Student Loan Debt?

[milkman636]

'This is just the biggest fiasco.' College admissions upended by financial aid form glitches — Los Angeles Times

A chaotic rollout of a new federal financial aid form is roiling high schools and upending college admissions, impeding students from filling out the all-important FAFSA form.

apple.news

This is pretty much where I'm at now. We did the form at the end of last week and the system said it would be a couple of days before we could submit because of an update. I haven't got back to it yet because of work, basketball games for my sons, and another college visit.

My son should be getting another offer too. One of his former high school teammates plays at this school and it was apparent the head coach coach had seen game film. They reached out last week and seemed genuinely excited to see him on campus today. It is a private college and they project around $250,000 for a degree with food and housing if you pay the book rates. They have scholarship money available for him, and they've won their conference two years in a row. I hope they are generous.

One of his other suitors reached out to say they had filled out recruiting for his position today also. So one door closed while another one opened.

There are also 5 new schools that reached out to him for the first time today. The first of two national signing days happened last week and I thought recruiting would die down. I was wrong. Maybe they are scaring some prospects away with the crazy high pricing they are publishing. Even 50% off would seem an extreme amount to pay, especially if a person is borrowing the money.

 

[Hay Dude]

I hope you have a great signing day. I remember signing day for both mine. It was a very nice day.

 

[paulsharvey]

So, we were back to talking about this tonight; son got a financial summary sheet;
$3200 tuition (per semester)
$600 books and supplies estimate
$3958 housing and mandatory meal plan
$1200 transportation
$400ish "other"

Subsidized student loans $1500
Unsubsidized student loans $1250

He 'should' get 75% tuition paided by a state scholarship.

So, we where looking, and I pulled up a sample of spring classes; and showed of the 3 classes; #A-2 of 10 where 100% online; #B-8 of 10 where 100% online; and #C was all in person, includes a biology lab.

We then looked at a 75 mile each way, drive, 2 days per week, at 20 mph, or $60/week (at $4 gas), or roughly $720 in fuel vs $4000 in room and meal plan.

Also, kinda explained the numbers simply don't work. Trying to avoid the fight, we are just talking about a Math problem and $2750 in loans is Less than the $9360 the school says it costs. Even with the scholarship, that's scholarship and loans at $5150 which is Still less than $9360. It hard to bank on him making $16k/year while attacking school. He is actively applying for several other minor scholarships, that could potentially be from a $3000 single payment, to a $500-1000/semester scholarships. Those would change the math somewhat, but you can't count on those until the check clears, and it still doesn't add up the way he wants.

I did pretty much tell him, 1st the summer semester, before the main scholarship takes affect, no way he can do on campus living. Then, I would avoid it, But you are committed; if he gets into it, and finds he's stuck taking 4 or 5 days of in person; then on campus (or crapy trailer park closer) are always still an option in the future.

Then, the next part, at $2750 in federal student loans, for 12 semesters (should take more than 10, but trying to include 'contingency'), that's like $33k total loans, over 4 years. How the heck are people A: spending $275k of a non doctorate; and B: how the heck are they getting that much in loans?

We also discussed his girlfriend plan. She is getting 100% tuition, and some low income help (free applications, some minor fee waivers), but she's not entirely sure how she's going to cover her house (she's going 3 hrs NW, he's going 1.5 hr NE). And apparently, in her orientation, they Strongly recommended not working for the initial year, as it's a high Weed Out program.

 

[paulsharvey]

A bit part of this conversation also was about his truck. He currently has a paid for 2003 Chevy 1500HD, 6.0 Vortex, that gets about 11-13 mpg. We have been telling him foe about a year, sell that dang truck and get something like a Nissian Frontier, Canyon/Colorado, Mazda/Ranger, or a small car.

Part of his problem; he loves his truck; and the bigger part, he thinks it worth $8k; but is really maybe a $4500 vehicle on a good day. He had it posted about 9 months ago, for $8k, and no intrwst; then he hit a deer (minor front bumper) and so.eone backed a tow truck into him, messing up rear bumper and the fiberglass bed. So, the value might have been $6500 before that, but definitely dropped since

 

[jyoutz]

So, we were back to talking about this tonight; son got a financial summary sheet;
$3200 tuition (per semester)
$600 books and supplies estimate
$3958 housing and mandatory meal plan
$1200 transportation
$400ish "other"

Subsidized student loans $1500
Unsubsidized student loans $1250

He 'should' get 75% tuition paided by a state scholarship.

So, we where looking, and I pulled up a sample of spring classes; and showed of the 3 classes; #A-2 of 10 where 100% online; #B-8 of 10 where 100% online; and #C was all in person, includes a biology lab.

We then looked at a 75 mile each way, drive, 2 days per week, at 20 mph, or $60/week (at $4 gas), or roughly $720 in fuel vs $4000 in room and meal plan.

Also, kinda explained the numbers simply don't work. Trying to avoid the fight, we are just talking about a Math problem and $2750 in loans is Less than the $9360 the school says it costs. Even with the scholarship, that's scholarship and loans at $5150 which is Still less than $9360. It hard to bank on him making $16k/year while attacking school. He is actively applying for several other minor scholarships, that could potentially be from a $3000 single payment, to a $500-1000/semester scholarships. Those would change the math somewhat, but you can't count on those until the check clears, and it still doesn't add up the way he wants.

I did pretty much tell him, 1st the summer semester, before the main scholarship takes affect, no way he can do on campus living. Then, I would avoid it, But you are committed; if he gets into it, and finds he's stuck taking 4 or 5 days of in person; then on campus (or crapy trailer park closer) are always still an option in the future.

Then, the next part, at $2750 in federal student loans, for 12 semesters (should take more than 10, but trying to include 'contingency'), that's like $33k total loans, over 4 years. How the heck are people A: spending $275k of a non doctorate; and B: how the heck are they getting that much in loans?

We also discussed his girlfriend plan. She is getting 100% tuition, and some low income help (free applications, some minor fee waivers), but she's not entirely sure how she's going to cover her house (she's going 3 hrs NW, he's going 1.5 hr NE). And apparently, in her orientation, they Strongly recommended not working for the initial year, as it's a high Weed Out program.

College costs are substantial no matter how much, but the tuition costs you cite are reasonable compared to many other state universities and private schools are unspeakably higher.

 

[paulsharvey]

College costs are substantial no matter how much, but the tuition costs you cite are reasonable compared to many other state universities and private schools are unspeakably higher.

It's something like $175.75/credit hour for in state. Then add typically atleast another couple hundred per class in lab fees, distance learning fees, whatever, but the tuition it's self is realistic.

 

[CloverKnollFarms]

My son has $80k in an account for college. I told him that's it from me. If he spends it wisely, he won't pay a dime. If he wants to be frivolous and incur debt, that is on him. I taught him what way to go, but I can't make him go that way.

 

[2manyrocks]

So, we were back to talking about this tonight; son got a financial summary sheet;
$3200 tuition (per semester)
$600 books and supplies estimate
$3958 housing and mandatory meal plan
$1200 transportation
$400ish "other"

Subsidized student loans $1500
Unsubsidized student loans $1250

He 'should' get 75% tuition paided by a state scholarship.

So, we where looking, and I pulled up a sample of spring classes; and showed of the 3 classes; #A-2 of 10 where 100% online; #B-8 of 10 where 100% online; and #C was all in person, includes a biology lab.

We then looked at a 75 mile each way, drive, 2 days per week, at 20 mph, or $60/week (at $4 gas), or roughly $720 in fuel vs $4000 in room and meal plan.

Also, kinda explained the numbers simply don't work. Trying to avoid the fight, we are just talking about a Math problem and $2750 in loans is Less than the $9360 the school says it costs. Even with the scholarship, that's scholarship and loans at $5150 which is Still less than $9360. It hard to bank on him making $16k/year while attacking school. He is actively applying for several other minor scholarships, that could potentially be from a $3000 single payment, to a $500-1000/semester scholarships. Those would change the math somewhat, but you can't count on those until the check clears, and it still doesn't add up the way he wants.

I did pretty much tell him, 1st the summer semester, before the main scholarship takes affect, no way he can do on campus living. Then, I would avoid it, But you are committed; if he gets into it, and finds he's stuck taking 4 or 5 days of in person; then on campus (or crapy trailer park closer) are always still an option in the future.

Then, the next part, at $2750 in federal student loans, for 12 semesters (should take more than 10, but trying to include 'contingency'), that's like $33k total loans, over 4 years. How the heck are people A: spending $275k of a non doctorate; and B: how the heck are they getting that much in loans?

We also discussed his girlfriend plan. She is getting 100% tuition, and some low income help (free applications, some minor fee waivers), but she's not entirely sure how she's going to cover her house (she's going 3 hrs NW, he's going 1.5 hr NE). And apparently, in her orientation, they Strongly recommended not working for the initial year, as it's a high Weed Out program.

How does your son do with taking on-line classes? Reason I ask is some friends just pulled their son out of college with one semester to go because he was failing his on-line classes. He's a pretty decent student, but for some reason he doesn't focus when it's all on-line. And to make it worse, IMO, he is required to be on campus even though he's a senior and the classes are on-line. So instead of graduating this semester, he and his parents now have this mess.

 

[ultrarunner]

My niece floundered being on campus confined to online classes in her dorm room and gave up her scholarship during pandemic

She took a year off working at Costco and enrolled the following year out of state.

For her it was a good move but being so close to the finish line would be hard to take...

 

[2manyrocks]

Coming up one semester short of a degree is not good especially when it remains to be seen how many credits will transfer to another school.

I know another student who got tripped up from his degree in the final semester due to not passing a required statistics course.