0 EFC Maryland senior & family need college guidance. Father high med issues

Parent Cafe
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<p>“I am astounded by how much I did not already know.”</p>

<p>Me too! Scary news for me is that Towson only has limited housing on campus, so transfers can’t even apply until May 9. Happykid has exams that day, so guess who will have to log-in with her ID and try to pin something down! I am not at all excited about the costs of the privately run on-campus apartments that do have space, and even less excited about shelling out deposits, etc. for a private rental that is far from campus. I’d hoped all of my learning was over, but I guess not!</p>

<p>To help evaluate the financial side of things, here is a useful tool: [FinAid</a> | Calculators | Award Letter Comparison Tool](<a href=“Your Guide for College Financial Aid - Finaid”>Award Letter Requirements - Finaid) That same website has a lot of information in general about financial aid, and has more handy calculators for loan repayment and the like.</p>

<p>If you are in Frederick County, do check the difference in costs between FCC and out-of-county for MC. It may not be worth it to come down here UNLESS your daughter is interested in a state-wide program that is based at MC. I think the only one may be the Biotech program that is at the Germantown campus. Many of the MC scholarships are for county residents only, so your daughter would probably be limited to FAFSA and MD state aid.</p>

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<p>Looks like city year requires some college before you can apply but thanks for opening my eyes to those type of programs. D will want something with some structure like that if I am going to convince her to take a GAP year.</p>

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<p>I understand the desire to get out of the house and attend a 4-year, but I am also a firm believer in listening to what the universe is telling you.</p>

<p>There are so many things against your D right now. I really would strongly encourage the gap year.</p>

<p>You do not need college for City Year. A high school diploma is sufficient. It can be competitive from what I have been told. My 11th grader is considering it for his gap year.</p>

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<p>lex, americorps or the like will definitely not hurt your daughter’s college chances - DS has a friend who’s just finishing a year working in camden and was accepted to yale.</p>

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<p>Too bad you dd didn’t apply to Frostburg or Salisbury. She may have gained scholarships with her stats and they are both cheaper to attend than UMD. Scholarships at Towson or UMBC might have been possible. She would never qualify for any merit aid at UMD and it would take a hugh increase to get even a small merit scholarship. It is only very high kids that get merit at UMD. I would call each college in the state because many times the scholarships are still there for transfers. </p>

<p>I would also call Fredericks community college and find out what it takes to transfer to UMD after two years. There usually is a agreement between the colleges. They look like they have a system (ARTSYS) to determine what is needed for each college you transfer.<br>
There is no reason not to attend CC imo with your family situation. There is no guarantee she will do well enough to get into the school of business even if she attends UMD in the spring and it is a lot cheaper getting GE credits at community college. They also say you can attend community in the fall and then start at UMD. </p>

<p>I am not so sure spending anything extra is what your family should be doing now even if she wants the 4 year experience.</p>

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<p>Wow, just looked at Frostburg. Your D qualifies for Honors program and the school has her majors. I would call the school to see if it is not too late, explain the money situation, etc.</p>

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<p>My d did city year after high school. She mainly wanted a break from school, and if she had been dealing with lots of family stress during senior year ( which I guess she was, but not as much as the girl in Maryland), I would have encouraged her even more to take a break.</p>

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<p>I don’t think a gap year is going to make a whole lot of difference in this situation. We are looking at a student with 1900 SATs who was given Spring acceptance at UMD, and not her first choice in terms of School within the university. The schools that guarantee to meet need are difficult admits, for the most part, and with those stats, and needing a lot of aid, makes it an unlikely situation for her. She would also be affected by the fact that she has high need, and if we narrow the list to schools that are need blind in admissions AND guarantee to meet full need, her chances of getting what she needs decreases even more. We are talking about schools that are reaches for nearly anybody. That she is a female is also a disadvantage for LACs and Catholic schools that have a bias for males. I don’t think the odds are good enough to give it another go. Yes, it is possible that she could shore up her scores and apps and do an impressive gap year, but those things are all “maybes”. Things can also be difficult for the family again this upcoming year, and she may be no better off than before. If her stats had been a lot higher, I would think differently.</p>

<p>Yes, schools like Towson, Frostberg, Salisbury are possibilities for her to be a highly desired student, but they don’t come anywhere near to meeting full need, and unless there are some sure merit awards based on her stats, it’s still a crap shoot as to what she would get. </p>

<p>I think Happykid’s path would be the best one for her to take. Community or other local college to which she can commute. It also allows her to stay at home if the family needs some of her support.</p>

<p>To take out IRA money could be a huge mistake as it would bump up the income for the following year, and possilby lose PELL money.</p>

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<p>I am going to have her look at City a year and some similiar programs to see if it sparks some interest. D and Dad have the same concerns as captofthehouse about the gap year, thanks for pointing it out, I do want have a realistic view. I think she could bring up her SAT with a course as she unfortunately got to do very little prep for the last SAT, but I am not sure it would make a difference in admissions after a gap year. Towson is a school she is interested in and had planned to apply at but she missed the deadline , we called admissions but they simply told us it was too late, perhaps I will try calling again or see about applying for spring admission there. I am going to leave the IRA alone for now and will check about what it will do to aid before I do anything. Still trying to gather all the information I can to help her make the best decision. I totally agree with longhaul about the universe and for some reason we were not allowed to have the time we needed for this over the last year.</p>

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<p>Honestly there are many benefits to community college - at least for a year. She will be close to home which might be a good thing given all of your family’s stress lately.</p>

<p>As stated there are plenty of state schools from which she can choose … but she also might want to consider Stevenson. They have a very good transfer program from CC’s. They also give very good financial aid and MAY be competitive pricewise with Towson or Salisbury. Feel free to pm me if you want more info - my DD is about to graduate from there. They have a nice merit based grant program as well as need based grants.</p>

<p>If she wants to get accepted to a school this coming fall - I highly suggest she call admissions and make an appointment. She should take her transcripts with her when she goes. Often schools will accommodate after the application deadlines.</p>

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<p>Lexington…I’m a little confused. Are you the poster Mom2collegekids is referring to in the original post to this thread?</p>

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<p>Happymom is probably an excellent source of directed information for you. I know that you want it all to be perfect for your daughter and that ideally she would get into the business program at College Park with sufficient money to make it work, but the problem is that there is absolutely no guarantee this will happen. You have had a rough year, and this year will be a rough one too, to recover and segue back into “normalcy”. Believe me, I know. I had one of the worst kind of cancers a mother could have; one in her child, and it really affected our family for years, even though we were the luckiest of the unlucky in that my son survived (he is graduating college next month). But the effects of the years of treatment, the emotional hits, the financial disasters took years to get back on somewhat even keel, and my other kids were severely impacted for a long time. </p>

<p>I also know a lovely young woman whose father had to have a bone marrow transplant during her crucial college year, and she decided to stay home and commute despite some top college opportunities. This was 10 years ago, and a decision she has never regretted, as he did pass away during her college years. She has had a rich and full life, long after those crucial years, but had too short of a time with her father. </p>

<p>To throw financial strain into the picture is truly insanity. I can tell you that it always costs more than one plans. Cars break down, medical issues arise that are not covered, need arise. UMD has to be a good $20K a year, even in state, and if you live that far from the school, commuting is not going to be a whole heck of a lot cheaper with gas the price it is and having to have a car to do the heavy duty back and forth. What would be the bottom line cost after grant? Can you, as a family, really afford this? </p>

<p>My advice is for your D to go to school locally and take out any subsidized loans that she can and give the proceeds for you to bank (students get hit harder for savings), so that you have a bit of a cushion toward what her costs will be when it comes time to transfer to a school to get the degree. You can also try to save for that time. To try to swing UMD now, would mean your starting out scrambling for the funds, and it does not get easier in subsequent years. To get 2 debt free affordable years of college under one’s belt is a huge accomplishment for anyone. Then where ever she decides to go, there are only 2 more years to pay, not 4.</p>

<p>I am a great proponent of gap years when there is a lot to be gained, but I don’t see it here. Too much risk. Risk where you can’t really afford the downside if it doesn’t work out.</p>

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<p>Ditto on the community college. I went to cc reluctantly - was an honors student in an affluent town. Everybody went away but me (& a few others…) but there was no money. That was the reality (although didn’t embrace it until after graduation so it kept my peers in"unknown" mode- myself as well). </p>

<p>I was determined I was going to go away- worked very hard, found great paying waitressing jobs which became my Fri & Sat social life (while I made tons of $) and then transferred to a great big University which I loved more than anyone I knew(delayed gratification).</p>

<p>Also while home, I was shocked at how many kids came home all the time - homesick and/or flunked out! Commuting to school becomes normal. Also the cc professors - were awesome in comparision to HS so I really appreciated that aspect of it. BTW I didn’t have a car in cc- got dropped off at 7:45 AM & picked up at 5 PM everyday… gave me plenty of time to hang in the librairy & transfer center.</p>

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<p>When looking at decisions, it’s not just the possibility that it would work out that has to be examined, but the down side. If all works out in any direction taken, life is good. But there are some choices that have significant downsides. Believe me, being squeezed financially for 4 years is tough. With loans it’s not even 4 but much more. Having some breathing room financially will make things a lot easier for everyoe and if things get rough, can give you a larger chance of being able to squeak through. When you already know that there is a rough go ahead, you don’t want to make it even riskier.</p>

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<p>Livesinnewjersey - you reminded me about my niece who is about to graduate from UT Austin. She transferred there from Austin Community College and told me that many of her ACC profs also taught at UT so she was able to take advantage of a bunch of “UT professors” for two years at a much cheaper price.</p>

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<p>Yes its a combination of my original post and my responses to questions from that post.</p>

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<p>Lots of good advice we are starting to see some viable options and will try to contact some more in state schools this week. CC and then transfer is a strong option as is UMD if we can still get something from the Rawlings GAG we are just waiting for the website to end maintenance and give us access to the application. to captofthehouse glad to hear your son has healed and reaching such a great milestone those stories give us hope for healing and a better future. My D will work with whatever path we find for her and make the best of it she generally has a hard time getting through adversity but comes out the other side better for it. So this week is probably the worst of it on the college application process for her unless something else falls apart.</p>

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<p>One of the things the UMD counselor sent us to fill out was a verification worksheet for the FAFSA it seems that they did not need this until we looked into applying for GAG. Is it standard to need the verification form for the grant application or is it just one more check and balance? We have all the needed information I just wondered if it will be something that will cause more delay in the process.</p>

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<p>Schools are required to verify a certain percentage of students and many verify all Pell Grant kids, or all EFC 0 kids, etc. Just get it right back to them and they will process. If you don’t get it done, it will slow it down but you can pretty much expect any school to verify you.</p>

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<p>Verification can happen for any number of reasons. We got automatically verified because we were OOS, for instance, even though we were just taking out loans. It’s the procedure set in place.</p>