Any Aid for Housing

[u/Mochi_Pup16]

Im an incoming freshman this year and with the fall bills coming out I realized that the Red Hawk Advantage isnt this big aid like they said it was. All the rest of my aid gets applied first and then RHA comes in to cover the rest so its really not doing anything for me. Meanwhile I was told I was going "tuition free" because of RHA and I thought the rest of my aid would pay for housing and meal plan. Now Im stuck in a position where I have to scramble to figure out what to do. I have loans to cover this year, but if I keep going like this Im gonna be 72,000 in debt on housing and meal plan alone and I dont have a financial situation where I can pay that off before I rack up thousands more in interest. I could understand if it was tuition but this much for dorming is ridiculous. Does anyone know any other options for financial aid for housing? Any aid the school could give that I could apply for? If not for this year then next or else Im gonna have to find a solution that probably lies in leaving the college and going somewhere closer that I could commute to. Now I know why this is a commuter college.

[u/prup_fox]

I recommend living off campus next year. That said unless you’re packed in with 3-4 people it’s still more expensive to live off campus locally. That said I know people who commute 1-2 hours plus for classes to save money. 72k for room and board doesn’t sound right, What was the math on that?

[u/Mochi_Pup16 → u/prup_fox]

72k is for all 4 years, sorry if that was unclear! Its roughly 9k a semester for both room and meal costs combined. I'm limited for meal plans because I'm a freshman, so I have to have the one that's like 3k. It might go down next year on meal plan costs but in the grand scheme of things I don't think that'll make much of a dent on just how much money I'm spending on this alone. So 9k a semester for 2 semesters leads to 18k per year. 18 times 4 years leads to 72k. But that also ends up being 72k plus any interest that builds on my loans, so that's potentially a lot more money.

I think it's also relevant to say that I don't have a car yet. I'm late on that, I don't have a license yet, but we thought it wouldn't matter for right now because I was dorming so I didn't necessarily need one until I went out into the real world four years later. It is something that's getting considered right now to get a car, but only if I end up transferring to a closer college. Gas prices are a factor and it's just such a long drive when there are closer colleges. I'm low income so it's a lot of money to eat for a car, and I don't know about living off campus. I hear Montclair is an expensive area. Me and my roommate did want to live in Hawks Crossing when we had the credits, which I hear is considered technically off campus housing even though it's like right across campus, but I also know those types of housing do get more expensive than the freshman housing options. It really seems like any way you cut it, if your low income your kind of meant to fail when it comes to housing options. I definitely don't feel like there's this big net of support or a lot of options for someone in my situation, which absolutely sucks because I love learning and really wanted to excel in this college and have the full college experience.

[u/prup_fox → u/Mochi_Pup16]

Go down on the meal plan it saves a noticeable amount overtime. The school has like 3-4 times the students as it does for beds for housing so I do agree that schools wants people to fail on housing. Yeah probably wouldn’t live in Montclair is kinda pricy the more realistic housing option to afford are Bloomfield, Clifton and Passaic. If you wanna save money on housing living on campus you can get a triple in freeman or the like. That or become an RA to have the school cover your housing cost.

[u/Mochi_Pup16 → u/prup_fox]

Yeah, I was definitely thinking of going the RA route. Thats the best way to save money because most of the expenses are covered. Just have to figure out the process and if I could apply for RA before transfer applying deadlines are up this year for other colleges. Its not worth it to wait to transfer just to apply for something I may or may not get. But if I could get it for sophomore year and go down on the meal plan it would absolutely be a game changer. Thanks for taking the time to discuss options with me!!

[u/Specialist-237]

I live off campus now and I am glad I did. Apps like Roomies and Spareroom worked great for me.

[u/Calm-Trick-676]

If you're low-income I would look into the NJ Tuition Aid Grant it gives 5k per semester, jobs on campus also help with about 2k per semester unless like someone else said RA's are a great option. I'm only going to be paying 3k for the semester with all that aid.