<p>My religion prevents my family from obtaining loans that require interest payments (muslim. if you think I’m ■■■■■■■■ look it up) which is pretty much every loan in the nation. Is it possible for us to talk to colleges (once accepted) about structuring financial aid so that there are only grants/work-study instead of loans?</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>I don’t know about that I but there are a tiny number of schools I hear do not include loans in their financial aid packages, They tend to be tipsy top schools. and maybe UC’s if you are in state and make less than 80k…Of course, you can also tailor your search to schools where you might get merit aid.</p>
<p>Google interest free loans for Muslim students and see what options are available to you. I doubt colleges will restructure your financial aid package based on religious beliefs.</p>
<p>On a prior thread you said your parents have saved money for your education (30-35,000) so you may have to look within your budget.</p>
<p>yep, they’ve saved enough to pay that much per year and then my dad’s income should refresh the coffers. However, most of the colleges don’t offer 100% grants. I doubt CMU for example, notorious for poor FA packages, would offer 20000 in grants.</p>
<p>The best part of course is that I will have 0 debt when I get out of college. Still, I have to find a way to gather up the money :(</p>
<p>What about focusing on merit money to make up the difference? You will likely have a nice list of schools that will be happy to pay you to come!</p>
<p>If they’re willing to pay $30-$35,000 a year, that should cover you for your in-state publics, right? If you don’t want to attend those, at least keep them in your back pocket while you pursue schools that give merit scholarships (those are never loans) based on GPA, SAT scores, and other things and schools that meet full-need without loans (as said above, rare but they exist!)</p>
<p>I’m looking at private schools now because my instate schools (UCs) are financially unstable. Seriously. My state still does not have a budget and Berkeley’s tuition is approaching the 30k mark. </p>
<p>I have found numerous merit aids from my top schools, ranging from high school GPA to pledging to maintain college GPA. Also, while the Ivies are incredibly difficult to enter, some actually do offer enormous grants. Thanks for the suggestion!</p>
<p>Debt is pretty much something that I think every religion discourages. That being said, people do what they have to do, since education means more than sitting listening to your elders share stories these days. I hate having to take loans too. Maybe I should tell that to my D’s college and expect them to just give me all free money. Others can just suck up the debt instead of me. That would work great for my family, but I know someone else somewhere would then get less free money and have to take out more loans… not my idea of “Do unto others…” that works really well for anyone.
Does your religion say you MUST attend college? If you can’t afford some schools without loans, just go where ever you CAN afford it.</p>
<p>^Well, after reading suggestions from people who offered some nice alternatives, I will not try contacting the colleges immediately. Instead I’ll search for scholarships, merit aid, etc. </p>
<p>And no, I am not being a snob who wishes to get by cheap and easy. Only one of my parents works, but they saved a lot of money by sacrificing other things (we didn’t buy a house). I’m simply stating that my religion prevents me from taking interest. It is considered a high sin. Take that as you will. </p>
<p>Finally, I cannot stress enough that I am scouring for possibilities here. If nothing else appears, of course I’ll go to a state school. No need to portray me as some sort of selfish snob.</p>
<p>Google around for banks that handle Islamic loans. There are a few in this country. Then have a chat with them about your situation. It is uncommon, but not unique. Someone surely has dealt with this before!</p>
<p>You can EASILY attend a UC for 35K a year in cash. Tuition for the UCs are NOT 30K for instate students…is about 12K. You can live in dorms for an additional 12K (cheaper if off-campus or at home!). Even if the UCs keep going up each year, if you simply work 10 hours a week during school and fulltime in the summers, you will more than make up any future rising costs. </p>
<p>If you have super high stats, you can get Regents scholarships for a UC … so be sure to apply to several of the UCs and see if you can nab one of those.</p>
<p>The CSUs are also very affordable… more like 6K in tuition plus 12K for dorms.</p>
<p>I am not sure what the problem is … 35K a year, even with the rising costs, with a little bit of sweat equity on your part with working, will more than cover the cost of the UCs or the CSUs.</p>
<p>^I’m sure you could be right, but the official word is $29,000 on campus,$ 27,000 off.</p>
<p>[University</a> of California - What does UC cost?](<a href=“http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/admissions/paying-for-uc/cost/index.html]University”>http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/admissions/paying-for-uc/cost/index.html)</p>
<p>Cal might be the most at $31k
<a href=“http://students.berkeley.edu/admissions/general.asp?id=26[/url]”>http://students.berkeley.edu/admissions/general.asp?id=26</a></p>
<p>and UCLA second at $30k
<a href=“http://www.fao.ucla.edu/publications/2011-2012/UG_&_G_Budgets.pdf[/url]”>http://www.fao.ucla.edu/publications/2011-2012/UG_&_G_Budgets.pdf</a></p>
<p>Shrinkrap: that’s the estimated total cost per academic year for an in-state student, it includes fees (tuition), housing, food, books, and personal expenses. Obviously it will be higher for someone who has to pay out of state fees, and could be higher or lower depending on the in-state student’s lifestyle. </p>
<p>I still say UC Berkeley and UCLA are excellent in-state choices, even with the budget problems. I at least would not dismiss them as a choice in the next 5 years. Look into alumni scholarships in addition to Regent’s. For example, Cal’s alumni offers one for Achievement and one for Leadership.</p>
<p>“I still say UC Berkeley and UCLA are excellent in-state choices,”</p>
<p>^I agree. </p>
<p>Just saying official COA is more the 24k.</p>
<p>oh sorry by tuition I meant everything (room and board, books, etc). I read in the newspaper this week that the regents were considering another 10% hike to the 8% hike in fees proposed already. </p>
<p>Berkeley always was my first choice, but talk of classes being cut and an extra year to get a degree have thrown me off. I wish to be a comp sci major, so of course Berkeley is on my radar. #2 in fact, after CMU. If this financial aid matter doesn’t work, I’ve got the best backup plan possible (presuming I get in).</p>
<p>If you have health insurance already under your parents, you can knock 1500 off of the ESTIMATED COA. You don’t have to live on campus–my son’s off-campus living situation at CAL costs a good 3K less than the lowest dorm options on campus, so if you want to be resourceful, knock another 3K off the ESTIMATED COA. “Personal expenses” can usually be cut in half, etc etc etc. And your major may not require as much that is allotted for books and supplies in the estimation of the COA.</p>
<p>The true COA can often be so much lower - as much as 5K - 6K for many students.</p>
<p>Even using a COA of 31K, a student with monies of 35K a year can handle a UC easily–and use student job and summer job to offset any rises in tuition over the four years.</p>
<p>Also, the 10% hike affects TUITION, so only about 1/3 of the grossly overestimated COA is affected by that. Basically, the tuition will probably go up about 800 - 1000 dollars if enacted. Again, totally within this student’s means if he chooses to go to a UC.</p>
<p>Also, if you are going EECS, I doubt you need to worry about graduating in time. First of all, CAL EECS pushes students to get done in 4 years and I believe you have to <em>petition</em> to be “allowed” an extra semester to finish up. It’s move it or get out there… they don’t want their students lingering there past 4 years because it takes up space for the next student coming along. They are very explicit about this on the website. Secondly, almost every student that gets into EECS has a ton of AP credits so that many are high-freshmen or even sophomore status when they enter the college because of having so many credits…my son could choose to graduate a year early (3 years only) because of all of his AP credits. </p>
<p>It sounds like you don’t really want to go to CAL or the other UCs. That’s fine, but like you have pointed out, the privates might not give you a strong enough FA package.</p>
<p>Can’t go wrong with Berkeley - you’re really fortunate to have such a high quality school at a low price. You can definitely do it in 4 years. CMU is going to run a lot more, they’re not known for good aid, and admission is much tougher than instate at Berkeley - not a good plan. If you’re worried about Berkeley admission, there are a number of high quality UCs for CS that are also very affordable.</p>
<p>*Only one of my parents works, but they saved a lot of money by sacrificing other things *</p>
<p>Have you run any FA calculators? You may not qualify for as much aid as you think you will.</p>
<p>It sounds like your dad makes a good living and your have a lot of savings…that often means little or no aid.</p>
<p>What are your stats? What is your intended major? </p>
<p>You may need to look at SCHOOLs that give merit scholarships. Private scholarships are often for only frosh year…so won’t solve your long-term issues.</p>
<p>If you have really good stats, try Santa Clara University. They give out quite a few FULL tuition scholarships to very high stat students, which means you’d have to only pay room/board/books. They have a solid and interesting Engineering department. The college itself is very diverse and eagerly welcomes students of different religious backgrounds. It is a Jesuit college, but the “religious” requirement (3 classes) can be fulfilled by classes about many world religions including Islam, ethics classes, etc that are extremely interesting.</p>
<p>Until very recently, I worked at a school with a very large Muslim population … in an area with the largest Muslim population in the US. Some of our Muslim students followed Sharia Law in this area & others did not. Those who wanted to forego loans would sometimes do the subsidized loans & pay them off before they were due (since they are free until repayment … which bought their families time to find other funding to pay off the loans). But no, schools are not able to give more grants in a case like yours, since it is “choice.” </p>
<p>Many of our students go to CC for the first couple years to keep costs to a minimum & they are able to pay for school without loans once they transfer to the state 4 year school. If they are good students they may qualify for scholarships; many do. Some students work with the Muslim community to get interest-free loans … this is done for home purchases, and it can also be done for education loans. I would suggest asking at your mosque.</p>