Argh, I don't know what to do

[MattW]

This is partially me just venting a bit, so I apologize if I ramble on a bit about stuff. Anyway, as you can see by looking under my user name, I'm 19 (soon to be 20); technically, I should've started college last year, but basically, I just decided to hold off for a number of reasons. So, I finally decided to get my life on track this year, and started looking at schools. Now, I don't come from a very wealthy family; middle-class, really. After taking that into consideration, I found a community college, and decided to apply.

 

I got accepted, and I filled out the FAFSA, knowing that I'd need any kind of financial aid I could get. I wasn't receiving any information on my results from the FAFSA in the mail, so I finally went in to the school and asked about it, and they told me that with my financial aid, I was "fully covered" and didn't have to pay for a thing. Seemed pretty great to me. In fact, last week, they sent me a refund check in the mail for over $200 which I kinda found confusing (after all, I didn't pay anything, so I didn't understand why I was getting something back).

 

I started classes about a month, month-and-a-half, ago; today in the mail, though, I got some kind of letter in the mail from the school that breaks down where my financial aid is allocated (i.e. how much is being used for this semester, how much for the next, etc.). But it also notes on there that there's about $1600 due for my tuition, and it's labeled as "expected family contribution".

 

For one, this confused and surprised me, since I was told by their office that I was "fully covered". The next thing that I didn't understand was, there's no due date for the money. Am I to understand this is due soon? Or is it due by the end of this semester? Is it due by the end of the school year? Or is it just a total amount that'll build up during the years I spend at this school, and something I'll have to pay off after I graduate? I can't understand why this isn't explained properly in the letter I got, yanno?

 

Now I'm concerned about this amount... If I DO have to pay this, even by the end of the school year in May or June, or whenever it ends, I don't know how I'm going to pay it. I mean, I'm working part time, but I'm not making all that much money; that and it's a crummy retail job, so I don't even know how long they'll keep me around over there. My parents can't really afford to help me out (again, we're not all that wealthy).

 

I DO have an aunt that's, like, very very wealthy, though... See, years ago, she married some rich guy that was twice her age. A couple if years ago, he started seeing some one else, and wanted to divorce my aunt (which, hey, I can't say that I blame him; if you knew what my aunt was like, you'd probably agree...). As far as I know, there was no prenuptial, so one would think she did fairly well in the divorce, right? Well, now she's refusing to help me out with school or anything like that, because she claims she's "broke". Please... Even when she was married, she was never that big of a spender; she didn't do it for the money, she did it because she wanted the "power" that came with it.

 

But the truth is, I know why my aunt won't help me out; for one, she hates the fact that I'm going to a community college. She thinks that's an awful thing to do. Secondly, when she was originally talking about helping me pay for college, she put all these restrictions on it; like, I HAD to go to the school she wanted me to go to, I HAD to major in what she wanted me to major in... And that wasn't right, because I wasn't interested in that school or that career path. So, in a way, it's like she's disowned me for going to a community college. I can't imagine I could go to her for help with this debt...

 

Now I'm stuck because I don't know what's going to happen. I don't know how I'll get this paid for, I don't know what this means for me, if I'll have to quit school, or what. Of course, even if I end up having to quit, I'd probably still have to pay off this debt at some point, I imagine. That and, well, I don't want to quit. I mean, what other option do I have? I don't want to spend the rest of my life working crappy retail jobs and making just enough money to get by. But I don't know what else to do...

[jenny_mcs]

Well, first i would make an appointment with your financial aid office and talk to them about the details- how they arrived at this figure, when it is due, etc.

 

Secondly, you really need to have a better attitude. Paying only $1600 for a full year of college is fantastic.

 

$1600 between now and the spring comes out to $50-60 dollars a week. Why can't you get a different job- one that gives you more hours? You could make that money in 1 or 2 shifts a week waiting tables, cutting grass, etc.

[Crazyaboutdogs]

Your aunt is not obligated to foot the bill for your education. There are student loans you can apply for. Do some homework on this and figure out how you can make this financially feasible on your own.

[MattW]

I know, I know, I think I'm just "panicked" at the moment, because it shocked me. I just find it a bit annoying that I'm told that everything is covered, then I get this letter about $1600~ being owed. Now that I've calmed down a bit, you're right, it's not that high of a figure, it's just so out-of-the-blue, and I wasn't prepared for that. I suppose, depending on when it's due by, I *could* pay for it, but it's going to run me pretty dry... What with paying for things like my cell phone service, Internet service, car insurance, and the billion other things I'm probably forgetting, I rarely seem to have more than $700-800 in my bank account at any given time.

 

I still don't understand why I got a refund check from the school, for that matter. Why not just put the rest of that to the rest of my tuition? What's even more confusing is, on the letter I got earlier today, it says that the total cost of attendance is about $8000, but when I was registering for my classes a few months ago, it would total up how much each class cost as I added them, and I swear for this semester the total was in the $1900-2100 range... So if you double that (for next semester), that's only about $4000. I don't get where the $8000~ comes from.

 

Edit: Oh, and another thing that's even more confusing... On the school's official website, there's an area where you can log in and basically do everything (register for classes, find announcements, etc.). There's one section where you can view your debts, and everything, and when I go to that section, it shows that everything DOES seem to be covered. So, I don't know if I'm just not correctly understanding this letter I got in the mail, or it's a mistake, or there's something more that I'm not seeing. I'm just totally confused. @_@

[Crazyaboutdogs]

I think you better go down there in person and talk to someone to clarify the tuition costs. Sometimes it is more confusing trying to figure it out on the internet.

[stella74]

Yes, I agree that you need to talk to your financial aid counselor in person. It sounds as if you had an expected family contribution that was covered by your loans.

 

One thing to be aware of that I just found out this semester, due to changes in the federal laws. There are two types of fees now - the origination fee and student default fee. The origination fee goes to the lender or guarantor who originated your loan (for example, your bank is a lender and Sallie Mae is a guarantor - the guarantor guarantees a lender's loan). The student default fee is taken out by the guarantor and goes into a Federal Reserve account to cover any loans defaulted on by other students. These fees can total anywhere from 1%-4% of your loan. You should know exactly how much you have borrowed each semester and note how much of that loan is taken out for fees.

 

You should never have to borrow more than you need. So I'd ask your financial aid counselor three things:

1. How much do you owe, if anything, for this semester and next?

2. How much is your loan for?

3. How much was taken out in fees?

4. Why did you get a $200 refund?

[renaissancewoman101]

Stella74, I think he may have gotten the $400 refund because that was the money that was leftover from his loan after his tuition and fees were covered. I know when I went to school, sometimes people took out the entire amount they could take out and from that amount, tuition, fees, books, etc were paid for, and the leftover money, was what they lived on for that semester.

[thejigsup]

Community colleges always put that on correspondence regarding financial aid awards. It means nothing! Well, it really means that if you came from a rich family, this is what they would have to contribute. This amount shows you what you were saved from paying. My son goes through this every year with his school. Don't worry about it.

[stella74]

I know when I went to school, sometimes people took out the entire amount they could take out and from that amount, tuition, fees, books, etc were paid for, and the leftover money, was what they lived on for that semester.

 

Yes, I understand that. But since he's working and wasn't expecting to get extra money for living expenses, it doesn't make sense for him to have to borrow more than the cost of tuition/fees. This is how the lenders make extra money. They count on students not knowing enough about their loans and so students borrow the full amount when they don't really need it. Then students have to pay interest on the extra money and also pay the extra fees which I mentioned. I think in these times it's important for students to be diligent in what they borrow.