My Mother's Trying to Make My Decision! HELP!

sybbie719
Wed, 25 Apr 2007 07:04:25 +0000

I agree with a lot of what has already been said but I am going to look at this from a different point.



Should I base my decision on what may happen? She probably WON’T find a much better job. And even if she did it wouldn’t matter. If she doubled her income next year it would STILL be below $70,000 and she, my brother, and I would all be in college. My aid wouldn’t be that bad would it?



While you may think your mom is being unrealistic, the other side of the coin is that your mother has a very legitimate concern.

If your mother does get a better job your EFC is going to change based on her new income. Based on your statement, it is safe to assume that have a really low efc and are probably PELL/FSEOG eligible. She is loooking at worse case scenario, if she may get a better job where she may:

no longer be Pell grant eligible (this could happen around the 40k mark)

be able to afford the increased EFC (which is a very real situation for many families at any income level). What happens if she is not able to borrow the money to pay the EFC (which is also a very real situation for many families)

In addition, unless there is just one year between you and your brother ( assuming that he is older and in this case it won’t happen until your senior year) there will come a time where your EFC will change because your brother won’t be in attendance. Your mom being in college doe not affect your EFC or financial aid.

If your mom has always been financially struggling, it is understandable why she wants to choose what she feels financially is the “safer” option being in-state at Mich.

As a parent, I also think that she would feel very hurt if she sent you to Macalester and then had to pull you out because she could no longer afford it or feel that you would be taking on large debt to stay (which is also understandable).

I agree with the posters, sit down and talk with your mom, pull both of the financial aid packages apart looking at:

Free money
Grants which don’t have to be repaid (federal grants and how would/ could you fill the gap should you lose the money.

Scholarships (if there is merit money, the terms of the merit money vs. need based scholarships)

loans- if your package has stafford loans keep in mind that they are going up each year : max 4500 sophomore year, 5500 max starting junior year this will be approximately 19k
Are there perkins loans in your package- this could add up to about 16k which means potenitally you will have 35k in debt when you graduate

Look at the work study component- will you be able to comfortably earn this money with out sacrificing your studies?



Does she need to make so much money? She can live comfortably with twice her income or less.

she is in the best postion to answer that question, I don’t think any one is happy about having to always struggle. While you may feel you have worked your butt off and deserve something better, think about it, your mom feels the same way have gone to undergrad and grad school with the hopes of changing her lot in life.

just a thought.