<p>I attended a seminar today about college tuitions, and I'm really concerned about colleges. I'm a senior in New Jersey, and I'm concerned about my finances. Both my parents are unemployed. We are living off our savings. Our net worth is around 400,000 dollars total. Some of it is invested, and some is not. It is my dream to go to UPenn, but I am not sure what their financial aid policies are like. I consider myself fairly academically competitive, with a 3.7UW/4.5W, a 2380 on my SAT, multiple 800's, good EC's, the whole shebang. It is my dream to go to Penn, and I was planning on applying ED. However, I am shaken by the nightmare scenario of being unable to afford Penn after getting in ED. Can I afford Penn? If not, what colleges can I feasible afford to go to? I am not sure loans are an option, as I intend to become a doctor. The prospect of debt from BOTH med school and undergrad is too much for me. Does anyone have any ideas?</p>
<p>You need calculate your EFC before come back here and we can help you more. If your parents own the home and is paid off, you will have a problem with FA anyway.</p>
<p>From top of my head, you may want to try Brown’s BS/MD program. Its the most difficult program you can apply in UG and if you get in, you will get FA. You should read the posts on CC about the BS/MD programs.</p>
<p>If money is a big issue, the general consensus is that you should not apply ED. By applying ED you lose the ability to compare financial aid packages (both merit and need) from different schools. If the FA you are offered at Penn seems insufficient, you would have to say yes ( and withdraw all other applications), or say no - both without having any idea if you would actually receive a better offer elsewhere.</p>
<p>It is unknown how UPenn will look at your family’s assets. Since it is a CSS school, it’s hard to know.</p>
<p>Since money is an issue, be sure to also apply to a few financial safety schools. </p>
<p>ED may not be a great idea, but if you do protect yourself.</p>
<p>Don’t wait until after you get ED results to apply to financial safety schools because you would miss some big scholarships deadlines at other schools.</p>
<p>I am not sure loans are an option, as I intend to become a doctor. The prospect of debt from BOTH med school and undergrad is too much for me.</p>
<p>Oh, I missed this.</p>
<p>Yes…you do NOT want big loans for undergrad no matter what…but especially for pre-med. </p>
<p>Are you a NMSF? What was your PSAT? </p>
<p>As I said above…protect yourself and apply to some schools with rolling admission and assured scholarships to have in back pocket just in case UPenn doesn’t work out financially. Also apply to some match schools.</p>
<p>I think this student can’t really rely on FAFSA formula because altho their income may be low, they have a good amount of assets and that’s always an unknown with CSS Profile. </p>
<p>This student needs to use an institutional methodology calculator as well. I think there is one on the collegeboard website.</p>
<p>CH53…how long have both of your parents been unemployed?</p>
<p>My situation is unique. Both my parents have PhD’s from reputable universities. My dad used to work on Wall Street, but fell seriously ill about 5 years ago. He has been unemployed ever since. My mom is a stay-at-home mom; she was never employed.</p>
<p>Does your family receive social security or disability income because your dad is unable to work? I find it hard to believe that your family can just rely on $400k in savings to last the rest of your parents’ lives.</p>
<p>Penn should have a finaid calculator (Net Price Calculator) on its website. If not, nearly all schools will have one up by October. This should approximate the institutional methodology. It is not a guarantee, but, at the very least, this will give you some idea of what your parents might be exected to contribute. </p>
<p>The problem will be assets. If some of the 400k is in legit retirement funds, those assets are protected. For other funds, it doesn’t matter if it’s cash on hand or invested. And, house equity may count.</p>
<p>Also, though Penn states it has a no loan policy and that students can graduate debt-free, they also have links to the Stafford loan info. Maybe someone can clear up this confusion.</p>
<p>Your records will need to be organized- and you should be honest. Because an unusual situation, where there is no income, but you are maintaining, can trigger a verification.</p>
<p>Well, Social Security is helping out. I’m not sure how much they give us per month, but it’s a decent-ish amount, given the circumstances. I’ll have to look at that Net Price Calculator. Another possibility I’m seriously eyeing now is the Rutgers Presidential Scholarship. My mom got her PhD from Rutgers, but she appears to have some sort of personal vendetta against the school. It is her dream for me to go to an Ivy (yes, that is a bit snobbish, but it is what it is). She would be really sad if I went to Rutgers, but it seems to be a good idea, fiscally speaking. What are my chances for the Presidential Scholarship?</p>
<p>@LookingForward,
A large chunk of that $400k is in retirement funds.</p>
<p>“However, I am shaken by the nightmare scenario of being unable to afford Penn after getting in ED.”</p>
<p>You can always refuse an ED acceptance on financial grounds. What you CAN’T do is wait until April and compare Penn’s offer with other offers. Is that your concern? </p>
<p>Try running your parent’s financial info numbers through a fin aid calculator. If Penn doesn’t have one available (yet), try a comparable school’s.</p>
<p>DH seems to have the same feelings about Rutgers- except football. Sure, you should definitely pursue the legacy connection. When all the facts are in, later, you can see whether Rutgers is, in fact, your best option.</p>
<p>Run the NPC, then consider a talk with finaid at Penn. In any case, try to read finaid.org. It’s comprehensive.</p>
<p>ps. Go read the ED small print. You are obliged unless it is financially not feasible. (Each school can word differently, so go read it.) The problem is, in ED, you can’t compare offers. What if they offer you $X and another would offer $X-plus?</p>
<p>I thought you were screwed if you couldn’t pay for college after getting in ED</p>
<p>If you can’t afford it, then you can decline an ED acceptance (which is why schools need to get rid of ED…it’s ridiculous.)</p>
<p>The problem is that you can’t compare offers. Another school might offer you a better deal. </p>
<p>Another problem is that ED students often ONLY apply to their ED school, and then they wait to see if they need to apply elsewhere later in Dec. Too many miss the scholarship deadlines that are in the fall…so they miss out on those opportunities if their top picks aren’t affordable. </p>
<p>You said that you’re living off your savings…if that’s true, then a good bit of it isn’t in retirement protected savings…or it means that you’re doing withdrawals…if you’re doing withdrawals, then that counts as income…and the social security/disability payments will also count for financial aid calculations.</p>
<p>My mom got her PhD from Rutgers, but she appears to have some sort of personal vendetta against the school. It is her dream for me to go to an Ivy (yes, that is a bit snobbish, but it is what it is). She would be really sad if I went to Rutgers, but it seems to be a good idea, fiscally speaking. What are my chances for the Presidential Scholarship?</p>
<p>Your mom needs to be realistic…if you get into an ivy that will give you great aid, then super. If you don’t get in, then you’ll have to go to a school that will work.</p>
<p>You probably have a good chance at the Rutgers Presidential…and a good chance at some other schools large merit. Those schools can be your safeties or matches.</p>
<p>Short of an MD degree, you might want to consider Rutgers PhamD program, with the presidential scholarship and aids, you can get a Phamacy license with little cost which is a much rewarding program than MD in many cases. </p>
<p>My tenant who is an MD, but he has a $500,000 student loan on his back, with the current MD job market, I am wondering when he will ever repay the loan. Right now he is unemployeed, he has to find a fellowship, after the residency program is over.</p>
<p>*
My tenant who is an MD, but he has a $500,000 student loan on his back*</p>
<p>That can happen when people think that they must borrow to afford a top name school for undergrad pre-med, and then borrow again for med school. </p>
<p>Many private and OOS med schools are costing $70k per year in COA, so to borrow for undergrad as well can get pretty crazy.</p>
<p>o.0
This convo is getting really scary. Times seem to be horrible. I really want to be an infectious disease specialist/bacteriologist, but if the job climate is that bad, and education at my dream school seems prohibitively expensive (nvm the fact that my sub-average GPA might kill my chances, even with ED), I don’t really know what to do. Is it likely that I would suck up my parent’s precious resources only to remain unemployed for an extended period of time? How about the US Army ROTC program?</p>
<p>Take a breath. First you run the calculators. With that info in hand, you find colleges where you can flourish- and that offer the right finaid and/or merit. And, you explore less expensive options in your home state and the in-state aid that may make this easier- as a back-up.</p>
<p>If you are determined, you can still make it to med school. We don’t now why your mom is pushing an Ivy, but just take this one step at a time. Read finaid.org to get some background info. Others rec How to Pay for College Without Going Broke. Have the frank talk with your parents to see how they thought- and think- they can manage this. Good luck. One step at a time.</p>
<p>The road to a specialist in MD is long and difficult. Basically, you need a lot of money. Lacking of it is going to follow the steps of my tenant, with loans out of you ear. The way I see it for you is as follows:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>I can’t see how you can goto an UG graduate then apply for Med School and have your parents support it. The only way to attain MD status is to get into a BS/MD program with a lots of aid. In a BS/MD program, you apply for undergraduate admission, but the program gurantee to let you in to its medical school. Since you get the FA at the onset, basically you don’t have to worry about applying and getting the FA at the medical school level. The two schools I recommend you to try is Brown and USC, Brown will give you FA if you succeed in admission. It is harder than get admission at Harvard, with perhaps 2-4% success rate. USC will give more full tution merit, if you get in, there might be more FA at USC than Brown. An MD is an MD, it really doesn’t matter where you graudate.</p></li>
<li><p>Since the BS/MD programs are so difficult to get in, you need a backup plan. That is why I suggest PharmD program at Rutgers.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Your mom must be more realistic, providing your current financial situation.</p>