Too many safeties?

ucbalumnus
Fri, 08 Jul 2016 22:15:55 +0000

If parental contribution is $5,000 per year, the student can add a federal direct loan of $5,500 and perhaps $3,000-$5,000 of work earnings every year, for a net price limit of $13,500-$15,500. However, lower is better (e.g. in case the student is unable to find a job or enough work hours to earn that much).

But that means that you need financial aid or scholarships of at least full tuition, perhaps more.

Cosigned student loans are generally not a good idea.

Do the net price calculators at the various schools suggest that need-based financial aid will be sufficient or insufficient? If insufficient, then a safety would have to have an automatic full tuition or better merit scholarship, and other schools need to be chosen for reasonable possibilities of full tuition or better merit scholarships (which generally means low match or safety level for admission, but may be high match or reach for competitive scholarships).