To worry this much about someone who's not even my child?

[Mastmw7g]

I'm in the States, and my daughter's closest friend got into a great university with a scholarship. She came over and asked us to help her understand the financial aspect of it. Her family has no money, so I figured the scholarship would cover everything. But it doesn't. I've added the numbers multiple times and every time I subtract the expenses there's a deficit she has to find a way to cover. She's adamant that she doesn't want to take out a loan. Maybe if she works she could cover the rest. I don't know, but I'm worried she may lose out on her dream university.

@Barnbrack Yes, exactly. She's the first in her family to go to university. She qualifies for federal work study, so they will give her an on campus job that works with her school schedule. But those jobs really limit your hours, which is supposed to be in the best interest of the student, so it's not enough money. She works now, but has no savings. She needs to get a job near her university and avoid spending all the money she makes.

Not really, there are significantly more scholarship and financial aid available in the US than say the UK so no not everyone takes loans and also not everyone ends up with $100k loans as is potrayed, average student debt in the US is about $30k.

She wouldn’t be eligible for FAFSA or government aid as an international student. She needs to see what other aid is available form the school and also work to make up the short fall, depending on how much it is.

@MrsCarson ignore my post, I thought she was in the UK moving to the US where OP is based but it seems she is also in the US not an international student so yeah will be eligible for FAFSA and Pell grants.

OP would probably get more responses in a US college focused board like on Reddit etc than Mumsnet which is UK focused.

There's a company called scholarship owl which helps people afford American universities

I would not consider the federal loan to be a huge burden (private loans are a different matter). Maybe you could take a look at the repayment terms of federal loans with her and help her understand how repayment will actually work. Perhaps she's nervous about debt, but there's various repayment options and the interest on the loan is tax deductible so all in all, it would be a shame to miss out on a great college over that small an amount.

She's opposed to it because she's hoping you'll give her the money.

Inflation, average Federal student debt is now $36k, but what's interesting is that average private loan student debt is now...

anyone want to guess how much? Who even takes private student debt loans?

$54k.

$30k is average total borrowing per person BECAUSE a lot of people their parents saved up for them from babyhood & they of course work to pay the tuition fees.

@lljkk The max federal loan amount a student can take out on 4 years of university is $27,000 now (since Obama's Student Loan Reform), so it makes sense that the average private loan amount is $54k. There's also Parent PLUS loans that parents can take out for the balance and the average for those loans is almost $30k.

I totally understand why she's opposed to taking on debt, but it wouldn't be that high.