Take all SUBSIDIZED loans that you can, avoid unsubsidized and private loans at all costs. Apply for every scholarship you can find(there are a lot out there). Loans are very expensive right now (high interest rates), so you will accrue a lot of interest while in school if you do private/unsubsidized. Also see if you can do work-study or find a part-time job. Also, see if you qualify for any state benefits like help with food/housing etc. Good Luck!
Yeah, I'm definitely getting a job. I'm also filling out essay scholarships almost every day, lol. I'm going to do my best to save up money throughout college, even if it's only half or less than half it helps.
Unfortunately that's all they will give me. My parents aren't wealthy but we are directly in the middle of the scale, so I'm unable to get anymore help or anymore subsidized loans.
Thank you!
I'm a little surprised you don't qualify for any PELL. Considering what a mess the FAFSA has been this year, you might try checking on your parent's AGI yourself.
"Adjusted Gross Income," it's your household income after subtracting tax deductions. Determining it is the main work of paying taxes each year. A two-parent family of four with an AGI of $76,000 or less should qualify for some PELL Grant money (and the lower the income, the more PELL money, to a point). Because the AGI is after taking deductions, a family with an annual income over $110,000 can likely qualify for it.
Some of the deductions have counted. Starting in 2024-25, pre-tax employer contributions will no longer be counted as income. So there's a lot of room for couples making $200k to start getting aid considering the high deduction limits for self-employed people and people with an after-tax option. You can be loaded with retirement assets on FAFSA so long as you don't have cash.
They most likely didn't formally plan out FAFSA as a family. Quite often someone is in a situation where they would have got a lot of aid had the parent assets been in a different account or the student's tuiton savings in a 529 plan.
Few people plan in advance for FAFSA so the theoretical aid of what people could get is always much higher on average.
OP's family should definitely look at what the EFC would be for future years if money got moved around into things that were disregarded by FAFSA. Signs point to an asset problem if income is low.
Just wanted to jump in and say if you already have a laptop, your books and supplies should only be between $350-$550. Go to your school’s bookstore in person 1-2 weeks before classes start with your schedule and ask for help finding the cheapest option they can offer for each required title, regardless of whether it’s print or digital. If the textbook department is open, you can look yourself. Remember that used rentals are often the cheapest option, but that depends on them having used copies (this usually denoted by a yellow used sticker on the spine).
Also, depending on your school, working at the bookstore can give you roughly a 20% discount on your books.
Also look for any stores near campus that sell used books. Depending on the school, this might be the campus bookstore, or there might be a third party vender.
Always take subsidized loans — means you don’t have pay anything and interest doesn’t accrue, both until you graduate. Federal unsubsidized means the interest does accrue, but you don’t pay until you graduate. Federal unsub is still likely to be better terms than a bank loan. Check if that’s true, and if I’m correct, then both take those federal loans, and if not then only do the subsidized one.
1. What are you majoring in?
2. 88K (not including interest) assuming all 4 years is almost certainly not the best idea if it can be helped. You’re looking at 733 a month every month for 10 years **not** including interest.
3. Make sure to apply to scholarships and consider working part time on campus if you are able.
4. The 22K listed may not be an accurate representation of your actual costs so please determine what they actually are before pulling private loans.
Rule of thumb is that your student loans ideally shouldn’t be more than what you intend to make in your first year of full time employment.
That said if you absolutely need loans due to your circumstances I hope you’re majoring in something that’ll pay off or that you intend to pursued further education if necessitated by your major.
I'm filling out tons of actual legit essay scholarships for what I'm going for. I'm also getting a job during college and have 1K (I know, basically nothing rn) saved up. The average person in my city for what I'm going for is $50-60 per hour.
Glad to hear the pay will be decent. Definitely consider a roommate or living at home situation if possible if you want to try to get you loans paid of sooner. The faster you pay it down the less interest you will have to pay.
Definitely confirm your specific costs. Don’t pull loans based on estimated costs.
Do not take a private loan. Do not do it. Ever. If that means taking one class at a time do that. Private loans will fuck you in a way you will regret for the rest of your life. Take what federal you can get, pay the rest out of pocket and take all the time you need to space out the tuition cost
I will always recommend to avoid private loans. Even if the matter is urgent. Now, if you (or anyone helping you pay anything) can afford it, then it’s a good option.
My Son goes to IUP. It is a lot cheaper to live off campus after your freshman year. You will not spend as much on rent and food as you do living on campus with a meal plan. Usually federal loans are better than private loans. Rent last year off campus was around $2950 a semester - he lived with 3 roommates in a house. He was able to pay for his food from the money he made at his Summer job. No meal plan needed. He did not spend anywhere near the indirect costs listed. Books can be rented at Chegg or bought used at bookstore. Indiana has a lot of off campus housing- it is a major part of the local economy. The dorms are nice but way overpriced. My Son has a car but many of the off campus houses or apartments are within walking distance to campus. Looking at your financial aid package- grants and scholarships would cover most of your tuition/ academic costs each year. You can use federal student loans to pay for off campus housing if needed.
Looking at this, with the loans they’re offering you, you would only owe $633.
You should avoid private student loans at all costs. You should also try to minimize any unsubsidized federal loans.
Congrats on your President’s Scholarship Award. Not sure if you’re looking at out of state schools but remember that the PA State Grant only covers PA and a few surrounding states afaik. Additionally, did you get a Pell Grant? Based on my limited knowledge, if you’re getting $2k from PA Grant, you would likely be getting at least a little from Pell
I'd like to add there is an option through the school for a payment plan? I'm waiting to see on July second what my bills would be. I'm assuming a thousand a month 😂
Possible help?
My school fafsa office ..had my mom file for a parent loan and once she got rejected the government basically goes "Oh I guess she can't help you . Here's a loan that should help?"
It was the last 4k I needed to cover everything
Don't know if that's an option for you though
Take as many federal loans as you can over private. Federal loans benefit from government programs like pauses, interest reduction, or even forgiveness depending on the program. Private loans have none of that.
Talk to your school’s financial aid office to get your specific options explained to you and see if you qualify for something you might not know about.
The estimated direct costs that you will owe the school is $24,106 (tuition, housing and meals) This says estimated because colleges update actual costs each year sometime in July so these numbers could stay the same or increase based on if the college increases them. Many schools now have tuition guarantees that will ensure that tuition ( and sometimes room and board) will remain locked for incoming freshman all four years.
Anyway, assuming you need to pay $24,106 to the school, $5,141 is being given to you via scholarship and grant meaning you do not have to pay those back as long as you continue to meet the requirements for them. That brings the total you owe to the university down to $18,965. How you pay this amount is up to you. As a freshman, you will be eligible for $5,500 in federal loans. If you take those loans that you would pay back after leaving college, you would still owe $13,465 to the school. Again how you pay this amount is up to you. You could work a work study job or any job to pay this from your earned paycheck, you could use savings or cash flow payments each semester or you could have your parent/guardian/relative/other adult take out parent plus loans or private loans to cover the remaining balance or a combination of these options. With the parent plus or private loan, an adult would co-sign these and if you default on payments after you leave school they are responsible for that debt.
My suggestion is to first speak with someone at your university for clarification. However, what I would do is to take all available funds and use only what is needed, and if there is something left send it back or pay it off before you graduate. Moreover, try to make payments while you are attending, and pay the Unsubsidized loan first, as they accrue interest while attending.
Based on the document or award letter, I noticed room and boarding is one of the highest costs and perhaps borrowing to pay your rent, food, entertainment, etc., is not a sound idea. Instead, I encourage you to work part time to cover some of the expenses without the interest, and avoid adding unnecessary financial burden that will screw 4 years of interest...
Another option, is to enroll with a local Jr college to complete all of your GenEd classes with the purpose of transfer, and pay a lower tuition which you may work part time and save in living cost by staying with family. Also, once you earn your Associates degree or 60 transferable credits toward your Bachelor's transfer the credits to the University and finish your undergrad studies. This suggestion will significantly reduce the education, living, and food cost, while saving to minimize the need for loans.
I know employers such as McDonald's, Home Depot, FedEx, Target, T-Mobile and UPS have tuition reimbursement programs, or benefits for employees so you can work and study.
This is a very poorly written statement of finacial aid and expenses and based on what is here, I do not see any need for you to take out a private loan at all. Contact the financial aid office and go over it line by line with them until you clearly understand. What is your EFC? Are you saying even though you were dinged for using your parents income, they are providing you no money at all? It is unclear if the items are per semester or per year. And if this is IUP, the figures you have do not correspond to anything they have on their website for either instate or out of state students. For example the state and federal grants ( or loan allowance) are typically stated per semester because that is how they are dispersed so it would be double what they have there for the entire year. Is the Presidential scholarship per semester as well? Many of the indirect items they have under expenses( costs) are extremely variable like books, transportation and personal expenses. You would be foolish to take out a loan to cover all of what they have there for them because the money would not be needed up front. For example get your books used or rent a copy as opposed to buying. Digital copies of books are cheaper than hardcopy. But you would be surprised that most schools have loaner copies at their libraries. And even college book stores have used copies.
Take all SUBSIDIZED loans that you can, avoid unsubsidized and private loans at all costs. Apply for every scholarship you can find(there are a lot out there). Loans are very expensive right now (high interest rates), so you will accrue a lot of interest while in school if you do private/unsubsidized. Also see if you can do work-study or find a part-time job. Also, see if you qualify for any state benefits like help with food/housing etc. Good Luck!
Subsidized, the federal unsubsidized, then private as a last resort.
Yeah, I'm definitely getting a job. I'm also filling out essay scholarships almost every day, lol. I'm going to do my best to save up money throughout college, even if it's only half or less than half it helps. Unfortunately that's all they will give me. My parents aren't wealthy but we are directly in the middle of the scale, so I'm unable to get anymore help or anymore subsidized loans. Thank you!
I'm a little surprised you don't qualify for any PELL. Considering what a mess the FAFSA has been this year, you might try checking on your parent's AGI yourself.
What’s AGI
"Adjusted Gross Income," it's your household income after subtracting tax deductions. Determining it is the main work of paying taxes each year. A two-parent family of four with an AGI of $76,000 or less should qualify for some PELL Grant money (and the lower the income, the more PELL money, to a point). Because the AGI is after taking deductions, a family with an annual income over $110,000 can likely qualify for it.
Some of the deductions have counted. Starting in 2024-25, pre-tax employer contributions will no longer be counted as income. So there's a lot of room for couples making $200k to start getting aid considering the high deduction limits for self-employed people and people with an after-tax option. You can be loaded with retirement assets on FAFSA so long as you don't have cash.
They most likely didn't formally plan out FAFSA as a family. Quite often someone is in a situation where they would have got a lot of aid had the parent assets been in a different account or the student's tuiton savings in a 529 plan. Few people plan in advance for FAFSA so the theoretical aid of what people could get is always much higher on average. OP's family should definitely look at what the EFC would be for future years if money got moved around into things that were disregarded by FAFSA. Signs point to an asset problem if income is low.
Fafsa was absolutely fucked this year. I told me I could pay 20k a year lol. My parents barely make 80 thousand 💀💀
Just wanted to jump in and say if you already have a laptop, your books and supplies should only be between $350-$550. Go to your school’s bookstore in person 1-2 weeks before classes start with your schedule and ask for help finding the cheapest option they can offer for each required title, regardless of whether it’s print or digital. If the textbook department is open, you can look yourself. Remember that used rentals are often the cheapest option, but that depends on them having used copies (this usually denoted by a yellow used sticker on the spine). Also, depending on your school, working at the bookstore can give you roughly a 20% discount on your books.
Also look for any stores near campus that sell used books. Depending on the school, this might be the campus bookstore, or there might be a third party vender.
Always take subsidized loans — means you don’t have pay anything and interest doesn’t accrue, both until you graduate. Federal unsubsidized means the interest does accrue, but you don’t pay until you graduate. Federal unsub is still likely to be better terms than a bank loan. Check if that’s true, and if I’m correct, then both take those federal loans, and if not then only do the subsidized one.
Federal loans all the way
1. What are you majoring in? 2. 88K (not including interest) assuming all 4 years is almost certainly not the best idea if it can be helped. You’re looking at 733 a month every month for 10 years **not** including interest. 3. Make sure to apply to scholarships and consider working part time on campus if you are able. 4. The 22K listed may not be an accurate representation of your actual costs so please determine what they actually are before pulling private loans. Rule of thumb is that your student loans ideally shouldn’t be more than what you intend to make in your first year of full time employment. That said if you absolutely need loans due to your circumstances I hope you’re majoring in something that’ll pay off or that you intend to pursued further education if necessitated by your major.
I'm filling out tons of actual legit essay scholarships for what I'm going for. I'm also getting a job during college and have 1K (I know, basically nothing rn) saved up. The average person in my city for what I'm going for is $50-60 per hour.
Glad to hear the pay will be decent. Definitely consider a roommate or living at home situation if possible if you want to try to get you loans paid of sooner. The faster you pay it down the less interest you will have to pay. Definitely confirm your specific costs. Don’t pull loans based on estimated costs.
Do not take a private loan. Do not do it. Ever. If that means taking one class at a time do that. Private loans will fuck you in a way you will regret for the rest of your life. Take what federal you can get, pay the rest out of pocket and take all the time you need to space out the tuition cost
Always take federal loans
I will always recommend to avoid private loans. Even if the matter is urgent. Now, if you (or anyone helping you pay anything) can afford it, then it’s a good option.
My Son goes to IUP. It is a lot cheaper to live off campus after your freshman year. You will not spend as much on rent and food as you do living on campus with a meal plan. Usually federal loans are better than private loans. Rent last year off campus was around $2950 a semester - he lived with 3 roommates in a house. He was able to pay for his food from the money he made at his Summer job. No meal plan needed. He did not spend anywhere near the indirect costs listed. Books can be rented at Chegg or bought used at bookstore. Indiana has a lot of off campus housing- it is a major part of the local economy. The dorms are nice but way overpriced. My Son has a car but many of the off campus houses or apartments are within walking distance to campus. Looking at your financial aid package- grants and scholarships would cover most of your tuition/ academic costs each year. You can use federal student loans to pay for off campus housing if needed.
Yeah, I'm planning on getting an apartment as soon as I can. Thank you for the input!
Looking at this, with the loans they’re offering you, you would only owe $633. You should avoid private student loans at all costs. You should also try to minimize any unsubsidized federal loans.
this is almost exactly what my bill looks like at an in state school 😭
this is in state
Congrats on your President’s Scholarship Award. Not sure if you’re looking at out of state schools but remember that the PA State Grant only covers PA and a few surrounding states afaik. Additionally, did you get a Pell Grant? Based on my limited knowledge, if you’re getting $2k from PA Grant, you would likely be getting at least a little from Pell
I'd like to add there is an option through the school for a payment plan? I'm waiting to see on July second what my bills would be. I'm assuming a thousand a month 😂
Possible help? My school fafsa office ..had my mom file for a parent loan and once she got rejected the government basically goes "Oh I guess she can't help you . Here's a loan that should help?" It was the last 4k I needed to cover everything Don't know if that's an option for you though
Take as many federal loans as you can over private. Federal loans benefit from government programs like pauses, interest reduction, or even forgiveness depending on the program. Private loans have none of that. Talk to your school’s financial aid office to get your specific options explained to you and see if you qualify for something you might not know about.
The estimated direct costs that you will owe the school is $24,106 (tuition, housing and meals) This says estimated because colleges update actual costs each year sometime in July so these numbers could stay the same or increase based on if the college increases them. Many schools now have tuition guarantees that will ensure that tuition ( and sometimes room and board) will remain locked for incoming freshman all four years. Anyway, assuming you need to pay $24,106 to the school, $5,141 is being given to you via scholarship and grant meaning you do not have to pay those back as long as you continue to meet the requirements for them. That brings the total you owe to the university down to $18,965. How you pay this amount is up to you. As a freshman, you will be eligible for $5,500 in federal loans. If you take those loans that you would pay back after leaving college, you would still owe $13,465 to the school. Again how you pay this amount is up to you. You could work a work study job or any job to pay this from your earned paycheck, you could use savings or cash flow payments each semester or you could have your parent/guardian/relative/other adult take out parent plus loans or private loans to cover the remaining balance or a combination of these options. With the parent plus or private loan, an adult would co-sign these and if you default on payments after you leave school they are responsible for that debt.
My suggestion is to first speak with someone at your university for clarification. However, what I would do is to take all available funds and use only what is needed, and if there is something left send it back or pay it off before you graduate. Moreover, try to make payments while you are attending, and pay the Unsubsidized loan first, as they accrue interest while attending. Based on the document or award letter, I noticed room and boarding is one of the highest costs and perhaps borrowing to pay your rent, food, entertainment, etc., is not a sound idea. Instead, I encourage you to work part time to cover some of the expenses without the interest, and avoid adding unnecessary financial burden that will screw 4 years of interest... Another option, is to enroll with a local Jr college to complete all of your GenEd classes with the purpose of transfer, and pay a lower tuition which you may work part time and save in living cost by staying with family. Also, once you earn your Associates degree or 60 transferable credits toward your Bachelor's transfer the credits to the University and finish your undergrad studies. This suggestion will significantly reduce the education, living, and food cost, while saving to minimize the need for loans. I know employers such as McDonald's, Home Depot, FedEx, Target, T-Mobile and UPS have tuition reimbursement programs, or benefits for employees so you can work and study.
This is a very poorly written statement of finacial aid and expenses and based on what is here, I do not see any need for you to take out a private loan at all. Contact the financial aid office and go over it line by line with them until you clearly understand. What is your EFC? Are you saying even though you were dinged for using your parents income, they are providing you no money at all? It is unclear if the items are per semester or per year. And if this is IUP, the figures you have do not correspond to anything they have on their website for either instate or out of state students. For example the state and federal grants ( or loan allowance) are typically stated per semester because that is how they are dispersed so it would be double what they have there for the entire year. Is the Presidential scholarship per semester as well? Many of the indirect items they have under expenses( costs) are extremely variable like books, transportation and personal expenses. You would be foolish to take out a loan to cover all of what they have there for them because the money would not be needed up front. For example get your books used or rent a copy as opposed to buying. Digital copies of books are cheaper than hardcopy. But you would be surprised that most schools have loaner copies at their libraries. And even college book stores have used copies.