A sticky situation... please help!

Colleges and Universities A-Z Northwestern University
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<p>Okay, so here's my sticky situation...</p>

<p>I was accepted to Northwestern University and can't afford the Estimated Family Contribution. </p>

<p>My parents are unwilling to take out any loans beyond the ones provided for in NU's financial aid package. No point telling me to try to convince them, either.
We might be able to scrape up the tuition for one year, but after that, I'd most likely have to transfer out.</p>

<p>We've already appealed, with only a couple thousand dollars knocked off the EFC. There's always the chance of appealing again next year, but that is a real gamble.</p>

<p>I'm applying for every outside scholarship I can get my hands on, but the problem is that none of these scholarships will help with my EFC. They will all go toward the self-help portion of my financial aid package, i.e. Stafford loan and federal work study. So basically, I can earn a maximum of about $6,000/yr through scholarships before they start reducing my Northwestern scholarship. That still leaves lots of EFC to take care of.</p>

<p>Since I applied to Northwestern through Early Decision, I held off on most of my other applications. As a result, my only significant backup is the University of Mississippi. It has a great program for Chinese, my intended major, and I'm sure I could get a full ride (and then some, if I'm lucky). But I really, really don't want to go to Ole Miss.</p>

<p>I guess I could always go to Ole Miss freshman year and then attempt to transfer out to someplace with even MORE financial aid then Northwestern, but since that would basically mean nothing short of Ivy League, it's not anything I can count on.</p>

<p>Another option I've considered is some sort of military service--even though I've never even considered the militia up to this point, it may be my best shot. I'm not sure exactly how that works, but I would expect either a loan-forgiveness program after college (like this</a>) or else some sort of degree-completion program (like this</a>).</p>

<p>I was already considering a career in international relations, so the military might not be a bad bet for first job after college. It would be tough, but I think I'm prepared to do whatever it takes.</p>

<p>I'd welcome any advice and input, especially inside info about using the military to pay for college. All things considered: </p>

<p>Ole Miss + full ride,
or
Northwestern + several years of military service?</p>

<p>...Or any other options you care to throw out?</p>

<p>I have to make a tuition deposit for Northwestern by Feb. 1, so please reply as fast as you can...</p>

<p>Also, please no comments about how I shouldn't have applied ED or anything of that nature. I've already heard it.</p>

<p>Thanks so much for your time.</p>

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<p>If it helps, you reapply for Financial Aid every year. There’d be no reason to appeal, or potentially even transfer, if you would work up the money for this year - you would be applying for a whole new situation entirely, and it could be that since your family’s funds would go down (due to paying for college), the aid would go up. If you are dead set on NU, it is always worth a shot.</p>

<p>However, that is no promise. =/ I’m not an expert at financial aid, so I hesitate to give advice over just some general facts. I’m sure someone will come along with a better informed bout of advice.</p>

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<p>i always took it for granted that my parents pay my way through college, not so much anymore. im sorry you have to go through this, it just aint riight</p>

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<p>The full ride at Ole Miss is looking very good now, but if you’re not opposed at all to going to the military, I would just do that if it’s not more than a few years’ commitment and if you will not be shipped off to war. I have a friend who just signed up for the Navy to take advantage of the full tuition but he tells me you get only $80,000 max? He also says it’s relatively safe. We do have ROTC here…I don’t know what the deal is with that, but you might want to check. Someone tells me he knows people who are in it to get tuition discounts.</p>

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<p>I’m currently looking into the Navy ROTC at Northwestern. It would be hard… it would be a real commitment. But I’m starting to suspect that maybe it would be worth it–in a lot more ways than just money.</p>

<p>Thanks for all the input.</p>

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<p>I don’t have any advice, but I just wanted to let you know that you’re not alone. The FAFSA is so stupid, and their EFCs are way off. My parents were looking at our EFC and going, “Okay, we make this much, we have this much in expenses, where are they getting that we can pay this much for college?!?”</p>

<p>Fortunately, we’ve been able to scrape together enough that I can go here, but I’m going to have some loans to pay off after I graduate. We, too, tried appealing the FA, and the amount we got was not at all proportional to the discrepancy we demonstrated between the EFC and what we could pay.</p>

<p>I hate that policy where the scholarships don’t help you at all. It’s gotten to the point where I don’t even apply for scholarships that say the check will be made out to the college. It’s just a waste of time. Fortunately, some of the local scholarships were willing to make checks out to me, so those actually did help.</p>

<p>It’s also ridiculous that being a CA can actually hurt your FA package. I was seriously considering applying to be a CA, but the decrease in FA is kind of a deal-breaker…</p>

<p>/End rant</p>

<p>Anyway, the best of luck to you! I hope everything works out!</p>

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<p>I know :confused: it is a bit ridiculous. Up to this point we were hoping the FA appeal would work–basically, my mom got a $10,000 reduction in salary but they only took $3,000 off the EFC, which was already too high to afford in the first place.</p>

<p>Does anyone know the policy on withdrawing other applications? I know it’s in the ED agreement, but would it be unethical for me to pay my tuition deposit while still keeping my application open at Ole Miss?</p>

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<p>Not for this year but look into becoming financially independent certainly by junior year. Find out what you would need to do and see if that’s a bit more palatable than ROTC. It might be possible and worth it.</p>

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<p>Man oh man is that tough… </p>

<p>The way i see it, the military AND northwestern is an amazing thing under your belt, especially if u intend on getting a STEADY job after college, and after service (a govt job would be so easy to grab a hold of). I’m partial to the military and northwestern clearly because I believe in them so much, but I also look down upon any form of public education (ie Ole Miss), which is a personal bias. Now if i was physically capable of going thru the ROTC program i would do it, even if i don’t need the tuition reduction.</p>

<p>I’d say go with Northwestern and rotc –>Great steady job, great university, basically full ride, not to mention service to your country.</p>

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<p>NROTC really what I’m leaning toward at the moment, if scholarships are still available. I really hope I hear back from them in time…</p>

<p>The only possible downside would be getting the shit beaten out of me every day, and the way I’m starting to see it, pushing myself to the max would be a truly rewarding experience.
“We choose to go to the moon, and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard.” That quote has been on my mind a whole lot these past two days.</p>

<p>Thanks again for all the comments!</p>

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<p>NROTC sounds like a great option. Was work-study included in your financial aid package? I’m sure you’ve already thought about this, but if not, could you get a job in Evanston to help contribute to your parents’ EFC? That’s what I’m planning to do…I don’t know how much it will help, but working a lot during summers (especially this summer) could help as well.</p>

<p>I agree that these situations suck. I applied RD to my schools, but I’m already anticipating not getting enough FA, so these are a few things I’ve been thinking about. That being said, my cousin (currently at Clemson) decided to do ROTC to afford it, and told me it is a fantastic experience, and that it’s made him appreciate college more than he thinks he would have if he hadn’t done it. So…NROTC would be my advice.</p>

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<p>Hello again everyone… </p>

<p>So, the thing about the NROTC scholarship is that it doesn’t cover room and board. Unfortunately, that alone is too expensive for my family to afford. (Yeah.)</p>

<p>I’ve already contacted Northwestern and been released from my Early Decision contract.</p>

<p>I would have liked meeting all you Northwestern students and other '14-ers. Good luck with everything! I’m sure it will all work out the way it’s supposed to. Maybe grad school, right? Haha. </p>

<p>Peace.</p>

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<p>I’m sorry it had to end up like this, but I’m sure you’ll have a great college experience regardless. Good luck!</p>

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<p>I’m sorry to hear about that, Toward, and I hope that you have a great college experience wherever you end up.</p>

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<p>Toward, I hate to be unsympathetic (and maybe I missed something), but didn’t you realize the contractual financial commitment when you applied ED? It was pretty clear in the submission package that if accepted, “you don’t have to attend but you sure will be paying”.
I do wish you the best in your situation.</p>

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<p>actually, clash, the ED agreement states that you only need to go if you can afford it. Toward knew the financial commitment; the problem is that CSS gave Toward a unlikely EFC.</p>

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<p>Aw, I’m sorry things didn’t work out, Toward. :frowning: Best of luck to you, wherever you go!</p>

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<p>That really sucks about your situation. I hope things work out in the end.</p>