<p>WarpedSeth,</p>
<p>Are you out of state? We are in-state, and this is how we paid for my daughter’s first year:</p>
<p>9,100 - dorm/meal plan
11,300 - tuition/fees - 56 credits (a lot) + lots of music class fees
(5,500) - Stafford loans
(12,500) - ParentPLUS loan
(2,500) - Grandparents helped
- Pocket money and books came from summer savings</p>
<p>The ParentPLUS loan is a government loan, with a FIXED rate of 7.9%. Thus PLUS loan is in the parent name only, but can be deferred until the student is finished with school. </p>
<p>If you can get a part-time job, and live off campus sharing an apartment, you can save a lot. (You can search Craigslist under rooms/shares – tons of students seeking roommates … a little scary, but lots of kids do this). On campus housing/meal plan was $9100. If you had a $400 rent payment and could survive on say $75 a week food (beans & rice!), you’d save $2,800 or so, and then if you earned $100/week, that’s another $3,600. And of course work as much as you can in the summer, two or even three jobs. </p>
<p>My daughter lived in the dorms this year, did not get a job, and has taken 56 credits (a lot!), so our loans are crazy scary big. Living off campus and working part time next year, we expect her to take only Stafford loans from here on, and then hopefully she will get Pell/other grants the following two years when she is overlapping college with her younger brother. She understands (as do I) that it is a distinct possibility that she will move home after graduation for at least a couple of years to pay down a good part of the loans. We have decided, in her situation, it is worth it. </p>
<p>All that said, if you are out of state, I agree with 'rentof2 that looking at in-state options is an excellent idea. My daughter’s dream was University of Washington (she really wanted to live in a more urban setting like Seattle), but she didn’t even apply because we knew an out of state public was going to be completely out of reach. </p>
<p>Good luck!</p>