Vent-DD got college financial aid summary

[luvavacation]

I don't post here often, though I have read for years, but just wanted to say thanks to all you people here that provide so many varying viewpoints in a respecful manner. That is the beauty of a discussion board as big as this one - exposure to views from people that may not have the same experiences as I do and can provide a new way of looking at things. Thanks for that!

I think one of our biggest mistakes was listening to the investors that said to pay down your mortgage. We put $100,000 down on our home years ago, now we have more than that in equity. You always hear that being mortgage free is the way to go when entering retirement. That is certainly my DH's goal, that is how he was raised. In 20 years of marriage, with 20 years before retirement, we now find that our home we had planned on paying off in a few years might just be remortgaged. Oh well, best laid plans often turn out badly, or something like that.

Yes, going back to work is an option, but not at this time. I do work as an outside sales agent for a travel agency, I also take care of my elderly grandparents and my own parents, and that is very time consuming. When they die, then I shall have lots of time to pursue a career, but for now, they need me. I also volunteer at jobs I adore but am paid nothing but smiles, and would hate to give up my volunteer work. It is truly a conundrum, and I applaud others that manage to put their whole lives into working and do not now face family or college education worries. While they were thinking ahead, I was thinking about the here and now, but we all make the choices we thought were the best at the time.

Sometimes our choices hurt us later. I only wish remortgaging our home wasn't what the colleges expect of us in order to afford the education they offer. While my girls do what they can by earning good grades and working, truth is for what their future careers hold, if they don't get grants and scholarships, the burden lies upon the parents and the loans we can get that will someday need to be repaid. One of my good friends, when her daughter was applying for college, said that saving money was what bit them in the behind. That's a sad statement.

Honestly, how many people are out there that have managed to save enough to send two children to college at $35,000 per year? Add up all our vacations, we still don't come near that amount. Figure in what I could have made working (minus daycare and other etc.), we still don't come near that. DH works 55 hours a week, add another 5 hours to that of overtime, still we don't come near that. Oh well.

Funny about the military idea - my eldest has thought of joining the army, she was told they do research on bugs and military applications, but it truly is not for her. My youngest, however, on reading the college books and seeing the ratio of males to females, said that military academies are definitely for her (many males, few females in those schools!). She doesn't care what they offer, she plans on going for the boys! That one will turn us grey before the college payments will!

 

[Disneyoverload42]

This was *definitely* not the case at the public school I worked at. Work study funding is still a need-based program. The government is subsidizing a percentage of the wages for that student so that the employer only needs to pay partial wages, so there is an issue of "real" dollars allotted to the program to worry about. It was, in fact, our tightest program, and we could never offer more than $1500 per year per student. We awarded it evenly to those who qualified to be as equitable as possible, and would not have given a student tens of thousands of workstudy dollars. It can't hurt to ask, especially at a private university with lots of university-specific rather than federal campus-based work study, but I cannot imagine it being offered in very many places.

In our state, it used to be that if you had at least $1 of work study awarded to you, you would qualify for food stamps. We would have students begging us to place that $1 on their award package. Clearly you cannot work a work-study job with just one dollar, and we felt it best to make actual, workable awards to those who qualified rather than simply make everyone eligible for food stamps; you can't award aid with other benefits like that in mind. The program has since changed to require students to show proof of working the work study job, rather than just an award letter with an offer of any amount of work study.

Maybe it's a state by state or school by school thing - I converted several semesters of loan awards into CWS at both schools I went to and I never got food stamps - even when I had a child and was going to school... but it could be different in different places I suppose.

 

[crisi]

We paid off our home at the "expense" of funding our kids college. But our house was paid off when our oldest was in first grade. So we moved a lot (not all) of the cash flow from mortgage into 529s. The fact that our house is paid off is still our "back pocket" plan to pay for college if we don't save enough - although we will be ten years from retirement when my youngest should finish a B.A/B.S. - not a place to be to take out much equity debt.

To get through life financially secure, if you want to pay for your kids schools you need to create a balance. You need to - all at once - or within a relatively short timeframe: You need to save for your own retirement. You need to pay down your house enough that you can afford to live there in retirement. You need to put money aside for the kids for college. And you still need to eat, drive a car, and perhaps take time to go on vacation. Very few of us are going to be fortunate enough to be able to balance all of these demands on our income and get through having taking regular vacations, saved enough for retirement, paid down our mortgage, and managed to fully fund education.

(I'd never spend $35k a year for an undergrad entomology program. Look at her job prospects before you do. I know a few PhDs in that sort of field who make less than that a year (one in Oceanography another in Palentology) - and are unemployable without at least a Masters. Have her get a general biology degree for cheaper, and look to grad school if that is indeed her passion. Bugs are a little like majoring in Drama or Music - its great to have a passion - making a living at that passion is a challenge.)

 

[drcmk]

We have 2 kids in middle school. We have been saving a total of $585/month toward their college education since their birth. This essentially causes us to live paycheck to paycheck. If they intend on going to a private school, this savings won't even come close to covering the cost.

I told them their career path MUST include a high paying salary!!!

Do you mean to say that you will only pay for their higher education if they choose a major that you approve of?

I've always told my children the opposite--that they have to seriously choose a profession that they will love to do for the rest of their lives, regardless of how lucrative the job is (assuming they can support themselves of course) because there is nothing worse than committing yourself to do something you hate for the rest of your life.

 

[drcmk]

Its easy to have kids when you are fairly young and money is tight....you'll start a college fund when you aren't searching up change from the couch for diapers. You start making a little more money, and rather than putting that money towards college - you'll do that tomorrow - you decide to reward yourself for the hard work that got you that promotion with a new car. Life happens, another baby arrives, and you manage to put off starting that college fund another year. Your kid is now ten and you know you NEED to start saving - but he really wants to play travelling baseball - and he's pretty good - and that's expensive.

This puts me in mind of Ursula's quote from The Little Mermaid: Life's full of tough choices, isn't it?

Her tone was mean, of course, and I don't mean to be. But it is the truth. There is only so much money that anyone will have or earn and everyone has to prioritize how to spend it and then has to live with the results of their decisions.

 

[MrsPete]

Do you mean to say that you will only pay for their higher education if they choose a major that you approve of?

I've always told my children the opposite--that they have to seriously choose a profession that they will love to do for the rest of their lives, regardless of how lucrative the job is (assuming they can support themselves of course) because there is nothing worse than committing yourself to do something you hate for the rest of your life.

I'm going to encourage my kids to choose a major that'll lead to a high-paying job that can't easily be transported over to another country! I wish my parents had given me a little more guidance when I was in college; if they had, I might not've earned a first degree that was basically worthless -- well, no education is worthless, but it wasn't a degree that led to a paying job. That's what I want to avoid for them!

I don't mean they need to choose a career that they'll hate (the world is not divided into things we love and things we hate), but if they're going to put their time into working 40 hours/week for 30 years, it's important that they're well compensated for their efforts. They'll have lots of time for hobbies too!

Quite a few factors go into choosing a major and a career: money, the likelihood of employment, probable location of the work, one's abilities, whether the job demands will mesh with one's personal life, length of education required, and more! I wouldn't simply say, "Oh, just do what you love best!" Consider it, yes; but look at other factors too.

 

[crisi]

This puts me in mind of Ursula's quote from The Little Mermaid: Life's full of tough choices, isn't it?

Her tone was mean, of course, and I don't mean to be. But it is the truth. There is only so much money that anyone will have or earn and everyone has to prioritize how to spend it and then has to live with the results of their decisions.

And I don't think any of us find those decisions to be easy. I really want to do three things with my extra money this summer - I want to take a vacation. I need to replace the deck on my house - which has gotten unsafe. And I really should stuff a little more money into the kids 529s. On top of summer day care. I may end up doing all three, but may be making some compromises to do them all - shortening the vacation by a few days. Taking fourteen square feet off the deck and skipping the window replacement. And sticking a little less towards college than I ought - and worrying about how to pay for college tomorrow. Honestly, I should replace the deck first, and then put money into the kids college funds, and if I put enough there, then take the vacation. But I may decide to take the vacation anyway.

 

[meandtheguys2]

Yes, going back to work is an option, but not at this time. I do work as an outside sales agent for a travel agency, I also take care of my elderly grandparents and my own parents, and that is very time consuming. When they die, then I shall have lots of time to pursue a career, but for now, they need me. I also volunteer at jobs I adore but am paid nothing but smiles, and would hate to give up my volunteer work. It is truly a conundrum, and I applaud others that manage to put their whole lives into working and do not now face family or college education worries. While they were thinking ahead, I was thinking about the here and now, but we all make the choices we thought were the best at the time.

We've managed to do both, thank you. One does not have to negate the other. I've worked many part-time positions, and still managed to care for my grandma (6 months with 3 of us providing round the clock), and my mom during her cancer treatment, while homeschooling my kids. Planning ahead took thought, and study. We've saved money in many ways. And still have many lovely memories to show for our time.

You seem content with your choices. That is great. But assuming that it is the duty of others to cover where you couldn't be bothered, is out of whack, imo.

I do believe that young people need to have a firm grasp re. job availability, income, etc. Yes, an art degree is lovely, but if you wind up a single mom supporting a family, can you feed them with it? (Taken directly from a gf's life.) They need to know that a BS in psychology isn't worth the paper its written on. That most college profs get paid very little. And that the second employer in their lives isn't going to care whether they graduated from Ohio University or Marietta College.

 

[Toby'sFriend]

Honestly, how many people are out there that have managed to save enough to send two children to college at $35,000 per year?

not many I would imagine.
But I'm also not aware of many parents who have not saved for college that insist that a $35,000 a year college is the only viable option.

As much as we would all like to spend our working time in jobs that only pay in smiles, I'm not sure it is practical unless one spouse is a high wage earner or has a Trust Fund -- or the child receives significant merit awards based on talent or grades. I have a Niece that attends a very expensive University, but she is on a Swimming Scholarship. If she did not receive that scholarship, then she would be at a lower cost option.

Those are just the economics of life.

 

[daughtersrus]

I lost track of this post a few pages back so please forgive me if this question has been answered.

My oldest DD(21) will be a senior at ISU next fall. She is a special ed major that has received a tuition waiver with the understanding that she will teach 2 years in IL after graduation. So, her tuition is covered but her room/board and books are not. She has a Federal Student Loan that is paid directly to the school and she has a payment plan for the remaining amount.

This coming year there will be a HUGE shortage of dorm space since they are tearing down several dorms and require Fresh and Soph to live in a dorm. She got her application is the minute it was due on Monday morning but we won't know until summer if she has a dorm room or not. She will also be student teaching the second half of the year in the Chicago area so she only needs housing for one semester.

If she can't get a dorm room and is able to find an apartment that she can lease or sublease for one semester, can she use the student loan to cover these expenses? Right now it's paid to the school directly but if she has no other expenses with them, can she get the money directed someway so that she can use it for rent?

We're keeping our fingers crossed that she will have a place to live. If not, I don't know what she's going to do!
They won't let her change her student teaching placement to a location closer to Bloomington/Normal. She had to request that last summer but we had no idea that she might not have a dorm to live in for the fall semester.

Thanks!

 

[mla1977]

I lost track of this post a few pages back so please forgive me if this question has been answered.

My oldest DD(21) will be a senior at ISU next fall. She is a special ed major that has received a tuition waiver with the understanding that she will teach 2 years in IL after graduation. So, her tuition is covered but her room/board and books are not. She has a Federal Student Loan that is paid directly to the school and she has a payment plan for the remaining amount.

This coming year there will be a HUGE shortage of dorm space since they are tearing down several dorms and require Fresh and Soph to live in a dorm. She got her application is the minute it was due on Monday morning but we won't know until summer if she has a dorm room or not. She will also be student teaching the second half of the year in the Chicago area so she only needs housing for one semester.

If she can't get a dorm room and is able to find an apartment that she can lease or sublease for one semester, can she use the student loan to cover these expenses? Right now it's paid to the school directly but if she has no other expenses with them, can she get the money directed someway so that she can use it for rent?

We're keeping our fingers crossed that she will have a place to live. If not, I don't know what she's going to do!
They won't let her change her student teaching placement to a location closer to Bloomington/Normal. She had to request that last summer but we had no idea that she might not have a dorm to live in for the fall semester.

Thanks!

When I was in school you weren't able to have financial aid if you live off campus as an undergrad. That may have changed since then. 10 years ago it was cheaper for me to have an apartment for 12 months in DC than is was to live in the dorms for 9 months.

 

[phragmipedium]

I lost track of this post a few pages back so please forgive me if this question has been answered.

My oldest DD(21) will be a senior at ISU next fall. She is a special ed major that has received a tuition waiver with the understanding that she will teach 2 years in IL after graduation. So, her tuition is covered but her room/board and books are not. She has a Federal Student Loan that is paid directly to the school and she has a payment plan for the remaining amount.

This coming year there will be a HUGE shortage of dorm space since they are tearing down several dorms and require Fresh and Soph to live in a dorm. She got her application is the minute it was due on Monday morning but we won't know until summer if she has a dorm room or not. She will also be student teaching the second half of the year in the Chicago area so she only needs housing for one semester.

If she can't get a dorm room and is able to find an apartment that she can lease or sublease for one semester, can she use the student loan to cover these expenses? Right now it's paid to the school directly but if she has no other expenses with them, can she get the money directed someway so that she can use it for rent?

We're keeping our fingers crossed that she will have a place to live. If not, I don't know what she's going to do!
They won't let her change her student teaching placement to a location closer to Bloomington/Normal. She had to request that last summer but we had no idea that she might not have a dorm to live in for the fall semester.

Thanks!

The way this worked at my university is that charges applied to a student's account just prior to each term, for tuition and housing if applicable. The financial aid then applied as well and paid against those tuition and housing charges. If the charges were fully paid and there was excess financial aid, it was distributed in check or direct deposit format to the student on the first day of the term (or the Friday before the term started). Loan proceeds may be used to pay for housing, books, and other educational expenses, so that's not a problem - but check with her school's business office to make sure what the procedure would be at that school to receive the "refund" check at the beginning of the term - and counsel her in terms of good money management to make sure that the refund lasts her through the term.

 

[mamalle]

wow! that is alot. Im interested in reading all of the posts here with the different views. For us living in fla it pretty much was a no brainer when the kids were born to pay for the flat rate of 4 years of college tution thru the Fla Prepaid. I am glad that is out of the way but really worry about the other fees like room, board, books, etc. Im really starting with the kids early to get good grades so they will qualify for Fla's Bright Future Scholarship so everything is covered 100% either private or public schools. It just shocks me at what it takes for kids to go to college now and I dont seeing it getting any cheeper either.. I hope you all can figure something out..

 

[MKCP5]

I'm going to encourage my kids to choose a major that'll lead to a high-paying job that can't easily be transported over to another country! I wish my parents had given me a little more guidance when I was in college; if they had, I might not've earned a first degree that was basically worthless -- well, no education is worthless, but it wasn't a degree that led to a paying job. That's what I want to avoid for them!

I don't mean they need to choose a career that they'll hate (the world is not divided into things we love and things we hate), but if they're going to put their time into working 40 hours/week for 30 years, it's important that they're well compensated for their efforts. They'll have lots of time for hobbies too!

Quite a few factors go into choosing a major and a career: money, the likelihood of employment, probable location of the work, one's abilities, whether the job demands will mesh with one's personal life, length of education required, and more! I wouldn't simply say, "Oh, just do what you love best!" Consider it, yes; but look at other factors too.

aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh..........this of course begs the question--how many people end up working in the field that they majored in for college? Alot don't. My brother has a degree in history and is a corporate real estate exec, DH has a degree in television production and is a teacher (history) BFF has a degree in biology and is a sales rep......things change, desires change, work force changes. HOw do we prepare them to be prepared?

 

[bumbershoot]

If she can't get a dorm room and is able to find an apartment that she can lease or sublease for one semester, can she use the student loan to cover these expenses? Right now it's paid to the school directly but if she has no other expenses with them, can she get the money directed someway so that she can use it for rent?

From my experience, and I had a variety of loans, you can't use undergrad-type loans for living expenses. (OK, tell that to the work study funds I was paid, but I digress) Once I got into graduate school, then they allowed you to take as much as TWICE what you needed for tuition, for living expenses. (ugh, what a dreadful mistake that was)

When I was in school you weren't able to have financial aid if you live off campus as an undergrad. That may have changed since then. 10 years ago it was cheaper for me to have an apartment for 12 months in DC than is was to live in the dorms for 9 months.

I think your university might have had adequate housing for all undergrads, thereby making it a choice versus a necessity.

Universities are so different! I got access to the "extra" car while in grad school because my brother, then an undergrad at Duke, was not allowed to have a car while receiving financial aid. If you can do the upkeep and pay the gas, insurance, etc, on a car, that money should go towards school, as far as they were concerned. So I got the car and he got to rely on his wealthier friends if he left campus.

The way this worked at my university is that charges applied to a student's account just prior to each term, for tuition and housing if applicable. The financial aid then applied as well and paid against those tuition and housing charges. If the charges were fully paid and there was excess financial aid, it was distributed in check or direct deposit format to the student on the first day of the term (or the Friday before the term started). Loan proceeds may be used to pay for housing, books, and other educational expenses, so that's not a problem - but check with her school's business office to make sure what the procedure would be at that school to receive the "refund" check at the beginning of the term - and counsel her in terms of good money management to make sure that the refund lasts her through the term.

That wouldn't have worked in my undergrad, with my loans. But it might work for another school, different loans!

 

[mla1977]

I think your university might have had adequate housing for all undergrads, thereby making it a choice versus a necessity.

Actually it didn't have it. I was a transfer student my sophomore year and couldn't get housing. I have a large grant for my tuition and loans, and work study, but I didn't get any refund check for my housing. I think if I lived on campus I would have received more money for school in general. They didn't have adequate housing until my senior year and at that point I didn't want to be stuck with the rules of student housing.

 

[phragmipedium]

That wouldn't have worked in my undergrad, with my loans. But it might work for another school, different loans!

That's very interesting. Were your loans federal Stafford or Perkins loans, or federal parent PLUS loans? Those are available to assist with educational expenses, including housing, room and board, and even whatever "miscellaneous personal expenses" the school has factored into the overall cost of attendance. Even all of the private educational loans through banks I've seen have allowed for the same usage for educational expenses. Of course the Stafford/Perkins loans have borrowing limits, but providing you had excess loan funds after your tuition was paid, it's my understanding that the loans are allowed to be used for all forms of educational expenses at the borrower's discretion.

For example, if tuition is $6,000 a year and the housing/books/personal expenses are budgeted at $14,000, the overall cost of attendance is estimated at $20,000. If a family borrowed every dollar they could for it, and had $20,000 worth of loan aid, but the student lived off campus and only had tuition billed to the school, they would still have access to the rest of that aid each term to cover their expenses that weren't billed by the university.

All the private school aid award letters I've seen have done something similar (allowed for borrowing for educational expenses beyond tuition alone), so perhaps it had to do with the type of loan or something unusual your school did?

I would say that in general, students are allowed to use their loan funds for all educational related expenses including rent, providing they've borrowed enough to cover their tuition and university-billed expenses first - but of course, always check with your particular school to see if they are an exception.

 

[Toby'sFriend]

aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh..........this of course begs the question--how many people end up working in the field that they majored in for college? Alot don't. My brother has a degree in history and is a corporate real estate exec, DH has a degree in television production and is a teacher (history) BFF has a degree in biology and is a sales rep......things change, desires change, work force changes. HOw do we prepare them to be prepared?

Well for me, my son wants to major in Political Science.
My answer was: great! How about pairing that with a Teaching Certificate?

He looked into it and decided that what he really wants to do is complete his undergrad degree, join the Peace Corps for a couple of years, then hopefully go to graduate school. We all agreed that a dual Political Science/Secondary Education Major would give him excellent employability as well as fit into his "dream life."

I agree that people should enjoy their jobs, but there is no doubt that Education is also about increasing your income potential. Unless your last name is Hilton or something like that, you need to be able to support yourself.

 

[Green Tea]

From my experience, and I had a variety of loans, you can't use undergrad-type loans for living expenses.
That wouldn't have worked in my undergrad, with my loans. But it might work for another school, different loans!

Schools, even now with all the new restrictions, refund overages to the students. The loans are for educational expenses. It really doesn't matter if you are in a dorm or an apartment.

 

[cruisnfamily]

wow! that is alot. Im interested in reading all of the posts here with the different views. For us living in fla it pretty much was a no brainer when the kids were born to pay for the flat rate of 4 years of college tution thru the Fla Prepaid. I am glad that is out of the way but really worry about the other fees like room, board, books, etc. Im really starting with the kids early to get good grades so they will qualify for Fla's Bright Future Scholarship so everything is covered 100% either private or public schools. It just shocks me at what it takes for kids to go to college now and I dont seeing it getting any cheeper either.. I hope you all can figure something out..

The part I bolded is not exactly true. They'll pay for tuition at a state school. If your kid goes somewhere else(private or out of state) they'll give you the going rate at a FL state school which you can apply elsewhere. Also, bright futures doesn't cover housing....


Oh, silly me, as I was typing I just got what you were saying. You've got the prepaid already so you're hoping to pair it with bright futures to cover everything between the two....that's my plan exactly! We're hoping for the same thing. DD15 will be starting her volunteer hours for bright futures this summer. I just hope she gets the SAT grades required.