Money - College - Debt.

[James D.]

Most of the vets here are getting older, and most are heading off to college. How are you guys paying for it?

Financial aid awarded me between $4000 to $4500 for the upcoming year. Tuition looks to be about $3100, so I should be able to cover books with the rest. Basically, I am happy my dad cheated on his taxes and hoarded money in the attic all these years.

I have all my classes on two days, so I live at home too, which is amazing. I was really worried about how I was going to pay for tuition/books/car/alcohol/food, but now I am set.

How about you guys? Loans, scholarships, grants, grandma and grandpa?

$13,900 in scholarships per year. My total cost is only like 12 something too, I'll come out ahead......

Let's hope I don't lose them. In that case, there's always a student loan somewhere out there. Which I will have to repay someday......ugh! Don't want to think of it!

[User Name]

I made a good $10,000 over what would have qualified me for Finacile Aid. Yea, I can barely live on $40,000 a year. I sort of need FA to pay for college. Morons. I'm working on getting the GI Bill. $200 extra a month, yay! I did get the Governer's Grant so I can pay for books and other things.

[rJ floW]

I'm in my fourth year right now, so ive spent about 45 thousand soon to be 60....

i get a couple bursaries here and there, but not enough to cover everything

books = 1000
Tuition = 5000
Rent = 475*12 = 5700
Food/Non-alcoholic drinks = 100/week = 3200
Drugs/Alcohol = about 5000...

i make 10 thousand per summer, and my parents help me out with the rest, im not eligible for OSAP (Ontario Student Assistance Program...i believe it stands for)

On another note...its too bad your stayin at home, i know it saves a TON of money but you dont get the real experiance of being away from home and with a SHITLOAD of your peers...its so mcuh fun, if i went to a university closer to home and commuted, I'd know VERY few people compared to whom i do know now.

[Warren Space]

Can't you save money by going home instead of living at a dorm everyday?

[Pete]

Not when the commute would be 3.5 hours like it is in my case.

Tuition itself for SUNY Binghamton is about 4700 a year... factor in room and board, and it jets up to oh, say 13,000 or so.

Of course, the state is retarded, taxing my parents twice, for living both in the city and state of NY. The TAP (Tuition Assistance Program) is only giving me like 250 a semester, which is nice, but I'll be astounded if that covers books. And FAFSA, the Federal Financial Aid people are morons as well. They base what they give you on your total income, before taxes, as opposed to what you actually take home. My parents make a decent amount a year together, but with taxes, they probably only see half of that, which means they have to pay even more because of money they don't even see, but technically earn.

[Sasquatch]

Originally Posted by Pete

And FAFSA, the Federal Financial Aid people are morons as well. They base what they give you on your total income, before taxes, as opposed to what you actually take home. My parents make a decent amount a year together, but with taxes, they probably only see half of that, which means they have to pay even more because of money they don't even see, but technically earn.

It's retarded anyway, because they decide how much Financial Aid we get from how much money our parents make. Nobody seems to understand that some people can't have Mommy and Daddy pay for college for them -- it doesn't matter at all how much my parents make, because they haven't chipped in a cent for anything about my truck, college, etc. Of course, that's the old "they're rich, they can afford it" mentality, which is stupid and doesn't work.

From what I'll be making from the Army (after, at that point, more than five years enlisted and two year-long deployments to Iraq), I will be able to pay for most of my college, plus dorms -- factor in the GI Bill and the Kicker, and I'll be making money just to be in college. Of course, I'm still going to try for grants and such ... hey, the more money I can get to pay for college that doesn't go towards paying for college, the better.

One semester at University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point (UWSP) + double dorm room + (mandatory) meal plan + books = $4902.37

Plus, my truck is already paid for, so the only "bill" I'll have is insurance, prettymuch.

[Neo Necron]

I'm at university down in Exeter, about 3 hours drive away, and I get a student loan each year which is just a few pounds more than my accomodation costs, then I also get a contribution from my parents ontop of the tuition fees which they pay for me, leaving me with about 30 pounds of spending money a month.

However, I've landed full time work for this summer break, so I'll have loads of extra money for next term, so I may increse my weekly spending budget

[The Edge]

I can't remember how I did it ... one thing is for sure, my parents never helped me and I never depended on them. After high school I took a break from studying and started working. I had no desire to ask for a loan and own the government for years. Nay, I worked and saved off $. So I had to pay for my own education without help. A hard task but not impossible, you just have to kill yourself for a few years.

But it's worth it, soon I'll be done with university so all that hard work will start paying off.

[Sean]

FAFSA expects my parents to pay 9 grand a year. Too bad they can pay, oh, about 0.

My tuition at St. Louis Community College Forest Park (STLCC-FP) is only $1012 for my first semester. After books and the rest, about 1500. I'm putting $500 of my tuition on my credit card and paying for half of it up front in cash, plus my books will go on credit card.

Unless I decide to go for student loans. Which I just may do.

[James D.]

Originally Posted by Sean

Unless I decide to go for student loans. Which I just may do.

You know, they really arent that bad. You dont have to start paying for a couple of years, and the interest rate was low, I think it just went up. Plus, if you factor in what the average college graduate makes versus the high school graduate, it is worth it over the lifetime.

I found out I could of gotten more aid if I said I was living on my own, and by extension, could of afforded it! Dammit.

[Pete]

Yeah, FAFSA expects my parents to pay something like 12K a year, when my parents are paying 13K for me a year and now 10K a year for my brother, who's going to Notre Dame on a 30K/year scholarship. Thank God he's smart, or it would have been Queens College for the both of us.

Dude, the FAFSA is so stupid. It expects my parents to pay $3K a year. Whatever.

I know this girl who won $62,000 from Jeopardy, and it's ALL going to her first year at Harvard. Her parents don't have much money, and that's going to be one heck of a loan for her.