Your mom will not qualify to cosign your loans. A parent has to QUALIFY by showing enough income, as well as credit score to cosign loans.
While waiting for MSU’s FA pkg, run the NPC on MSU’s website and then copy/paste the results here.
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my mother told me I did not need to worry about money for school, and that she would do anything she could to get me to go. So I never worried about the money part until now that I got in and now my mother is telling me that she is unable to pay anything and I(we) would have to take out loans. I had questioned her multiple times about the financial aspects of everything but she kept brushing me off and telling me not to worry about it so I had assumed that meant she would be able to pay for it somehow. My EFC is $0 and I got a financial aid package of around $14,000 from Purdue.
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You now know that you can’t trust your parents in regards to what they say about paying for college, and likely for borrowing for college. Your mom may not know that she has to qualify to cosign loans. Anyone who can’t pay anything towards college, should never be cosigning loans anyway.
Did you apply to any of the smaller state schools in Michigan?
Two good options:
Look into attending community college, locally, for the next year or two and transferring to MSU or UMich, or another in-state school.
Take a gap year and work. Do not take any college classes, anywhere.
Save some money. Re-take the ACT to help with merit scholarship opportunities. Shoot for a 27 at least. (Assuming you have a 3.8). Study with guides form the local library.
Re-apply to college next fall, but - apply to the smaller state universities in Michigan, as well.
You may get better financial aid at those; and with a higher test score, may get a merit scholarship to help out. They should also have cheaper tuition than MSU or UMich.
When I talk to FA departments about MY kid’s COA, they know what I am taking about. Seriously – we have years worth of posts where it is used that way, too. You might have to get used to it…
Cost of Attendance:
Tuition & Fees + $13,672
Room & Board + $9,474
Books & Supplies + $1,068
Other Expenses + $1,886
Total Cost $26,100
Your Estimated Need:
Total Cost $26,100
Expected Family Contribution (EFC) - $0
Total Need $26,100
Your Estimated Grants and Scholarships:
Federal Aid
Pell Grant - $5,775
FSEOG Program - $500
Michigan State Grants and Scholarships
MSU Student Aid Grant - $7,880
MSU Freshman Grant - $1,360
Total Grants and Scholarships $15,515
Your Estimated Net Price
$10,585
Your Estimated Eligibility for Other Aid Programs:
Loans
Federal Perkins Loan - $1,000
Direct Subsidized Loan - $3,500
Direct Unsubsidized Loan - $2,000
Out-of-Pocket Cost after Student’s Financial Aid
$4,085
Additional Resources:
Federal Work-Study - $3,000
Parent PLUS Loan - $1,085
If you get the Perkins loan, 3000 in work study, and the FSEOG grant, then you may only have to pay for the Parent Plus loan unless your parents are going to take that loan AND be responsible for paying it (it’s their loan, not yours).
Parents advocate the less debt route for very good reasons. You would get a very good education at MI State. If you work hard at your academics, take advantage of every opportunity. You make it what you make of it. A lot is one’s own attitude. Be grateful you have the opportunities you have. For students, the financial numbers don’t have a lot of meaning.
Okay… just wondering what your odds of being able to pay back your federal loans are. Honestly, bio tends to be a low paying major unless you are able to make it to med school. i’d feel better about this if you were majoring in something where it was clearer that you can pay back the loans. There are lower paying majors, but there are also better ones.
Your mother did your a disservice by telling you not to worry about cost and then changing her story after it is too late to apply to schools with the aim of seeking financial aid and scholarships.
Michigan State’s net price calculator at https://msu.studentaidcalculator.com/welcome.aspx does suggest a net price for a Michigan resident with your stats (3.8 HS GPA, 21 ACT) from a low income family of between $10,000 and $11,000, which is around the outer limits of what a college student can be expected to self-fund ($5,500 federal direct loan and $5,000 of part time and summer work earnings). So be on the lookout for Michigan State’s actual financial aid offer; do not be surprised if it comes in this range.
Michigan State’s student budget does not have very large books and misc/personal expenses line items ($1,068 and $1,886 respectively), so the opportunities to frugalize are not as great as at some other schools. The room and board part of the budget is fairly low at $9,474, so opportunities to frugalize there may not be as great either.
*In discussions of the cost of college in the United States, the cost of attendance (COA) (also known as the price of attendance) is a statutory term for the estimated full and reasonable cost of completing a full academic year (usually, nine months) as a full-time student. The cost of attendance is published by each educational institution and includes:
-Tuition and fees payable to the institution
-Books and supplies
-Room and board
-Personal costs (medical, toiletries, clothing, laundry)
-Transportation to and from the school
As of October 29, 2011, every post-secondary institution that receives federal financial aid funds is required to post its COA. Colleges are also required to post a Net Price Calculator, that determines for each prospective or current student a personalized Net Price, which is the difference between COA and need- and merit-based Grant Aid (not including loans or work-study programs).
Financial aid cannot exceed the Cost of Attendance.*
It seems the choices for @yurica are the following:
attend MSU with the awarded financial aid and take on the debt
take a gap year and try to raise test scores (doesn’t seem like a realistic option and she will likely be in the same position next year… albeit with the potential to save several thousands of dollars by working during the gap year)
attend an “in district” community college for two years and then transfer to MSU or UM. Running the NPCs using the OP’s information, net cost including loans for a CC is about $5000/year without living at home and $1000 living at home (must be some cheap housing in the area…).
Running the NPC for directional state colleges (e.g. Grand Valley State) gives the same net price as MSU.
@yurica - A $10.6k expense for MSU is quite good and doable for a student without any other resources. After using the subsidized loans, Perkins and Direct Subsidized, you are left with $6.1k to make up. Working PT and/or utilizing the work-study offered you would only need to make $3k during the coming summer months. I personally think you are in a good position to get a great education at an excellent price!