<p>Hey guys, I am a rising senior living in long island(NY) and beginning to compile a list of schools and well, my mother claims we can only afford about 12k per year for college expenses so i need large FA and/or merit scholarships to be able to afford an education. Now because of this she insists i only apply to colleges that are less than stellar...and well below my academic range. I am not on board with that. I want to be able to branch out and have other opportunities. I am trying to explain to her that some universities do give good FA but she insists we ONLY get it if our income is under 30k (she will not tell me but i figure our income is somewhere around 95-100K per year (maybe a little lower or higher)). I am trying to explain to her that her perception is mistaken and schools will give merit and do also give FA packages to people in our bracket, considering my parents are deep in debt and we lost our home, we are renting currently. So can someone help me out...how exactly will the FA process work? and any thoughts on schools in the northeast/midatlantic that give great merit/FA. My "basic stats" are a 91.2 (uw gpa) and a 2200 SAT (1470 M/CR) with a very rigorous courseload. thanks for the help :)</p>
<p>Your mother is concerned that with their income, schools will expect them to pay MORE than they can. It won’t matter if the school gives FA/merit if the remaining costs are more than $12k per year. With their income, their EFC will be around $20k or more…and your FA will already income full student loans so you won’t be able to cover the rest with a loan.</p>
<p>That said, apply to both types of schools…some that you want to, and some that you know FOR SURE will give you full tuition scholarships for your stats (so that the room, board, etc, can be paid for by your parents and maybe a small student loan).</p>
<p>What is your major.</p>
<p>I see you have UMich on your list…that costs about $50k per year and won’t give you the need-based aid that you need and you won’t likely get merit.</p>
<p>Suggest you read the financial aid FAQ at the top of this forum.</p>
<p>@mom2collegekids my intended major has not been decided but i want to apply to business programs and hopefully go somewhere into an administration or marketing field. </p>
<p>michigan is getting lower and lower on my list as i see i may not be able to afford it…what makes this so difficult is that i want a real college experience (i want to live on campus, not commute) but my mother is not letting me branch out very far…it was a fight to let me put UNC onto my list which pledges to meet full need…so hopefully i may be able to afford it. i just do not know where to go from here i’m having trouble creating a list given the financial as well as geographic restrictions my mother has put on me</p>
<p>Please check out this link: [CollegeMerit</a> - Colleges that offer full merit scholarships](<a href=“http://www.collegemerit.com/]CollegeMerit”>http://www.collegemerit.com/). You qualify for automatic scholarships at some very “real” colleges, and some are not terribly far from NC. Apply to a few of these, and you will have a couple colleges that you will be able to afford.</p>
<p>My niece is going to LA Tech in the fall. It wasn’t her first choice, but finances were a concern for her family. She is going for free because of an automatic scholarship … and she ended up liking it when she visited. She gets a free education at a solid school. Not bad!</p>
<p>Kelsmom - I will be interested to hear about your niece’s experiences at La Tech! The full ride and other scholarships there look very attractive for many students.</p>
<p>To the OP…I would suggest you sit with your parents and run the Net Price Calculators for the schools you are interested in applying to. This will give you an estimate of your expected family contribution. Just be aware that if either parent is self employed, these NPC aren’t particularly accurate.</p>
<p>You will get at least an idea if the college will meet your family price point.</p>
<p>I will be sure to provide an update after her first semester.</p>
<p>@Thumper1…or anyone who can answer this</p>
<p>my mother is in real estate and my father is “self-employed” in partnerships for management of retail/food chains. both jobs with unstable income. I am first generation american in my family(i would be “first generation” to go to college but my mother has a bachelors from an international college)…so how exactly would i be running the NPC…never done it before…can someone link me?</p>
<p>Each school has its own custom NPC. You will have to find them for colleges that interest you. You need to know family financial info similar to what goes onto basic tax forms in order to fill them out.</p>
<p>@bobwallace…thanks, will look for these and talk with my mom</p>
<p>it was a fight to let me put UNC onto my list which pledges to meet full need</p>
<p>The problem is financial aid is given as the SCHOOL defines need…not how the family defines need.</p>
<p>Your mom realizes that with their income schools that give need based aid (like UNC) will likely say that your family should be able to afford a lot more than they actually can.</p>
<p>If you want your mom to agree to let you apply to “sleep away” schools, then you need to apply to some that will FOR SURE give you very large merit scholarships for your stats.</p>
<p>@mom2collegekids i understand this, it’s just i don’t really know where to go…from what i’ve gathered…the reputation of the school you go to means a lot in business…so i feel like i need to try my best to get into the most reputable schools i can…i’m having a very hard time figuring things out, it’s been very stressful for me because i feel like i’m not going to be able to succeed and get into a good school because of money</p>
<p>If your mother has a Bachelor’s degree, you are not first generation college student. overseas still counts.</p>
<p>You need to get a realistic idea of what your family EFC will be. Ask your mother to sit down with you and run a net price calculator, say from UPenn which has the Wharton school of business. Once you see what they will expect you to pay you can get a realistic idea of how far out of reach or not an expensive private that only meets need may be. Print information from various colleges to show your mother, like from Penn’s site:
The families with aided students range from those making less than $20,000 a year to others making more than $200,000. The students’ aid packages include only grants and a work expectation. Since students reapply for financial aid each year, they have the annual opportunity to let Penn know where their families stand and if circumstances have changed.</p>
<p>Your mother is incorrect as far as merit aid goes. It is not based on income but based on your qualities as an applicant that the school wants to attract. Schools like Penn don’t give merit, however, you will have to look for schools where you are in the top of the pool. Again do your homework and show your mother the facts in writing.</p>
<p>You will need to identify your safety schools too. So get on that first. Where will you be guaranteed to get in that your can afford, given the budget your parents gave you.</p>
<p>On business schools, excepting very highly regarded specialized schools like Wharton, an undergraduate business degree is not very strong. Most top schools don’t even offer one. If you are going into business you often choose economics, and survey show that out of college, econ majors do better than business majors. The most successful young businessman I know studied electrical engineering, then applied to management training at tech firms. Here is one interesting article:
<a href=“The Default Major: Skating Through B-School - The New York Times”>The Default Major: Skating Through B-School - The New York Times;
<p>You might discuss with your mother allowance for casting a wide net for applications, so you might get an award that allows you to go to a reasonable good school on merit. But these are uber competitive. Babson, for instance, offers 4 full tuition and 20 half tuition scholarships.</p>
<p>It also sounds like you have to expand your knowledge of what is a good school and be realistic with where you can get in and get aid.</p>
<p>…from what i’ve gathered…the reputation of the school you go to means a lot in business</p>
<p>Unless you intend to work on Wall Street, then as long as the school has a good Bschool, that is good enough. </p>
<p>Alabama has a ranked B school (Culverhouse [Culverhouse</a> - Home Page](<a href=“http://cba.ua.edu/]Culverhouse”>http://cba.ua.edu/)) and would give you free tuition for your stats if you apply before Dec 1. The app is online already and people are already applying. The ap is quick and easy. </p>
<p>Bama has a drop-dead gorgeous campus and has many NY students. I know two NY students at Bama who are from Long Island…and they aren’t the only LI students at Bama.</p>
<p>This video is of the College of Arts and Sciences, but will give you an idea of the school
Here’s a video and pics about the school…
<a href=“- YouTube”>- YouTube;
<p>Alabama forum on College Confidential which is VERY active.*
<a href=“http://talk.college-confidential.com/university-alabama/[/url]”>http://talk.college-confidential.com/university-alabama/</a></p>
<p>The below is from Bloomberg BusinessWeek</p>
<p>Culverhouse College of Commerce
The mission of the oldest business school in Alabama is to provide its students an education they can use in the business environment of tomorrow. Everything at Culverhouse is strategically designed to develop tomorrow’s professionals: a strong curriculum, state-of-the-art facilities, top scholars and researchers, unique learning opportunities, and partnerships with local and national companies. Along with a strong classroom experience, several student and professional organizations and societies offer outstanding outside-the-classroom instruction and opportunities for students to develop the problem-solving, communication and leadership skills demanded by employers.</p>
<p>@mom2collegekids it looks very nice, i would definitely give it a shot. but my only concern is going too far would hurt my chances of returning to NY for a job in general? I’ve heard the best way to get a job in the tri-state area is to stay as close to the northeast region as possible</p>
<p>@brownparent, you have some very interesting post. so would it be bad to enter Bschools? does ecnomics fall under Bschools in most universities? the majors i was looking at were Marketing/information systems/Economics/finance i havent decided yet to be honest but have narrowed it down. i am trying my best to find schools with good merit aid that i will be happy with 
i am also planning on minoring in psychology/sports management</p>
<p>It’s definitely easier to find a job close to where you attend college. Most recruiting is regional, and employers are more familiar and comfortable with schools in their region.</p>
<p>That doesn’t mean you can’t find a job in other locations, there’s just more work involved.</p>
<p>If you are looking for merit aid, however, it is less available in the northeast than in some other areas.</p>
<p>Some in-state options that would be reasonably priced with good departments for your interest are CUNY Baruch and SUNY Binghamton. Several other CUNY and SUNY schools would also work.</p>
<p>@BobWallace i’m aware, as i’m having trouble finding schools with good merit aid in the northeast but i am looking into Baruch, bing, and stonybrook so i do have some other options if all else fails :)</p>
<p>LIU Post, Fordham, CUNY Macauley, Drew, and Temple would be some places in your region to look for merit aid.</p>
<p>When you run the NPCs, you may also find that some of the most generous “meet full need” schools could get your parents’ cost down to $12K ish. If you put in $100K income, zero assets, family of 3, 1 in college into the Harvard NPC, for instance, the net price comes to $12,600. [Net</a> Price Calculator](<a href=“http://npc.fas.harvard.edu/]Net”>http://npc.fas.harvard.edu/)</p>