Completely in the Dark: Financial Aid Help

Paying for College
1

<p>So after speaking with my parents a few minutes ago, they have determined that their input of money for college is not going to be all that much. Essentially, I'm paying my way through college on loans, grants, and scholarships. They expect me to be educated on this subject pretty well so I can maximize my financial possibilities. Otherwise, I'm going to end up at the community college, and I'm looking at Rice University so that's just really not what I want to do. I'm totally in the dark here, and I honestly have no idea where to start looking into this to find out what I can possibly pull from loans and grants (scholarships will be as many as I can possibly complete). Could any of you here with knowledge of financial aid point me the right direction?</p>

<p>If it helps, I'm upper middle class, come from divorced but remarried parents, white, 4.0 unweighted, 5.06/6.00 weighted, ranked approximately 27 out of 801. Both my unweighted and rank are from the semester before last, and both have increased, but I just cannot calculate my rank. I have about a 5.37 now. We get our ranks in the late fall and in the late spring.</p>

<p>Besides this, I honestly do not know what else to include. Any help at all would be a Godsend. Thank you!</p>

2

<p>If you include your ACT/ SAT scores that would help. Are you a NMF? Have you calculated your EFC using a FAFSA calculator, what is it? In what state do you live? What year are you in high school? Do you have an idea of your intended major? If you have high SAT/ ACT scores you may want to look into schools that give guaranteed merit aid for your stats. If you live in a state that has a program like Bright Futures or Hope you may qualify for state grant money as well as federal depending on your EFC/ GPA/ test scores…each state will have different eligibility rules for state programs. </p>

<p>Most schools that meet full need require the student to complete a form (or forms) in addition to the FAFSA. FAFSA only ask for the income/ assets of the custodial parent (and I believe custodial step parent… meaning the spouse of the parent with who you live most of the time or who provides most of your financial support). Schools that require additional forms (often the Profile) will also usually ask for non-custodial parent (and step parent) info. And may look at home equity. Schools that meet full need basically get to determine what they believe your full demonstrated need to be. This number is often (but not always) higher than the FAFSA EFC. The FAFSA EFC is mainly used to determine eligibility for Federal aid.</p>

<p>Other information that would be helpful is if any of your parents or step parents are self employed or have rental properties.</p>

<p>There is a lot on information on the threads on this forum that you may find helpful as well.</p>

<p>This could be a good place to start: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/848226-important-links-automatic-guaranteed-merit-scholarships.html?highlight=merit[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/848226-important-links-automatic-guaranteed-merit-scholarships.html?highlight=merit&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

3

<p>Get familiar with the on line estimators for FAFSA and for institutional methodology (a generic PROFILE estimator). Here is how it works:</p>

<p>Almost all schools require that you complete a FAFSA so that you are eligible for the maximum government aid. FAFSA calculates something called the Expected Family Contribution (EFC) which will determine eligibility for the PELL grant. Your custodial parent and spouse’s 2011, and your income will go on that form along with the assets you all own as of the date you complete the form. Given that you are middle class, it is doubtful that you will qualify for the PELL. The other guaranteed benefit from FAFSA is the Stafford loan in the amount of $5500 that you can take out in your own name with no co signers. No income or asset limits on that. </p>

<p>Some schools, including most state schools will use FAFSA only in determining need, but very few, if any schools that do so, guarantee to meet need as established by FAFSA. However if your test scores and class rank are high, the chances that more need is met is greater.</p>

<p>To get need from schools like Rice, the Ivys, and many other of the more generous private schools, you have to fill out PROFILE. If you apply early to a PROFILE school, that is often the first form you will complete. PROFILE nearly always wants both parents’ and their spouses’ financial info along with yours. It is also more thorough than FAFSA in that it often asks for home equity amounts and sometimes even information on the cars you own. The PROFILE numbers are what these colleges use in giving out their own money.</p>

<p>Frankly, from your post, you are not likely to get much or any financial aid, other than eligibility to borrow the $5500 personally through the Stafford program. Your parents will be permitted to borrow from PLUS, a parent loan program, however, up to the Cost of Attendance at your college. </p>

<p>So merit awards are something you need to seek, as well as low sticker price colleges. Look at what you may get from your state in terms of such awards. The above link is also helpful</p>

<p>You might want to sit with your parents and explain this to them and get the income and asset numbers you need to run them through the estimators. If it turns out that you are not going to get much in aid, they should be aware of that and some realistic number crunching should be done. Truly how much can they pay and will pay? Will they borrow for you? If the amounts are that small, you need to look primarily at those schools with merit scholarships where you have a good chance of getting something, along with the state schools.</p>

<p>What I tell everyone, and what my son did, was cover the base by making sure he applied to some schools where he was pretty much guaranteed to be accepted and that he knew we could afford. A local state school fit that description. If he commuted, he could easily pay for college on his own with his summer earnings and all we would have to do is provide the 3 squares and cot. It looked like he would be highly likely to get some local private school scholarships too, given experiences from prior classmates, so he applied to a couple of those as well. And they did come through. He could even afford to go those schools if he lived at home. State school away, would mean we would have to pay too, but affordable for us. </p>

<p>In our case, we told him we would pay $35K. It was a stretch for us–$30K was really more what we should have said, but we gave him the absolute max. Which meant he could easily go to state school away and not have to pay a dime out his own money; the same with those local safety privates… With some summer earnings and his own savings, he could also commute to some more pricey privates that were not likely to give him any scholarships. He could also go to some OOS publics and low sticker priced privates or privates that gave him enough merit money. So he applied to a number of those. He applied to some lottery ticket schools as well, and one actually came up with enough merit money so that he could make it work, though it would have been tight. He ended up picking an OOS public at full pay which is going to mean that we will contribute the full amount we said we would, and he would have to come up with the rest. It looks like $35K just about covers tuition & fees, room and board for that school. He’ll have to pay for his own books, supplies, extra living and fun expenses. He doesn’t think he’ll need that Stafford money, but the loan is there for him to take, if he feels he wants to do so He expects to find a job for 10-15 hours a week there, (already has a line on several jobs there) which he figures will take care of his pocket money, and his summer job will easily take care of books and supplies. Actually, we’ll probably pay for a lot of the first year supplies, as we tend to do so with our kids. That and the transportation as we will be going there to drop him off and pick him up.</p>

4

<p>You may have to do what you don’t want to do. There is nothing wrong with going to community college for two years and saving a ton of money in the process. You can bank the extra money and transfer to Rice for your junior and senior years.</p>

<p>You need to find out exactly what your parents are willing to contribute and build your budget around that figure. Then look for schools that offer merit aid for students with your stats.</p>

5

<p>Community colleges aren’t your only option. There are lower ranked colleges where you should be able to get generous merit scholarships because of your grades (and your SAT or ACT tests are most likely also high). You may not be able to afford Rice, but look at other private colleges and see what they have to offer.</p>

6

<p>Are you a Texan? Look at your local colleges and your eligibility in terms of the state schools whatever your home state is. For us, the state schools were the least expensive choice if my son were to go away for college.</p>

7

<p>*
my parents a few minutes ago, they have determined that their input of money for college** is not going to be all that much**.</p>

<p>and I’m looking at Rice University so that’s just really not what I want to do. I’m totally in the dark here, and I honestly have no idea where to start looking into this to find out what I can possibly pull from loans and grants (scholarships will be as many as I can possibly complete). Could any of you here with knowledge of financial aid point me the right direction?</p>

<p>If it helps, I’m upper middle class, come from divorced but remarried parents, white, 4.0 unweighted, 5.06/6.00 weighted, ranked approximately 27 out of 801. Both my unweighted and rank are from the semester before last, and both have increased, but I just cannot calculate my rank. I have about a 5.37 now. We get our ranks in the late fall and in the late spring.</p>

<p>*</p>

<p>You probably will NOT be able to afford Rice because it (and similar schools) will look at the parents and step-parents’ incomes/assets and determine a “family contribution” that no one will pay.</p>

<p>That’s the bad news.</p>

<p>Now, the better news.</p>

<p>If you have the stats for Rice, then you likely have the stats for large merit scholarships elsewhere.</p>

<p>What are your test scores?</p>

<p>Will you be retesting? If so, take both the SAT and ACT…you need the highest scores possible.</p>

<p>Are you a likely NMSF? What was your PSAT?</p>

<p>What is your major?</p>

<p>While you may not go to a top “dream” school, you probably can get the money to go to many good schools.</p>

<p>Remember…you can only borrow the following amounts by yourself …and these will likely ALREADY be in your FA package, so you won’t be able to use them towards “family contribution”</p>

<p>frosh: 5,500
soph: 6,500
jr/sr: 7,500</p>

<p>As you can see, you can’t “borrow your way” thru college.</p>

<p>Re: merit scholarship…in your situation, getting partial tuition scholarships are not going to be enough because that will leave toooo much for you to cover for room, board, and remaining tuition. You will need scholarships that cover tuition or more…just to have a good chance of getting costs covered. </p>

<p>**If each set of parents can contribute - say $3-5k per year, **then a full tuition scholarship, your parents’ money, and a federal student loan might cover the rest of your costs.</p>

<p>I know that this is disappointing, but it’s VERY GOOD that you found this out now…while you can still do something about it. Too many kids find out after acceptances. :(</p>

<p>And…keep in mind…you may end up at Rice or similar for grad school. My son is going to a top 20 school for grad school…and the school gave him an assistantship that covers tuition and a very large stipend.</p>

8

<p>Read through everything at [FinAid</a>! Financial Aid, College Scholarships and Student Loans](<a href=“http://www.finaid.org%5DFinAid”>http://www.finaid.org) to learn more about the financial aid process. There are a lot of good calculators there that you can use to evaluate different financial scenarios. For the most up-to-date FAFSA estimate, print out the formula itself, and use your custodial parent’s financial information. <a href=“http://www.ifap.ed.gov/efcformulaguide/attachments/101310EFCFormulaGuide1112.pdf[/url]”>http://www.ifap.ed.gov/efcformulaguide/attachments/101310EFCFormulaGuide1112.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Take a long hard look at your local community college(s). Many of them now have honors programs, merit-based scholarships, and highly skilled transfer counselors. Our local community college sends its best students on to top colleges and universities all over the country.</p>

9

<p>Happymom…how accurate are those FA sites when there are divorced/remarried parents?</p>

<p>That said, the OP wrote: </p>

<p>*</p>

<p>they have determined that their input of money for college is not going to be all that much. </p>

<p>I’m upper middle class, come from divorced but remarried parents*</p>

<p>Unless the student gets accepted to HYPS and has other siblings in college, I can’t imagine any scenario where this student won’t be given an unaffordable contribution. </p>

<p>they have determined that their input of money for college is not going to be all that much</p>

<p>Coconutso…what exactly does that mean? $5k per family? more? less?</p>

<p>Are both sets of parent “upper-middle income”?</p>

10

<p>Any FAFSA calculator should give you a decent estimate for a divorced parent because FAFSA only requires the custodial parent(and new spouse if remarried) information. The challenge comes if you are looking for an estimate for a CSS Profile school. Then all bets are off because they each modify the formula to suit themselves andmany require information from the Non-Custodial parent.</p>

<p>I recommend printing out the actual FAFSA formula because that way you can work through it on paper and see which individual factors most influence your own results. This link is for the current FAFSA. When theformula for 2012-2013 is available this fall someone here will post the link.</p>

11

<p>The challenge comes if you are looking for an estimate for a CSS Profile school. Then all bets are off because they each modify the formula to suit themselves andmany require information from the Non-Custodial parent</p>

<p>that’s what I meant. The student is looking at Rice…which will require CSS Profile…and mom, dad, and step-parents’ incomes and assets. </p>

<p>The student indicates that he/she is upper-middle class…that doesn’t bode well when parents say that they can’t pay much. </p>

<p>However, even with FAFSA, if her custodial parents’ income/assets are upper middle class, that doesn’t bode well either…since the schools that only require FAFSA usually don’t give much/any “free need-based money” to people that are upper middle class. But…there are some that give great merit scholarships for strong stats.</p>