I’m going off to college in two weeks and I swore to myself that this would be an opportunity for me to finally live stress free and only worry about my classes and running track in college. However I think that is going to change. I say that because the school that I’m going to is a private school that costs 38k a year. So far I’ve gotten it down to be 19k a year with various scholarships and two student loans and hopefully a work study position soon too. To make a long story short, I don’t want to be in college worrying if my parents are going to pay my monthly tuition payments of 1800 a month on time (if not at all).
I thought the financial aid office and I broke down my award letter to my parents to a point where a 1st grader could understand it but apparently they still don’t. It’s July 26th, 4 days away from my first payment and my dad is asking me if my student loans got approved. Seriously? Like it makes me so upset because I spend so much time making sure that they understand what I’m telling them about paying for college. Luckily I just received a one time 1500 scholarship from my church that will cover the cost for the 1st payment but I keep wondering what would have happened if I didn’t get that scholarship. Would my parents be late on making my 1st payment? Would they scramble to find money?
I don’t want to be worrying about making sure my tuition is paid on time every month or making sure that they know they have to pay the same amount for the next 10 months unless I get a new scholarship. I also don’t want to spend my free time in college trying to fill out scholarship forms every chance I get. I just want to be able to live and only worry about my class work and my athletics in college and finding a job over the summer. Nothing more!
Im currently in the process of applying for more scholarships but if I’m double majoring, on a partial athletic scholarship, and have a work study position, I wont have time for filling out scholarships. Any advice or tips so I can not have to worry about my tuition bill each month? I want to trust my parents with paying my tuition on time, but they are notorious for paying bills late and I don’t have time for that. Any advice or suggestions are welcome.
Do your parents have the money saved? If so, they could give you a lump sum each semester and you could make the payments. I know that’s unlikely.
Your only choice is to call them each and every month and remind them that the payment is due in ONE day, in TWO days, etc. I did this for rent money in college. That’s what my father was paying, and I had to call him every single month to get the money, which was of course in a check, and then I had to deposit the check and write the rent check. It was as if he didn’t know that rent is due on the first of the money and he could just send me the money on, say, the 25th of the month.
I can’t tell you it will get better. It won’t. You have to decide if it is worth it to live like that and attend college like that. To defend your parents a little, $1800 per month is a LOT of money to come up with if they haven’t been saving it all along.
Do your parents have 19K a year for four years, but they just can’t remember to make the payments? Or have they been engaged in magical thinking and imagining “it will all work out?”
There is basically no way you can be awarded a 1500 scholarship every month for the next four years if your parents simply do not have the money.
Some athletic departments make the work study very easy to do. At my daughter’s school, they are very flexible and often have the students working in their sport, but for the opposite sex team. My daughter’s teammates work the games, clean up after practice, file paperwork…all things my daughter does and doesn’t get paid for.
You won’t be able to “find scholarships” every semester. I’m concerned your parents don’t seem to understand THEY need come up with $19K/year. Can they afford that? You need to ask them that directly. From the information you’ve posted I’m not sure you can actually afford to attend that school.
In my opinion , if a student belongs to the top group of students and has high grades, I don’t think, a tuition could be a problem. My niece graduated by just having a full scholarship from a private college school. She got the financial scholarship approved. Or if it is really that financial is an issue , you could work on a part time also to help your parents pursue your schooling.
^to get scholarships you have to apply and be accepted to schools that give them. $18,000 is not a realistic number to come up with by working if your parents can’t help. I think student already took out maximum loans in their name.
I would go back to your coach and ask for more money . Explain that you don’t have the resources to pay for you to attend. If you are talented enough in your sport, maybe the coach is willing to give you more athletic scholarship . Or maybe he can exert influence in the financial aid department .
The NLI will restrict your ability to play sports if the school/coach won’t release you to transfer. But, again, if the money isn’t there, the money simply isn’t there.
Please have a frank money talk with your parents and see what they can really afford, as opposed to what they wish they could afford. You may need to take a gap year and reapply to other schools with a realistic budget in mind.
The NLI only prevents you from getting athletic aid (and maybe participating) at another school for this year. It does not require you to attend the school. You can play at any D3 school, the coach might release you to play for another D1 or D2 school, but at this late date, very unlikely that you’d be able to play this year anyway (or even get into another school).
You asked how you can feel reassured that your parents can and will pay $1800 per month for the rest of the year. Very unlikely that will happen. At some point, in month 5 or 7,your parents will realize they just can’t pay. At that time, will they be willing to borrow that money? If not, you’ll owe money to your school and won’t be able to get a transcript to transfer.