@Sushiritto, it’s a “massive financial problem” because of the size of the loans (or the take-out from the home equity- which we now doubt exists.) She already sat down with the parents and they told her what they could afford- which we find unrealistic, as it depends on these massive loans or non-equity.
It’s like a vicious cycle: want big, can’t afford big, take out big loans. We don’t think they can do massive loans, sensibly. The family doesn’t want the affordable suggestions. OP said she can’t imagine a non top 50. She wants better…the cycle starts again: can’t afford bigger, talking big loans.
There’s a limit to how much OP, as a 17 year old, can understand of the financial particulars (her family’s or the terminology.) I suggest we keep this simple.
Dad can call the mortgage co and ask how much he could pull from the value. He can look at the Parent Plus loans (parent equivalent to student loans,) see if he qualifies. In a matter of days, there should be an answer, no?
@GnocchiB I don’t think my parents would let me take a gap year. If I have to spend it working at my minimum wage job to earn money, wouldn’t it be even harder to get into good colleges next year? And wouldn’t I make more sense to loan money now and pay it off later when I am working at a job that pays more than $9.25 an hour?
No it would NOT be harder to get into AFFORDABLE colleges next year…and that would need to be your goal.
If finances are a significant consideration…it looks like you didn’t consider THAT when you applied this year. At all.
Your family EFC is not affordable for your family without loans…or so you said at one point.
The gap year would give you the chance to look at options that are more affordable…and where your very good stats would give you good merit aid as an incoming freshman. NONE of your schools had that going for them.
No, really, it makes sense to pick a school easier to afford.
If you come out of college and get a decent job- pick a number, say, 60k salary. That’s 5k/month. After taxes, call it 3500/month, maybe a little less, depends on things like your contribution to health insurance, etc.
Rent? (If you think you want the tech areas of CA, this can be nutso high. You’d have to apt share.) Costs of a car and insurance? Your own stu loan payment, maybe $325. Utilities, cell phones, internet service, some fun in your life…it all adds up. Meanwhile, your parents’ loan repay is at $2400/mo. How much can you help them? It won’t be much.
@Thumper, I think she means harder to get enough FA, if she earned so much during a gap. (She prev put it this way.)
On a non-financial note: I HIGHLY, HIGHLY recommend visiting a school during the winter before committing there. It’s difficult to explain just how depressing and harsh winters can be when you literally don’t see the sun for months.
I work in a small office with people who have grown up with winters their whole lives and we still have a happy light to help us get through the winter.
"And wouldn’t I make more sense to loan money now and pay it off later when I am working at a job that pays more than $9.25 an hour? "
Yes, except for two issues:
The universities that you have been accepted to are too expensive. It does not make sense to go to them.
If you go to university and run out of money before you finish, then you still get to work at $9.25 an hour, except that all of the money you earn gets to be spent on interest on the loans that you already have. By the way, in this case you also get to live with your parents, because that will be the only way to pay off the interest on your loans while making only $9.25 an hour.
Which you will start after a few years of professional work
In a job you landed after graduating from college
Which will occur at a school you excel at.
… you will kick this process off at a school you can afford to attend for four years…
So look at the steps if you fail the first step - picking a school you can afford x 4 none of the rest is possible. The prestige of the school means little in that first step.
What if the $16,000/mo is free and clear? Maybe the gross inome is $250,000 +/- year? Is there a 403b deduction that can be reduced or eliminated? What other assets are there? Maybe the parents own a $60,000 Porsche they can sell? What if the parents have a sizable bank account? Stock portfolio? What massive financial risk? We just don’t know.
The parents purchased a home in HI 6 years ago. Not knowing where they live, I think HI real estate values have increased 25%. Can the parents obtain a HELOC or refi their 1st? I don’t know. There’s too much unknown.
And just because someone is 62 years old doesn’t necessarily make them a financial risk. Life is great on HI. Did you know that Hawaiians live longer than the rest of us in the US? Average=81 years young. The Dad has already retired from the military and is still working. He can work another 10-15 years.
If you are unwilling to change your list, then you are right. The gap year makes no sense. The OP ignored good advice on this last fall, and didn’t really modify her list. Now she sits with no affordable options and a family that can’t grasp that they are about to send their kid down an untenable path.
Why do you think you can only earn minimum wage? I realize that as a high school grad you are not going to make big bucks, but you’ve got work experience and obviously are very intelligent, so should at least be able to work your way up to a somewhat higher pay scale My D. was earning something above minimum wage working retail at age 18, the summer after she graduated from high school. She was offered a promotion a few weeks before she was scheduled to leave for college, but of course had to turn it down. My son dropped out of college at age 20 and got a low pay, entry level job and was offered a promotion and step up in pay after only 2 weeks on the job.
But I do agree that there’s not a whole lot of benefit in the earnings you could get. The problem is simply that you don’t have any affordable college lined up for next year. Rochester is the best option you have right now, but clearly may not be sustainable over 4 years.
So you either take a year off and start over again next year; or you swallow your pride and go to UH or look into the option of AUH (or any other school that you can find that will fund students with your stats and is still open to applications); or you jump into the abyss with a school that your father can manage to fund for the first year, with the knowledge that there is a high likelihood that there won’t be funds available to allow you to complete your education and/or it will entail your parents taking on debt that will be financially ruinous to them in later years.
The main advantage of a gap year isn’t what you could earn – it would be the opportunity to create a new application list filled with the sort of schools that are acceptable to you but known to give substantial merit aid to students with your stats. Those are not going to be schools with high prestige - but if you really can’t abide the thought of UH or UAH … then that’s probably where you will be going.
I’d note that every year on CC we see threads like this: well-meaning parents who tell their kids to apply anywhere they want, and say, “Don’t worry honey, we’ll find the money.” – and then the kids find themselves without an affordable option once the admissions documents and financial aid awards come rolling in.
This is the fault of the parents, not the 17 year old kids who are forming college lists in fall of their senior year. The time for the serious sit-down discussion over finances is the before the first college application is sent.
And um this is kind of hard to admit. But I’m not really considering UAH because I want to go to a diverse school. I would probably pick UH manoa over going to UAH because I can definitely see myself not liking it in Alabama and wishing I stayed in Hawaii instead. To be frank, I would feel quite out of place where most of the students are from Alabama
"If you are unwilling to change your list, then you are right. The gap year makes no sense. The OP ignored good advice on this last fall, and didn’t really modify her list. Now she sits with no affordable options and a family that can’t grasp that they are about to send their kid down an untenable path. "
Most UAH students are NOT from Alabama.
And Huntsville is an area with a long history of people coming in from all over the country for the tech industries. It’s not some easy stereotype.
Oops, that’s UA where OOS outnumbers, let me check UAH. But the comment on Huntsville itself holds.