private college vs. public college question

PenCapChew

Junior Member
Dec 1, 2002
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Hello everyone. I have this question regarding the differences between the public vs. private sector of colleges in the U.S. I am currently stuck in a financial burden at the moment having to pay rent for a townhouse with an addition of a whole slew of other bills. I am a full-time student a private university studying pharmacy. The cost to attend is roughly 18,000 since I am not living in the dorms. I have applied for financial aid and the like and I am left with about 1500.00 left over to pay for tution. Would public school be the same way with me having to pay around 1500.00 dollars as well? I have split the money I owe into monthly payments but still it takes a bite out of any chance for savings. My question is if I transfered to a public university would I have more money left over? I know public colleges are cheaper and I would like to save money. The one I am looking at in Richmond only costs about 10,000 a year.

I am 23 years of age and I am a veteran of the U.S armed forces, so I have help via the G.I Bill for one more year of school. I was only awarded 2 years of G.I Bill benefits due to an early medical discharge. Frankly, I have been using that money just to stay afloat of my bills. Since my car's engine died and the transmission was only recently rebuilt only a few months ago, I am hurting bad in the financial sector. I really want to finish school and its quite stressful since I don't have the support of any parents(they refuse to help because of disagreements, guilt trips, and other negative behaviors via their destructive alcoholic habits). Hopefully I could move into a dorm and not worry about utility bills, rent, and other various expensives, and more importantly, it would allow me to focus on my education more instead of fretting incessantly over how I am going to manage to pay all these bills. If anyone has any information that can help shed light on this situation I would be much obliged. Thank you.

 

Corsairpro

Platinum Member
Feb 12, 2001
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cliff notes:

he worries private school costs too much for pharmacy... will public school be cheaper by $1500 or more
 

BigJ

Lifer
Nov 18, 2001
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Originally posted by: PenCapChew
I am not sure I follow...

People want an abbreviated version of the story so they don't have to read it.


Also, People don't like to read one big heaping paragraph. Break it up a little bit into smaller paragraphs.
 

LordMorpheus

Diamond Member
Aug 14, 2002
6,871
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Originally posted by: Corsairpro
cliff notes:

he worries private school costs too much for pharmacy... will public school be cheaper by $1500 or more

not quite. He has 1500 to pay AFTER financial aide from his private school.

He wonders if he can get that number cut down at a public school.


It is iffy because the FAFSA generates a specific doller amount that you should be able to pay yearly. In this case, it sounds like the amount is 1500. The private school is picking up the diff between their tuition and his 1500. I think that the public school will do the same and leave you with the same 1500 to pay. Try re-negotiating with your schools finincial aide dept. If they don't help, go to the public school and talk to their finincial people, but make sure you will get a better deal before you actually transfer.
 

CanOWorms

Lifer
Jul 3, 2001
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Are you saying that they gave you $16500 of grants or was that all loans or a combination? If you need an extra $1500, you can always take out a private loan.
 

PenCapChew

Junior Member
Dec 1, 2002
12
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Yes, but in order to get a loan, a bank must approve me. I dont have very good credit and no one will co-sign for a loan. I have heard of people getting so called "free rides" at public universities by having lots of money left over from loans. If thats the case, I would rather have money left over than to owe so much plus my current expenses.
 

CanOWorms

Lifer
Jul 3, 2001
12,404
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Originally posted by: PenCapChew
Yes, but in order to get a loan, a bank must approve me. I dont have very good credit and no one will co-sign for a loan. I have heard of people getting so called "free rides" at public universities by having lots of money left over from loans. If thats the case, I would rather have money left over than to owe so much plus my current expenses.

I'm sure you can still try to get a loan. Sometimes you will just have a little bit higher interest rate if you don't have a co-signer. I think you can do it online and get preliminary approval based on your credit and whatever other factors.