Decision Time: UNLV, SDSU or UNR?

BrownParent
Sat, 22 Mar 2014 23:54:20 +0000

To make things clear with your parents, you should tell them what the deadline is to accept or decline your offers, put a calendar on the wall if necessary with a big red X.

That’s great that you did the work to apply for extra scholarships, I hope it pays off for you. It is a smart idea to understand how the financials work and take control of the situation, so you both know what you are getting into and can make smarter decisions. The financial aid forum has a FAQ pinned to the top of the forum threads if you want to start reading. But in brief:

Your own student loans don’t have to be paid back until 6 mo after graduation, then the ,monthly payments kick in.

So if you got Parent plus loans your parents must have applied? Those are your parent’s loans. Any repayment is on them legally. If you are going to pay them that’s between you. Are you sure they are going to sign for those? The payments on those start immediately. So it isn’t realistic that you can pay those while you are in school, your parents will have to.

I’m having just a little trouble following the numbers. So UNLV put that package together and how much are you supposed to come up with? You say 18k or is that mostly covered by the loans? Sorry if I am being dense.

I think before you go on vacation, you should nail down what you can afford for college. One possibility to consider is taking the car and getting a job this summer. Ask your parents to put your vacation money toward your college. It will be well worth it for your family to make some sacrifice now and you will hopefully have a nice paying engineering job in 4 years. Just a suggestion, take it or leave it.