Who am I?
I am an 18 year old high school senior, and I am attending Vanderbilt in the fall to study some field of engineering, likely biomedical. I applied under the EDII decision plan, so pretty much no matter what I am attending Vanderbilt for at least one year.
Whats the situation?
I applied for financial aid and I was awarded $3,500/yr from the TN Hope Scholarship and $58,869/yr in a need-based grant, totaling $62,369 in aid for the 2018-2019 school year. My financial aid letter lists the estimated cost of attendance as $73,501. (This figure also includes $1,294 in book costs, and nearly $3,000 in "Personal/Misc Allowance", so if I'm smart about that I could probably save an additional $1000). This leaves my yearly estimated family contribution to be about $11,132. For four years, assuming no changes in the EFC, that totals $44,528.
What are my loan options?
Vanderbilt fin aid makes it pretty clear that they don't think taking out loans is a good idea. Nevertheless, they direct students to three different options:
- Undergraduate Federal Loans: This includes Federal Direct Subsidized/Unsubsidized Loans and Federal Perkins Loans. As I understand it, it's highly unlikely that my family would qualify for the Perkins loans.
- Federal Direct Parent (Plus) Loans: This is where the parent is the borrower. This is not an option as I will be the one taking on student loans, not my parents.
- Private Alternative Loans: This is where Vandy really starts throwing up red flags and 'turn back now' signs. They advise students to only use private loans as an absolute last resort, and I have no intention of using these if at all possible.
So basically, my only option currently is Federal Direct Subsidized/Unsubsidized Loans (If you understand what that means, then skip to the next section since me writing this out is really more for my own benefit and understanding than anyone else's).
- Subsidized: These loans are where interest on the loan is federally subsidized and covered while I'm in college.
- Unsubsidized: With these, interest accumulates and basically becomes part of the loan when I graduate.
These loans have a fixed interest rate of 4.45% and an origination fee of 1.066%. The maximum borrowing limits are as follows:
- 1st Year Student: $5,500 combined/$3,500 max for subsidized
- 2nd Year Student: $6,500 combined/$4,500 max for subsidized
- 3rd/4th Year Student: $7,500 combined/$5,500 max for subsidized
If I max out on the loans, that works out to a grand total of $27,000 in student debt, not taking into account interest.
So, if I were to take out the maximum loan possible each year, I would be left with these out-of-pocket costs each year:
- Year 1: $5,632
- Year 2: $4,632
- Year 3: $3,632
- Year 4: $3,632
My parents will be helping me with these out of pocket costs, though, again, all student loan debt will be my own.
What now? AKA What the hell is this kid talking about?
So that's how cards fall. Basically, my question is this: What can I do now and what I can I plan to do in the future in order to make going to college as financially manageable as possible? I know that during the summers I will be working my ass off to make as much money as possible to save and also put towards out-of-pocket costs. I know I likely will not be able to do work-study during college since I will be a BME major and also training to hopefully walk on to the cross country team as a sophomore (they are non-scholarship, so no help there). I know that out of college I'd really like to do some travelling before really settling down (I know this will also entail some work as I travel, whatever form that takes). And I know that as a Vandy engineering grad, I will likely end up with a fairly well-paying job.
I have read a lot of the stuff provided by this sub's wiki, but most of it applies more to recent grads that actually have student debt already rather than soon-to-be student debtors. Any and all advice is appreciated. Thanks yall!
TL;DR: How can I make paying for college as financially manageable as possible?
Submitted April 15, 2018 at 05:08PM by Orsilochus https://ift.tt/2IYonZQ
