sushi

Trying to help out D's friend - he received a nice scholarship from a nice school, with 13k left over for he and his parents to pay. His parents now claim they thought the 13k was for all four years, and aren't willing to pay 13k per year. What are his options? Can a 17-year-old take on a student loan if his parents won't co-sign? Other ideas besides not going to the school at all?

cptofthehouse

Sushi, his parents can come up with $3,250. Young man can come up with a Stafford loan if he fills out FAFSA. The unsubsidized maximums are in a post in this section. Can't recall off hand. He will then have to work, work, work. Double jobs in the summer, 10-15 hours a week during the school year. That would do it.

thumper1

>>Can a 17-year-old take on a student loan if his parents won't co-sign?>>

not unless that student has a ton of collateral (and if he did, he probably wouldn't need the loan).

The only way the student could take this amount in loans in their name only would be for the parents to be denied a PLUS loan. Then the student could apply for additional stafford loan funding in their name only. However, it doesn't sound like this family will be denied the loan.

Calreader

Suppose the parents paid $4k. He could take out a Stafford loan of $5.5k for his freshman year. That leaves $3.5k for him to come up with through a combination of summer and school-year work.

If the cost of attendance does not include books, travel, and personal expenses, then he has to add those in too.

If he has a social network of relatives and well-wishers who might be able to help out a little, he could try putting together some microloans through GreenNote or another place like that.