kela10

Being in debt stops thousands, if not millions, of people from living thier dreams every single day.

nicktumi

@PhotoMac: How did your friends go about finding out their financial aid awards? Did they apply to all the colleges they are interested in and then fill out all financial aid documents?

My Uncle is received his Chemical Engineering undergrad from Berkley and insist that I go there. Problem is, finances are extremely low.

My stats:
location: Tampa Fl
GPA: 3.8
Clubs: Pres. Engineering Society, Member of: Phi Theta Kappa Honors Society, Students for the Environment, Sustainability Council, IEEE, and Electrathon of Tampa Bay.

Previous Jobs: TA Robotics Summer Camp, Nuclear Medical Tech, Web dev/digital designer/online sales/phone sales, Welder, and Server.

Top Choice Universities:
-MIT
-Berkley
-Harvard
-Stanford

Seeking Major: Undergrad: Double Major in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. Graduate: Neuroscience

I have one year to figure everything out before I finish all my Calc and Physics courses. I want to bring electrical components to the brain and the brain to electrical components.

mom2collegekids

^^^

Remind your uncle that you're OOS and Cal only gives enough aid up to instate status. Unless HE'S willing to pay your costs, ignore his advice.

What are your test scores?

Are you a CC transfer? If so, then getting accepted and getting the needed FA is going to be MUCH harder. I doubt Cal takes many OOS transfers...they need their spaces for instate TAG transfers.

If you're a transfer, then much of the advice on this thread won't apply to you. Transfers often get the worst aid and merit.

Do you qualify for Bright Futures to UF or FSU? Those will likely be your affordable choices.

Are you low income?

Do you have a non-custodial parent?

If you're not low income, do you know how much your parents will pay?

kmcmom13

^LOL. Sigh. Yeah, Griggs, I'm glad YOU'RE clever enough to have this figured out. That said, sometimes "meet need" funding at private schools can in fact work out to be cheaper than even in-state -- it's a crap shoot.

Re "Don't let debt stop you from living your dreams." This is baloney.
The cost of OOS at most flagships or privates is at least $50 k a year, for a minimum total COA over four years in excess of $200,000.

So in essence, you're saying:

But I WANT a Ferrari. I NEED a Ferrari to do well in business. I DESERVE a Ferrari for working so hard in school!

What do you mean they expect my parents to PAY for the Ferari? ***?

mom2collegekids

^^^
Sadly, Grigg found some way to borrow the money to go to Penn State. Very likely a huge mistake.


It's very sad when low income parents wrongly think that a college degree will mean big earnings for the graduate and the ability to pay back huge loans.

If his parents signed Plus loans (along with the idea that he would pay them back), then the entire Plus loan qualification needs to be examined. Parent income needs to be considered. Otherwise the gov't is facilitating the "poor parents sign, child is expected to pay" nonsense.

that said, since the dad was the one who insisted that he go to PSU, then frankly, it will be a kind of justice if the student can't pay and the gov't goes after the dad for payment. Considering the amount of debt the student is taking on (only got a small bit of grants), it's unlikely he will be able to make the payments once he graduates...unless he luckily finds a good job near his parents' home and commutes.

2collegewego

I thought I saw that Grigg had himself reclassified as instate for tuition purposes after one year (and posted he wasn't sure if it was legal) so I would assume there were large loans in year 1. Some schools are very strict on residency and I had heard that was true of Penn State's main campus. However, when there's an exception, it's generally for students who can prove they are self-supporting and, given his family's low income, it may have been possible to prove they were not contributing to his living expenses at all. Note that even doing this would not change the fact that he was dependent for financial aid purposes, just for residency tuition.

This was his post:
"got $5,500 in loans from FAFSA and $11,150 in grants/scholarships from Penn State.

Edit: the other responses are on-track. Penn State is really bad with FA, but you should still apply for them. Also, what you can do (what I did) is to live off campus in an apartment (which basically cuts about $10,000 rooming and boarding from tuition, making it WAY cheaper). If you do this, you can get your in-state residency after only a year, and after the first year, you get in-state tuition. And with the grants and scholarship I got from Penn State and other things, it actually makes it quite affordable. Illegal? Not sure. Possible? Yes! I'd definitely talk to the people who work at the office at Penn State because they helped me work out my money problems! My family is poor by the way ($10,000-20,000) "

2collegewego

Nicktumi, every school determines its own residency policy and you can find them online. Usually, this is more possible for lower tier state schools and community colleges-- not flagships or big, competitive schools like the UCals. From his post, it looks like Grigg was not sure if what he did was legal. I would really, really advise you not to go down that road because if the school finds out, you will owe them the $ immediately and would be unable to continue school there or elsewhere (they refuse to release the transcripts of students who owe $) until the whole debt is paid off.

mom2collegekids

2College....

When he wrote that post, he was an incoming frosh..likely with hopeful ideas. He hadn't yet had himself re-classified. Who knows if he was able to do that for this coming year (now that he's been there one year).

He seems rather naive. Again, he wrote that post the summer before starting frosh year. He thinks that by renting an apt off campus that he's going to save $10k on room and board. Well, I can't say that I know how much off-campus apts are at PSU, but I doubt that a student would save $10k per year living off campus. Even cheap rent/utilities/food would be at least $600 a month....for 12 months. Unless room and board at PSU is $17k per year (unlikely), he's not gonna save $10k per year on R&B by living off campus.

Since he hasn't posted lately, we don't know if he was able to get himself reclassified as a resident. however, since it doesn't seem like both of his parents are employed, maybe he was able to pretend that one of his parents is living in that apt???

2collegewego

Ah, that makes sense. Since he wrote in the past tense-- "what I did"-- I thought he had done it. No, I don't think he could save $10K a year living off-campus.

To the OP, regarding the original question, it is usually harder to go to an oos public because the student is unlikely to get much financial aid based on *need*. However, if the student is competitive for *merit* at the oos-- if the oos school is lower tier than the instate or the oos wants the student more (perhaps the oos gives more merit or is actively interested in something the applicant has to offer), it may work out for a poorer student to go oos. My recommendation is to make SURE you have an affordable instate option and not to load your apps with oos publics. But if you have the stats for guaranteed merit at, say, Alabama, then yes, it could work out that it's a cheaper option than your instate. That said, one of my kids (a musician) got talent money at several oos publics that accepted him but not at our instate. Even though the $ was for music, the simple fact is that kid's stats were high for the oos schools but our instate was an academic reach so I think you need to realize that they look at the whole package when awarding merit money.