This was a long financial weekend. And it continues today. Here is the low down so far....
The DD's dad is no longer making payments to college directly. Instead he is giving DD $500 per month for expenses. While that sounds like a lot its about 1/3 of his share of tuition. She as a 20 year old has been spending a goodly amount of it. Boy oh boy did she have some open eye moments this weekend as to what that money needs to buy.
Here is a breakdown of the numbers:
Her tuition for the fall is $17,700 Plus a housing element of $1050
Total owed to educational institution: $18,750
Less payments so far totaling 5962.50
Less an outstanding balance of$63.56
Current balance therefore stands at $12,723.94
My work will give her a grant of $6125 (possibly 6500) which leaves $6598.94 to be funded.
We have been taking out loans from a certain institution that has a solid reputation and with which I know many people who have loans with them. To our distress because of changes in the law we can no longer borrow money from the same place.
On Tuesday, March 30, 2010, President Obama signed the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 into law. This Reconciliation Act ends the Federal Family Education Loan (FFELP) Program and requires all schools to begin awarding loans through the Federal Direct Loan Programs (FDLP).
So we applied for a private loan. This was very humbling, I have a decent credit score. But I also have $26,834.32 in debt (June's number) so OF COURSE all my money goes into credit card payments and I have a high debt to income ratio. I knew that but did not really care... till I needed to borrow money from a bank... Sigh It was very humbling to be rejected to fast. The fellow asked how much the rent was. Because rent includes my husbands salary and he pays half the rent it is out of scale for my salary alone. I knew as soon as he asked it wouldn't work. They wanted my husband to co sign the loan. Nope. we were done. So now instead of my daughter borrowing the money for her school I have to take out a plus loan. Here is to hoping it goes well because if I am again rejected she will have to hit up her grandmother for the cash. With times being tight this is not the way to go.
I even crunched the numbers of going to a local state school. (She would hate it but on the surface it looks cheaper) Appearances are deceiving, Guess how much we would have to pony up per year? Yep $13402 about the same amount despite the fact that her school seems on the surface to be more expensive the room & board is cheaper and the tuition reimbursement would be less. I still would have the same costs out of pocket. Crunching those numbers does make me feel better about her choices for school. I am still sick about coming up with the cash but I do feel better.
Onwards......
I am tired of people who do not live up to their financial responsibilities. How come I choose to be responsible and not him? He is such a dope.
The reason for my title is how hard we have to swim to be in the middle. Because I re married I have to include my current husbands income when applying for financial aid. Even though he contributes only to her well being in spirit not financially. So we never will qualify for a financial need scholarship. My daughter applied for over 10 grants and scholarships we were awarded none. As for academic grants she is a good student she has a 3.4 GPA its not enough for an academic scholarship they all require 3.6 and above. So there again we are just close enough to be screwed. I am tired of being so close and getting nothing for my efforts. In the end what I will have is a well rounded wonderfully educated daughter who can now gain employment. Its a big deal and I believe the degree is worth it. And if you read what others have to go through to finance their educations having $30K in loans is not a lot when you graduate. It sucks and is hard but still plenty of people end up with in the 60's and 70's so perhaps I should not whine. But you know 30K is a lot of money to me and I am sooo tired of being in debt. I don't care about the rest of the world. This burden is heavy! and I am carrying it alone. I am completely depressed.
1 comment:
Just to throw my 2 cents in here.
Nobody owes their child a college education....meaning no one owes them the cash for a college education.
If you have $ for it, great! If you don't, you shouldn't go into debt for it. Let your child take out the loans since it will be a lot easier for her/him to repay that debt than the parent(especially if the parent is older and facing retirement soon, or if the parent is behind on retirement savings for their age, or if the parent has other children to pay to raise and is in less than a great financial situation themselves). The child w/the degree has many years to pay back the money. And it's a known fact that children who participate in the financial responsibility of their own education work harder, and appreciate it more.
Just some food for thought... ;-)
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