Question about Financial Aid for anyone who might know

[KitchenKitten99]

I have had a desire to go to culinary school for a while now. I have looked into it, and I definitely want to take this path.

The school I want to go to, tuition is $45,000 for a 15-month program. Yeah, not cheap, but Le Cordon Bleu is the one of the top culinary schools in the country. They have campuses throughout the country as well. When it comes to doing things as big as this, I go for the gold. If I am going to put time and money into something like this, I will get the best available.

So, I will need financial aid. No biggie, it is done all the time. Classes are the same time every day, which is 7am to 2pm, though the 12pm-2pm shift is for my general ed classes, and I might be able to do those via online/independent study, as long as my grades in my other classes hold up. No problem there. So I would be in class from 7am to 12pm every day. I would be able to work 3-4 days a week PT.

Here is my problem and the one thing that is holding me back from even enrolling. I will need additional funds to help pay monthly bills, mostly just my mortgage, because I will cease doing daycare, thus losing 1/2 my income. If I could get an additional $16,000 on top of my school's tuition to make a 12 months of mortgage payments (DH's salary and my PT OfficeMax income will cover the rest of the bills), I will be sitting pretty nicely to go to school and not worry about paying the bills or losing the house.

Is this possible to do? Is it possible to ask for that much more than what is listed for the school's tuition? I heard it is, but sometimes I get that kind of info mixed up.

Anyone who knows about this and could advise me, I would greatly appreciate it.

[Kathianne]

I have had a desire to go to culinary school for a while now. I have looked into it, and I definitely want to take this path.

The school I want to go to, tuition is $45,000 for a 15-month program. Yeah, not cheap, but Le Cordon Bleu is the one of the top culinary schools in the country. They have campuses throughout the country as well. When it comes to doing things as big as this, I go for the gold. If I am going to put time and money into something like this, I will get the best available.

So, I will need financial aid. No biggie, it is done all the time. Classes are the same time every day, which is 7am to 2pm, though the 12pm-2pm shift is for my general ed classes, and I might be able to do those via online/independent study, as long as my grades in my other classes hold up. No problem there. So I would be in class from 7am to 12pm every day. I would be able to work 3-4 days a week PT.

Here is my problem and the one thing that is holding me back from even enrolling. I will need additional funds to help pay monthly bills, mostly just my mortgage, because I will cease doing daycare, thus losing 1/2 my income. If I could get an additional $16,000 on top of my school's tuition to make a 12 months of mortgage payments (DH's salary and my PT OfficeMax income will cover the rest of the bills), I will be sitting pretty nicely to go to school and not worry about paying the bills or losing the house.

Is this possible to do? Is it possible to ask for that much more than what is listed for the school's tuition? I heard it is, but sometimes I get that kind of info mixed up.

Anyone who knows about this and could advise me, I would greatly appreciate it.

Of course of heard of Le Cordon Bleu, I don't know if it's accredited as a college? Anyways, probably the best place to start is with FAFSA:

http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/faq001.htm

Then into the financial aid office of the school. I don't think unless it's a post grad degree that you can pick up $16k above tuition, but they should be able to tell you.

If that's all you would be short for 1 year, you might want to look into an equity line or a personal education loan from your bank.

Good luck!

[Mr. P]

You need to talk with MtnBiker about the culinary school, he went to CIA. Do you plan on working as a chef? That's a chunk of debt to pay back with an entry level job.

[KitchenKitten99]

If that's all you would be short for 1 year, you might want to look into an equity line or a personal education loan from your bank.

Good luck!

The house market has us essentially upside down at this point. We would have about $19,000 in equity (we refinanced our equity line to a loan in 06 due to rising interest rates and my starting the daycare) if the market hadn't taken a dive.

Now we might be able to sell our house for what we owe if we were lucky enough to even sell up here.

[KitchenKitten99]

You need to talk with MtnBiker about the culinary school, he went to CIA. Do you plan on working as a chef? That's a chunk of debt to pay back with an entry level job.

I already talked to him a while back, so I got that covered.

[Mr. P]

I already talked to him a while back, so I got that covered.

Good. How about the chef part?

[dan]

Like Kathianne said, the first step is to make sure FAFSA recognizes Le Cordon Bleu. Beyond that, it is possible to take out a loan larger than your tuition, though $16,000 might be pushing it. My final semester of college, I took three courses, so my tuition came to around $4000, but because the minimum you could get for my loan was $5000, I was issued a nice thousand-dollar check to do whatever I wanted with.

Thing is, and I know this is obvious, but the more you take out, the higher your interest rate is going to be. And take my word for it, if you miss a couple payments, they WILL come looking for them!

[Said1]

Do you have to go full-time?

[KitchenKitten99]

Good. How about the chef part?

Yes. Extensively. Want details? Ask him about it.

Tell you what... how about you not worry about it. I know you think I am a moron, but I do know what I am doing and what I am getting into.

So back off.

[Said1]

Yes. Extensively. Want details? Ask him about it.

Tell you what... how about you not worry about it. I know you think I am a moron, but I do know what I am doing and what I am getting into.

So back off.

I was going to ask if you had a specialty in mind given that there are several programs, glad I didn't.

I once wanted to be a 'saucier' if there is such a thing. I looked at LCB short courses years ago, tooooooooo expensive.

[KitchenKitten99]

Do you have to go full-time?

Yes, the only schedule they have is 7am-2pm Monday-Friday.

I even checked a couple other programs of the same level at the 2 other schools that offer this type of degree program in the Twin Cities, and they are all the same way- M-F classes, most of them in the early mornings. The other two cost about the same, though the one that was less expensive (by about $6k) had you in class more of the day than the other two.

The admissions rep I talked to yesterday said that I might be able to take my Gen Ed classes online, as a few students are doing that. Since I am an independent student with dependents, it likely would be approved with little resistance, as long as I kept my grades up.

Like Kathianne said, the first step is to make sure FAFSA recognizes Le Cordon Bleu.

They do. I have talked to an admissions rep, yesterday actually. However she had a few more tours to do, and didn't have the available time to chat just then. I will talk to her again tomorrow as she has a set appointment to call me.

I'm just impatient when it comes to detailed and/or complex issues and I want to know ASAP so I can make a decision sooner. I just thought some here might know more about it from experience and I can get some inside knowledge.

[Mr. P]

I was going to ask if you had a specialty in mind given that there are several programs, glad I didn't.

I once wanted to be a 'saucier' if there is such a thing. I looked at LCB short courses years ago, tooooooooo expensive.

Testy ain't she!

Fuzz...you have no idea what I think of you. Really you don't.

[KitchenKitten99]

I was going to ask if you had a specialty in mind given that there are several programs, glad I didn't.

I once wanted to be a 'saucier' if there is such a thing. I looked at LCB short courses years ago, tooooooooo expensive.

I wouldn't mind your asking, I know your replies are not to passive-aggressively be a jerk to me.

Yes, you can be a 'saucier' as a specialty at a restaurant that has that kind of position. Most people who take specific jobs like that do so because they have a bit more talent in it than other areas, or they want the experience and title on their resume.

I honestly don't know what specialty I would be emphasizing in at this point. I know I like to work with meats and vegetables quite a bit.

My ultimate goal is to open my own restaurant. I have an idea for one that, to my knowledge and research I have done, is not yet in existence, as far as the dining experience. I described it to my husband and a few select family & friends, and they all thought it is a really cool idea. And no, I am not going to describe it here, for fear of someome stealing the idea from me. Someone else may also come up with the idea, but at this point, I haven't seen any evidence of that.