Basic questions on paying for college

Paying for College
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<p>I've never really considered any problems that would come up when picking out a college; I'm a junior in high school and I had always assumed that whatever you can't get out of scholarships and financial aid, you can pay back with student loans.</p>

<p>I come from a lower-middle class family. I really don't think my parents can help me pay for my tuition; the most they might do is provide me with some money for food & clothes. I've always wanted to go to a school far from my parents but now I'm not so sure - would I be better off at a state university or an expensive private school with more recognition?</p>

<p>My mom talked about getting scholarships - is that even an option when I'm a mediocre student? I have a 3.5gpa and I'm expecting a ~1900-2000 SAT score. ECs are just ok, nothing spectacular.</p>

<p>Finally, is it stupid to think that student loans will cover whatever I can't pay off right now? I'd always refused to believe that I couldn't go to certain colleges because of my financial situation</p>

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<p>Since this is the financial aid forum…I’m going to say…you need to go to a college where you and your family will be able to pay the bills for all four years. You will find that there are excellent learning opportunities at many instate public universities. Sure, some of the private schools are great…but not if you can’t pay for them.</p>

<p>NOW…having said that…need based financial aid is largely based on the income and assets of your parents. These will be used to determine what minimally your family contribution will be. Some schools use only the FAFSA, but others use the CSS Profile in addition which goes into more depth with regard to finances than the FAFSA does.</p>

<p>You might want to run your family’s financial figures through an online EFC calculator to get a GUESTIMATE of what the colleges will minimally expect your family to pay. I say…minimally because most schools do not meet full financial need for all students so you might actually be expected to pay your EFC plus whatever the school does not give you in need based/merit aid awards.</p>

<p>So…talk to your parents. Get a ballpark figure of what they are able to help you with for college expenses…then look for schools. I would start with your instate public universities. Then read the threads by momfromtexas…they are OLD but the strategies she used to find generous MERIT aid for her kids is timeless.</p>

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<p>Student loans are for rather small amounts, so you won’t be able to borrow that much</p>

<p>frosh 5500
soph 6500
jr 7500
sr 7500</p>

<p>to borrow more than that would require your parents to co-sign or do the borrowing…and many parents won’t do that and/or won’t qualify for such loans…and such loans are a bad idea since newish graduates can’t afford to pay them back.</p>

<p>No one is going to lend a student a large amount of money.</p>

<p>Since you’re a good student, but not a top student, it’s unlikely that you’d get accepted to the top schools that give the best aid packages.</p>

<p>*Finally, is it stupid to think that student loans will cover whatever I can’t pay off right now? I’d always refused to believe that I couldn’t go to certain colleges because of my financial situation *</p>

<p>You won’t be able to borrow your way thru college…and you shouldn’t anyway…it can really ruin your young adult years buried in strangling debt.</p>

<p>And, students can’t just go where they want for college without any consideration for their financial situation. If that weren’t true, so many kids wouldn’t be going to their local CC or commuting to their local state school.</p>

<p>Since your stats are good, but not top, make sure that you apply to some financial safety schools…such as your local state schools…and then apply to some favorite schools and see what happens. </p>

<p>What state are you in?</p>

<p>If you’re low income, your state may provide some state aid for instate schools. And, you might get some federal aid…but it won’t be for much.</p>

<p>Remember, most schools do not have a lot of money to give and will gap…no matter how low your EFC is.</p>

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<p>Thanks for all the great info… I live in New York, and I will apply to a few financial safeties as well as ones that are out of reach & see evaluate what I can afford. My parents will likely be able to fork out a few grand, enough to cover ~5k tuition for a state uni but not enough for room/board, or if I decide to go oos.</p>

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<p>If you are from NY, are you able to get the TAP?</p>

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<p>*I live in New York, and I will apply to a few financial safeties as well as ones that are out of reach & see evaluate what I can afford. My parents will likely be able to fork out a few grand, enough to cover ~5k tuition for a state uni but not enough for room/board, or if I decide to go oos. *</p>

<p>Good…as long as you apply to a few SUNYs/CUNYs that you know will be affordable, then you can apply elsewhere too…but do not get your hopes on any one school.</p>

<p>Also, include a few SUNYs that you think you’ll get some merit scholarships. I think Sk8rmom knows which ones give merit. That will help with room and board.</p>

<p>Also, find out what your FAFSA EFC is. If your income and EFC are low, then you’ll get some Pell Grant money and maybe some TAP money.</p>

<p>BTW…talk to your folks…if they really are lowish income, even coming up with $5k per year may be a problem. That’s about $500 a month…few lowish income people have an extra $500 per month to put towards tuition. </p>

<p>Good luck with your SATs…that will make a difference for some schools.</p>

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<p>Can you live at home and attend any public universities?</p>

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<p>@thumper: my parents aren’t home to help me fill out the info for an efc calculator but from reading the general FAQ it looks like I am eligible. Thanks for that info, I’ll apply</p>

<p>@mom2collegekids: thank you & good points!</p>

<p>@kayf: There are a couple… and I don’t mean to get up on my high horse but I feel like I’ve worked too hard my entire life to go to a subpar school, even if my grades aren’t a good indicator of that. I feel like I’d go to the same school as people who have slacked off much more than I have; sorry if that sounds contemptuous. To my understanding, the CUNYs are okay but not great. I would consider Stony Brook but it’s a 90min drive from home, so if I were to go I would probably choose to dorm there. Though, I’m sure I could at least afford a CUNY/SUNY with aid and small loans.</p>

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<p>*I don’t mean to get up on my high horse but I feel like I’ve worked too hard my entire life to go to a subpar school, even if my grades aren’t a good indicator of that. I feel like I’d go to the same school as people who have slacked off much more than I have; sorry if that sounds contemptuous. *</p>

<p>It sounds like there hasn’t been a lot of conversations in your household about the realities of affording college. This is not uncommon and many parents and students are caught by surprise by how expensive college is these days (the cost has skyrocketed far far far beyond inflation) and how the monies–grants, scholarships, student loans, parent loans–have not increased to make up the difference. For a solid student like yourself (3.5 gpa, 1900 SAT) there simply are not enough major scholarships to help–in fact, they are very rare.</p>

<p>The fact that your mother is grasping at vague ideas like unnamed scholarships points to the strong possibility that your parents are not grounded in the financial obstacles that are going to be in your way in paying for college. By all means, apply for scholarships–lighting does strike occasionally. And one can hope that perhaps your family income is low enough to trigger some extra grants (Pell Grant, etc). But you need to get very firm with the numbers and know what a family of your income with a student of your stats is LIKELY to receive from each of your target colleges in terms of financial aid.</p>

<p>If you said “I’ve worked too hard my entire life to drive a subpar car,” you’d see the fallacy of that kind of thinking. One can not drive a Lamborghini simply because one has worked hard his/her entire life.</p>

<p>The only guaranteed “reward” for working hard in high school is that you’ve maximized your intellectual POTENTIAL. That does not mean in our society that it is rewarded with a targeted college of your choice. </p>

<p>There are two components to attending the college of your choice. You need to get admitted. And you (and your family) must be able to pay for it with the resources you have and the few options that are made available to you through financial aid. Unfortunately, these resources are often not enough.</p>

<p>If you do end up attending a university that is not your first choice and has fellow high school students who did not “work as hard as you did”–know that your work ethic will have you continue to pull ahead of these peers. Your career and other life goals will become a reality to you–though certain colleges will still remain out of reach (admission and price) and you may be on a bike for a long time rather than driving a Lamborghini.</p>

<p>You will likely be far more effective in your college search and in creating a realistic/do-able financial plan for college once you really absorb the concept that there is no guaranteed “reward” for working hard in high school. You won’t be handed major scholarships to make certain colleges affordable anymore than you would be handed the keys to a new car.</p>

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<p>The CUNYs have a broad range of schools. Baruch is excellent for business, CCNY has a combination BS/MD program and Hunter has excellent programs in education and nursing (in additon to being excellent in liberal arts). They have honors programs which offer finanical advantages, and for some, housing. I think you should reconsider.</p>

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<p>If you have worked really hard then what happened with your grades? I’m not trying to be mean, I’m asking honestly.</p>

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<p>@annika: I understand, and I know that’s something I’ll come to terms with. It’s just different, from what I’ve been told since I was a kid (that going to an excellent college is an important factor in financial success as an adult, even if it isn’t necessary). I’ve only recently started talking about college plans and such, and they say I should only be concerned with where I can get in at the moment, and that aid/loans/scholarship/etc will come if they will. But the posters in this thread have been very helpful, and everyone’s shown me that my previous way of thinking in my original post is very different from what is reality. Thank you.</p>

<p>@kayf: Thanks, I will def apply to some C/SUNYs as safeties.</p>

<p>@Pea: I don’t know… I had always been considered a very smart/hardworking kid. In high school I had many personal/family issues, fell into a slump, and became depressed. I should have done things that would have contributed to my happiness and well being, but I was certain that having big changes in my life would negatively affect my grades (more so than they have already). But hey, 3.5gpa is not terrible; not top, but it’s a good grade. When I said I have been working really hard - my mother has paid thousands of dollars over the past decade sending me to weekend classes and summer prep. We’re not desperately poor but we are definitely considered lower middle class. She’s always made a big deal of me keeping my grades up, and my childhood was not fun.</p>

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<p>klyn, I would suggest you start by determining what your family’s EFC is likely to be and also do the TAP estimator on the HESC website. “Lower middle class” can mean anything…but if you have an expected EFC we’ll be able to tell you more about what to expect in federal grant aid.</p>

<p>There are some very good SUNY programs out there which are definitely not “subpar”, and you should do a program search at the suny.edu site. Each SUNY has their own scholarship programs and these vary widely by campus, and sometimes by major or income level. For example, Stony Brook has the WISE (women in science and engineering) scholarships, UB has the Acker Scholars (for low income, first generation and/or minority students) as well as other merit programs. The smaller, 4-year SUNYs tend to be easier to get merit money from than the big research universities (StonyBrook, UB, Albany, and Binghamton). Fredonia, Cortland, Plattsburg, and many more give merit aid to students with your stats…it’s a matter of figuring out which one has the program(s) and fit that you are looking for.</p>

<p>For private schools instate, suggest you look at the Automatic/Guaranteed Scholarships thread in this forum as many NY schools and links are listed there.</p>

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<p>Here are the two threads started by momfromtexas that were mentioned by another poster:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/148852-what-ive-learned-about-full-ride-scholarships.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/148852-what-ive-learned-about-full-ride-scholarships.html&lt;/a&gt;
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/291483-update-what-i-learned-about-free-ride-scholarships.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/291483-update-what-i-learned-about-free-ride-scholarships.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>They really are worth reading through because they describe her research techniques. Some of the specific scholarships mentioned don’t exist anymore, but this will give you someplace to start. </p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

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<p>klyn – the difference between the CUNYs and the SUNYs is, unless I misunderstand your situation, you can live at home with a CUNY (although if accepted into the Honors program, you may get funding to cover housing). I can appreciate you do not want to live at home. That may not be possible. Also, I may be mistaken, but I think the CUNY application inludes as many CUNYs as you want for one price.</p>