Mod The Sims - College Tuition and Student Loans

kestrellyn

Mad Poster

Original Poster

#101

20th Nov 2018 at 5:56 AM

Yeah, I could do that. Would you also want the ability to withdraw and forgive loans in hundreds, too?

Bulbizarre

Mad Poster

#102

20th Nov 2018 at 8:02 AM

That would be good, thank you

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kestrellyn

Mad Poster

Original Poster

#103

21st Nov 2018 at 4:17 AM

Alright, in the latest version you can use multiples of 100 for Add to college fund, Withdraw from college fund, Forgive loan, and Pay back loan.

TheDarkLady

Lab Assistant

#104

12th Feb 2019 at 2:14 PM

Hello, firstly just wanted to say thank you so much for this mod, it's brilliant! Exactly what I was looking for and it saves a ton of time trying to remember how much sims need to pay for college.

Secondly, I was wondering would it be possible to change the total education cost? If you even point me towards the right place in SimPE I'd be more than happy to do it myself, as my sims have a lot of money and I'd like to increase the total tuition cost.

kestrellyn

Mad Poster

Original Poster

#105

13th Feb 2019 at 12:12 AM

You mean change it to allow costs of more than $50,000? How much did you want it to cost? Unfortunately some things would have to be changed to allow tuitions of $80,000+.

TheDarkLady

Lab Assistant

#106

13th Feb 2019 at 11:32 PM

Yes, I didn't have an exact figure in mind but up to 80k seems perfect. Would it be possible to change the values from 10-50k to 40-80k?

kestrellyn

Mad Poster

Original Poster

#107

14th Feb 2019 at 1:48 AM

No, that's what I'm saying. I can add 60k and 70k, but it can't go up to 80k without reworking some other parts of the mod. There are a bunch of things that rely on semesterly tuition being less than 10k. Although, I could add an option for 80k that actually sets it to 79,992, if that would be alright.

TheDarkLady

Lab Assistant

#108

14th Feb 2019 at 2:11 AM

Oh, I get you now, and that would be perfect, if you don't mind. Thank you so much!

kestrellyn

Mad Poster

Original Poster

#109

15th Feb 2019 at 12:55 AM

Alright, in the latest version you can select 60k, 70k, or 80k (which translates to actually 9,999 a semester).

TheDarkLady

Lab Assistant

THANKS POST

#110

15th Feb 2019 at 11:18 AM

Thank you! ðŸ˜

natboopsie

Forum Resident

#111

15th Jun 2019 at 2:43 AM Last edited by natboopsie : 16th Jun 2019 at 4:30 PM.

Hi, kestrellyn, and bless you for continuing to update this mod and always being so responsive to requests.

I also see that you've done a really nice job of revamping the description to explain all its intended functions. I just mentioned your object in the forums, in Look at This Awesome Thing I Found, so I wanted to come and say a bit more about how else I use it, besides just for college funds and student loans. Perhaps it will inspire even more people to use this excellent item!

1. Pre-uni savings for college costs. This is one of the main ways that the object is intended to be used, of course. My SimNation allows savings put into these funds to earn an attractive interest rate all the way until the kid starts uni, so parents who start early at contributing to the fund can actually pay for their kids' college educations less expensively than those who start later (because the interest earned, over time, does some of the work for parents who start funding early).

2. One-shot special savings for funding a first home sometime after graduation. Actually, though in my hood it funds first homes, this trick can be used to fund anything that a recently adult sim wants. It relies on a two-pronged loophole: first, as long as there is a positive balance (= not a debt) in the fund tracked by the object, then whatever interest rate is set is *paid* to the fund owner, not charged to them. Second, sims can continue to deposit into (= continue to create a positive balance) the object's fund throughout college, even though during the actual college years, no interest is earned.

So for example, thanks to a mod by Lamare, my YA Sally was able to marry her recently graduated fiance Micah. Micah's a sharp cookie, so he immediately gave her all the money he was saving for their first home, to put into her "college tuition" fund. Although he was no longer a YA and thus was no longer eligible to make any deposits into his fund, she could still fund hers. Micah continued to give her as much money as he could set aside from his salary, which she added to the fund until she left school. So despite tuition charges for the remainder of her college career, she still finished her college career with a nice positive balance in her college tuition fund. Once she left college, the object restarted paying interest on the money she still had left in it; she had paid more tuition than she actually had saved before Micah stepped in, but thanks to Micah's contributions, her "tuition fund" still was a savings balance, not a debt. So she and Micah lived with friends for as long as they could, allowing as much time as possible for their savings, all now in her former college fund, to earn interest. Eventually, the money was a nice downpayment on their first home---and, in my hood, had earned a level of interest that Micah and Sally would not have been able to access otherwise.

(This is actually not unlike a provision in the American tax code that favors first-home buyers, so it made sense to me to allow it---especially because it, like the American tax provision, is a one-shot deal: Sally and Micah would never be able to add to the fund again in their lives; they could only withdraw the money, with all that interest, at a time of their choosing. Also, not every sim student will be lucky enough to be able to get through college with any positive, rather than debt, balance, so many will never be able to use this trick at all.)

3. Child support, when calculated as a lump sum and without a set payment schedule. This works in the same way as the sim to sim loans that kestrellyn describes in the object's description: the sim who pays the child support initializes the token, with the sim being paid as the sponsor. The two parents agree on a total amount (lump sum) of child support that the paying sim will give the other over time. (I don't usually charge interest on top of that, but I suppose some players might.) It's not quite like real child support in that it never forces the paying parent to pay at any specific time, nor does it cause the amount to be forcibly deducted from their paycheck or added to their mailbox bills or anything. But that's the same as with the sim to sim loans done using this object: the sim paying the child support, like the borrower in the case of a normal loan, is somewhat on the honor system, and the object just tracks how much they still owe, including any interest charged. The amount can also be increased by having the support-paying sim "borrow" more, or decreased (or eliminated early) by having the support-paying sim choose the "Forgive" option on the Prof. Von Ball object.

4. Sim to sim loans, again without a set payment schedule. I think kestrellyn described this case well, but as in the case above, I just initialize the token for the sim borrowing the money, set the interest, and name the sim lending the money as the sponsor. As in the above option, I especially like that the loan can be added to, if the borrower sim gets into even more difficulties, or forgiven, if the lender sim is feeling merciful.

In the last two cases, what if the sim who wants to borrow the money (or pay the child support) already has a student loan? That's where the "Inherit loans" function comes in handy. Have another willing sim inherit their existing student loan (can be in the same household but doesn't have to be---so, could be a parent or a good friend; I try to keep it in the sim's closest circle of family and friends just so I don't forget who's holding the student loan for them!). The sim inheriting (=holding) the student loan can either pay it down (and the sim who actually owes that student loan can give them money to do so), or the holding sim can just keep the loan static (make no payments) until the original sim can take it back---the interest continues to be charged to that original loan. And the original debtor on the student loan can just inherit it right back from the other sim when they are done paying down this other debt/child support.

Hope that helps someone! It really is a great and very reliable mod, so I can't recommend it, or kestrellyn and her willingness to support it, more highly.

kestrellyn

Mad Poster

Original Poster

#112

15th Jun 2019 at 10:36 PM

Thanks for your post, natboopsie! I'm a little busy right now making a mod for another game, but I do eventually plan to return to the Sims and make my own version of Monique's child support mod that will hook into this one (so that child support can be deposited directly into a college fund).

natboopsie

Forum Resident

#113

16th Jun 2019 at 4:32 PM

My pleasure, kestrellyn. You and your mods deserve the support. And I'm excited to hear that you might tackle child support next! Do take your time---I'm just happy to know you're still around and modding, whether for this game or another.

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zizismommy

Lab Assistant

#114

25th Oct 2019 at 4:50 PM

I love this mod so much. It's made the payment system in my game so much easier. The only issue I have is that the sims who I want to receive tuition payments are too new in my hood, and I don't know how long it will take for them to show up on the payee screen. How can I increase the number of sims who show up?

kestrellyn

Mad Poster

Original Poster

#115

25th Oct 2019 at 7:17 PM

How many adult+ sims do you have? There's a hard-coded limit, based on the checkbook, but I don't actually know the game's limitations so I could probably increase it and see if it doesn't cause a crash or anything like that.

zizismommy

Lab Assistant

#116

27th Oct 2019 at 1:38 PM

Quote: Originally posted by kestrellyn

How many adult+ sims do you have? There's a hard-coded limit, based on the checkbook, but I don't actually know the game's limitations so I could probably increase it and see if it doesn't cause a crash or anything like that.

According to Sims Tracker I have 158 Adult & Elder sims. If it's hard coded then don't worry about it. I was poking around in SimPE and thought I'd found the line I might need to edit, but if it isn't that simple I'd rather not. I will patiently wait for more of my elders to die off.

Thank you for the quick reply.

kestrellyn

Mad Poster

Original Poster

#117

27th Oct 2019 at 10:08 PM

Oh, it's no problem. I've updates the files to raise the limit to 200 sims, let me know if that crashes or anything.

zizismommy

Lab Assistant

#118

28th Oct 2019 at 1:59 PM

Quote: Originally posted by kestrellyn

Oh, it's no problem. I've updates the files to raise the limit to 200 sims, let me know if that crashes or anything.

Ok thank you. I will test it out and let you know.

zizismommy

Lab Assistant

#119

2nd Nov 2019 at 1:04 AM

Quote: Originally posted by kestrellyn

Oh, it's no problem. I've updates the files to raise the limit to 200 sims, let me know if that crashes or anything.

Wanted you to know that I tried it and it did work, with no crashing. Thank you!

Drawulf

Test Subject

#120

7th Dec 2019 at 11:58 AM

So cool you're still here, thank you for this great mod and updating it!

> The mod works fine for me in in vanilla flavor.

> I really want to use it with Cyjon's Semester Changes. I've downloaded the appropriate variant of this mod, and made sure it loads after Cyjon's. HCDU shows no relevant conflict other than those two.

I have all the EPs (+ ending with the Mansion pack). However, I only accumulate half of the debt I set. At the end of semester, I get a message (set for 30K loan): Hanna paid §0 in tuition for the year from their college fund, and accumulated the remaining §-6,250 in student loans. If a... // .. Total loans: §3,750.

(One if the amounts is negative, the other positive, if it matters at all) The sim who went through the whole college like that ended up with a 15K loan.

I have a couple of shoddy workarounds, but would be awesome if you'd ever took a look!

kestrellyn

Mad Poster

Original Poster

#121

8th Dec 2019 at 1:24 AM

Sorry about that, and thanks for the heads up! It looks like the bill tuition funtion somehow got replaced with the regular bill tuition function from the other versions of the hack. Should be fixed now, if you redownload.

Drawulf

Test Subject

#122

11th Dec 2019 at 2:43 AM

You're an angel, thank you so much!

legallyblonde

Test Subject

#123

26th Mar 2020 at 5:36 PM

Hi! This mod looks like such a great addition to the game! However, I am unable to get it to work. I am running the Sims 2 Super Collection on Mac, so I assume that is the problem. It will let me initiate, add to college fund, designate payee/sponsor, but will not charge tuition at the end of the semester. I tried removing everything from my downloads folder except your Semester Changes version and Semester Changes itself, but it still did not work. I'm just wondering if anyone else is having this problem?

kestrellyn

Mad Poster

Original Poster

#124