<p>you choose another school becasue you are getting in way over your head. It makes no sense to attend a school (no matter how good it is if you can see no possible way fo paying for it). If you know that you need a lot of grant aid and the school is offering you a lot of loans, then that is not the school for you. As a studeent it would be very hard for you to get a private loan because you have not established credit.</p>
<p>I would not advise my child, nor would I allow her to attend a school that I knew we could not afford and would be dependent upon co-signers to attend.</p>
<p>At a state school, you may have to make a hard choice like going part time or commuting.</p>
<p>The cost of attendance at our flagship state university is about this amount. The cost of attendance at the smaller state universities is about $15000. Room and board are quite pricey in our neck of the woods. Our state universities do give merit aid, but it is very modest. They gap almost everyone who applies for need based aid. There definitely are ways to save costs on attendance for college. These might include living at home, going to a community college for two years, working multiple jobs in the summers to save towards the costs. At this point, I would suggest that this family wait to see what the other finaid offers are. Plus, they do not mention any merit aid…just need based. I’m wondering of some of the college choices for this student might include some merit as well as need based aid. Even with the school they posted about…is there a chance this student will get merit aid in addition to the need based aid?</p>
<p>Do you know what type of loans your student was approved for? When you talk about not handling the loans are you meaning servicing the interest rate during the time of schooling for the student? Is that what you mean? Is it that you are saying you would top out the $23,000 upper limit on Stafford Loans??? Were Pell Grants and Perkins Loans a part of the offer???</p>
<p>If they were PERKINS , it’s a good deal for a student loan . That’s the only reason my D went forward with her school choice - the PERKINS - and some unsubsidized STAFFORD. One nice thing about PERKINS ( unless Bush changed it with the recent tragic udget reform ) is she can get it cancelled by working at an impoverished school or community or Peace Corp later.</p>
<p>A PLUS loan is horrendous for us too . We rejected the PLUS in her package and used the tax refund , her extra summer work $$ and borrowed money from a relative to make up what the PLUS loan would cost …</p>
<p>We have the same EFC and two younger children . However , she was only gapped $3000 at a private ( better than at some States ) .</p>
<p>Indmom-
Have you tried appealing?
I know my friend got significantly more money from her school when her parents appealled. I suggest coming up with a good arguement about why you cannot meet the EFC and stick with it. Unfortunately, for my friend this meant 4 hours on the phone with her financial aid office but… she did get more.
Besides, you won’t lose money from appealing.</p>