CROSSROADS IN LIFE: Tuition pay by saved money or loan?, Your advice is greatly appre

With grants and scholarships, I lowered my tuition & fees bill to $5,665 per year. My family does not have the ability to pay for this sum, therefore, I can only result in two options:

(1) Savings Account accumulated from the time of my birth $6000
(2) Loan from a federal/private sector (not stafford though)

What should I do? My savings can barely cover for it, but should I loan? I have co-op next year and am able to make approximately $15,990 per co-op cycle. If I loan, I will only have to pay interest for 18 months (1 year for this year, and half a year for co-op cycle).

I am at a crossroad, what should I do?

Please help as soon as possible!

You're quite fortunate to have alternatives to choose from!

It doesn't have to be all or nothing, does it? Can you get a loan for half and pay the other half from savings? That way you don't load up on loans, and at the same time you don't completely dissolve your savings. It's worth a thought...

Other questions - will your co-op have an impact on your grants and scholarships next year? In addition, will your savings balance (if you still have savings) impact your grants and scholarships next year?

Best of luck!

Thanks for replying!

Having an income will affect my financial aid. However, it won't be that much because all except $5000.00(stafford) comes from merit-based scholarship guaranteed for all undergraduate years (that I keep a 3.2 GPA, of course).

Since my school's tuition is at a fix number, my bills will most likely be $5665.98 for the years ahead. I plan to use next year's co-op money ($15,990.00 per cycle) to pay for this year and next year's bill. And I have 3 co-ops to comfortably fit the bill.

The things is, I WILL be able to pay off all loans in next year (sophomore) so a federal loan of 6.8% versus a private loan of 10.5% does not make much difference (also that borrowing amount of $5665.98)

Do you think I should save or loan? Where should I draw the line?

***regarding to the line, my school expenses are paid for (no worries).

I suppose under the circumstances, especially if you have no other source of "emergency funds", it makes a great deal of sense to borrow and pay back next year, preserving your savings for the true emergencies...

You can borrow half the money and pay the rest from your savings. This way you'll have a smaller loan and still have some savings just in case.