PowerY

I am just wondering that why some college students appear to be poor when some are financially ok and cool? Don't financial aid covers your living during college? What are the factors of getting college loans and grants? (exclude scholarships)

happymomof1

One good place to start reading about financial aid is FinAid! Financial Aid, College Scholarships and Student Loans

Most students do not have all of their expenses covered by financial aid. The ones who appear to be "financially ok and cool" probably have parents who have more money to use to help pay for their educations.

z1627384950

Factors of loans and grants include your household income, financial need, area of study, year in college, and more.

Waverly

If you're poor, you need excellent grades and scores to get great aid from private shools- it's the top schools that have the money. Ome states offer good aid at their state owned schools, but not most.

cptofthehouse

Some kids are struggling to get through college. There are many variations of struggling, however. When I was in college, there were kids from well to do families that were determined to do as much of it on their own and therefore lived off campus in dives, watched every penny even though they might have been able to live a lot "richer". There are families that do not want to borrow, there are families who are on tight budgets and stick to them. On the other side, you have families that will borrow and spend so their kids have plenty at college.

My SIL's niece works 2 jobs at college and has dirt cheap living arrangements for next year. Her grandfather pays her college costs, and she really doesn't have to be as frugal as she is, but she wants her expenses to be as low as possible. I have a friend who is borrowing big time for her DD to go to her dream school and not have to scrimp at all. So it's not always easy to tell who truly is in a better family situation in terms of money by how they live at college.

Most college student commute to college. They work part time and go to school part time. THey do borrow but try to keep the amounts down. They are also in their mid to late 20s. It is the privileged few who get to go away for college and the true lottery winners who get all of their expenses paid while at college particularly by the college itself. Very few full rides and significant scholarships out there, and few schools guarantee to meet full need even as they define it. Certainly not as the family defines it. It's such great news when someone gets a full ride that it gets a lot of publicity and word of mouth. It's old news and dreary that most of us eke our way through college by scrimping, saving. working and borrowing.

mom2collegekids

I am just wondering that why some college students appear to be poor when some are financially ok and cool?

Can you rewrite that sentence. I'm not sure what you're saying.


Don't financial aid covers your living during college?

Not usually. Most colleges can't even give enough aid to cover tuition, much less R&B. However, some of the top schools that accept the best students do give adequate aid.


What are the factors of getting college loans and grants? (exclude scholarships)

Fed student loans:

Frosh: 5500
soph: 6500
jr: 7500
sr: 7500

That's all you can borrow by yourself. Some parents co-sign for larger amounts, but most parents won't do that because they know it's not wise and/or they can't qualify to co-sign.

Grants are a complicated matter. They are based on income, assets and "determined need."

Most colleges can't award much in grants - except for Fed and state grants for low income kids - and those awards aren't often much at all.

The better schools often can award grants, but maybe not enough to "meet need".

The top schools often can award grants up to need.

PowerY

Sorry I don't have time to respond.
My question was "Why some college students tend to be poor when some not?"
My parents actually want me to take a higher loans (as high as possible) because it does have a very low interest. Do you think she is wise of thinking that? What is the highest on subsidized loan?

mom2collegekids

Forgive me but I'm still not sure what you're saying.

Are you asking how poor students afford college? (i really don't know what you're asking.)

If that's your question, the answer is...

Most poor students CAN NOT afford college. some manage to use the little aid they get and commute to their local state school while working nights and weekends.

A FEW lucky ones with very high stats get accepted to the full need schools which provide lots of grants. These kids are the EXCEPTIONS and not the rule

And....Are you saying that your mom wants you to take out huge loans because the interest rate might be lower?

Oh my....this is a bad idea.

Please give us more info...

Are you an International? (your English suggests that your might be ESL) If you are an Int'l, then you'd need to get loans from your own country.

Who will be co-signing these loans? Are your parents qualified co-signers?

How much will your parents be paying each year?

How much do you plan on borrowing each year?

Waverly

I think what the OP means is that financial aid seems to give many kids lots of cash, especially those attending CCs. Many of these kids take more in loans than they need and buy other things with the money as the OPs mother seems to be advising him to do.

What they don't understand is how hard these loans will be to pay back. So no OP, that is not good advice. You will spend much of the rest of your life trying to pay off the loans rather than having money for a home, cars and retirement savings.

cptofthehouse

Yep.. Waverly has hit it just right. My friend's daughter owes $90K in loans. Since she lived off campus, sometimes for free, and scrimped, she took out loans that she did not use during the years--just took the entire COA amount that she could get through the Staffords and then had a parent co sign for private loans, and used what she did not need for school for other things. It was nice while she had that money, but now she owes it and it's not so nice paying it back.

My son took out a loan because he wants to do something this summer and his planning will be disrupted if he doesn't have that lump sum, and we are tapped out. He had to quit his job this term, had unexpected expenses, and will not be working the full summer. By taking this loan, he'll be on schedule, but will owe $3500. If things work out as he hopes that will be all he owes for college, and it will be because of an opportunity that arose that costs a hefty sum that he does not want to pass up.

But what if the cost were $35K? Because we already paid for most of his year, and he has paid some too, he could have gotten a loan with a cosigner for that amount. Scary, isn't it. Not that we would have done it, but some parents do. He could get up to $5500 on his own and would need to have one of us sign off on a private loan for the est. $30K to get that much. His college COA would totally support that and a bit more, actually. Yeah, I know, crazy, but it's happening.

mom2collegekids

From the student's past posts, it doesn't seem like he's asking about CCs.

and, strangely, he says that his parents will pay...now he's asking about big loans.


Edited to add...then I found THIS.....

My parent promise me to pay for my living during college. Everything else go to loans, since it is low interest and subsidized...(Not a concern anyway)


Uh....everything else going to loans does NOT mean that it is low interest and subsidized. Subsidized loans are for SMALL amounts.

you're OOS for GT. The cost is about $40k per year. If you qualify for sub loans, you'd get about 2500 in sub loans...NOT MUCH.

2collegewego

The only lower interest loans you could get are:

Frosh: 5500
soph: 6500
jr: 7500
sr: 7500

Other than that, you would have to apply for private loans for which your parents would have to qualify and co-sign and which would generally carry a higher interest rate. I wonder if your parents thought there were federal loans out there for the full amount of a private or out-of-state school? No, that doesn't exist.

Oh, I see you're considering a few privates and Georgia Tech. Well, none of the schools you are considering meet full need and the fedl loans would count towards meeting your need anway, so you really have to evaluate how much your parents can contribute. A lot of kids afford Georgia Tech because they are instate and Georgia has a generous scholarship program that funds instate students.

PowerY

mom2collegekids:
Well, I am not an international student, and I am an American Citizen.
What is the qualification for a parent be able to Co-sign?

Well, I am not sure. I am a junior right now (don't go away please!). I want to have a good image when I go to college. That's part of my concern.
Assume I go to Tulane University (around $50,000 with books, room, etc.)

What is going to be?

Well, there are 3 facts (since you look for my old posts):
1. Yeah, my parents will pay for part of my tuition and cost of living, blah, blah, blah...
2. But awkwardly that my parents want me to take out loans as high as possible.
3. Well, it was not my concern, but now it is.
So...

PowerY

2collegewego:
Georgia Tech is just one of my choices, I should list my other three choices again:
1. Tulane
2. SMU
3. Georgia Tech
4. Fordham

PowerY

I don't know (and I don't think) it is too early to ask for it, because I don't want to end up super poor after graduate from high school.