<p>I dont want to seem like a spoiled brat at all but this post may make me seem like one. Im a freshman with a stellar academic performance at a prestigious public hish school. I know I have a great shot at an incredible education based on my four year high school sched (its plannes out completely in 8th, and i know i will not change it) so long as i suceed in classes with my current 4.0 GPA. I want to eventually go to grad school so i want little to no undergrad debt. This is diffucult because my dad doesnt want to pay for more than 30 thousand dollars a year. Im prepared to take loans out but i really dont want to be in student debt until im 45. Im not eligible for financial aid and my dad could easily write a 70000 dollar check each year. However, he believes that all schools offer an education and the same degrees so i should either pay for myself or go to a state school. I really want an education at one of
My favorite schools but am beginning to realize that if i want to go to grad school i either need to go into debt (ew), go to state school, ir convince my dad that education is important. Any tips? He gets that its important but doesnt get the prestige of one school over another (hes a waspy south african) thanks! Id be happy to give out more info in the thread if it would help any of you. And yes, i am intellgent enough for scholarships or merit aid but i have a "personal top 20" id like to have the option of attending if accepted. Again- ease dont hate- i ubderstand there are worse situations to be in but any help would be appreciated.</p>
<p>Ignore the typos and length please- i wrote this on my phone</p>
<p>Well, you are a rising sophomore so giving specific advice about what specific college/unis might be doing in 3.5 years is not great. You’ve got your budget - whatever your state college costs. Junior year after you have a pretty good idea what your actual GPA is and after you’ve taken the PLAN or the PSAT you’ll have a fairly good idea of what your test scores will be. At that point you can start to look for colleges that might come within your family budget. it’s simply too soon. Perhaps your dad simply wants you to keep your eye on the ball and not worry so much about home plate. Keep up the good work grade-wise.</p>
<p>I suggest you simply read all the posts on this sub-forum for a full year and watch the cycle that happens. You will read about many students like yourself who have financial limits for a variety of reasons. </p>
<p>You will come to see that 30K a year is extremely generous and beyond what what people have as a starting point. You will also be able to learn from some of the threads how devastating it has been for students to take out more than approximately the subsidized federal loan amounts (in the 20K - 30K range TOTAL in loans for all four years).</p>
<p>30K X 4 = 120K. Your dad obviously feel education IS important. But he feels a really nice Toyota or Honda will get you as far in life as a Ferrari. It may be really really difficult to see this from his perspective, but he is in 98% of cases correct. It may also be really really difficult to also see this from his perspective, but he likely has many financial obligations and goals and retirement needs and retirement wishes that require fiscal responsibility–and that means balancing what he offers you in freebie money for college (a Honda instead of the Ferrari). Life is like that.</p>
<p>Best of luck. Work hard researching for colleges that offer nice merit scholarships that cover all of tuition.</p>
<p>Easy answer - save your personal top 20 for grad school if you can’t afford them undergrad.</p>
<p>$30,000 is a lot! That will get you a good education at your public flagship, probably.</p>
<p>Just because your father could “easily” write a $70,000 check per year (and at 14, I doubt that you have deep personal insight into your father’s finances) doesn’t mean that he has to or wants to. Just offering $30,000 is very generous - most people’s parents can’t or won’t pay that much.</p>
<p>My advice - first of all, just do well in high school. You’re only a freshman, and your personal top 20 may change significantly between now and then. There are likely a wide range of schools at which you could be successful and thrive, and a state school could be one of them. There is nothing wrong with public universities - some of them are better than some private universities, especially some oft-overrated private universities.</p>
<p>When you are a senior, you can apply to schools that give financial aid, give good merit scholarships for students with your stats and some public universities in your state. If your father really can afford to write a $70K every year you can’t expect to get good financial aid even at full-need and very generous schools, but you may be able to earn some merit aid from some very good schools. Otherwise, you’re going to need to stay within the range your father can provide. But if your dad is willing to pay $30,000, and you can borrow $5500 a year in Stafford loans, AND if you can contribute some of your earnings from a part-time or summer job and maybe get at least partial merit aid - you could very well go to a school with a $40,000 price sticker, which will open up the majority of schools in the US to you including some very good public universities.</p>
<p>If, as your moniker indicates, you live on Long Island - you have a number of very good SUNYs to choose from. SUNY Binghamton, for one, is consistently rated as one of the best public universities - and SUNY Stony Brook is a great campus, as well.</p>
<p>Do you have a Commonwealth passport because of your dad’s nation of origin? If so, check your options in the Commonwealth countries. Many would fall in your dad’s price range, and might also meet your own prestige standard.</p>
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Your dad is right. If you really want prestige go in-state UG and get into an Ivy grad school.</p>
<p>I’m in your dad’s camp. If you’re going on to grad school and want to keep debt to a minimum, save your top 20 list for grad school. If you can get into one of those top 20 schools, you can probably get generous merit scholarships from other schools. $30,000 a year is quite generous and will get you a fine education.</p>
<p>I wish I could pay for my kid’s college choice regardless of cost. I could be your parent in terms of the financial situation. By all counts, we should be able to pay for the college, but due a number of things it is not the prudent thing to do.$30K is what we should be paying, given the circumstances. We stretch it to $35, and it always ends up more like $40K with visits, unexpected expenses, gifts, opportunities. Really more than we can comfortably pay… My kids are wonderful. They didn’t even consider the top cost schools that did not bring the bottom line to where we set it. And I still hurt about it.</p>
<p>There are a few things that werent conveyed but thank you so much for all the help! Ill just focus on the grades and let the pieces fall where they may- I will try and get some merit aid where I can and be more appreciative of my fathers generosity. Thank you all.</p>