her commute to school. You will need to get past you aren't comfortable with it but it will be okay. I mean, does it really make sense she accrues $11,000 in debt when she could drive 80 minutes a day and save that money for other expenses. $11,000 - that's a great college car or save for a wedding or a fantastic graduation gift! $11,000 - not something to be wasted on a bed & bathroom for 9 months when she already has one.

Sorry, I know that isn't what you want to hear, but common sense has to kick in at some point.

Will they let freshmen live off campus and rent an apartment with roommates or rent a basement room in a house nearby? Some colleges do, some don't.
Lots of owners around here rent rooms to college kids.

You really should think about letting her commute. I drove back and forth to college at 18 and my drive was 2 hours! I did it almost every weekend.

It will be cheaper if she lives off campus and have her get a job to pay the rent.

No, I would not do any student loans. She needs to go to the financial aid office and find some other scholarships, resources, and other financial assistance so she can pay her way and not do loans. They never get paid off, it takes years and years. Even for just 10K - 15K. They have some many fees and other charges attached when you start paying that the first 10 years you aren't even paying anything on the principle.

She might be able to do college work study, that's a campus job where she gets paid. It is part of the financial aid package.

The fact is that if she truly can't afford this school she may have to set her sites to a less expensive school. Or you may have to go to work just to give her your entire check. There are ways around this. Go with her to the FA office and sit down with them and find other resources. They may have other grants or even sports scholarships she could apply for.

Do you have a family member that will co-sign? My dad co-signed for my daughter last year. Just a thought. Good luck!

Maybe she can try to get a Resident Adviser position starting in her sophomore year. She would get a free room (maybe meal plan too) if she did. I would stay away from loans too if you can figure it out. It's really a burden. Call the school too and let them know your situation. Make them think she won't be able to attend without additional financial aid.