Title says it all! If there’s a relevant threat my dedicated scrolling couldn’t locate, feel free to lock & link!
My sister & I are both c/o 2016, we have a younger sister following in the class of 2020. Does FAFSA care? (My inner answer and common knowledge tell me that FAFSA doesn’t really care about anything, but considering all things practical…)
Will my aid amount reflect the fact that I have a twin?
Your EFC will reflect that you have a sibling also in college, and is usually about half. FAFSA formulas don’t really care that it is a twin, and they don’t so much care that you have another sibling not in college, although family size is a small part of the calculation.
An individual school may care more about the siblings. My DD’s school gives a grant for two siblings enrolled at the same time.
Thanks for the help!
BUT just because your FAFSA EFC is half each does NOT necessarily translate into increased financial aid. That would depend on school policy with regard to awarding need based aid.
Also, if your family income is very high…it might not matter…at all.
@thumper1 my dad’s employment is on/off- well paying but sparse, and my mom’s a lunch lady. This has been the only year in a while where they’ve both been in work for most of the year. And of couuuurse it’s the one FAFSA sees, so no aid is what I fear
You can run a fafsa calculator. You can run the Net Price Calculator on each college website.
I think you misunderstand. FAFSA is for federal aid, and “free money” from the fed govt is mostly for LOW income people. As you say, your dad has a well-paying job. There isn’t free fed money for those with “well paying” jobs.
If you and your sister need money for college, then depending on your stats, look at schools that are either known to be generous with their OWN aid, using CSS Profile application…or…look at schools that will give you merit scholarships for your stats.
What are your and your twin’s stats?
Ask your parents how much they’ll pay each year for EACH twin.
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My GPA, 9-11, is 3.44 UW, 3.62 W. When HS ends, I’ll have taken 11 weighted courses- 10 AP & 1 Honors.
My SAT is 1450/2160. It’s made deciding where to apply pretty rough- I have a list of great schools, ‘safety’ schools, but I’m very, VERY open to suggestions.
Tulane
Southern Methodist
University of Minnesota
Stony Brook
Boston University
Arizona State (close to home safety)
University of Arizona (close to home safety)
Indiana U (far from home but still a great school)
Ohio State
New College of Florida
Miami University, Oxf
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Your list has problems because you have a LOT of OOS publics that won’t give you much/any aid. For instance, Indiana won’t give you any FA, and your GPA is too low for their smallish merit award.
Your GPA is likely too low for merit at most/all of those schools, except for maybe the Arizona schools. Are you instate for the AZ schools? If not, then they may not be safeties.
A safety MUST be affordable. Do you know how much your parents will pay? If not, then how do you know if an AZ school is a safety?
I’m sorry- first gen American here, hence why my best bet is the internet!
Twin: 3.7 W, 1840 SAT, moderately rigorous course load, some ECs, planning on attending Mills in Oakland for Global Studies.
Me: 3.6 W, 2160 SAT, maximum difficulty course load, lots of ECs relevant to career path, hoping for U of M, Twin Cities for Public Health.
My auto-aid schools are Indiana U, Arizona State, and U of Arizona. I would seek out more but since my UW GPA is a 3.44, I don’t qualify at most schools. I’ve tried getting info from my parents but I’ve been told to not worry- and also to choose a school that’s really cheap, so mixed signals.
It’s hard for me to tell what qualifies as well-paying on CC- I feel like the super-rich are very present here ($200k+). Our income hovers from $60-110k, which I do consider very well off, but again, it’s not stable- hope I’m not being strange. I’m not fully aware of our financial situation
Ahh, you found me! I’ll have to admit that I’m feeling a tad stressed right now- I’m Californian & rigorous UCs are academically out of reach for me- competitive CSUs as well. I’m not instate but do have WUE, however, because of the Presidential Scholarship @ UA, the difference would be no more than a few hundred dollars.
I’ve posted another thread asking for more feasible schools, so any suggestions would be great- I looked into U of Alabama (crossed of list, simply not the environment for me) and CSU East Bay (alarming graduation rates).
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I’m not instate but do have WUE, however, because of the Presidential Scholarship @ UA, the difference would be no more than a few hundred dollars.
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I don’t think you can get BOTH WUE and the Az merit.
your family needs to run the NPC on Mills website for your sister.
how much will your parents pay each year per twin?
??? what “auto aid” do you get at Indiana? IU usually has a high GPA req’t
I don’t think Arizona schools will let you stack scholarships. Run the scholarship calculators on their websites and see what they show. And look at some of the other WUE schools. Wyoming would be very affordable after the WUE scholarship. My daughter applied and was accepted with a WUE scholarship a couple of years ago. She attended elsewhere but we visited and really liked the campus. It’s about 2 hours from Denver.
Usually the WUE tuition reduction is then not stacked with other merit based scholarships - it’s usually pick one or the other. Wyoming’s Rocky Mtn scholarship for the top level is now about the same as a WUE, about 150% of instate tuition, and you can then stack whatever you want on that (department, talent, outside). You can get department scholarships or outside ones. Look at the other WUE schools like Utah. Pretty good deal.
CSU do have low grad rates, there are a lot of transient students at some. Some are not as well prepared because they admit a wide range of students. Some leave due to lack of funds. There may be some issues of getting the classes you need but if you plan and stay on track and don’t change majors late you should be okay.
If the parent income fluctuates that much then it will be hard to predict aid from year to year at aid giving schools. You may be eligible for cal grant or not. You need to check that. Is CSU EB a commute? Mills is very expensive and I don’t think they have big aid. Maybe for some people but they don’t promise to meet need.
Sounds like your parents have had a rough patch with steady income of dad - if that is behind him, perhaps they can say how much they can contribute to college expenses. Perhaps they have set aside some money for college.
There is a very tight limit of what a student can take out with loans, F/S/Jr/Sr years. Parents may not be willing/able to sign parent loans (government or private).
Are your SAT scores better than ACT? Have you taken ACT?
It sounds like your SAT CR + M score is 1450, which would put you at ACT 32 and close to 33 if that was single score test result.
Someone very versed in CA school possibly could assist in sorting out those college opportunities. Are there any CA schools within commuting distance? Exploring all the sources of specific aid/grants specific to CA residents.
Exploring WUE and follow up with those on this thread that are knowledgeable by PM.
Weighted or un-weighted GPA of 3.5 or better (shown on school transcript) and ACT equiv of 32 or better, you would have full tuition scholarship at UA and other schools in AL - I see up-thread that you are aware of the UA Presidential Scholarship for your stats.
Concern about sister wanting Mills College - and affordability. Avg scores CR & M (which don’t have your sister’s score) 1040-1250 posted in most recent data; the year before avg GPA was 3.6 (they didn’t list avg GPA in US News info, but I imagine it can be found). Tuition $42,900 and R/B $12,900. And if they don’t promise to meet need.
As mom2 has said, a school has to be affordable to be considered a safety.
Need to sort this out very soon to get applications in to the schools where you will have the lowest cost to attend and highest possibility of being able to complete degree. Looking at your desired field of study, public health, you may want to view schools like UAB, although IMHO you may find a broader group of high stat kids with the honors college at UA and look at studying there. Birmingham is a fine medical center. I have students at both UA and UAB - the UAB student is in nursing (ranked #13 for its nursing program).
UA and UAB are very easy on-line applications and scholarship applications.
If you think you might have an interest in nursing, there is a UAB nursing scholars program for HS seniors that apply before a date - and writing a short essay. DD was in that program - if grades are good fr/so, have a seat in junior clinicals and can finish on time.
My kids did receive some info on scholarship opportunity in FL for some of the newer public schools (offering in-state tuition) but I don’t think those are worth exploring in your situation.
Later you can narrow things down. However schools that do not meet the financial limits of affordability; you need to use your resources (time and application expenses) to focus on the best options in your situation.