Is this a financially sound plan to fund my education?

Paying for College
1

So I am a HS senior and I am thinking about how I am going to fund my post secondary education.

I plan on becoming a teacher, and I am interested in Loyola University Chicago. This is a very expensive school, costing over $55,000 a year. I could go to other schools, but my home state of Illinois is known for very expensive schools, private and public.

Basically, I want to explain how I intend to fund this 55K price, and I would like you to tell me if it is a very smart move.

-First, I have a zero EFC, so I am pretty sure I will get max for the pell and I can get FSEOG money as well. So, if I get max pell ($5,200) and half max FSEOG ($2,000), that is $6,200 that can be taken away from the 55K leaving me with: $48,800.

-Next, I plan on applying for the TEACH grant, which if I am awarded, I will get $4,000 dollars. Plus, I also might get an additional $2,500 from a scholarship, but this not certain. If I get this plus the TEACH, that is $6,500 more dollars, leaving me with $42,300.

-Illinois has a grant called the MAP grant which, based on my efc of 0, says I can get up to $4,720. This means If I get the max that leaves me with $37,280.

-Now, I am planning on doing this all throughout college and I started last summer. $100 dollars of each of my paychecks goes to a savings account for college. If I load $100 weekly into the account, I get $5,200 a year, plus tax returns I will call it $5,400. This leaves $31,720

-This one I may or may not do, but if I donate plasma (I know… sounds funny, but I am truly considering this) I can make $50 two times a week, or $100. Again, I can make an additional $5,200 leaving me with $25,520.

-Then, Loyola says that my institutional aid is estimated as anywhere between 31K-24K. Either way, The cost is now almost completely covered, and I would only need to take out 2k-3k a year if all of what I listed above falls into place.

Now that I have outlined my financial situation, do you think that this is an advisable path to take? Is it realistic? Any advice and criticism is much appreciated.

2

You got the Loyola aid estimate from http://www.luc.edu/undergrad/financialaid/netpricecalculator/ ?

http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/ indicates that the 3.26 HS GPA and 27 ACT you have will get you full tuition or better automatic scholarships at:

Alabama State
Arkansas - Monticello
Howard
Prairie View A&M

A retry on the ACT or SAT for a higher score may get you a better scholarship, or additional schools’ scholarships.

With a full tuition or better merit scholarship, you will have a much smaller amount to cover with a Pell grant, federal direct loan, and work earnings.

Donating plasma is time consuming, since you need to sit there for a few hours while the apheresis machine separates some of the plasma from your blood for donation and puts the rest of your blood back into you.

3

Yeah I got that estimate from loyola’s calculator.

The problem is I am not interested in any of those schools. If I have to go an extra mile to stay in state and be in Chicago, so be it. Seeing as you pulled up my stats @ucbalumnus you probably also saw I have asked very often for school suggestions, so I would prefer if this thread stayed more about the outlined plan.

And I know how time consuming plasma donation is, and I will say I don’t necessarily look forward to it haha. But, it is a sacrifice I am willing to make.

So, do you think that the plan is feasible or far fetched?

4

Unless your family qualifies for simplified asset review on the FAFSA, the amount you have in savings may work against your getting a full Pell grant. Not fair, but that’s how it is.

5

I think we might qualify for that, for my mother usually only makes 38k-42k and It says you may qualify if you make 50k or less on adjusted gross income. @twoinanddone

However, that is not something I thought about at all. Thank you very much for that input! Do I need to request a simplified asset review or will they see the sub 50k adjusted gross income and review it under the simplified standards?

6

Are the TEACH grant and MAP grants assured or competitive? If they are competitive, then you need to make your safety plans assuming that you do not get them.

It looks like Loyola will be at the extreme limit cost-wise even if everything in your plans goes favorably. But it means that if any one of them does not work out, it becomes unaffordable.

7

@ucbalumnus TEACH and MAP are assured, but the other teacher scholarship (golden apple scholarship, I accidentally didn’t mention it by name) is not. So, if I only get the teach I will only get the $4,000 as opposed to the $6,500 I mentioned above.

I do feel pretty confident in this plan for the most part though. I would say the only problems in this plan are the plasma thing and the possibility of not getting the golden apple scholarship. Even then, if I get the high end of the Loyola institutional aid, I might not have ever needed the golden apple or plasma money.

8

Make sure that you have a safety that is affordable for certain, since it looks like Loyola is only barely affordable if you get the Golden Apple and grant aid on the high end of the estimate.

Also, check on how Loyola may change financial aid grants if you receive outside scholarships. It is common to apply them first against student loan and work study that may be in the financial aid package and unmet need, but there is the possibility of financial aid grants being reduced instead.

9

SEOG comes from limited funds/is not guaranteed, even if you have a 0 EFC.

10

You will need a masters degree soon after you begin teaching.
You will have more options, if you major in something other than education, at an affordable school, then get your MAT.
.http://teach.com/how-to-become-a-teacher/teacher-education/benefits-masters-in-education

11

When I was in college in the early 80s, I donated plasma often. It was a great way to get spending money. You can study while you wait so it’s not really wasted time.

Also, that $55k probably includes books, incidentals, travel, and some other things that you can economize on. So you might not need the full amount.

But will you be able to work enough, while going to school, donating plasma, etc., to still sock away $100 per week toward school costs? If you do, your earnings, as well as the amount you save, may raise your EFC. Is your EFC 0 even with your income (not just your mom’s)?

12

<<<
If I load $100 weekly into the account, I get $5,200 a year, plus tax returns I will call it $5,400.
<<<

Do you have a job that pays WEEKLY? Many jobs only pay twice a month.

Anyway, I doubt that while you’re in college you will be working enough that you can set aside $100 each week towards college costs.

You cannot count on SEOG…not at all.

The donating plasma idea is not a good one.

With all those outside awards, Loyola may take away some of its institutional aid. Even though you still have “need”, Loyola may pull back some of its aid anyway. Schools that don’t meet need often have a policy that “free money” can’t exceed a certain amount (sometimes the threshold is tuition). Some schools do that so that they can “spread money around” to other students.

13

you can drive a Mac truck through your financially unsound plan.

  1. SEOG funds are not guaranteed. There is no way of knowing if you will even get a SEOG much less 2000. Unless they went to a deep pocket school, most of the SEOG funds I have see are ~$500 year or less.

Teach grants are only for 2 years. You will not be able to get one until Junior year

If you save $5200, your EFC will be raised by 20% giving you even less Pell

Find an affordable school, because this one is not affordable to you

14

Interstate Blood and Plasma is a 45 minute bus ride each way from Loyola University Chicago. You might get $50 for each of your first 4 donations but that’s the new customer bonus. After the first 4, it likely drops to something like $30 for the first donation of the week and $40 for the second in the same week. Also, you don’t get cash, it’s loaded on a debit card. The money you earn from selling your plasma is taxable income.

So at least 3 hours twice a week and they are only open until 7pm with limited hours on Saturday (closed Sunday) for $70 (minus bus fare) onto a debit card.

Not worth it and not a reliable source of income.

15

What if, heaven forbid, you come down with Mono??

16

You have too many “ifs” in your plan. SEOG is not an entitlement…meaning you might not get it at all. Your state Grant “may” award you that amount, but that doesn’t sound guaranteed either.

You have a $30,000 plus balance each year even IF you get the money you think you will get. Donating plasma for four years is not a good plan for paying college,bills in this amount.

I got my masters at Western Illinois University and know some excellent teachers who got their degrees there. The prices are far more modest than Loyola or UIUC. Look there.

17

Is there an instate option you can commute to for two years and then transfer?

18

One bad cold with you on decongestants or showing an elevated white blood count knocks you out of the plasma pool. One week during mid-terms where you can’t spare the time to get to and from the blood center and that knocks you out again. Before you know it, you’ve done three donations and are too tired to keep up the shlep.

Bad idea. The best regular donors are people with an ill family member who get to the center come hell or high water. You’re donating to a stranger- for the money- which already means your motivation is going to decrease as the months go by.

Come up with a college you can afford without the biological component.

19

Yes make sure you apply to affordable schools where you could reach the same goal of becoming a teacher.

Do FAFSA asap in January with estimated numbers if necessary and then transfer tax return info once filed with the IRS data retrieval tool.

Plan to work in summer, and parttime on campus during college, but you also need some spending money as well and for books.

Put your college savings in a 529 now, it will considered to be a parent asset.

I don’t think the plasma donation thing is a good idea like Madison explained.

20

It is okay to have this college plan out there as your REACH school, as long as you realize it is a REACH. Every single piece of your financial puzzle would have to be exactly as you imagine for this to even be a possibility. But you need to have a SAFETY school as well. One that you are willing to attend and that you can easily pay for. If you want to limit your safety to an in-state school, that is okay.

Can other posters with more knowledge about OP’s in-state schools chime in with some possible safeties for an education major?