Accepted to schools but cannot decide.

College Search & Selection
21

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<p>Basically, this means that your choice will be constrained by the financial aid and scholarship results. Realistically, you are looking for a school that will give you a net price (= list price minus scholarships and financial aid grants) of under $10,000 (at the outside edge of student self-funding ability using a federal direct loan of $5,500 and the remainder in work earnings). Use a lower limit if you want some more breathing room financially against unexpected shortfalls in work earnings.</p>

22

<p>just to be clear, OP, will you be able to get large enough loans to fill the gap between the FA package and your costs of attendance? you know you’re limited to $5500 and whatever work you can get the first year, right?</p>

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<p>I’m starting to realize I know very little about all of this. How is it that people pay for college then? In this economy…I just don’t see how it’s even possible. How is it that people end up hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt when they are limited to $5500 a year in loans. I probably misunderstood…but if not, I’m entirely lost. I appreciate any and all help!</p>

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<p>More student loans than the federal direct loans generally require a co-signer these days.</p>

<p>Many students start college at the local community college and then transfer to a state university to complete their bachelor’s degrees.</p>

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<p>Some students and parents borrow from private lenders. That’s where the crazy debt levels come from.
As a rule, you shouldn’t borrow more than $27,000 total over 4 years, i.e, the federal loan limit. It exists for a reason, namely, that it’s the maximum a young graduate is likely to be able to reimburse (unless the young graduate is selected to work at Google, Facebook, or on Wall Street. So, very very very very few graduates can handle more. As a reference point, most graduates make 35-40k after college, with a little more for some majors and a little less for others.)</p>

<p>EFC= what your parent contribution is, based on need. Each college calculates it differently, depending on whether your parents’ house/car/medical expenses… are factored in. Your $5,500 will be added on to that, plus $600 in summer earnings, plus (often) $2,500 in work study to be used for your personal expenses; transportation, and probably books. (In your case, that total would be $9,000). The rest is “financial need”.
Colleges that meet need, promise to provide 100% of that need and will provide you with grants to cover the difference between that total and their cost of attendance. Sometimes, for the poorest students, the most generous colleges padd some official expenses so that you actually receive a little stipend every month.
Merit scholarships may be attributed in addition to need-based financial aid or as sole financial aid. Some colleges tack merit on to FA, others make it replace loans, others make it replace institutional grants.</p>

<p>Students with good stats (high GPA, high SAT/ACT or NMF) try to get merit scholarships at their in-state flagship or at the few OOS universities that offer them, such as UAlabama’s automatic full-tuition scholarship and the many MNF scholarships; others with lower income (60k and under) go for the “100% need met” colleges. The big merit scholarships are not available to transfers and the 100% need met colleges have very few transfer slots, so it’s better for these high-stats students to start right away at one of these colleges.
3.3-3.7 students have a lot of choices: public flagship (and, depending on scores, honors college/scholarship there), OOS LACs where they meet an institutional need, colleges where they are in the top 10-25% of applicants.
Students with GPAs in the 2.7-3.2 range typically attend a local directional (or a weaker flagship), or find a school where they meet an institutional need. It is to be hoped they live in a state where in-state publics aren’t too expensive and/or state financial aid is good (ie., these students don’t live in Pennsylvania.)</p>

<p>And then even in this economy there are “middle class parents” from this website who make 200k :). And at some colleges, families make enough that they can afford to pay 60k a year even if the college pays 100% need (meaning there are colleges where lots of students are extremely well off - at these colleges, your family may qualify for financial aid up to 180k/year…) It’s even clearer at some colleges that are very expensive and financial aid is lousy, where essentially they admit full freight students and then admit/deny the others (they’re admitted academically but denied financially; many students who get into massive debt are in this category. Schools that are known for doing that include NYU or Villanova - on the parents forum, there is a long thread that seems to indicate Villanova has either not changed or gotten worse.)</p>

26

<p>OP, MYOS has done a very good job explaining some things, but I sense you could still be upset by what you’re hearing. Is that right? can we help?</p>