<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>