Common sense says we can't afford it...so why do colleges think we can?

<p>Here's the low down. I've worked very hard in high school, and as a result I've done very well. I'm very proud of my accomplishments, and I've been lucky enough to have been accepted to top schools such as NYU, Carnegie Mellon, and the University of Michigan. I'm really excited and I would love to go to any of these schools. However, financial aid is turning out to be a real issue. Luckily, my parents are willing to help me out as much as they can. However, with a $50,000-$60,000 price tag and no financial aid as of yet, I'm freaking out! My FAFSA EFC is 57,000 and my family of five is supported by my dad's salary of about $170 K. This makes my "need" at most of these pricey schools around $3,000, maybe. As most people with common sense can see, this is a giant chunk of our income and definitely NOT affordable. And no, I don't count selling our house and living on the streets as a viable option...I've been applying to scholarships like crazy, but most are only for $1,000. The only scholarship I've received is a $10,000 merit scholarship from University of Pittsburgh (which is a good school, but definitely not my favorite option). My other affordable option is the state school...it's an OK school, but I don't want to settle.With other scholarships I've applied to, I have either been denied or have to wait till May (which is too late, because I have to make my decision by then!) I desperately want to go to these prestigious schools, and I'm panicking that I've worked so hard for nothing. It just doesn't seem fair. And I'm tired of being told that I'm good enough to be accepted but not worth any scholarship money. Please advice me on how to resolve this financial situation!</p>

<p>Memento7: Congratulations on all your acceptances and your hard work!</p>

<p>I know that it feels strange to see what the colleges will define as need. The reality is though, that $170K for a family of 5 is still in the highest of incomes (unless you live in NYC or something). Less than 6% of families in the US had incomes in this range.</p>

<p>Has your family has set aside some savings for your college education?</p>

<p>Enjoy your affordable state school. It is not settling. It is making a smart financial decision. You do not want to graduate with loads of debt. Your family has other kids to put through college, too.</p>

<p>And you are obviously a smart person, so you can go to graduate school at one of these expensive schools and aid for grad students is often not need based. You can be a TA or get a grad assistantship.</p>

<p>Does the state school have an honors program?</p>

<p>You had to have had an idea before you started applying to colleges that you would not be getting much need-based aid. What was the plan? Everyone advises having financial safeties and places where you could get significant merit aid. If you are getting acceptances at CMU, then you could probably get substantial merit aid somewhere.</p>

<p>I desperately want to go to these prestigious schools, and I’m panicking that I’ve worked so hard for nothing. It just doesn’t seem fair.</p>

<p>Attending prestigious pricey schools is a LUXURY. If your family can’t afford that luxury (and many can’t), then that is the reality of the situation.</p>

<p>*And I’m tired of being told that I’m good enough to be accepted but not worth any scholarship money. *</p>

<p>Why do people think that just because they got accepted to a school that they should get merit scholarship money? If that were true, then the entire school would get scholarships…and then WHAT would that mean? It wouldn’t be a merit scholarship…it would be like those trophies that they give out to every 5 year old that plays T-Ball. </p>

<p>Scholarships are typically given to those whose stats are VERY high for the school. Many schools can only give them to the top 5% or less of their applicants.</p>

<p>Congratulations on your acceptances and your merit scholarship. What you are facing is most people’s reality: the schools where they get merit are usually schools which are, in high schooler’s term, ‘safety’ schools regarding admissions. Many of those prestigious schools give very little merit aid. (Think of merit aid as an inducement to get kids to attend. NYU, CM and UMich don’t need inducements for most kids-- just the ones they want to snag away from the ivies. Mich also has a commitment to its instate residents who, by the way, were severely hit in the recession.) It sounds like U of Pittsburgh was a school where you were pretty sure you would get admitted so the merit is just icing on the cake. </p>

<p>You’ll have to decide how to resolve this problem. You will be able to take out $5,500 in govt loans each year and you should be able to work summers to pay for expenses. Is that enoguh? How much are your parents willing to pay? If you can’t afford any of the schools to which you are currently admitted, you can see if you have time to put in an application at a school you can afford: if not your state school, then a school where you can get guaranteed merit.</p>

<p>By the way, are those outside scholarships for $1,000 or less? Because most of them are not renewable and so they may not solve the problem.</p>

<p>

Yeah, 3 kids with 170K income, why hasn’t your parents set aside 750K to cover the 3 kids college? Oh, given stock market crashes ever 3 years, better make that 1.5Million. </p>

<p>

Yeah, probably close enough, 60K-5500 loan - 3000 summer job leaves only 51,500 left.</p>

<p>OP, fact is with 57K EFC on 170K income (which sounds about right on the EFC amount) you’ll get NO FA anywhere. Really only viable options for “prestige” school for someone in your case is Ivies (HYP) which want 10% income in this range. But problem there is admittence is extremely difficult. Should have done your homework before applying to some of these schools were your stats weren’t good enough to get big merit awards (some of these schools give NO merit, so no matter what stats were you wouldn’t get anything in the first place).</p>

<p>When putting together a college list there are two attributes that are the most important: being competitive for admissions scholastically and being able to afford the tuition. This is true for every single student going to college. I do hope you and your parents discussed these attributes as you put your list togehter. Now with acceptances in hand is a perfect time to stop and have the financial part of the conversation once again before you make a commitment. Best wishes going forward.</p>

<p>*# SAT I (by section): Math 610 Reading 800 Writing 740</p>

<h1>SAT IIs: Literature 680 US History 780</h1>

<h1>ACT: didn’t take</h1>

<h1>APs: Psychology (5), English Language (5), World History (5), U.S. History (5). Taking Government, MicroEcon, Art History, English Lit, Environmental Science, and French this year.</h1>

<h1>IBs: none, school only offers AP</h1>

<h1>GPA (UW, W): UW 3.9 W 4.5</h1>

<h1>Rank: Top 3%*</h1>

<p>You’re a Georgia resident, so do you get HOPE? Did you apply to UGA or GT? If so, then it looks like you have options.</p>

<p>Same situation.
Except my father’s income is
<20K</p>

<p>

really the same? how did you end up with an EFC of $57K with an income of <20K?</p>

<p>Momento - My ds is in the same boat right down to the 10K UPitt offering and our state school (which he’d rather not have to attend). We have 4 kids to worry about and our EFC is high (which is funny considering we basically are breaking even - but we live in an expensive part of the country). Part of what is hurting my ds is the peer pressure - he is expected, he thinks, to have the big name school choice and these “safety” schools are ego-crushing. Just know that a few days after graduation, most kids will forget about where you are going and just focus on their own lives. Connect with some facebook groups maybe for those schools, attend open houses, see how you feel. Good luck - and you are definately not alone in this economy.</p>

<p>Congratulations on your achievements! Yes, you are a hardworking, talented student. But who do you think should pay for your education to places you want to go? Who paid for your high school education? Did you go away to a top boarding school like Andover, Exeter, Groton, or the like? Or did you commute to your local high school, living at home with your parents, like most high school kids? If you want to go to a private college, who should pay for those costs? The college has put itself on a budget that requires a certain income from tuition. Wanting a diverse population and also doing the right thing, they give financial aid to those that are cannot possibly afford the pay to go there, but that they want to attend. They give special scholarships to the very top kids that they really want at their schools because tbey may enhance their school. Some line has to be drawn as to what affordability is, and your family isn’t any where near it. There are a lot more famlies making under $60K with kids that are equally able to go those schools but there is no way their families can come with the money. Studies show that your family can afford it, and families at your level do afford it. Frankly I am more concerned with student from a $60K a year family having to ante up #10-15K then for your family to come up with the $55K for you. Not a lot of fat to cut at $60K a year, and that is still higher than the average family income in this country. </p>

<p>You are in a state that will pay for most of your tuition at any state school where you are accepted, leaving inexpensive Southern room and board costs to your family to pay, which you can probably nearly cover with Stafford loans and a job yourself. You’re swimming in gravy next to most kids. What on earth makes you think others should be coming up with your quarter million tab to go away to a sleep away private college? Or why should other states be paying for you other than relative to what you bring to the table compared to their other students? </p>

<p>I happen to believe that a lot of private colleges will be pricing themselves out some day. I’ve been wrong so far. I’ve believed it since the costs hit about the $30K range and now they’ve doubled. The reason that they can continue to charge that much money is that enough families making the levels that are set are willing to pay what these colleges charge. Yes, families making six figures are begging to pay those tuitions to send their kids to those colleges. They pay for the lottery tickets called applications at sometimes $70 a clip for that opportunity. So why the heck shouldn’t the college be charging those amounts? It’s not that they are not up front about their cost. You knew what CMU charges per year. There are EFC calculators on the internet and you know what your family is expected to pay I don’t understand where the big surprise is. If the schools gave out more scholarships, they would have to increase the amount those who are not scholarship kids would have to pay, and there is no guarantee you would even make then next ring of scholarship kids. When it comes to these top schools, the categories can be very close. There has to be more than half the tuition being paid in most scenarios for the school to operate. </p>

<p>I don’t like it either. We make a lot of money but we chose to live in certain neighborhood, have our kids go to certain schools (before college), have a certain life style. put away a certain amount for emergencies and retirement. It doesn’t leave us what we need to pay for full priced private college for our kids either. I wish we had it. But I can’t justify cutting other things so greatly benefiting other family members and everyone’s futures. So we are stuck on a budget too. I’d love to have that #10K scholarship for my son to Pitt. If he goes there, we’ll be paying full OOS freight, the max we can afford. 3 years ago my other son was accepted to GT, but wasn’t offered a dime with test scores higher than yours. He tried for the Presidential Scholarships there but didn’t get one. Oh well. And we paid full freight for CMU which just about tanked us for our oldest. Didn’t get a dime from them either. There are many folks like us, and there isn’t enough money to pay for all of us. There are much, much needier students than those from families making our incomes and with our assets, and they aren’t getting the money either. Where do you think the money should come from? Who do you think should pay for you students wanting to go away to private colleges?</p>

<p>Common sense says those are private schools that aren’t required to help you. That’s the capitalistic America way. If you’re looking at a high price tag on U of M it’s because you’re out of state- U of M is public and therefore serves Michigan residents before out of state residents. </p>

<p>Things in life don’t make a lot of sense, and honestly you’re now put in a difficult situation because your family chose to have a lot of kids and you chose to look at pricey schools. $170k is a lot of money and the government and schools can’t give financial aid to someone with a $170k income simply because the parents chose to have a large family. It’s the same way that FA doesn’t go to families who didn’t save. That’s not really the school’s problem. </p>

<p>You got in to some awesome universities and you will do great wherever you go. You obviously have the potential to go to places on full-ride scholarships with those stats. Do that and then go to an awesome grad school. </p>

<p>Best of luck.</p>

<p>I desperately want to go to these prestigious schools, and I’m panicking that I’ve worked so hard for nothing.</p>

<p>I hope you didn’t work so hard just for prestige and I hope you realize it wasn’t for nothing. It is discouraging but you will do well because you have learned how to work hard. Best of luck to you as you and your family make your decision.</p>

<p>Btw, Pitt is a great school, located in a great city. Take another look.</p>

<p>Happykid graduated from a “Newsweek Top 100” high school in one of the wealthier suburbs of Washington, DC. Every year that high school is very happy to publish the list of places where its current senior class has been accepted, and there always are several who are admitted to HYPS and other top institutions. But every single year, more students choose to enroll in our own local community college than any other institution. In many years more than twice as many enroll there than at the U of MD at College Park. When all of the public institutions in the state of Maryland are included, most of the class is accounted for. Some of these kids have HYPS quality credentials, and any number have families with annual income and EFCs higher than yours. Why do they choose the CC? If you ask them, in almost every single case they will tell you it is because it was their most (if not only) affordable option.</p>

<p>I appreciate the advice. Yes, contrary to belief I DID do lots of research on this before applying. My parents and I made the decision to go ahead and apply to pricey schools and see if I’m accepted. We figured it was worth a shot. We expected to get some financial aid, but not the tiny tiny amount we are seeing right now. I was actually a bit more realistic about it than my parents…my dad was just convinced that schools are out there to help students. I’ve kind of been the one explaining to them that universities are a business. </p>

<p>I have been accepted to the honors program at my state school, UGA. I’d be ok with going there…it’s cheap and a good school. It’s just very difficult to give up NYU/CMU/Michigan to go the the state school. I’m just trying to do everything in my power to attend these schools. I understand that it’s a harsh reality but I’m not ready to give up. </p>

<p>Also, it’s worth mentioning that there are a few more issues…

  1. My parents have two more kids to put through college, and I want to go to law school. That’s part of the reason why I really want to attend a place like NYU. I think it will help me more when applying to law school.
  2. My dad’s work is very up and down. Some years he makes a lot, some years not so much.
  3. My dad’s job doesn’t have a retirement plan, so my parents have to save for retirement as well.
  4. We have some saved up, but after attending for a year it would already be depleted. </p>

<p>So now that we’ve moved on past the “yeah, college costs suck” part of it, does anyone have any advice on how to pay for college/find more scholarships?</p>

<p>Huge Pitt promoter here–You’ll find LOTS of kids there who took the money rather than attending the big name schools. The two kids I am closest to who chose Pitt chose it over Michigan, Chicago, Maryland-College Park, and Georgetown (kid 1), and Cornell, CMU, Maryland-College Park (kid 2). One of them is a National Merit Scholar and one won one of those great private engineering scholarships. You will have good company at Pitt.</p>

<p>

So you need about 250K to go to NYU so you’re asking how to find 250K? If you don’t get big merit scholarships then I think you’re outta luck. You had the stats to get into NYU, so they might have been good enough to get merit at some other schools, but kinda late for that now.</p>

<p>That’s part of the reason why I really want to attend a place like NYU. I think it will help me more when applying to law school.</p>

<p>No it won’t. Getting accepted to very good laws schools is more about LSAT score and GPA…not the name of your undergrad. A degree from UGa with a strong LSAT & GPA is what you need. </p>

<p>2) My dad’s work is very up and down. Some years he makes a lot, some years not so much.</p>

<p>Another reason not to go to NYU . You’re not going to get the aid you need, even if your EFC drops.</p>

<p>*.my dad was just convinced that schools are out there to help students. *</p>

<p>OK…your dad is naive about schools. You’re right, it’s a business.</p>