Sarah Lawrence Graduation Debt?

Hi, ARW,

Let me address your questions about SLC, cost and value from my perspective as vice president for administration at Sarah Lawrence. First don't be turned off by the tuition/fee/room and board "sticker price" which doesn't factor aid into the equation. At SLC, we award aid based on need. 60% of our students receive an SLC need-based grant and the average grant this Fall was $31,000 -- more than half of the total tuition, fee, room and board. (Note: the grant you might receive depends on your particular circumstances and need level.)

If need be, we also can package and/or certify student loans and provide student employment to supplement your resources. For the class of students that graduated in Spring 2010, 55% had borrowed (including private/alternative loans) to pay for their education. The students' average debt "load" was $20,000, which compares favorably to the levels of debt that students experience at many of our peer schools.

At the risk of sounding like I'm making a pitch, do not diminish in your considerations the value of the education SLC provides. Here, you will have a one-to-one relationship with a faculty don for your entire time -- the don being someone you can go to discuss and explore scenarios for the general direction of your studies. Our faculty-to-student ratio is 9:1, and 94% percent of class meetings involve 19 or fewer students, with most in a roundtable seminar format where enrollments are typically capped at 15. Alongside the seminar, you'll work one-on-one with course faculty to fashion independent research (conference projects) of your choosing. Our students graduate prepared to pursue a great range of potential professional or academic endeavors. They are also well-equipped to move on to advanced study in many practical fields. Nearly 70% of graduates in this decade went on to grad school at some point.

As for the essay, I'm not going to be much help --- except to offer this advice: think about transformative moments in your experience, events (however large or small) that may have changed your worldview or the way in which you interact with the world.

One last comment. Please do not be freaked out by JNT's response. It appears that JNT does not take into account the significant need-based grants we offer to eligible applicants. Also, the figure of 370 new students actually exceeded our new student tartget -- and again many had SLC grant aid.

ARW, don't hesitate to email me with further questions.

To my knowledge there is no way to excommunicate someone from being able to claim that they belong to a political party. Anyone can say they are Republican. Look at John McCain (RINO). That is why everyone should abandon political parties. The voters don't get to pick the candidates. They only get to vote for the candidates that the super rich globalists financed. Those candidates will all be loyal to the globalists first and to the voters if they get around to it. 400 people collectively own controlling shares in most of the business in the U.S. They own more than half the wealth. Just 400 people! These are neither Republican nor Democrat, yet they control who gets on the ballot for both parties. The vast majority of people, rich or poor, Rep or Dem and just useful idiots being fooled into thinking they have a say. The purpose of having two parties is to keep the people divided against each other. Even a third party can easily be bought. Aren't the Koch brothers funding the Tea party? Isn't it evident that our leaders aught to be chosen based on their loyalty to the people and not based on party affiliations?

The site says they admitted 1297 students last year but only 370 ended up actually enrolling... probably because they couldn't find funding for the $55,000 price tag this place carries.

Honestly, if you can afford a school costing more than Harvard or Yale, wouldn't you rather go to Harvard or Yale?

I guess the big difference here is you actually WILL be admitted to this school (so don't be shocked when you get that acceptance letter). Even if you don't submit all of your required admissions stuff, they will call and remind you, I promise!!! LOL A school this small with an army of admissions counselors... that is hysterical, honestly.

Write about whatever you want in your admission essay and don't fret too much about it. If you have at least an AVERAGE GPA and can form a logical paragraph comparative to a 12th grade senior, you'll get in.

About the loans. The max amount ANY dependent freshman can borrow is only 5,500 a year. A YEAR! This isn't going to come even CLOSE to paying for your schooling here. Even if you do get free grants (because your mom is poor) the max Pell grant is only another 5,750 a year. That brings your total up to a whopping $5,500 + $5,750 = $11,250 Well short of the $55,000 you will need every year for en entire FOUR years of school.. Do the math, that's $220,000 total for a bachelors degree. In my state, the top, highest ranked Comprehensive University in the state costs less than 5,000 a year. A YEAR!!

Schools like yours also have a way of stringing you along... offering you what seems like HUGE scholarships to "lure" you to their school your freshman year. But don't be dazzled by a 10,000 scholarship when you don't have the other 30,000 needed for the year. They aren't going to give you that money when you are a junior or senior (when it's too late for you to transfer), they'll give it to some other freshman who doesn't know how to do the math.

About loans: The government puts a limit on how much students can borrow to protect you!! And as I have already pointed out, this school is WAY over that limit. So, you have only a few options:

1. Parent PLUS loan. Your Mom can take out a parent PLUS loan for you (again, all FOUR YEARS) to help you make up the difference. But keep in mind that is going to be one HUGE payment that SHE will be responsible for. And if she is also a student, then she won't be able to afford it. If she has to borrow 30,000 a year for you for FOUR years, that means by the time you are a senior, she will have FOUR loans with four SEPARATE payments of about 340 dollars each... 340X4= roughly 1,360 a month in payments she would have to pay on for 10 years.. Ouch!! Would you want to cripple her like that?

2. Other option: Private/Alternative student loans. These are evil and should be avoided like the plague. They have sub-prime variable interest rates with huge fees and no federal regulations for the banks to follow to treat you decently. They also require you to have a credit worthy cosigner with a high, stable income. If Mom is a student, she isn't a credit worthy cosigner and won't be approved as your cosigner.

Good rule of thumb is never borrow more than what you would expect to earn your first year out of college with no experience for the job you are going after. So if you are wanting to be a kindergarden teacher, and the kindergarden teachers in your area earn $25,000 right out of college with no experience then you should not borrow more than this total for all four years of your college education. This ensures you wont have to move back in with the folks to make your loan payments.

Loan payments are a little more than 10% of what you borrow for 10 years (more for private loans). So if you borrow $220,000 your loan payments will be over 3,000 a month since most of these would be in private loans, the interest rate would be even higher and your payments would be over 3,000 a month because when you were in school. Don't forget while you are in school, and not paying the compounded interest, the amount you owe would grow and grow every month because of the interest you were accumulating.