<p>So I am a senior in HS and I am trying to figure out how to make the best of my situation.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, I don't come from an economically strong background, so money for college is non-existent. To be completely honest, money in general is non-existent.</p>
<p>Right now, I have two safety schools that I can attend(through support from my other relatives)
University of District Columbia: Community College
Portland Community College</p>
<p>However, my dream is to go to liberal arts school that has an intimate community and rigorous academics. I hear through this site and others that financial aid is available(I've just submitted my FAFSA a few days go) But I recongize that my parents might still have to contribute to my tuition, and then there's books, room and board etc etc. </p>
<p>The schools I am considering are:
Smith College
Bryn Mawr
Portland State University</p>
<p>My profile goes as followed:
Scheduled to take the SAT this Dec(I know this is late but family problems prevented me from taking it earlier)
GPA unsure: I am on a Canadian based Curriculum that doesn't deal with GPA but I do know that I have maintained high eighties to low nineties in my courses.
My EC's are:
Editor of Yearbook
Student Council: Class Rep
Volunteer Peer Tutor in English & Reading
Coordinator of Sports & Recreational Club
Volunteered at a Summer Program for Creative Writing/Theater Arts
Assistant a a Medical office.
Won a few Poetry Contests
Contributed to my local newspaper.
Published in few magazines, TheFeministWire, HuffPost etc etc
Staff Writer at Germ Magazine(online magazine for girls)
Staff Writer at TheFeministWire </p>
<p>Oh and I have an interview for an assistant screen-writer position at my local television channel. Pretty sure I might get it.
Awards:
2017 Pursuit of Excellence Award
Academic Achievement Award, Leadership Award (at my school)
I was selected for Student National Consultation Meeting, which strategized methods to improve the education in my country. </p>
<p>So I know this is not alot..par se but I am working on making myself look more appealing as an applicant. </p>
<p>So my question is what are the changes of me receiving full aid or scholarships from these schools? Should I discard these schools and think more realistically?</p>
<p>First off…if you are a senior in HS, YOUR FAFSA doesn’t become available to submit until January 1, 2015. The one you submitted is for the current academic year. You won’t be in college for the 2014-2015 FAFSA year.</p>
<p>Without an SAT score and some kind of decent guess of your GPA, it is hard to say if you are a competitive applicant for the schools that meet full need. </p>
<p>Thirdly…are you a Canadian citizen? If so, you are not eligible for any federally funded need based aid in the U.S. Most colleges will consider you an international student. </p>
<p>And lastly, if you attend either if those community colleges, you will have to pay the OOS tuition rate. Can your relatives support that…and will they be providing you with room and board?</p>
<p>If you are a Canadian citizen, why aren’t you looking at Canadian schools?</p>
<p>Oh my. Thanks so much. I had idea that I had filed the wrong FAFSA. Is there anyway to delete this one and fill a new one in January?</p>
<p>I will talk to my guidance counselor about my GPA.</p>
<p>No, I am a US citizen attending a school that uses a Canadian Curriculum. So when I graduate I receive a New Brunswick Diploma. If you google, “Canadian Curriculum Schools Abroad” you’ll see what I mean.</p>
<p>Yes, if I attend community college I will be staying with relatives.</p>
<p>When you file the FAFSA, it returns a number called ‘EFC’. It is innocuous, and does not have a dollar sign. It is just a number. This number is the amount that the family is expected to provide, in US dollars. If a school meets full need, your parents do not need to pay any more than this number, but you may need to take out loans. This may give you an idea of what your FAFSA will say the next time you fill it out. You will likely need to have your parents fill out the CSS Profile as well- then sooner the better- for the private schools (check their requirements).</p>
<p>Find a school that does not require Subject tests (or take two in January, and tell the schools you took them in January).</p>
<p>Your ECs are very strong, and with high SAT scores will stand you in good stead to apply to Seven Sisters schools. It sounds as if your GPA may not be super-super strong, but with good recommendations, and these strong extracurriculars, AND strong SAT scores, it is certainly worth trying!</p>
<p>You won’t have to delete this one. You just need to fill out the new one on or after January 1 2015. You need to use 2014 income figures and assets as of the date you fill out the form. </p>
<p>You might want to run an EFC estimator that will give you an idea what your family EFC is. Or you’ll likely get a SAR that will give you an EFC for the info you entered for the 2014 FAFSA which is not usable for the the school year beginning in fall of 2015. Be aware that the EFC is generally the minimum you and your family have to pay before getting any money from the federal government. You are only guaranteed PELL (if your family is very low income) and Direct Loans (limit $5500 as freshman, Up to $3500 could be subsidized).</p>
<p>Schools that use FAFSA only do not tend to meet full need, and often gap, often badly. Smith, Bryn Mawr and other such schools require PROFILE to be completed as well as FAFSA. I suggest you fill out a NPC for the schools on your list to see what you can expect with your family income/asset numbers. Also find out what your parents can afford to pay and what you can come up with. </p>
<p>Bear in mind that even with full need met, most students are expected to come up with some contribution, and getting to the school, supplies, books often need some up front seed money. Even if a school gives money excess to billed amounts, students don’t get that excess most of the time until after the term starts. </p>
<p>Your test scores will be essential in terms of eligibilty for merit awards. I suggest starting to look at schools that have very nice ones. Look at the lists at the top of this section. </p>
<p>Unless you have a very low EFC, even going to the communtiy colleges can cost a lot of money. They often do not have much to give in fin aid–just the federal entitlements, so do understand that you will likely need something for air fare and start up costs even if you get a full PELL and the loans.</p>
<p>The FAFSA EFC is used to determine eligibility for federally funded need based aid. There is not a school in this country that guarantees to meet full need based on only the FAFSA. University of Chicago might be the closet with their new need based financial aid incentive program this year.</p>
<p>But really…the FAFSA EFC should be viewed as the MINIMUM your family will be expected to pay for college. The minimum.</p>
<p>If you have an outstanding GPA and SAT or ACT scores you could be in contention for admission to those schools that guarantee to meet full need for all accepted students. But without a GPA or SAT/ACT score, it is I possible to,say whether you are…or not.</p>
<p>Smith might be a good option for you. They have very good need based aid. Bryn Mawr does as well. </p>
<p>Portland State is a public university. They do not meet full need. There is no way to guess what your need based aid would be given what you have provided here.</p>
<p>Every college has a Net Price Calculator on their website. I would strongly suggest that you run your family financial figures through those…and see what sort of net price each school gives you.</p>
<p>And really…do some good prep for that SAT.</p>
<p>I would suggest you craft a list that includes both some reachy meets full needs schools, as well as schools that are more affordable for your family.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, you can’t chase some of the really large merit aid awards because their application deadlines are well before your SAT administration. </p>
<p>Have you at all considered taking a GAP year. Given your financial situation, it would really be good if you had all your ducks lined up a bit better before February (which is about when you will get those SAT results). </p>
<p>Do your relatives realize that you’re going to be charged OOS rates for those CC’s? They may be thinking that you can go to the CC by them for a low price…the price may NOT be low if you are charged OOS rates.</p>
<p>Yes, I have considered taking a GAP year. That is definitely an option. I did the EFC estimator and my estimated contribution is $0. Not sure what that means. </p>
<p>My other relatives are telling me to simply apply to UDC. I can obtain residency there as well. </p>
<p>In the meantime, I will look at other schools. The University of Maryland seems like a reachy school, generous with aid and somewhat affordable. </p>
<p>UMaryland isn’t generous with aid to OOS students. I’m not sure where you’re seeing that.</p>
<p>I don’t know why your relatives are saying that you can get residency. Your parents don’t live here. </p>
<p>EFC 0 doesn’t mean much. That just means that you qualify for a Pell Grant of about $5700, not much. It doesn’t mean that you will pay nothing. The term is misleading. </p>
<p>Is is possible that your parents will move to the US?</p>
<p>when will you have ACT or SAT scores?</p>
<p>Can you copy/paste the NPC results of UMaryland?</p>
<p>@mom2collegekids OH. I see, so residency only applies if my parents live in the state. Wait, so to clarify if I move to DC for a year, can I obtain my own residency?</p>
<p>Oh no, I recongize that I will have to pay something. I was replying to the person above me. No, my mom is not from the US(my dad is American, my mother is not) so my father is most likely to stay here with her. But to clarify, we moved aboard five years ago, but I was born in DC and I am a US citizen.</p>
<p>If you move to,the U.S. and your parents do not, you might be able to,establish residency for community college purposes if you reside in the domicile of,the school PRIOR to enrolling. MIGHT. No guarantee. In the very vast majority of cases, the residency for undergrad students is where their parents reside. It is very, very possible that you won’t be able to establish instate residency status anywhere in the U.S. if your parents continue to love abroad. Many expats find this is the case…in fact most.</p>
<p>Some state school, and Community colleges fall under this category, will not go after state residency requirements, particularly for non matriculating students. I know our local SUNY does not for a course here or there. Same as our local CC. BUt the instant you apply for a program or to matriculate in a degree program, they get very picky. Schools that get a lot of OOS students tend to enforce their residency rules for tuition diffrentials strictly. BUt it all depends upon the individual school. You have to read up on each one’s rules as they tend to differ, often widely. As Thumper says, state residency is generally established by parent’s domicile. If your parent has kept state residency, by filing and paying state taxes, then it’s possible you have some residency. I grew up overseas and was without a state residency because my father did not keep it up. Happens a lot.</p>
<p>You will have to check. some states are lenient with CCs (not universities) in regards to residency. Some will let a student move and establish residence after a year. However, even if a CC lets you do that, you will face the problem again when you try to transfer to a public univ…at that point, they will consider you to be OOS since your parents don’t live in that state. </p>
<p>Which univs are close to your relatives’ homes? Is there any that you can commute to? </p>
<p>And is there public transportation that you can use to get to college (either a CC or a univ)? The Metro? </p>
<p>If your residency turns out not to present problems for you, it might be vey much in your best interests to put this process off until next year so you can work on getting all your standardized tests taken and re-taken and make sure you have strongest possible scores. Colleges like Smith and Bryn Mawr really will meet your full need, and without loans. Of course you will likely have some federal work-study but so do many/most students. There is only one silver lining to the struggles of being a low income American right now and that is the possibility of getting an outstanding and affordable college education. But you need to make sure you are a competitive applicant for the schools that offer this. Here’s a list of those colleges and at the end a little explanation of how college finances work: <a href=“List of Colleges That Meet 100% of Financial Need”>http://www.thecollegesolution.com/list-of-colleges-that-meet-100-of-financial-need/</a> </p>
<p>If you get the screen writer job, could you do that for a year while you get yourself organized to apply next fall? You don’t want to put yourself in a position to transfer schools as the need-based aid is not always guaranteed for transfer students.
There’s also Questbridge, which matches low income students with 35 selective partner colleges and/or supports you in your application to other selective colleges during regular decision. You’re too late for this year but should definitely look into it for next year. The application opens in August: <a href=“QuestBridge | About”>http://www.questbridge.org/about-questbridge/mission-a-vision</a>. There is also a Questbridge forum here on CC if you decide to postpone applying till next year. </p>
<p>If you are determined to apply this year, here’s a last suggestion. Mount Holyoke College is a women’s college in the same 5 college consortium as Smith. They do not require SAT/ACT scores for admission, and are more flexible than many colleges with students’ unusual circumstances. You might love the college. In any case, you could get in touch with their admissions office and ask about your various issues. MHC has a very supportive admissions office and you will probably find them very helpful with your situation overall, regardless of how you proceed. </p>
<p>@mom2collegekids Ummm…the only public university that I know of(In DC) is UDC. In Oregon, there are more options. In fact my grandfather used to teach at PSU(A public uni). Yes all of these unis I can commute to, either by public transportation or walking.</p>
<p>@honeybee63 While I am determined to apply this year, I am willing to take a year off and work. Mount Holyoke sounds lovely, although it is very far away from any of my relatives(in DC or OR) I am starting to re-consider if this is the best decision for me in my economic situation. </p>