<p>Basically, I am writing this from my freshman year of college at 3:10 am as I lay freshly awoken from the stress of student loans. I really outdid myself this time.</p>
<p>I am attending University of Massachusetts Dartmouth and I was planning on transferring next year to UMass Amherst. My family never saved a single dime for me for college, yet at the end of high school I felt extreme pressure to go to college as all my peers were combined with the effects of the “college process”.</p>
<p>So instead I have had to take out student loans, privately, from MEFA (Massachusetts Educational Financing Authority). I received around $7,000-$8,000 in free money such as the Pell Grant and scholarships. And then, I received the government sub + unsubed loans.</p>
<p>Basically, this first year ALONE has put me at $15,000 in student debt. When I graduate, that would be a combined whopping $60,000 of student debt - most of those, private loans, and I would come out with a bachelor’s degree in either business or exercise from UMass Amherst.</p>
<p>Is this manageable? I’m thinking to myself, hell no. Its stressing me out knowing that this is what I will be graduating with. I wish I started off with community college and worked full time to pay it off.</p>
<p>Should I apply to community college for next semester, or next year? Should I drop out and see how much of loans I can get refunded? Are there other options where I can afford this? Such as being an RA to cut costs…etc. Thanks so much for reading this.</p>
<p>You’re Pell eligible, going to an instate public, and had to take out $15K in loans for one year?! Are you parents willing/able to help at all? I think that you’re wise to be concerned and transferring now to a CC that you can commute to for a few years would be a better option. If you keep your grades high at the CC then you may get some scholarship money when you transfer from the CC back to the uni. Look into what they offer for Phi Theta Kappa members and see if your CC has a chapter. File FAFSA in early January every year, even if you use estimates, so you’re at the front of the line for any campus-based aid. Work like crazy during summers and breaks, but don’t overdo it while you’re taking classes. And try to find a more marketable major than business…like accounting.</p>
<p>Try to do whatever you can to avoid private loans. Federal loans (Stafford, Perkins) are eligible for Income Based Repayment options after graduation. IBR caps the monthly repayment amount at 15% of income can be as low as 0. It is adjusted annually and, while it doesn’t remove the portion of the loan/interest that the reduced payment doesn’t cover, it does help young grads get some breathing room before they have to start making large loan payments.</p>
<p>Since you’re Pell eligible, that suggests that you’re low income…that’s probably why your parents could not save for college nor help you with current college costs.</p>
<p>The COA for UMass is about $23k.</p>
<p>I think you should go to a community college this next semester and the following year. Pick one that you can commute to. That should save you about $22k in loans overall. </p>
<p>$60k in debt is too much (and it would likely be more than that because costs go up every year).</p>
<p>If you can eliminate the need for loans for the next 3 semesters by going to a CC that you can commute to, you’ll reduce your loan amount to about $40k (which is still quite high).</p>
<p>If you can further reduce your need for loans by doing working a lot in the summer and part-time during the year, that is also a good idea. You can earn up to about $5000 per year and not have it affect your Pell grant.</p>
<p>Did you get work-study? Work-study earning don’t hurt EFC (Pell eligibility) either.</p>
<p>Should I drop out and see how much of loans I can get refunded?</p>
<p>NO, don’t drop out this semester. This semester’s loans will not be refunded and you’ll have problems with Pell. You can cancel next semester’s loan.</p>
<p>Finish this semester and accept that you will have those loans.</p>
<p>BTW…If you do very well at a CC, you might be able to get accepted to a college that will meet your need better when you transfer - which will further lessen your loans.</p>
<p>Thank you for your responses.</p>
<p>I had and still have a solid job at a local grocery store stocking shelves - which I can proabably work at least 30+ hours per week and hopefully 40+ - if i head to a community college. I did not receive Federal Work Study.</p>
<p>Now my next question comes down to all the transferring I will be doing. If I transfer to a CC, will I still receive credit from the courses I took here? The only CC I can think of is Mass Bay. After 3 semesters there, in addition to the general ed’s I’ve taken this semester, is it reasonable to expect to be able to transfer into UMass Amherst or back here?</p>
<p>Your current classes will probably transfer to the community college. And, when you have completed your A.A. there, you will probably be able to transfer into one of the public universities in your state. You need to get in touch with the admissions office at the community college that you like ASAP. Talk with them about any articulation agreements (guaranteed transfer programs) that they have with 4-year schools, and ask them specifically about the transferability of your current coursework.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>*
Now my next question comes down to all the transferring I will be doing. If I transfer to a CC, will I still receive credit from the courses I took here? The only CC I can think of is Mass Bay. After 3 semesters there, in addition to the general ed’s I’ve taken this semester, is it reasonable to expect to be able to transfer into UMass Amherst or back here? *</p>
<p>Since your UMass courses are Mass state school courses, they should transfer to another Mass CC. </p>
<p>Yes, if you complete your 60 credits at a CC, you should be able to transfer back to UMass. </p>
<p>To ensure that your courses will all transfer back to UMass later, you can get something from UMass that will tell you which CC courses transfer for your major.</p>
<p>Have you seen this book: Debt-Free U: How I Paid for an Outstanding College Education Without Loans, Scholarships, or Mooching off My Parents ?</p>
<p>[Amazon.com:</a> Debt-Free U: How I Paid for an Outstanding College Education Without Loans, Scholarships, or Mooching off My Parents (9781591842989): Zac Bissonnette, Andrew Tobias: Books](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Debt-Free-Outstanding-Education-Scholarships-Mooching/dp/1591842980/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1288804247&sr=8-4]Amazon.com:”>http://www.amazon.com/Debt-Free-Outstanding-Education-Scholarships-Mooching/dp/1591842980/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1288804247&sr=8-4)</p>
<p>$8.49 on Amazon.</p>
<p>Written by a guy who went to UMass. Sounds like there may be some information in it that could help you. Good luck!</p>
<p>I suggest a goal of trying to get through a bachelor’s degree with no more debt than you can obtain through Federally subsidized student loans. That is about a total of $21,000. With the Federal subsidized loans, you don’t pay any interest or principal until a few months after you graduate. If you need to go to college part-time while you work, or take a semester off to work full-time, or transfer to keep that debt down, those are all reasonable options.</p>
<p>The key is to do everything you can to avoid private unsubsidized loans. The payments from $10,000 of private loans will be much more painful that the payments from $10,000 of Federally subsidized loans.</p>
<p>However, be careful if you have to pay full time tuition for less than full time classes. For example, many collges will charge the same tuition for 4 classes a semester as for 5 classes a semester. If you cut down your number of classes to work more, it may end up costing you much more in the end in additional tuition.</p>