<p>Trying to help family of family. They are pretty clueless and the kid has been doing the planning. No college savings on parent part but child has 20k she made herself, high income, high spending parents. Or probably more like good income, high spending. Parents had to short sell a house a couple of years ago. One of the parents won’t seem to cut down discretionary spending but is willing to take loans.</p>
<p>CA student picked an OOS in an area she highly desires for school for this fall. Parents went to bank to get loan, denied because of short sale. Student now devastated and no plans for fall. The call I got wasn’t 'what are the alternatives, but ‘how can we get student loans’? I’m trying to make the point that you don’t want to do that even if you could when you have instate options much less costly. There is also a relative OOS, not in the desired area, but will provide a room to attend the college where one attended and one is teaching, that state flagship is pretty cheap even oos. But still there will need to be some parental contribution-- it is on the automatic merit list but I don’t know if her SAT is high enough.</p>
<p>So, for when they come to their senses, I am trying to suggest alternatives but we are playing telephone through my relative then her relative. I only know her gpa is 3.9. I asked for SAT. It seems she has 10k (her savings plus Direct Loan) to spend at this point. I’m trying to get them to look at 4 year plan so she doesn’t drop out due to being priced out.</p>
<p>To have more options, parents will need to take out something, so will they be turned down for parent plus? How can you find out and for subsequent years?</p>
<p>we see this a lot with strong incomes that cant/wont pay anything.</p>
<p>now that the Plus has been denied, the D gets $4k more, but the Parents should agree to pay back THOSE as if those are their Plus loans.</p>
<p>try to talk to them directly…not thru a chain of folks…get their phone number.</p>
<p>Plus is the easiest to qualify for, so if that isnt happening, no bank is going to lend.</p>
<p>they can try the payment plan at the college.</p>
<p>One point to make…if they cant pay much/anything per month towards college NOW, then they wont be able to make loan payments later. Sounds like the spending parent is immature and just wants a quick solution (loans) and magically-thinks the loans will get paid later (a time that he/she cant comprehend will be REAL.)</p>
<p>It wasn’t the Plus that got denied, they went to a bank to get a private loan, they didn’t know about Plus loans. </p>
<p>I’m seeing my relative today and will see if she can get me in touch with them directly–it is maddening this way, I only barely know them. I can’t tell which college it is, the 45k per year or the 35k, don’t know her SAT…</p>
<p>The parents are trying to put a bandaid on for one year. The spending parent sounds out of control and the other one helpless. I think the kid would have to drop out from lack of funds at some point. She doesn’t need to pay that much but this was her ‘dream’ and she was led to believe it was possible. Kid seems to have no concept of the meaning of that amount of money, doesn’t know it doesn’t make sense for school just same as instate options.</p>
<p>I have suggested the kid ask them how much they can pay each month. Haven’t heard back. CSU costs 22k per year average. So she can’t even afford that right now. UC costs about 32k. That all in. Tuition only is 6k and 12k. They have a UC she would get in but it is 30 to 45 min drive and a CSU that is almost same. They are both easy to get into. I don’t know how a CC is going to go over. </p>
<p>Brown Parent…when was the short sale? Was it because they were not making their mortgage payments? That WILL affect Plus eligibility. But even with a $9000 in Direct Loans, her options will still be limited this year.</p>
<p>If she will have $9000 direct loan (if parents are denied Plus), and $5000 of her own money…that brings her to under $15,000 a year. </p>
<p>If her stats are such that she could get a full tuition scholarship someplace, this $15000 could pay the remaining costs…and she will need to work as well.</p>
<p>But if she is hoping that $15,000 will pay her costs of attending a sleep away college…well…she may be disappointed.</p>
<p>Check that stick pin thread for school with costs. <$25,000. Maybe there is something in there.</p>
<p>I think it was just 2 years ago. I’m pretty sure they didn’t make payments in the process. Don’t know why or how or details. If this means plus loan is out of the question, it is too bad if kid get saddled with the extra. Yeah I guess I’m waiting to hear if the kid comes around and wants help with new list of college for next year. I don’t know if everyone is going to be able to reconcile her to taking a gap and then not so exciting college. I think they are still trying to pay for just this year, but I will try to explain how that shoots her in the foot for colleges that give merit for stats.</p>
<p>If she takes a gap year, she can work and/or seems to be good at running online biz. Can they make a 529 account in her name and ask parents to put money in it each month? That at least will maybe get the parents to start making whatever payments they can and see if they can sustain that for the remaining years.</p>
<p>Perhaps the most important message you can convey to them…they need a FOUR year plan for funding college for this young lady. A one year plan isn’t good enough.</p>
<p>It is very easy to find out if they are eligible for PLUS. Have one parent apply. It’s private and on line and you get an answer within a few seconds. Denied or accepted. If one parent is denied, the other can try. If a parent is denied, the student gets an additional $4K freshman year in Direct Loans. That gives the kid about $15K plus whatever she can earn this summer and school year for college, plus whatever parent can scrape up and give. Maybe $5K after all is said and done. Some local school, some community college is doable, IMO.</p>
<p>Also if the parents are truly in shape for PLUS and want to take it, they can also discuss the denial with the lender, there are resources provided for that , and it is possible they can then get accepted. Frankly, as Thumper says, this is probably not a wise venue to take. A family that has not saved anything for college, can’t pay out of current earnings is not likely to be able to pay back the PLUS from future earnings. </p>
<p>We took out PLUS for our oldest, a large amount each year, with repayments starting immediately, so that each year we could feel the pain for the loan repayment. It allowed us to extend each year of college bills over 10 years. It took us 14 years to pay off that loan with 7 years of them including payments for all 4 years of his college being in the payment amount, though the earlier years and later years were lesser amounts. We just finished paying it off and our kid’s in his 30s. But it took doing this to realize we did not want to borrow for the other kids. Too painful. Unfortunately, a lot of parents just shove the repayment forward to delay as long as possible and they owe the entire amount with hefty interested added in there 6 months after the kid has graduated. But this is something adults should be deciding whether they can do or not.</p>
<p>Oh, when approved for PLUS, doesn’t mean you have to take it That just tells you it’s a go to fill out the MPN or not. So the parents can go down that path and then decide whether it’s a go or not without being stuck with a loan.</p>
<p>As long as they know the student won’t get in-state tuition even if living with the relatives all four years. Seems to me a year at a CC while applying to more reasonably priced in-state 4 year colleges (or the OOS where relatives are if they can afford it) is the best choice. If you can get them to listen to you, which they may not.</p>
<p>What I was thinking too. We are spread out in CA. Most kids we know who commute to college are looking at a 20 to 30 minute drive and that’s considered close! All the drivers in our family do that sort of commute almost daily.</p>
<p>They have found they can do a payment plan. So going forward with it. The student will just “pay them back” later. I tried to convey that there were many options at this point in time but I guess the teenager is locked into this plan and is driving the process. Seems, no one is thinking about next year, year after. This is a tier two college, unranked by US News, likely perfectly nice minor state school but she could get better and cheaper instate and there are oos options but sadly no interest. </p>