Puerto Rico school feedback?

Jen_Jen88 · May 27, 2011

Go on www.clasificadosonline.com there you will find cars and places to live. If you click on hospedajes which are for students and you'll rent like a room or efficiency for cheap. Some are expensive. Look for areas in Cupey where the school is. Oh and if you like to surf Rincon has one of the best beaches on the island to surf. Its out west though.

ejnairobi · May 28, 2011

do you have your degree already. I don't. I will be attending Inter in August as well. I plan to visit PR in June. I live in Florida. I have no idea in regards to housing there. please let me know about your trip. Thank you.

Hi am really happy my trip was very successful,,,i got admitted,,am starting this august its official,,i really liked the place for all of you who havent travelled yet dont expect california standards there but you can expect very friendly people there,,,everyone i asked for assistance went all out to assist me,,,,,,i dint get time to look for a place but i hope to get a roommate from this site,,,,

ejnairobi · May 28, 2011

When is the last day to register for classes?!?!?!

july 29th,,so i heard,,

ejnairobi · May 29, 2011

quick question,
going over the student budget provided by the university and there is an entry for "cuarto" which is $1,000 for those living with their family and $4,761 for students living on their own. any idea what "cuarto" refers to? it seems to translate as "fourth", which isn't terribly descriptive...
here is the cost of attendance as set out by uipr (produced jan 2009) :
this is for a student living on their own (not w/ their family)
tuition $ 3,696.00
fees $ 1,262.00
books $ 894.00
fourth $ 4,761.00
food $ 4,500.00
transportation $ 1,800.00
personal expenses $ 3,878.00
total budget $ 20,791.00
this is simply what is put out by the university so your tuition could be higher if you take more credits. any thoughts from folks? does your budget match up w/ the above, or how is it different? i was personally thinking the food budget was a little high, but i've never been to puerto rico....

hi there,,,,i was going thru the posts and i must admit i have learnt alot from all the comments and am extremely grateful,,the only thing that is not so clear for me is how the financial aid bit works,,am really worried coz i dont have any means of survival except for loans so when i came across this post i was so excited coz i hope you could explain alittle bit to me,,i am wondring is the tuition money you listed per trimester? t,,are you on loans yourself,,is this enough for a whole schooling,,,i would really appreciate if you would answer my questions coz i am so confused right now coz its my first time to take loans,,thanks in advance

Jeb-in-Minneapolis · May 29, 2011

You can apply for a stafford loan (no credit checks, the federal government gives the money to the school directly, anything leftover is given to you) of 10,500 for the academic year, which is handed out to you in 3 equal payments. The first thing to do for the stafford loan is to fill out the fafsa online if you haven't done so yet (http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/). The deadline to file a fafsa for 2011-2012 is June 30th.

The stafford loan of 10,500 is definitely not enough, so some students are using a combination of savings, support from significant others, and taking out private loans (which rely on your credit and will probably require a cosigner like one of your parents). I've heard some students have experienced lengthy delays in obtaining the private loans because the school took their sweet time, but that is where the Estimated Cost of Attendance from the school comes into play.

Students are able to borrow the cost of attendance (26,500 ish) minus any other school aid (the 10,500 in stafford loans), so up to 16,000. People with bachelor degrees arent eligible for pell grants, and there is absolutely no extra aid from the school (no work-study, no real scholarships, etc.).

The $26k figure put out by the school is totally inflated, so don't worry too much. I'm on the 2year accelerated program and my tuition and fees for the first year was $8,250 (2,310, 2,970, and 2,970 for the 3rd trimester) for example. I've borrowed 8,000 from my parents in addition to my stafford loans, and thats been plenty for me...

Good luck and feel free to ask additional questions. All the students here have been in your shoes and wondered how the heck this school works, considering calling is usually a waste of time and their website is in Spanish and doesn't offer any real info!!

For the 2010-2011 school year the figures are:

Budget ComponentAmountLibros y Materiales$1,675.00

Comida$6,300.00

Cuota Originacion$105.00

Equipo$953.00

Cuotas$1,830.00

Otros Gastos$.00

Gastos Personales$3,878.00

Cuarto$4,761.00

Transportacion$1,800.00

Matricula$5,100.00

Total: $26,402.00

ejnairobi · May 30, 2011

You can apply for a stafford loan (no credit checks, the federal government gives the money to the school directly, anything leftover is given to you) of 10,500 for the academic year, which is handed out to you in 3 equal payments. The first thing to do for the stafford loan is to fill out the fafsa online if you haven't done so yet (http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/). The deadline to file a fafsa for 2011-2012 is June 30th.
The stafford loan of 10,500 is definitely not enough, so some students are using a combination of savings, support from significant others, and taking out private loans (which rely on your credit and will probably require a cosigner like one of your parents). I've heard some students have experienced lengthy delays in obtaining the private loans because the school took their sweet time, but that is where the Estimated Cost of Attendance from the school comes into play.
Students are able to borrow the cost of attendance (26,500 ish) minus any other school aid (the 10,500 in stafford loans), so up to 16,000. People with bachelor degrees arent eligible for pell grants, and there is absolutely no extra aid from the school (no work-study, no real scholarships, etc.).
The $26k figure put out by the school is totally inflated, so don't worry too much. I'm on the 2year accelerated program and my tuition and fees for the first year was $8,250 (2,310, 2,970, and 2,970 for the 3rd trimester) for example. I've borrowed 8,000 from my parents in addition to my stafford loans, and thats been plenty for me...
Good luck and feel free to ask additional questions. All the students here have been in your shoes and wondered how the heck this school works, considering calling is usually a waste of time and their website is in Spanish and doesn't offer any real info!!
For the 2010-2011 school year the figures are:
Budget ComponentAmountLibros y Materiales$1,675.00
Comida$6,300.00
Cuota Originacion$105.00
Cuotas$1,830.00
Otros Gastos$.00
Gastos Personales$3,878.00
Cuarto$4,761.00
Transportacion$1,800.00
Matricula$5,100.00
Total: $26,402.00

Thankyou so much i really appreciate you taking your time to reply to my post,,I was really worried,,,i feel much better to know that i could actually borrow alittle bit more for living expenses i have already applied for fasfa and am now waiting for the respond,,,,, from what ive heard its not easy to get jobs esp if someone is not billingual,,,and so it would mean i would have to be totally dependant on loans,, i really dont have that many people that i would depend on so this is really important

so how long do they take hand out the money,,or will i have to pay from my own pocket for the first semester?

THANKS INADVANCE,,BY THE WAY HOW DO I SEND APRIVATE MSGE,,LOL

caliotter3 · May 30, 2011

ej

You will be able to send private messages after you have made 15 posts. Just click on the pencil icon under the name of the person you want to send a message to.

AlaBro2010 · May 30, 2011

Btw, I'm not sure if it's been answered but cuarto is room (as in room and board). The last day according to the academic calendar to add/drop is August 9th.

Jeb-in-Minneapolis · May 30, 2011

If you're not bilingual, you won't be able to get a job, unfortunately. Only one other gringo has been able to get a job (part-time) and he worked in the states for years as a spanish interpreter (His native language was english).

The numbers I gave in the long post are for one academic year (3 trimesters).

The stafford loan (10,500 divided into 3 chunks) has always been enough to cover tuition and fees, so you don't need to pay the school anymore money out of pocket, they know the money's on the way from Uncle Sam, so thats it. (They refund the amount above tuition and fees to ya, I think it was $500 my 1st two trimesters, but it takes a long time to be direct deposited, like 1.5-2 months after the term starts).

As for private loans, not every bank will have our schools on its list of schools for educational loans. But if it does, you'll be asked for a bunch of financial info, then they check your credit. Presumably you won't be working, so you'll need a cosigner with good credit and a job (they fill out tons of info and have their credit checked). Thats the easy part.

The difficult part with these private loans is the bank needs to contact the school and check that you're a student, what the official cost of attendance is, and any other aid being given to you. The difference is the amount you could borrow and recieve.

Unfortunately, like many pr bureacracies things move really, really slow, and paperwork has a tendency to be lost easily at this school. Some classmates applied for a private loan at the start of school in August and didn't get it until November or December if I remember right (I think they were living off of credit cards for awhile).

So make sure and come to island with some cash, or stock up on ramen noodles!!

ejnairobi · May 30, 2011

jen

thanks so much i really appreciate everything,,but one more thing is it so hard to get a hse,,,approximately how much rent are you paying per month?sorry for too many questions i just need to know exactly am putting myself in,,

ejnairobi · May 30, 2011

ej
You will be able to send private messages after you have made 15 posts. Just click on the pencil icon under the name of the person you want to send a message to.

thanks coz i was beging to wonder how is it other people manage,,thanks

Dafina · May 30, 2011

Hi ejnairobi,

Looks like we'll be classmates this year at La Inter. I can tell you that I was able to find a small 1 bdrm apartment in the Ocean Park neighborhood for $550 a month; I realize that I will be spending alot of time in traffic but I wanted to live near the beach. I found the apartment on clasificadosonline.com and I was able to link up with a really great realtor who took pictures and video of the apartment or me. But even if I hadn't found this before hand, I was told that it wouldn't be hard to find a place.