<p>i honestly have no clue when it comes to financial aid, but i'm very afraid that i'll get a small need based package from the universities i apply to. </p>
<p>my family's annual income is about 150k...my mom has a doctorate and my dad has a masters, first in their familys to get those degrees. we're hispanic? i dont know if that will count for anything. </p>
<p>ROUGHLY how much can i expect, or does it vary significantly from college to college</p>
<p>150k per year?</p>
<p>You won't get much, if any at all.</p>
<p>Honestly, with that kind of cash flow you can't afford school?</p>
<p>but as to the 2nd part of your question, it varies by the school.</p>
<p>Varies with college</p>
<p>Try this for Princeton, just for kicks:
<a href="http://www.princeton.edu/main/admission-aid/aid/prospective/estimator/%5B/url%5D">http://www.princeton.edu/main/admission-aid/aid/prospective/estimator/</a>
(scroll down and click Go to Estimator)</p>
<p>i don't know to be honest. my parents say that they can't because of 'poor financial decisions they made when they were younger.' i'm not sure if theyre simply not willing to pay or if there are genuine problems. they kind of keep me in the dark.</p>
<p>I don't understand unless you live in California and plan on going to a UC.</p>
<p>to put things in perspective, I made a lot of bad choices also. I currently raise a family with a $600 in monthly income.</p>
<p>it comes down to careful bugeting, and where you live.</p>
<p>even I probably won't get a lot of need based aid.</p>
<p>well i do live in one of the poorest socioeconomic areas in the country...deep south texas. will they actually consider that?</p>
<p>possibly.</p>
<p>seriously, if you live in the deep south, have parents with a combined income of $150k, none of that can go to your education?</p>
<p>With one having a PhD and theother a Masters, I would assume they'd have a college fund set for you.</p>
<p>that's a lot of income.. more than I can even fathom.</p>
<p>if you live somewhere with low cost of living- $150K will go even farther
I suggest you get your parents to commit to what they will contribute to your education- because I don't expect you will get much need based aid- if any-unless you find a school like Colgate which will tweak your EFC in order to attract you for your grades and minority status</p>
<p>Reading other offers, it seems that colleges expect you to pay 1/3 to 1/4 of income,( only counting need based- merit is something else altogether) unless your family has less than $40K of before tax income and you are attending a school like Princeton, which has committed to meeting need without loans for those students</p>
<p>So going by that - if you decide on a school that costs $45,000 and it meets 100% of need- you could expect to receive $8,000 in aid, including a mix of grants, loans and workstudy</p>
<p>It wont matter that your parents were the first generation college * because you had the good fortune to have two parents with graduate degrees*</p>
<p>well thanks guys, this helped a lot. i suppose i am going to have to sit down and seriously talk with them...i think a large part of it is that they don't want me to go far from home. afraid of letting go, i guess. no matter where i get into, theyre the ones with the dollars that ultimately decide where i end up. sucks :</p>
<p>it's the time of your life when you need to talk with them over what you feel is best for you.</p>
<p>This is the beginning of becoming an adult, when you need to 'sell yourself' and your opinions.</p>
<p>Yes, it's thier money, but you should also be happy where you go.</p>
<p>" guess. no matter where i get into, theyre the ones with the dollars that ultimately decide where i end up. sucks :"</p>
<p>Not necessarily true. If your stats are strong, you probably can find some colleges that would give you full tuition scholarships. If you diligently look for outside merit scholarships, you also could chip away at the costs of room and board. In addition, you can work during the school year and summer and take out loans to cover the rest of the costs.</p>
<p>Of course, to do all of this, you'd need to be willing to sacrifice and to do a lot of work seeking ways to fulfill your dream of attending college away from home. You might even have to pay to apply to colleges away from home. So, the bottom line is that where you go is up to you, not just your parents.</p>
<p>I found his stats from another thread, and am posting them below.</p>
<p>If you're serious about going to college away from home, you need to apply to places where you're likely to get merit aid. Not one of the private colleges on your list does that.</p>
<p>Places that you would need to add to your list are merit-heavy colleges like: Washington University (if you haven't missed the merit scholarship deadlines already), University of Michigan, American University, University of Wisconsin, Davidson, Rhodes, University of Minnesota, Vanderbilt and Wake Forest. Those are just some that come to mind off the top of my head. Some like Vandy are reaches. Check the merit aid thread pinned to the top of the Parents Forum for other possibilities.</p>
<p>Since it doesn't appear that you'll get the amount of money that you'd need from your parents to swing a $40,000+ annual college bill, you might as well drop off your list the colleges that don't offer merit aid. Before deciding to apply some place, check their merit aid section of their web pages, and also Google and use CC and the college's web site to find out info about students who got the college's merit aid so you can see how you stack up.</p>
<p>Your SATs are not impressive particularly for someone who comes from such a highly educated background. I don't think that Boston College is a match for you. The possibilities of your getting their limited merit aid also probably are remote.</p>
<p>Also, what kind of Hispanic you are matters. The most desireable ones are Mexican and Puerto Rican because those are the most numerous Hispanics in the U.S., but have very low rates of going to college.</p>
<p>Your class rank also is very low for someone who comes from a highly educated affluent (particularly by your region's standards) familly who lives in a poor region of the country. </p>
<p>"BIGGEST REACHES [i'd love goin to any of these places]
-brown [hey i can dream]
-bowdoin
-georgetown
-tufts</p>
<p>MATCHES [good schools but would rather go elsewhere]
-george washington university
-boston college</p>
<p>SAFETY [love this school]
-university of texas - austin</p>
<p>and heres all the stats copy/pasted from one of my other threads:</p>
<p>class rank: 25/450
-GPA: about 89 unweighted, 4.0 weighted.
-grades have had an upward trend since freshman year [rank has climbed from 49 to 25].
-international baccaluareate diploma candidate since my junior year.</p>
<p>-junior year classes: IB Psychology HL year 1, IB History of the Americas, IB English HL year 1, Algebra 2 Pre-AP [i'm terrible at math], Constitution Team [counted as AP Government], IB Chemistry SL, Spanish 3.</p>
<p>-senior year classes: IB Psychology HL year 2, IB World History, IB English HL year 2, IB Math Studies SL, IB Spanish SL [taken a spanish every year], IB Theory of Knowledge, AP Economics</p>
<p>-i have 1 C on my transcript...in spanish.</p>
<p>-SAT: 1790 with no prep. but i've been studyin and my scores are jumping dramatically on the practice tests...hoping to have at least a 2000. no SAT II's yet.</p>
<p>stuff in my advantage:
-hispanic.
-i'm from what is perhaps the poorest region in the United States, once referred to as the 'third world country' of the US by some national acclaimed magazine. i think its alright though. haha.</p>
<p>extracurriculars...just the ones that i think will matter the most:</p>
<p>-Heavily involved in the National Hispanic Institute's Young Leaders Conference...basically, its a competition where high school freshman go and debate about issues important to the Latino Community. before the competition, there are about 2-3 months to prepare. when i competed i got 2nd at the state competition and 1st at nationals. since then i've put 2,500+ plus in helping to prepare hs freshmen, my official title being the sole Director of Mock Trial for the Rio Grande Valley Young Leader's Conference. i'm very passionate about this.</p>
<p>-Co-founded and holds position of Director of Public Relations in the non profit corporation F.R.I.D.A. its aimed at giving 4th-7th graders a true comprehension of community and culture, and how they can have a say in it. art is used as an expressive outlet. i actually started this with a friend of mine that is already attending tufts.</p>
<p>-won national debate tournament sophomore year.</p>
<p>-i have a lot more extracurrics/awards/etc but i dont want to make this too long, go here if youre interested: <a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/...d.php?t=237590%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/...d.php?t=237590</a> "</p>
<p>Does anyone know what year of salary they look at for financial aid because my mom got a fatal disease this year and has been in the hospital most of her work year and my dad has taken off from work to help her, so they really havn't made all that much if anything at all this year.</p>
<p>CollegeHopeful,
My sympathy on your mother's illness.</p>
<p>My understanding is that colleges will look at this year's salary information, and will take under consideration financial emergencies like the one your family is experiencing.</p>
<p>You'll attract more informed people to your post if you start a new thread, which you can do by clicking the "new thread" link at the bottom left of your screen when you are looking at all of the threads on the financial aid board.</p>
<p>those stats are a little outdated, i'm not applying to boston college, bowdoin or georgetown, and i added in american. my new SAT score is a 2000 and i'm taking the ACT in december.</p>
<p>i'm a 'mexican hispanic'.</p>
<p>and could you clarify as to why you think my rank is 'very low?'</p>
<p>Because you said that you live in a very low income district, I'm assuming that you're in a low performing school with a high dropout rate. I also am assuming that your family -- with its $150,000 income, one parent with a doctorate, the other with a masters-- is one of the most affluent, highly educated families in the district.</p>
<p>If all of this is true, because you'd be far more advantaged than most students in your district, I'd expect that you'd be val or sal. </p>
<p>The fact that you didn't study for the SAT the first time that you took it also left me with the impression that you are used to doing very well in school without a lot of effort.</p>
<p>Clearly, my impressions are due to a small amount of info, so feel free to let me know if I'm wrong.</p>
<p>well, ranks are a tricky thing in my school district. first off, there are three 'regular' high schools, and one separate school that hosts the IB program. kids can take classes at the IB host school while still being enrolled at their 'home schools'. there isn't the option to take one or two IB classes--you have to do the entire program.</p>
<p>the AP program in our district is an overall joke. at my 'home school,' for example, the pass rate for the AP history test is literally less than 25 percent. i think our district's AP program is on probation by the college board, but i'm not sure. kids get A's and A+'s in those AP classes because they're just not getting the rigorous course load that they should be--and they end up failing the AP tests. however, the IB program in my district makes sure that students fulfill the difficult demands of the curriculum.</p>
<p>unfortunately, as policy stands right now, AP classes and IB classes are weighted the same when the IB classes are obviously harder. I'm NOT saying that as a whole IB is more difficult than AP--i'm sure that if my school district had a real AP program, they would be equivalent. but as things stand now, the kids who opted for IB are getting screwed in ranks. that should give some insight to my low rank.</p>
<p>--</p>
<p>also, you make it seem as if my parents are some ivy league alumni or somethin. neither of them excelled much in high school--i think my mom was a straight B student and my dad was C/D. they both got all of their degrees from U of Texas Pan American...not a bad school but definitely not top notch either. i think it was post-high school that they both got serious about their education.</p>
<p>Still, Amcantu, your family's income is $150K -- which is high anywhere in the country, except maybe in Manhattan or Greenwich, CT. It's unlikely you'll get the need-based aid you seem to think you need. definitely re-focus your schools on merit-based aid, because when they have a kid up next to you with similar stats, and his parents only pool together $70K a year, you're not getting anything.</p>
<p>I think Northstarmom meant your rank was low for the schools you were targeting. For those schools you generally need to be in the top few positions of your class. In this case you are not even in the top 5%.</p>
<p>I can't get by an hispanic getting a C in spanish...</p>
<p>"also, you make it seem as if my parents are some ivy league alumni or somethin. neither of them excelled much in high school--i think my mom was a straight B student and my dad was C/D. they both got all of their degrees from U of Texas Pan American...not a bad school but definitely not top notch either. i think it was post-high school that they both got serious about their education."</p>
<p>Your parents college grades aren't what's important. What's important is that you are in the privileged position of having parents with lots of higher education. Presumably, that means that you grew up with books and newspapers in your home, parents who spoke standard English (and may also have been native English speakers), parents who supplemented your weak schools, parents who showed up at PTA meetings and knew how to talk to the teachers, parents who put you on track for college.</p>
<p>Since you say that you're in an area that has lots of poor people, your having highly educated parents means that you had much more going for you than probably most students did in your school. Since one parent has a doctorate, the other has a masters, one can assume that it's likely you inherited a high intelligence. Consequently, when all of your advantages are considered, your class rank is low. It's also low for most of the colleges you're applying to except for probably UT, where since you're top 10%, you're guaranteed admission.</p>