Is this a bad FA package?

mom2collegekids
Mon, 13 Apr 2015 09:22:51 +0000

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@mom2collegekids they are fine with taking out the loan

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Of course I’ll help pay back once I graduate. It’s just frustrating that my best financial aid offer would leave my parents and I with a total of about $80,000 in debt between the 3 of us for just undergraduate school.

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Well, that’s a different issue. to say that they’re “fine” with taking out the loan sounds like THEY are going to pay. Then you say that you’re going to help pay back the loan. THAT sounds like you have convinced them that YOU are going to pay back a good chunk of the loan so they don’t have to worry about being stuck with it.

YOU are already going to have a good sized chunk of loans to pay back as it is since you’re being given full loans (stafford and perkins).

I think you’re wrongly assuming that you will be able to pay back those big loans as a future engineer.

Your test scores are borderline for engineering. I think it’s a huge risk to start out with taking out big loans. What if you don’t make it thru eng’g?

Do you realize how many kids start in eng’g and then have to change their majors because they don’t do well? You could be a sophomore and already have over $40k in debt and realize that you’re not going to make it thru eng’g. Then what??

Seriously…eng’g is like premed. Every year millions of kids start out in eng’g (or premed) and then by the end of sophomore year, 1/2 to 3/4 have moved onto something else.

I think you need to start at a CC, see how you do in eng’g, and then transfer as a junior. That is the safe track. If you do make it thru eng’g at a CC, then your family would only be borrowing $40k for your last 2 years…that is still a large amount of debt, but at least it’s not insane debt.

$85k of debt for undergrad is insane.