<p>I felt so bad for OP when I read her position. I am a mom, not a current student. But I have a child that is Val at his school of 1800 kids, in suburbs of big cities, and has been told “you can go anywhere you want with your grades, money is there, you won’t have to worry about it” for the past 4-5 years of his life. This is the advice that professional educators were giving to him (and us as his parents! ). </p>
<p>I am beyond thankful that I found this site long before I helped my son down the same path that the OP is on. There IS money out there. But you have to look, and it is not likely to be at your #1 dream school. And there are trade-off’s. The CG’s at schools do not realize how much things have changed in the college admission/financial world. And those that put their blind faith in the local GC’s, without doing their own research, are likely to find out too late about the current situation. If my son were in her shoes, I personally would be stomping my feet, raising my voice, and verbalizing my unhappiness! </p>
<p>I am glad that the OP has CC to come to and vent, and also get some real doable ideas for making it through college.</p>
<p>OP, I glanced at almost all the posts and didn’t see this suggestion (although I may have missed it): please call Pratt and tell them of your new circumstances!</p>
<p>I am not a financial aid expert, but I do know that if a school accepts someone they want them to attend. So if you can provide precise numbers that they can plug into their formulas, they may very well come up with an adjusted award. Please speak with the financial aid director in a sincere manner, and see what they come up with.</p>
<p>Now, even if they adjust the award, it still may not cover enough of the cost of attendance. In this case, I want to add my voice to those who recommend community college. At least in California, the quality is high and the cost is CHEAP! It’s a wonderful way to aquire knowledge and skills. The faculty are just as qualified as at other colleges, and the other students will be talented. What you do then is up to you - just keep putting one foot in front of the other.</p>
<p>That said, a little grieving period is fair enough.</p>
<p>*has been told “you can go anywhere you want with your grades, money is there, you won’t have to worry about it” for the past 4-5 years of his life. This is the advice that professional educators were giving to him. *</p>
<p>I know this sort of thing goes on with GCs across this country. Don’t they ever look in their rear-view mirrors to see what actually does happen after the FA pkgs go out and where their students end up matriculating?</p>
<p>And what about their teacher colleagues’ children? Don’t they ever hear horror stories from them about awful aid pkgs?</p>
<p>What the heck?</p>
<p>I am not a financial aid expert, but I do know that if a school accepts someone they want them to attend</p>
<p>Actually, that’s not necessarily true…at least financially. Just because a school accepts a student, it does NOT mean that they will “sharpen their pencils” to find money for them to attend.</p>
<p>I don’t know if it matters to them. From what I sem to have figured out, GC’s and schools are not “judged” on the ultimate outcome, rather what schools they get students INTO. They list the schools that students are accepted to on their “School Profile” that they have to send out with applications. That is why the GC was chasing my son down the halls most of the fall trying to convince him to apply to other schools despite the fact he was accepted and his mind made up about where he was going already. It actually became a little annoying to him.</p>
<p>They always want to increase their yield. It makes schools look more attractive if, once accepted, applicants choose to attend. That’s what I was referring to.</p>
<p>Certainly schools don’t make attending affordable to everyone. However, they are often open to adjusting financial aid awards, especially if the student’s situation has changed dramatically, like this student’s.</p>
<p>My D and I had a single meeting with her GC about college, in her junior year, during which he told her not to worry about cost in coming up with her college list. What??? How about asking me first if she needs to worry about cost? It so happens that she didn’t, but how would the GC know that? From that point on, the GC wasn’t part of the college discussion. I don’t know what some of these counselors are thinking, but they’re not doing kids any favors by not giving them advice (GOOD advice) on the financial side of things. </p>
<p>OP, there are a few students at my D’s high school who are going to our local community college because they have poor grades and/or test scores and it’s the only place they could be accepted. Frankly, many of them are unlikely to finish. Then there are students with good grades and test scores who are doing a smart thing. They recognize that they don’t have the money to get all the way through college (or in some cases graduate school) without significant debt unless they start in community college. So they’ll go to the community college (many of them in an honors program, which gives scholarships!) and they’ll transfer after two years. And their degrees will be from the school to which they ultimately transfer. They’ll have the same diploma as the student who spent 4 years at that school. But in their first two years, they’ll save a lot of money and chances are good that they’ll have smaller classes and more personal attention. My D took a summer course at our community college and the professor was top-notch and very caring. Community colleges are certainly NOT just for D students.</p>
<p>one thing to caution those unfamiliar with specialized graphic design/BFA programs–I’d check carefully before starting in CC with the goal of a graphic design degree. It may absolutely be fine, but then again, many schools require you take the graphic design foundation courses from them, and may not accept transfer credits for courses that are specific to the major.</p>
<p>So if CC is the path you decide to take, Franny, do check with a couple schools (ie, UCF, etc) to see what courses they’d accept in transfer credits. Or better yet, check with the CC’s and see where their Graphics majors transfer to to complete their BFAs. It could be a great route to go if they have some established relationships with 4-year programs and you can ensure that the credits will transfer. And your degree will be from where you finish. </p>
<p>I had an employee that started out in a state flagship as a fine arts major and transferred to a graphic design program at a different school in sophomore year–she had to start over as freshman because they would not accept any of the studio credits. They did accept all her academic course credits.</p>
<p>“Now I have to either go to community college with the D students who didn’t get accepted to the state schools, or take a year off. A year off. That’s what privileged suburban kids do, saying they’re “finding themselves” when really they just didn’t get accepted anywhere because they spent high school partying while the rest of us worked to keep a perfect 4.0 so we could get into a good college”. </p>
<p>Again, in my suburb, most kids go to a CCC. It’s just the way it is around here, and nobody seems to think it’s some big statement about who they are. The whole “sleep away” thing is just not part of most students lives, even if you didn’t spend high school partying. </p>
<p>The best part of college con is that it has opened my eyes to just how different communities can be. I think it’s important for OP to know that many communities are not like she perceives hers.</p>
<p>In some ways my kids were “lucky”, but in other ways, I think it’s too bad that most kids around here don’t have access to, or expectations about, what more communities seem to.</p>
<p>And re: guidance counselors–ours said the same thing to us as Beth’s Mom’s did. Said to apply to Stanford, Rice, Northwestern, etc and not worry about the money! We left that meeting and I went to work, b/c I knew that sounded fishy, and we could no way afford $55k/year schools!</p>
<p>We have a pretty decent income though, so I was hoping her advice on financial was true for the lower-income kids. I advised all of D’s friends to find financial safeties. Some did not, and it was sad to see them get accepted at schools that would not work financially, and not have back-up plans.</p>
<p>I’m not sure if I missed it, but I would also suggest you call each of the Financial Aid offices at the schools you were accepted to and explain the change in circumstances you have encountered and the loss of your stepdad’s income from this point forward.</p>
<p>As for other colleges to look into, SUNY NEW PALTZ , OSWEGO, and PURCHASE have a graphic design program, OOS tuition is about $14,000 per year plus Room and board. That is probably a much more palatable number. Admission deadline is April 1st(for newpaltz) although not sure what the art deadline is. Also check on Mass College of Art and Design. Do another search on collegeboard or naviance. There are many schools with rolling admission or later deadlines. </p>
<p>Also, speak with your guidance counselor and see if he/she has any ideas for you.</p>
<p>"OOS tuition is about $14,000 per year plus Room and board. "</p>
<p>While that seems much lower, to a student who only will get a small bit of aid, that might as well be twice that amount. She doesn’t have the means to get the $25k to go OOS to a SUNY.</p>
<p>The student needs to go to school in Florida where she’ll get Bright Futures (free money) and her Pell grant.</p>
<p>for florida schools,here is what was on Naviance. Deadline dates say n/a, so you would need to check the individual schools. U of N.Florida, U of S Florida, St.Pete, Intl Academy of Design.</p>
<p>From one applicant to the other, here is my suggestion.</p>
<p>Take a gap year, do not enroll in Community College (this will allow you to apply as a freshman). During the Gap Year, do two things: Something interesting that you can write about and, and this is important, a lot of practice for the SAT. Late fall this year retake the SAT/ACT.</p>
<p>If you get a good score, with your GPA and your URM status you can be accepted by the “meet full need” schools.</p>
<p>Thank you all for your help and words of encouragement, I really do appreciate it. Sorry for the late reply, I had a doctor’s appointment today. However, after crying for another two hours after I woke up, I did get in contact with the financial aid office for Pratt, and the counselor told me the best I could do is send an appeal to the director via email about my extenuating circumstances and they will see what they can do for me, especially since they stated they really want me to go there. But, I don’t know. I couldn’t get in contact with UCF, I got voicemail and then I was told office hours were over, but I am going to apply there and USF (deadline is March 31.) At least with UCF, if I can’t afford room and board, I could stay with my mother during my time there because she was going to move to Orlando after I graduate anyway so she can be closer to the airport (she’s a flight attendant.) In terms of CC, I don’t know about those in Orlando, but around here we have LSCC, and a lot of my friends dual enroll at this community college, and the quality is not very good. In my friend’s English class, they watched Mean Girls and took notes as an assignment. (…) That’s why I was kind of off put by the idea of going to community college, just by what I’ve heard from the quality of my own local one. So, I’m sending my appeal, and applying to UCF and USF and see what happens.</p>
<p>Also, I told my mom about the possibility of me having to take a gap year, and she told me if I did that, I couldn’t stay with her, and she was further baffled by the idea that we even had to pay so much just because our EFC was 2570 and that’s what she thought that’s all we had to pay.</p>
<p>I agree that SUNy will not be a financially feasible option for her. She is getting ~3k in Pell and she is not eligible for TAP (which is the bulk of the funding for low income students from NYS). Op is not going to get any institutional aid from New Paltz or any other SUNY as a gen ed student. Even is she were to apply to the Honors program, New Paltz takes 30 students, Oswego 75 students. At this late date those slots are filled.</p>
<p>It is nice that Pratt told you to appeal the financial aid award. However, it is highly unlikely that they are going to move from 10k to $56,398 (COA) when their largest scholarship is ~19k and mom still seems to be stuck in the mind set that she only has to pay $2570.</p>
<p>*Also, I told my mom about the possibility of me having to take a gap year, and she told me if I did that, I couldn’t stay with her, and she was further baffled by the idea that we even had to pay so much just because our EFC was 2570 and that’s what she thought that’s all we had to pay.
*</p>
<p>Well, you need to tell your mom that EFC doesn’t mean that. It’s just a number to see if you qualify for any federal aid - WHICH ISN’T much. The term EFC is a misnomer. It doesn’t really mean “estimated family contribution”. Schools are under NO OBLIGATION to do anything with that EFC except see if you qualify for a LITTLE BIT of federal aid. </p>
<p>Most schools do NOT have some treasure chest of money to hand out</p>
<p>I’m glad to see that you’re applying to UCF and USF. don’t bother with any OOS publics unless you’d get assured money. OOS publics aren’t going to give you the aid you need.</p>
<p>does your mom ever get on the internet? Will she come on to CC and ask questions herself and try to learn a little more about this process and what you are facing? </p>
<p>Help her set up a profile on here, and teach her how to navigate it and read all of the info. Tell her you would really like her help to figure this out, and see if she is willing to try for you. </p>
<p>As for the gap year, be honest with her, tell her that is not your first choice either, but may be your best option. But you are still trying to figure out another option that will allow you to go to school next year.</p>
<p>
M2CK is right, unfortunately. Those are only at the end of rainbows where unicorns play and leprechauns dance, and in Monopoly.</p>