Your child is
going to college this fall with no Financial Aid?
My sister teaches first grade
and her ex-husband is an executive. In their divorce decree (topic I can write
novels about) their attorneys failed to encourage an agreement about college.
This weekend her ex-husband who makes $200000.00 a year and owns four
properties in California informed her he plans to pay zero for his son’s
education. His argument is that son should go to Saddleback; the local
community college, and transfer to U C system.
Here is my analysis of this
choice.
My sister
faces a mountain. Her son is accepted to University of California system <hereafter called UC>. Cost
to live on campus is about $31,000 a year.
Here are my
suggestions:
Son saved
$2100.00 working at Ralphs Grocery store. He can sell his car. He is not
allowed to have a vehicle on campus Freshman year for $1200.
Facts about
Saddleback Community College
Tuition $762
+ $35 registration + books $1630= $2427 year cost X 3 years it takes on average
to finish AA with trade degree not UC classes there due to crowding equals
$7281.
Statistics
show that students who transfer from Saddleback to UC campus’s take three years
to finish the four year college. Then 50% of 3 years at UC system $106000
divided by 50%= $53000
The half
cost her ex owes with his plan is $60,281 total and $15,070.25 a year towards
U C system school.
Although U C
costs $31000 a year or $124000 total, son’s chances of finishing or percentages
of graduating are much higher.
Of students
at community college Saddleback which is highly rated, only thirty five percent
of students get an AA degree. The statistics to the finish line from the
community college pathway are far worse. This is not due to cost. The culture
of community college doesn’t drive students in the same direction as UC system.
16% transfer
to a 4 year university
8% transfer
to UC system
UC system
transfers take 3 years to graduate UC and 50% drop out of the 8%
So 4% of
those Saddleback students graduate from a UC school; not a glowing pathway to
save less than three thousand dollars.
Next piece
of the puzzle is how to pay for the costs. UC takes monthly payments. This breaks
up the burden of a large check in the start of the quarter. There are federal
student loans which offer low interest rates BUT this monkey will heavy on son’s back for about ten years following
graduation, unless he hits a high paying job. Son is planning to study
engineering.
If he finishes with an Engineering degree of any kind salary
levels are in the $70 -120,000 range according to CNBC article this week: http://www.cnbc.com/2016/08/15/the-15-highest-paying-jobs-in-los-angeles.html
My suggestion
is: look into private money student loans. Why you ask? Because the federal
ones NEVER go away. If for some reason son fails or doesn’t finish there is no
way to release or forgive Federal student loans. When they go into repayment
default the low interest rates jump up to the 19% -20% APR range. I’m not saying
it is a plan to file bankruptcy, but if he becomes seriously ill or disaster
strikes that is a backup plan, assuming she doesn’t cosign.
Discover and
Wells Fargo offer some of the better non-federal student loans with APR rates
in the 11.5% range (choose a fixed rate ). Meanwhile tighten the belt, work
more and sell something. But most of all tell your son you love him, believe in
him and this is fixable.
What grants have you secured?
What fixes do you have to financing college education?
Links and
references
·
Fastweb.com sends you personalized options for
grants and scholarships This service
will send emails to parent and student. Remember that when student becomes 18
years old your ability to access college information and scholarships becomes
limited as the child is a legal adult
·
StudentScholarshipSearch.com is a free database containing hundreds
of scholarships This website is s time eater. Do NOT pay for any applications.
Write the essays make the deadlines every hundred dollar award is one step
closer to the finish line.
·
Scholarships.com lets you customize your search results
based on your profile – also has awards by you heritage or essay or talent. Don’t
you have an uncle who worked for J P Morgan, maybe you qualify for Chase’s $100 grant?
Link to wells fargo student loan information
Link to Discover
student loan programs
