This is a VERY bad idea. do not even THINK about defaulting on a loan. Besides, this is not correct. I think what you might have read is that federal student loans are not dischargeable if you declare bankruptcy. So, to get out of paying a private student loan, you’d have to declare bankruptcy.
You need to have a more firm plan than just the"indeterminate" amounts of money your parents will put in your bank account. You need to take the student loan of $5,500. I assume that was part of the FA package you received. Check with Pomona FA office to see if you have to do anything to accept the loan. At some colleges, you only have to act to opt-out. Some you have to actively opt in. Call tomorrow.
Let’s use a round number:
$10,000 is what you owe for the year. That will be billed as $5k per semester.
$2750 from your loan will be applied to each semester’s bill.
$2250 will then be your balance (per semester) to pay out of pocket.
$563 will be your monthly bill with your payment plan. $2250/4months = $562.50
You said your first installment is $1250. That’s because your student loan was not yet applied to your balance. You can easily see that your $5,000 per semester was divided by 4 equal installments to equal $1250 per installment. Once the proceeds of your loan are applied (make sure you have taken the loan!) to your balance, your installments should be, as I said above, $562/month. The loan is applied usually sometime the week before school starts. Ask at your FA office.
You said you have $1250 from your summer job. Great. Plan to divid that by 8 (8 installments). That will leave you with $406 left to pay per month. Do you think your parents will be giving you at least $406 per month? If you can get them to commit to giving you, let’s say, $425/month (a little cushion) you’ll be able to pay your tuition bill, have a tiny bit left over, and use your work-study earnings for additional spending money as you earn it. You said you are eligible for $2800 in work-study. That’s $350/month. That will be more than enough for you to comfortably cover your personal expenses.