College bound, but how does one pay for room and board?

Paying for College
1

<p>Hi!
I'm a high school junior, and my school and counselors are pushing for us to look at colleges and majors seriously (as they should, like any high school, but this one is a private college-preparatory school). I've known before this sudden push that I'm extremely interested in Electrical Engineering and wish to pursue that. However, I've also become interested in the Air Force and the AFROTC because I do want to serve my country, and I value morals that the Air Force values (integrity, education, personal development, etc.). I've narrowed down some schools:
MIT (reach, out-of-state, about a thousand miles away from home. Also my dream school.)
UC-Berkeley (reach, out-of-state, about two thousand miles from home)
U of I U-C (safety school, in-state, only 2 hrs from home)
Purdue U-Calumet (safety school, out-of-state, only 45 mins- 1 hr from home)
Purdue U-West Lafayette (match, out-of-state, about 2 hrs 30 mins from my home)
North Carolina State (safety school, out-of-state, over 800 miles from my home)
All of these schools have good engineering programs and fit most of my needs, but almost all of them (except Purdue Cal) require me to have room and board.
<em>Hypothetical situation, but still useful to know if this doesn't happen</em>
Say I get the Type 1 AFROTC scholarship for having a technical major. I then have to worry only about room, board, meal plans, and miscellaneous things. I noticed that most of these schools have a similar room and board price tag, perhaps only a couple thousand dollar's difference if I don't count all those different choices of room and meal plans.</p>

<p>My parents told me that they'll help me out with minor costs, maybe a few thousand to help with room and board if they feel generous, but I'm basically on my own. They don't want to pay for much more after high school because they are putting me and my siblings through private school. They're tired of paying for those costs and I don't blame them.</p>

<p>So, here's the question: How should I pay for room and board? Are there scholarships? Will the AFROTC stipend offset some costs? Is it best to just get a part time job in addition to my studies and AFROTC?</p>

<p>I'm up for any suggestions. Thanks!
:D </p>

2

<p>First of all, unless you do get a ROTC scholarship, you can’t cover the costs at those OOS publics or even the “family contribution” at the privates.</p>

<p>Take off all the OOS publics…for instance, UCB will expect you to pay $23k plus EFC each year. You can’t cover that. And your student loan will ALREADY be in your aid.</p>

<p>YOU can only borrow $5500…that isn’t going to go far.</p>

<p>You need to run the NPCs on various schools’ websites to figure out how much you/your family would be expected to pay. It doesn’t matter that your parents won’t pay, the cost will still be there.</p>

<p>There are some schools that give merit scholarships, but you need a HUGE one…almost a free ride so that your $5500 loan and maybe some earnings can cover the rest.</p>

<p>You need strong/high test scores to get big merit at the schools that give big merit. </p>

<p>Since ROTC is not a given, you need to have another strategy to cover costs.</p>

<p>What is your major (oops, I see EE) and career goal? </p>

<p>You’ll be taking the PSAT next month, practice for it. (make sure you take it!)</p>

<p><<<
U of I U-C (safety school, in-state, only 2 hrs from home)</p>

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<p>THAT is NOT a safety school. For instate students, it costs $30k per year. You don’t have the means to pay for that.</p>

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<p>The ROTC stipend will help you to offset some of the room and board costs. You could also get a part-time job, as well as other outside scholarships. There are some schools that will provide you with free room and board if you get an ROTC scholarship. These schools include Marquette, RPI, University of Portland, IL Inst. of Technology, Tulane, and many more. You can start researching the colleges the have ROTC, Electrical Engineering and free room and board offers, as well. Most of the school that offer free room and board are private schools.</p>

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<p>What about the United States Air Force Academy?</p>

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<p>Work this year, get 2 jobs this summer and save, save. Look for jobs where you make tips. You can apply to be an RA your sophomore year. Then the school will pay your room and board. Try to get a commitment from your parents as to how many dollars they can pay per month or per year.
Also, your student loan will pay about half of room and board.</p>

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<p>There’s also no way that UofI EE is a safety while Purdue is a match.
Note that UofI admits by major, with some majors more (in the case of CS, extremely more) difficult to get in to than the university as a whole.</p>

<p>However, you wouldn’t need to get the AFROTC I to get in-state tuition covered, I believe.</p>

<p>Also, all IL publics are tuition-free after a year in the IL National Guard (including Air Guard).</p>

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<p>Why don’t you transfer to public school and have your parents put that money towards college. Isn’t that a better use of their money?</p>

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<p>Great idea about the National Guard @PurpleTitan‌ since the student is already in-state and wants to serve.</p>

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<p>Also not a safety school. You’re OOS and don’t have the means to pay for it.</p>

<p>If you get into ROTC, then fine. But, I’m not sure if that is a given anymore…seems like things are tightening up. @erin’s dad would probably know how easy/hard it is these days.</p>

<p>I don’t think the parents have any idea of how hard it is for kids to pay for college on their own. </p>

<p>Your safety schools would be schools that will give you more than tuition for merit…then a 5500 student loan and some earnings (maybe $4k-5k) can cover the rest.</p>

<p>How “on your own” will you be after high school? Will parents still pay car insurance? gas? car repairs? cell phone? insurance? If you will be paying for car expenses/insurance and other things, then that will make things much harder to get everything covered. A serious car repair can wipe a student out.</p>

<p>@kmj9801‌ </p>

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<p>Also not a safety.</p>

<p>You don’t seem to know what a safety is. A safety is a school that you know will accept you AND you know FOR SURE that all costs are covered. You don’t have ANY schools where you know that will happen.</p>

<p>Until you have test scores, we can’t identify safeties.</p>

<p>You need to talk to your parents about the costs of college. They seem to be clueless. They need to know that YOU can only borrow $5500. </p>

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<p>Make sure you study for the PSAT like mom2collegekids said. Do timed practice SAT tests.
If you get NMF your options open up a lot.</p>

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<p>Do all the research and prep noted above, and you’ll find a good solution. You’re just now learning the harsh realities of college financing, and you still have a good amount of time in HS to plan and situate yourself. Many families are learning these realities “too late” and are having to drastically recalibrate their plans. You will find a great solution, ultimately, I’m sure. </p>

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<p>Actually @NROTCgrad‌ is who I consider the informed source on ROTC info. I do know that ROTC scholarships are highly competitive and you need to have a good all around record (grades, scores, ECs, athletics, recs). </p>

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<p>I agree that @NROTCgrad has great info on ROTC, and that is who OP should contact through PM, but he should also look at look at posts and threads where he has participated on this forum and board.</p>

<p>I am not familiar with the Air Force’s ROTC terms for their Type 1 awards, other than that they are highly competitive and one cannot count on getting one. A cousin of mine is currently on a Naval ROTC scholarship, and he is getting tuition, fees, books covered by his award, and is also getting a stipend. Yes, the stipend can help with the room and board and other expenses, but there is still a gap. If the Air Force amounts are the same, it’s $300 a month for freshmen. You can take out unsubsidized Direct Loans in your own name in addition, even if you do not qualify for any financial aid once the ROTC awards are taken into account.</p>

<p>I do want to warn you that if you should have to withdraw from the program for any reason, or are deemed medically or otherwise unqualified, you lose all of those benefits. I bring this up because this was something I stressed to my cousin. Her son wanted to go to a private $60K school, and with the ROTC scholarship and stipend paying what it was, it didn’t matter if the school was a top priced private one or a state school. The problem I saw back then was that if he lost the awards, though they might be able to squeak through with loans at the state school, a private one at prices as they are these days would not be feasible. </p>

<p>Well, it happened. He got injured, and they pulled his scholarship and stipend. He and his parents have to come up with this year’s costs somehow. He is a senior, so transferring is NOT a good option as most schools have a two year residency requirement. Since he did reluctantly pick his state school, at least this is not going to catastrophic. He has to come up with all of the cost, and though he is appealing for some financial aid, it is doubtful he’ll get much from them, if anything, as the school does not guarantee to meet need. He is borrowing through Direct Loan, has some money saved from the summer, parents are kicking in some–but are strapped, as they have financial issues and this was not expected, and he will likely take out a private loan as well. Thank goodness this was senior year, and he did get three years well covered. But, yes, these things can happen and do happen. </p>

<p>If your parents are unwilling to come up with anything for college other than a few thousand dollars, but family need based on FAFSA and other financial aid formulas deem them able to pay, you are not going get financial aid. THough some schools might come up with some consideration for the private schools for which your parents are paying for siblings, it’s doubtful it’s going to be that much of an impact, and few schools do. On top of that, most schools do not guarantee to meet full need anyways.</p>

<p>I suggest you look at the info on schools that give out good merit and see what’s there. The other option is to look at your state schools, particularly those to which you can commute. You need to get a few schools on your list that you know are affordable and that will take you, that have programs similar to what your interests are, as your base schools By all means, shoot for the AFROTC scholarship, and include other options that are not guaranteed, that are dependent upon acceptances for awards. Then when you have all of the deals on the table, you can discuss the risks and issues of them and choose with an open mind and knowledge.</p>

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<p>Why are your parents paying big $$ to send you to a college prep high school if they don’t expect you to go to college and to help facilitate that? They can’t really expect you to pay for college all on your own. You can’t take out that much in loans in your name or work enough hours to pay for it all. If they expect you to work or go to community college after high school, than why on earth the private school? It isn’t sensible. I agree with above poster. Ask to go to public school the last 1.5 years and have them bank that savings for college. Ask your parents for a firm $$ commitment on an annual basis for whatever part of rm/bd costs they think they can cover. Do they even know the current cost of college?</p>

<p>If you are good at tests, then yes, study hard for the PSAT. There are many schools with good NMF scholarships that will pay for full tuition or more, and then you could have a part-time school year job to help pay rm/bd as you wouldn’t have the ROTC time commitment. And work full time summers.</p>

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<p>Also, if you join the IL National Guard, they’ll pay you as well (obviously), which can go towards paying for room and board.</p>

<p>BTW, UofI Engineering also has a Pathways program where you start out at one of certain CCs and are guaranteed admission so long as you keep certain GPAs: <a href=“http://pathways.engineering.illinois.edu/”>http://pathways.engineering.illinois.edu/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>That path + IL Air Guard would make UofI a financial safety even your parents will only pay a few thousand a year.</p>

<p>Are you attending the prep school on financial aid? Otherwise, if they can pay for prep school, why can’t they contribute the same amount per year for college?</p>

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<p>I was EE and AFROTC at MIT many years ago, and back then it was relatively common for MIT students to be on ROTC scholarship if they were interested in serving in the military (i.e. if you could get admitted you probably also had the stats for an ROTC scholarship). I’d guess that in my day about 10% of undergrads were in ROTC as this was one of the few types of merit aid that was available that would cover a majority of the cost of an MIT educations. Things have probably changed over the years, but if you want to go to MIT I think the ROTC route is worth considering.</p>

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<p>OP is stuck with parent’s stances on things. I know a number of folks who look at it that way. They live in an area where the school district is not up to their standards or have some religious or other mindset where they want their young children in schools that share their beliefs and traditions. Most of the time the cost of those schools are not anywhere nearly as high as college, so that a one year stint at the public school is not going to make a big difference in college options. So it’s not as though when the OP graduates high school, there is a ship load of money to put towards college costs. There are private schools that charge about $4-5K in tuition, </p>

<p>OP, your test scores are going to be a main defining point, along with grades for any merit scholarship. ROTC also looks at other things, and Airforce type 1 is very difficult to get. Not something you can count on, though you can certainly shoot for it. </p>

<p>Do you know what your family EFC is, approximately? If you can, get info from your parents so you can run an estimator, and also run some NPCs for the colleges on your list. Also get a better idea of what your parents can commit to paying. What is your GPA, your test scores if any, and the type of courses you are taking? What colleges are the ones that kids in your classes at school tend to attend? </p>

<p>Again, AFROTC is a great goal. But certainly not a plan on which you can depend. Too selective, too few spots, and we don’t have enough info on you, as to grades and test scores to see how possible it is, and even if you are way up, there it’s not a guarantee, by a long shot. Once we have your numbers, we can give you some ideas on what’s possible and out there.</p>

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<p>Also, you should look at more instate IL options. Off the top of my head, both SIU and NIU both have EE majors </p>

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<p>Sure, it would save money, but the curriculum in the public school I’d go to is not as great compared to the one I’m attending now.
Also, I don’t really have a say in where I go to high school… according to my parents. </p>

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<p>I agree that there isn’t much the student can do about where he goes to HS. </p>

<p>@kmj9801‌ </p>

<p>Can you address the many other things we have brought up?</p>