Cost of attending college? (Jersey City, Edison: apartment, rental, credit)

[Waisenkind00]

Hello peeps,

I am a permanent resident who already has an undergrad degree from a foreign university. I moved to NJ recently but I haven't been able to get a single interview in 9 months of looking for jobs.

My wife (who is also unemployed for the last 14 months) and I will have exhausted our savings by August this year so I have decided to go to college.
I would like to get an associate's degree in computer science before doing a master's.
I will hold off on the details of my career plans as it's irrelevant to the question I have and I would also appreciate if the replies pertained to my question only and not to my career plans.

After looking at the annual cost of attendance of a few community colleges, they all seem to be clustered around the $18,000-$22,000 range with the tuition fees accounting for the difference.

It appears to me that excluding tuition fees, books and other direct expenses, the college is only allocating about $15,000 at best for living expenses.
After looking up the websites of a few private banks, I also learn that the banks will not loan more money than what the college certifies.

I fail to understand how a couple or even a single person can make ends meet with $15,000 a year.
In Central Jersey, a small studio apartment rents for $900 on an average in a not-so-great area and that doesn't include utilities.

Something doesn't quite fit here. How can I get a loan if the college will not certify above a certain amount? By my estimate, excluding direct expenses, we need at least $20,000 a year for a bare-bones existence.

Can anyone shed some light?

Thank you for your replies.

[foodyum]

Most people in your situation attend community college part time or full time and also work full time.
First you fill out the FAFSA application and that the school will notify you of how much aid you are granted. Do you qualify for a Pell Grant (up to 5600) and TAG from the state?. You will also probably qualify for subsidized loans of around $5000 and maybe work study too. Each community college class runs around $400ish for 3 credits plus books.
Even at a lower paying job you can make about 15K per year. Have you been to your local one-stop unemployment office?

Additionally, when you work and are a low wage earner, you are entitled to the Earned Income Tax Credit and maybe the American Opportunity Tax Credit (not totally sure if you can with an undergrad from another country) and should expect a hefty tax refund next year, which can be saved for expenses.
Go see the financial aid office at your local community college to discuss your specific situation.

It is unusual that you nor your wife can not get even a minimum wage job. Do you know why that is?

[davenj08]

Originally Posted by Waisenkind00

we need at least $20,000 a year for a bare-bones existence.

If NJ seems expensive, which it is, have you considered moving to another State that may offer relatively inexpensive cost of living and college tuition? As Foodyum suggested, working on the side is an option.

[anna_mom]

I do not know the rent now but keep in mind that many students will share a house or apartment which will lower the rental expense.

[Waisenkind00]

Pell Grants are only awarded for your first degree. Even if your degree is awarded abroad, you are considered an undergrad. I'm not eligible for any state grants.
Scholarship may or may not be awarded at the discretion of the college.

I did take up a warehouse job to pay the bills but I got injured a few months ago and had to quit. My wife's unemployment allowance ran out 2 months ago and she just found a job as a waitress at a very small local restaurant. The last week or so, she's been averaging about $11 an hour which is very little when you are only getting about 20 hours a week because there are no customers. She has a master's in publishing and used to make decent money until about a year ago.

I plan to complete the associate's degree attending full-time in as little time as possible as I need to start applying to the master's program. That might not give me much time for the work-study arrangement. Funding for the master's is easy to get through the Federal PLUS program but it's the undergrad funding that I am worried about.
Tax credits mean nothing to me now. They don't pay bills.

I have tried finding less physically-demanding jobs like gas station attendants or admin jobs but they won't hire. I don't know what it's like where you are from but trust me, around here it's all labor-intensive jobs.

We have already considered moving out of the state. The only reason we are here is because my wife was born and brought up here and her parents live close to us. They are very old and also, they financially support my wife. In principle, if we moved out, it would be unfair on her part to ask them for financial help.

We are both very intelligent and have very strong work ethics. My wife has been working full-time for an NGO as an editor-in-chief pro bono without any pay so that her resume stays current.

I am not quite sure why you are surprised we can't find minimum wage jobs. I don't know about where you live but NJ is overflowing with cheap labor. The workers at the warehouse are some of the fittest I have seen. I used to get physically sick trying to keep up with them. Also, why should I be? It's like forcing a fish to climb a tree.

[EBWick]

I'm not sure a well-fed dog could live on $20,000/yr in NJ,

Work as a waiter or bartender so you make only a few bucks an hour and declare a bit of your tips each pay period to keep Uncle Sam off your rearend.

[Waisenkind00]

We are already in a sharing arrangement paying only about $700 for the both of us but we can't do this much longer. We have lived in various cheap shared accommodation scenarios and there's always a lot of issues. Like the present one doesn't have hot water in the shower or lights. No sockets for lamps either so we use the flashlight on our phones. One of the other tenants is extremely dirty and I end up cleaning up his mess everyday.
We are both born and raised middle class but we've lived a very frugal and humbling life for the last year. It's taking its toll though and I need our space now.

They almost never let two people share a room for $700 a month and the ones we have ended up getting have always had a lot of problems.

[Waisenkind00]

Anyway, we digressed a lot.

I needed to find out how other students are getting loans from banks when the college only certifies a certain amount.

[GiantRutgersfan]

Originally Posted by Waisenkind00

Anyway, we digressed a lot.

I needed to find out how other students are getting loans from banks when the college only certifies a certain amount.

Taking out $20,000 per year in loans to attend community college is not a good idea. You will be burdened with debt for years. Community college students generally work and the professors take that into account. You should be able to work a full time job and also go to school.


What is your current degree in? 9 months is a long time not to even get an interview. Perhaps it is something with your resume?

[millerm277]

Originally Posted by Waisenkind00

I needed to find out how other students are getting loans from banks when the college only certifies a certain amount.

Most students get parental co-signers, which opens up much more in options. Without a parent or someone else with decent finances co-signing, you are more limited.

That said, I believe you've been looking at school-channel loans. The lender is private, but the school certifies the amount, and it only covers school. That offers lower interest rates.

There is another type of loan, direct to consumer private loans, where the school only confirms enrollment and you can borrow for living expenses and such as well.

I have no personal experience with them, but I know some people who were completely penniless and had no family with any credit that used both. They used the school-channel ones for what they could (since they have a lower interest rate), and then the others for the living expenses.

Also, I believe that if you were attending a school with on-campus housing + meal plans, that THEN they can be covered under the school-channel type of loan since it's part of the school bill. That said, the higher interest rate and lower overall expenses (since on-campus living is rarely cheap, and a 4 year institution will be much more than a community college as well) would usually be the better option.

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Now for some GOOD news. You are completely wrong for cost of attending a community college in NJ. I have no idea where you found any NJ community college with $18,000-22,000 yearly costs.

At my local CC (Raritan Valley - Somerset/Hunterdon County), a Associates of CS is 64 credits. Costs are $125 per credit in county, $145 per credit if you don't live or work in those counties.

So even in county, the total cost of the degree would be: $8000 (plus fees/books/etc).

That comes out to $4000 per year (plus fees/books/etc) at the usual 2 year pace for an associates.

I am certain that other NJ community colleges have similar prices.

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Even when/if you decide to attend a 4 year institution, if you have NJ residency, public schools are still cheaper than $18000 a year in state with in state residency. (assuming you aren't living on campus). If you've been in NJ for a year you qualify, and even if not you could probably petition for it because your wife has been.

Tuition costs:

Rowan University is $12,380 a year, including fees.

Rutgers University is $13,499 a year, including fees.

New Jersey Institute of Technology is $15,218 a year, including fees.

The College of New Jersey is $15,780 a year, including fees.

There are also a number of smaller public state schools which are usually cheaper, but I would not consider ideal for CS. Kean, Montclair, Ramapo, Richard Stockton, New Jersey City, Thomas Edison, and William Patterson.

If you are going in-state for CS, I would go: Rutgers>NJIT>TCNJ>Rowan, in personal opinion.

It is also worth noting that the SUNY system has some very well regarded schools for CS (Stony Brook + Binghamton, although the others aren't bad), and with in-state tuition in NY State are roughly $8000 per year. As a Binghamton CS alumni, it's a good option for you given that the cost of living in Binghamton is virtually nothing relative to NJ. Without exaggerating, $900 a month rents you a decent 3 bedroom house in a decent area. For just a decent room in a shared apartment, $300 a month. That said, you'd need to basically plan ahead now for that, move to NY State and establish residency for at least a year (I'd probably suggest going to CC there if you went with this plan).

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NJ is not really a place to survive on $15,000 a year in any decent existence.

It is more feasible in depressed parts of Upstate NY where the major SUNY University centers are, as well as really anywhere that isn't NJ/NYC metro/Boston...etc. If you're trying to support yourself on minimum wage jobs + loans for college, I would probably leave this state to do it simply because the cost of living is too high, and as evidenced by my mention of SUNY, assuming you can establish residency, schools are cheaper as well.

Hope this helps.