<p>I suggest looking at"The Choice" blog on the New York Times (on-line)…for the past few days a financial aid expert has been fielding questions…some were on this exact question…he says definitely apply for the aid…check it out…</p>
<p>I agree with Carla - The fact that you have need isn’t so much the point as having a lot of need. Plus if a college giving you $10,000 allows them to say they met full need for x% of students, that’s a feather in their cap.</p>
<p>drmom: Very good question. I don’t know the answer. But, on the one hand, you never really know if your financial situation will change (lay-off, death, illness, etc…) . Some schools will not process a change unless the initial Fasfa and/or CSS Profile has been filed.</p>
<p>DD13 was just told she is ranked 17th in the class (out of 200ish)! We can offically check off top ten percent!! WOO HOO!</p>
<p>Check aid or no aid: If you can afford the school and would send your child there even if there was no aid given and your child really, really, really wants in at that school and you are ok with and can afford the no aid option, then check no aid. Otherwise, check aid.</p>
<p>When we visited UChicago the Adcom told all the kids “if you like your parents, check yes for financial aid”.</p>
<p>My understanding is that everyone should fill out the FAFSA, because that is required for government - subsidized and unsubsidized - loans. The subsidized, for kids with financial need, is at 3.4% interest until June 2013 (this was the one just expended), so I expect that to expire before Fall 2013 college students (ours) would receive loan disbursement. The unsub is at 6.8% interest. And so I looked further…</p>
<p>I was looking into the FAFSA yesterday, and I was getting very frustrated. Not only are the subsidized loans at half the interest rate, currently, but interest does not accrue to the student while the student is in college, during deferment, and forbearance. I may be incorrect on the last two, but while they are in college interest definitely does not accrue. However, for the unsub student loans interest DOES accrue when the student is in school, and all the other times when the subsidized loans do not accrue interest.</p>
<p>So, because our D will not qualify for subsidized loans, based on her parents’ income, she has to pay double the interest rate, plus interest that accrues during the four years she is in school?? The loans will be HERS, not OURS. WE will not be paying them back - SHE will. Why does SHE get penalized? Doesn’t seem fair to me. Don’t get me wrong - we are very blessed, but like many others we drive ten year old + cars, live in a 2 BR, 1 bath home, and so on… </p>
<p>Sorry to rant, and I don’t intend to offend anyone. I just don’t get the reasoning behind the above.</p>
<p>Our2girls ~ I believe subsidized loans do accumulate interest - it is just that the federal gov’t is paying it and continues to pay until 6 months after student drops below half-time attendance. Unsubsidized loans they don’t pay it because they expect the parents/students to. That also effects the interest rate, when they are guaranteeing the loan, they get it for a better rate than us regular people. It sucks, but it was the same 20 years ago when I was in college.</p>
<p>This is why every family has to think very hard on whether taking out loans is good or not. There is no guarentee that your student will be able to pay off large loans. For us, we are trying the “no loan” route and will choose our schools accordingly. We do feel somewhat comfortable with our kids taking out 5K per year for a total of $20K, but that is about it. A private school with debilitating loans is not worth it, to us. That is why public schools are a very good choice for many kids. Paying 60K a year for a small regional LAC or a highly ranked University may not be a good choice for a family that will take out loans. There is a difference between optomizing your merit/financial aid and taking on large loans for prestige.</p>
<p>Found out this year with my oldest that graduate student loans, even subsidized loans, have a higher interest rate than undergraduate. And for professional schools (med schools, dental schools, pharmacy schools, law schools, etc…) there is not a lot of “free money”. Even with demonstrated need. Something to think about if your kid is thinking about grad school.</p>
<p>I guess if DD REALLY REALLY REALLLY wants to go to XXX college, but they do not accept her because of her financial status, then that will be too bad. We don’t always get what we want. However, if it is based on a “seemingly small” amount of difference, that is where it gets tricky. Her latest ED choice (note I said “latest” because it seems to change weekly!) says they are “need blind”; but her prior weeks choice just changed itself to “need aware”…which makes me “ware-y” (get it? punny!! ha ha!) I think that not doing ED is the safeest way to know the financial choices----but not always the safest way to “get into that dreamy college”…I know what you’re gonna say…how dreamy is it if it costs 270,000?!!</p>
<p>As the mom of a DS12, all I can say is that college is way more expensive than the COA tells you. First, those “set up the dorm room” costs are a bit pricey. Then, the COA you are looking at is for this year. Your child’s costs will be 4 to 6% higher for next year’s COA when they actually attend. If you are near the line, or have more than one child, really think about those “dreamy” schools. We are lucky in that DS12 received a nice merit scholarship and we assume (ok, we pray!) that with two in school we will get some financial aid. However, it is A LOT of money. Good luck everyone!</p>
<p>yup. And I’m going to prepare my kids to look for good summer jobs and some kind of off-campus job…</p>
<p>We are lucky, I guess…both of our major state U’s are about $15,500 per year for tuition/fees/room/board and both are fantastic schools (to us anyway). Between the two of them you could major in just about anything you want. S qualifies for a $2,000 scholarship for the one he is considering. And to make it even better, there will probably be a tuition freeze for next year!!</p>
<p>An academic and big time financial safety that all parties love!!!</p>
<p>Someone on another thread brought up a good point, they said that they take all the federal loans they can and put the money in the bank. That way they have money set aside for grad school or other post-grad programs at a VERY low interest rate, rates you can’t get elsewhere. If the kids don’t need the money, it’s in the bank ready to pay off the loans when they get done with school. If they need it, you can’t beat 3.4%!. Our original plan was for DD not to take student loans through UG but have rethought that because she will have one year of med school pretty much paid for by taking those loans (which she would need to take for med school anyway, just at a higher rate). We are submitting the FAFSA simply for the loans. Keep in mind, many outside scholarships require the FAFSA and even if you are full pay in the eyes of colleges, many of these scholarships have a lot higher income threshold and you could disqualify your child by not filling out the FAFSA.</p>
<p>Soooooo, the “counselor” issue…I finally talked with their counselor and got the REAL story. Turns out that DD did not meet with her when she said she first did so that put off the time when the counselor could do her recommendation and other “meetings” DD has “had” with the counselor have really just been DD talking to the secretary and the secretary telling her she needs to talk to the GC—which DD did, once, in the hall, in passing…the “meeting” DD had yesterday was again with the secretary…AND…DS’s stuff hasn’t been sent because he has not set up his final appointment with the GC she she can write HIS recommendation. Some kids got their rear ends chewed out royally this afternoon :mad:.</p>
<p>Stevema- Don’t you just HATE when that happens :)</p>
<p>Vitrac–We’ve been through this process twice before and the GC–same one–was wonderful. She is an absolute DREAM, very helpful, etc. which is why I kept telling the kids to go in and check because something got missed—well that something was THEM. It was just so strange!!</p>
<p>DD got a “conditional acceptance” at her VERY academic safety school, like if you have a pulse you get in type school :D. It’s “conditional” on filling out the medical form and having that on file. Why??? DD called (yes, she did this time) and they don’t really need it until spring of 2014—um, so why send it now???</p>
<p>Unfortunately, according to the ACT website, once you submit your “send scores”, they can not be canceled. There’s one exception to canceling but it must be done by the Thursday immediately after sitting for the test which you would not know the scores by then. I guess this benefits those who have “a bad feeling” about how well they did during testing. DS#1 scores on second test date were slightly lower than his first sitting. He was near melt down when he realized he requested auto send. I was able to reason with him since his colleges recommend sending all scores anyway, will only consider best scores across all sittings and reading that it is very common for students to get slightly lower grades the second time around. From what I read, many Test takers tend to become complacent with an “I got this” attitude and don’t prepare as well as they did the first time around.</p>
<p>Thanks, all, for your comments about student loans, and especially for not beating me up about my comments. Everyone is very supportive to each other – that’s why I love it here!</p>
<p>geogirl1 - We’ve also decided that the max our girls will take is about $22K total, each, in undergrad. We feel comfortable that amount is do-able over the ten year payback time frame. I don’t want our girls to have to take the 25 year payment plan – that’s crazy!! That would really limit what they could do. Our D13 has sights on a post graduate degree, but knows that scholarships are more difficult to get for that. Not sure how that will work out :/</p>
<p>drmom123 - $270K – WOW. That IS dreamy!! :)</p>
<p>Haystack – when we were figuring college costs we thought of our 1) state U, and 2) our alma mater, which is very affordable for OOS already, and would give our girls automatic scholarships at 150% of instate. However, we didn’t anticipate our D13 finding a major that is not really available at either. We were prepared to pay for the affordable ones with savings and current income. Since determining those really aren’t options for D13 we intend for her to take out the loans because we don’t want to take out PLUS loans, we don’t want to get a 2nd mortgage, we don’t want to do anything like that to increase our debt beyond our home. On the positive side, won’t it also help build her credit?</p>
<p>SteveMa – oh my goodness…I hate to be the one to say it, but don’t the twins know what all you are doing to help them with this process? They are pretty lucky kids, for sure. Of course we all have to remember our kids are still teenagers, and I remember something about their brains not yet being fully developed. So happy you know what happened – so sorry about what it was. Btw, after reading your message about the counselor I re-read it and actually lol thinking about how you would “say” that….Soooooo, the “counselor” issue 
Hugs to you {{ }}</p>
<p>Y’know that brain development issue Our2Girls alludes to? Don’t you want to slap em upside the head to get that development going into high gear?</p>
<p>Vitrac–head slappage has come into my thoughts MANY times today :D.</p>