Direct Plus Loan & Perkins Loan... whatt?? - Page 2

mom2collegekids · 06-21-2012, 11:49 AM

Kali....

What was your FAFSA EFC???

cptofthehouse · 06-21-2012, 11:56 AM

This makes no sense to me either. Perkins Loans usually go to PELL eligible students. But I will go with the info the student is given.

The PLUS is totally your mothers, and will use her PINs and hers only. You are not even supposed to be involved in the situation other than in an advisory nature. THis is a serious amount to borrow and we are talking major federal fraud here if you do not do this properly. If I were a fin aid officer, I would shut this down right now if I got a whiff of it. If your mother doesn't understand all of this, she needs to go to NYU financial aid and have them sit down and go through it with her.

The PErkins and PLUS are totally unrelated. Have to be and if there is a whiff that you are doing both, you will be shut down. If she is not competent to do this, she is not competent to take out the loan.

Did you not get PELL with zero income? Also with investments, there is income? Are you from NY? You are eligible for TAP if your mother is low income. Also why are you not getting Stafford? You generally will get full Staffords before getting Perkins. A lot of this is not making any sense at all.

kalifornya · 06-23-2012, 04:35 AM

Oh goodness, I'm getting extremely confused here, mainly due to the fact that I don't understand most of this financial aid stuff... My financial aid summary says there is Federal work study, federal perkins loan, stafford loan, unsubsidized loan, and a federal plus loan. Bad, right? Please ignore anything I say about our income or investments, because I'm completely confused by all of this and I'm probably giving the wrong information about our financial situation. All I know is my mom doesn't have a job but she does have investments.

Mom2collegekids - I don't know my EFC. I remember using an EFC calculator a year ago and it was 0, but I probably put the wrong information in.

Cptofthehouse - Don't worry, I haven't even done anything with the Plus loan. My mom did everything. We've had bad experiences with everyone we've talked to on the phone though - everyone was inpatient and rude and everything's starting to get a little bit frustrating. There is a Stafford loan and I am not from New York.

momofthreeboys · 06-23-2012, 09:17 AM

Perkins loans can be offered for a number of reasons. We got offered one the year i was a dislocated worker and not even close to being Pell eligible. Hopefully the mom understands now what she signed up for, because the PLUS she signed is for one year only and she will need to qualify for this in year 2,3 and 4.

mom2collegekids · 06-23-2012, 09:36 AM

Your FA pkg is horrible.

Your EFC must be over 5000 since you didn't get a Pell Grant. Get ahold of the results from your FAFSA (your SAR report) and see what your EFC is.

Please, ask your mom how much income she gets each year from her investments. You should know this because that's what will be used to make the payments on those Plus loans. I know that the Plus loans are really just your mom's problem, but it seems that she isn't thinking clearly.

Your mom will end up with nearly 200k in Plus loans at this rate. 20 + 50 + 50 + 50

Do you (and your mom) realize that the payments on those loans will be $2000 a month for 10 years? Or, if she pays a "lump sum" from her investments, that means quite a huge cut into her investments....then what will she live on?

Going to NYU is such a horrible plan. You got no REAL aid and you're going to end up with massive debt.

lerkin · 06-23-2012, 09:53 AM

Am I the only one thinking that OP's mom is not going to be approved for loan?

momofthreeboys · 06-23-2012, 10:40 AM

If the "investments" are under the table or overseas and not totally reported than that won't be exposed on the minor credit check that happens and who knows what was put on the finaid forms. If, on taxes, it "looks" like she can manage the payments, then she'll get approved. The only thing that the OP needs to worry about is if this situation is sustainable for 4 years, if the OP will be at NYU for one year and then need to find a different college and if the amount of debt the OP is taking on can be paid back by the OP after college. It "sounds" shaky because the OP doesn't understand all the ins and outs, "we" can't really tell from the information and we don't know why the "mom" doesn't understand or why the "mom" doesn't work. There are many potential scenarios...maybe there's a dad hiding who is going to "help" the mom or says will help the mom. We can speculate many things.

Why oh why do these crazy stories always come out of NYU bound kids?

jvtDad · 06-23-2012, 08:16 PM

kalyfornya, it doesn't sound like you have some adults who can give you a good explanation of what you are getting into in terms of financial aid. All the posters above are trying to help you, but it adds to your confusion. If I were you, I'd PM mom2collegekids to see if she's willing to talk to you on the phone. I bet a 30 minute conversation with her will save your life. I'd try that.

happymomof1 · 06-23-2012, 09:22 PM

kalifornya -

Are you still living outside the US? Is that why your mom will only allow you to study at NYU? Is it the "most respectable" of the colleges and universities that you were admitted to in the US? Do you have any reasonable options in the country where you have been living?

NYU has given you an unaffordable aid package. If your mom isn't a US citizen and doesn't have reasonable US assets, it is hard for me to believe that she will qualify for a PLUS or for any other kind of loan originated in the US. You need to sit down with her and work through the numbers. You might need to take a gap year. In your particular case, that could be a very good idea because you could re-locate to the US (if necessary) which might allow you to qualify for in-state status. Check the specific policies of the public colleges/universities in the states where you might like to study. Sometimes this can be done, other times it can't.

Wishing you all the best.

kalifornya · 06-25-2012, 05:19 AM

I'm beginning to regret asking my question here now... But thanks for your help anyway, those who helped. I'll try to ask my mom to make things more clear for me, but she seems to be extremely confident with her financial situation right now.

The only thing I'm getting from her is that apparently she has enough money to pay for tuition without financial aid (it was actually a random decision to apply for financial aid - we didn't plan on it at first) but she says something about rather having someone pay for it for her first, since her investment interest is higher than the loan interest... and something about repaying back the loan quickly, about not having to pay back either the interest or the loan itself until I'm out of college (the "at least half-time college student" thing), all that. So she seems pretty confident... She did research on financial aid stuff so I'm (sort of) trusting her.

Again, I'm asking - I'm not exactly sure what an MPN is for. Do I fill out one for my unsubsidized loan and does my mom fill out one for the PLUS Loan?

Momofthreeboys - I'm not sure exactly what you're trying to say and why you needed to put "mom" in quotes... My dad has been dead for six years, so I'm a bit offended right now, but maybe I'm misunderstanding your meaning. My mom just chooses not to be employed; she hasn't been since my dad died. We get our money from her investments.

happymomof1 - Sadly, it's true. I wanted so badly to go to Northeastern, one main reason being that the program I'm in at NYU is horrible and seems like it's going to be a waste of my time (especially due to the fact that everyone I've asked said that the program is incredibly easy, especially for IB students). So I'm not very happy with my situation like everyone else in this thread. My mom doesn't seem to listen, either (yes, I know, it's stupid). My mom and I are American citizens. I grew up in America. I would never consider a university in the country I am in now.

pasdeclaud · 06-25-2012, 07:39 AM

@kalifornya

I am also starting NYU in the fall. Our situations are kind of similar... kind of. My mom took out a $24000 PLUS Loan for the year, and I'm taking out $6900 in loans. I was offered at total of $25,800 in scholarships, (which I thought was pretty good for NYU fin-aid and was told countless times that it was a good offer).

I know that it's quite an investment, which is what I'm sure everyone is trying to say, but as a student in your same situation, (just about), I say, "Go for it."

It's a scary thing and may end up being a horrible decision, but that's not set in stone. Trust yourself, no matter how scary it is.

And be sure to talk with your mom extensively about this. My mom and I talk about it all the time and have come up with a way for me to help pay her to pay my loan. Make sure you work out a plan! A plan is necessary.

I wish you the best of luck because I know that you're gonna need it as much as I do.

happymomof1 · 06-25-2012, 07:54 AM

Kalifornya,

If your mom has worked the numbers, this plan may well be workable for the two of you. I do encourage you to have a sit down meeting with her and her accountant or financial advisor so that you can start learning more about your family financials. Should (heaven forbid) anything happen to her, you will need to know where the money is and how she wants it to be administered. If she can pay NYU out of her investments and their income, there must be a serious amount of money there. You do not need to know every single blessed detail of her financial plans, but you do need to thoroughly understand the larger outlines.

emeraldkity4 · 06-25-2012, 08:23 AM

Pasdeclaude, your mother took out a $24,000 PLUS loan?
How will she pay that back if she makes $42,000 as you have said earlier?
I would never allow my parent to take out that much debt topay my expenses.
You also said you recieved $40,000 in scholarships.
Why did they drop to $25,800?

mom2collegekids · 06-25-2012, 08:27 AM

Quote:

Why oh why do these crazy stories always come out of NYU bound kids?

Ain't it the truth!!! Boy, we could create quite a thread if we could copy/paste all the posts from NYU-bound kids with lousy aid pkgs and huge loans on their backs....and for what? Kalifornya doesn't even like the program he's in at NYU!!!

And, why are so many of these NYU-bound kids with lousy aid/big loans often either the children of single moms or very low income parents?

pasdeclaud · 06-25-2012, 08:34 AM

@emeraldkity4

Yup, my mom did take out about half her year's earnings for one year of my college education. Why she did it? I still don't know. I really didn't want her to do that, but I think it's more of an emotional thing for her. I had settled on going to a state university, (UT Austin), and I guess she saw how unhappy I was for a variety of reasons, so she took out the loan. She said she wants me to have a life experience. Now, is it worth it? I have no idea. You have no idea. No one does. It's scary and daunting. I'm terrified.

As per the scholarship amount dropping, I think I might've used the $40000 in the wrong way. I think I was meaning to say that's somewhere around my mom's annual income. Going back and reading my posts, I remember what happens now. Lol. For some reason I thought that the scholarship amounts were semesterly, (and obviously they're not),. So I guess you can imagine my disappointment when I finally realized just how much I miscalculated.