<p>40k is a LOT of money. You could always take up loans. Good luck</p>
<p>I wish high school administrators and guidance counselors would spend more time informing families about college financial aid issues. I also wish parents would let their kids know, by the time they are sophomores in high school, approximately how much financial help per year they are able or willing to give their children. My husband and I were fortunate to get good advice from my brother who had been through all of this with his two children a few years before us. He told his kids early on that they he would pay the equivalent of tuition, room and board for an in-state school (in this case, California). If his children wanted to go out of state or go to a private college, they knew they would have to work a lot, earn merit scholarships, and/or take out big loans. Their oldest child decided on a state school (lucky to be in California and have Berkeley) and their youngest worked very hard and earned a 2/3 merit scholarship to an excellent private college. By the time our oldest was a sophomore in high school, he knew he wanted to go out of state to a good private university. He worked diligently in high school and, in the end, was lucky to be able to choose between several full tuition merit scholarships at some great schools. He turned down his dream school (though he wouldn’t have had to this year!), but he’s very happy with his decision to take the merit scholarship and graduate debt free. This is a great thing, since he hopes to go on for a PhD. His college also just increased his scholarship to a full ride for his last two years!</p>
<p>It’s possible to get a great education at many state schools, and I know a lot of people who excelled at their state universities and have gone on to great grad schools and careers.</p>
<p>So, as tough as it might be to not be able to afford your “dream” school, most of you hopefully have some other good choices. Wherever you choose to attend, take full advantage of what your college has to offer. You may be pleasantly surprised by all the opportunities you find.</p>
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If you only have to pay $5000 per year to go to college, it’d be incredibly easy for the student to take out a student loan. Given that the size of this loan would only be around $20,000, the student could easily pay it back in a couple years.</p>
<p>The OP really isn’t being thankful for what he was given. $40,000 of aid per year is a huge sum of money.</p>
<p>Sorry to create such a misconception. I was offered some financial aid in grants & loans, but I still have to pay at least $40K per year at all of those schools. Grad school for something in the health field is most likely going to ber a factor (whether it be med school, pharmacy school, PA, PT, or optometry..)… So, HAVING TO PAY $160K for my undergrad degree total, which my parents just cannot do, especially if I want to attend a health professions school afterwards.</p>
<p>Thank you all for your incredible insights. They really helped a lot 
And, despite any of the negative threads, I never felt “entitled” to go to any of those schools. Rather, it was a dream that I worked hard for and it was difficult when I found out that I was admitted, but finances were keeping me away from them, just as other students are probably facing.</p>
<p>Let’s keep this thread on track about how, sometimes, the “lesser” school on one’s list can be, in fact, a very positive experience. And, sometimes a dream school is just that… a dream. </p>
<p>Everything happens for a reason, and I’ve accepted that going to Lehigh and Bucknell are just out of the question. Let’s keep this thread encouraging for the kids in similar situations such as mine…</p>
<p>:)</p>
<p>I’ll speak from personal experience (albeit a LONG time ago). Couldn’t afford choice 1, instead went to choice 2 which gave me a lot more money. Because I had more native ability and was better prepared than most other students at choice 2, I did really well and, as a result, was able to attend the Harvard F. Law School, which opened a lot of doors.</p>
<p>The moral: in general, you’re better off doing really well at a slightly less selective school then just ok or ok plus at the more selective school, which is likely to be your "dream’ school.</p>
<p>lrnpcll - thank you so much for coming back and responding. Your final post makes it clear that you are a very mature kid - I was one of those who fussed about whether you had a sense of entitlement and I am very glad to see that you do not - that you were in fact venting about the frustration of having to modify or change your dream.</p>
<p>Have you talked with LeHigh and Bucknell? Or have your parents? It ain’t over until its over. I believe that I will have to go to bat for my son and I suspect that he will end up making a call or two of his own. His dream school hasn’t given FA numbers yet and I am concerned for personal reasons that it won’t be pretty.</p>
<p>Like you - he may end up having to sacrifice the dream school for something that won’t financially destroy the two of us. But try to fight for what you want - if your parents aren’t willing to make that phone call, maybe you can!</p>
<p>i have a question related to this topic: my parents can kind of afford all the schools i’m looking at. However, the most expensive also happens to be my top choice. My parents will pay their contribution but the school expects me to personally contribute $7,000 (student contribution + work study) each year. That is an impossible large amount (as I personally know because I already work 3-4 days a week). The school is an Ivy however, and a perfect fit and I’m psyched about possibley going there. However, is $7,000 student contriubution worth it? </p>
<p>btw, my second choice is also awesome, its ranked the same as Cornell and they love me and are offering a TON of money. unfortunately, I don’t like the school as near as much. And, as I said, my parents are basically willing to pay for either - I’m just not sure how much I will have the time to do that much work out of school.</p>
<p>7000 work study sounds like alot - do you maybe have a bank or brokerage account that they are eyeballing? The most my guy was offered in work study was 2800.</p>
<p>I think they are expecting part of the student contribution to be from summer earnings.</p>
<p>My daughter gets offered $3400 WS every year (well both years so far) - it is quite hard to earn that.</p>
<p>lrnprcll,
My son had FA pkgs from a few top school and they all expected a student contribution. Maybe all schools do, but word it differently. My daughter’s school doesn’t list a separate student contribution but she certainly needs to contribute. Her pkg just states the school costs and what merit and FA grants/loans she’s given. Then (unfortunately) there is this large gap. Her work-study is listed but it’s separate since she earns as she goes and her ws$ isn’t applied DIRECTLY toward tuition. </p>
<p>Remember, a school’s COA includes all kinds of costs (not just tuition, room & Board but also books, travel and personal expenses). Some of your student contribution is expected to go toward the last 3 types (ongoing personal expenses as they come up). You don’t usually pay this abount up front to the college. If you can reduce these costs from what the school considers average, then you don’t necessarily have to contribute that amount.</p>
<p>I have two kids in college and their expenses are quite different. My son spends almost nothing because he’s willing to forgo in order to save money. He eats his meals using his mealplan (and has flex points to get snacks or grab a pizza/sub). He rarely eats off campus and rarely buys anything (he takes shampoo and stuff from home). It’s amazing how low his personal costs are compared to my daughter. Although he probably prefers the train, he takes the bus from Providence to NYC because it’s only about $20. Both kids buy books used. Both kids load up on “supplies and snacks” from our house when heading back to school. My daughter has always had work-study jobs to cover the hair products, supplies, clothing and social expenses that come up. Although her personal expenses are higher, she did lower room and board considerably by moving out of the dorm after her freshman yr. She shares an on campus apt. It actually costs a couple thousand less than the dorm and her food budget is MUCH cheaper than the school’s food plan. Her 3 bedroom townhouse is much larger than the dorm and she has her own washer/dryer (she got them used for $100) but she chose an older apt complex, which is not the nicest one available but it is one of the cheapest. I’ve been to Cornell and I know there are tons of apts there in collegetown but I have no idea if they will save you $. Something to check into, though.</p>
<p>Not sure how Cornell works, but Brown allowed my son to apply OUTSIDE scholarships to replace part of his student contribution (without taking away any grant $). Like many schools, Brown feels students should be financially invested in their education so you can’t completely eliminate student contribution but you can replace either the loan portion ($3500 freshman) or summer earnings contribution. So, there are ways for you to reduce the $7000 contribution. Try to find local scholarships. Try to reduce your personal/travel/book expenses and that will lower the amt you need to contribute. One word of advice. Figure out what type of social life you expect. Concerts, sporting events, movies, parties, intramurals are generally free or very low cost. But greek life (fraternities/sororities) is very expensive.</p>
<p>Here is my philosophy, it is going to cost a lot to go to college. This is inevitable. Seeing that you are a pre-med student, you still have 4 years of med-school ahead of you. I’ll skip to grad-school because I feel it justifies my point better. Grad school is some of the most expensive schooling. I don’t think there is a 20k a year medical school. What does this mean? - You will be in debt no matter what. If you end up going to an excellent medical school, I’m sure you will start to make a lot of money as you progress into it. If you are going to inevitably going to be in debt, why not take on a little bit more and go to a good university?</p>
<p>For me, I’m going to go to law school. It will cost me in the upwards of $50,000 a year to attend the law school I want to go to. This is a lot of money. I just think that if I can handle having a little bit of a debt not, I can pay it off after college. Many people in our professions end up making more money than they can rationally spend. I just don’t see why people can’t take a debt when they are younger and pay it back. Just think, once you pay it back you will have attended a great school, got a great education, and you will have a high credit score :)</p>
<p>Keep in mind, if you go to a “lower tier” school, you will be able to shine brightly and that will pay off when applying to grad school, medical school or law school. Whereas if you are to go to a more prestigious private university, you may just fall in the cracks.</p>
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<p>You need to find out do doctors really make a lot of money or not. What’s a lot of money to you? $200K/year. Well you don’t earn this amount until 8-12 years later(4 years for UG, 4 years for Med, 4 years of internship).</p>
<p>4 years of internship? Maybe one or 2 residency fields, but most are 2-3 years. And some after their residencies choose to do fellowships of 1-3 years.</p>
<p>^I meant on average 3-4 years for residency(at least). Some even takes longer like surgery. This book that I read " The making of a woman surgeon" by Elizabeth Morgan, she started UG at 16 and finished when she was 30.</p>
<p>One solution is to attend a community college for the first two years then transfer to the dream school. If you were smart enough to get into a top school, then you should have no problems working full time in addition to earning high grades at the JC. Most courses are very easy. However, doesn’t apply much to science though(i.e many labs end up consuming too much time). After, you transfer, you should have enough money saved to lower the cost to a reasonable degree.</p>
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<p>Well, that doesn’t explain why most students at medschools or top grad schools comes from prestigious undergrads. Come to think of it, I think the top schools have significantly higher placement rates for aspiring premeds than do lower end schools. I recall that Princeton boasts a 90+% placement rate for premeds. What this tells us is that one doesn’t have to stand out when attending these top schools because the school carries him/her through better ECs, research opportunities,name of school, grade adjustment by adcom etc.</p>
<p>@student14x</p>
<p>That is true for if you do not care what med school you go to. However, high placement percentages does not equate to all “good” medical school acceptances.</p>
<p>If you’re goal is to get into any medical school and are not confident about your abilities, go to a prestigious undergrad.</p>
<p>Threadstarter, I know how you feel. You work your butt off for years, play sports and uncommon instruments, go crazy studying for tests, and just drive yourself insane about college. The whole time everyone is telling you about the wonderful merit scholarships you’re going to get, but then the financial aid letters shows up. Goodbye dream school, hello state. I can’t help but feel a little shafted, it was like I got slapped in the face when all the numbers showed up. I got zero–count it, zero–dollars in aid from all eleven schools I applied to, and the largest merit scholarships I got was only 12k to a school I applied to as safety. Anyone who tells you you can get a free ride for playing the bassoon is apparently wrong. The one thing I’d go back and change about high school was how much stress and agony I put myself under, because it ended up not doing much for me. Sure, I got into the best public college in New York, but there was no need to be so overwhelmed for freshman through junior year. </p>
<p>And it makes my blood boil when anyone insinuates that the reason I can’t afford a 50k a year college is because my parents didn’t work hard enough or something. That’s total crap, they worked just as hard as I did, but the problem is that once your financial situation starts looking up, you lose your shot at financial aid. So what happens to people who unfortunately didn’t have the easiest financial start in life, and are only able to start saving a few years before their kids can go to school–and then get screwed over by financial aid offices because they’re now able to have a decent income. I’m not trying to whine, but this stuff is all so crazy.</p>
<p>It’s almost like middle class families who started off at lower incomes (my mom started off here in the US @ 40k, but now, around 8 years later, she has just started making around 100k)…we get shafted for moving out of lower class and moving into middle class. It’s ********</p>