FAFSA doesn’t show them a full picture, my income was 40k last year while it’ll be 0 this year, parents had a few unexpected costs like my dad’s hospitalization and my surgery, and our insurance premiums for both health and car have nearly doubled
U of Arizona and you can still apply. Not to get on you but for other readers, with a budget, where you apply matters. Too many apply to schools that had no chance to hit the necessary #.
To answer others, we really need to know what you are willing to pay - between your folks and $35k you have.
If it’s less than $20k - as most rooom and board is mid teens - you’re going to CC. And that’s ok.
Get to $20k - you willing to go far away ?
It’s hard to know where you’re at. Fafsa doesn’t matter.
You know what you are willing to pay for four years. Tell us!!
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You, the student, had $40,000 in income? And $35,000 in savings?
Insurance premiums are not factored into the financial aid equation at all. Did you have to pay out of pocket for your surgery and dad’s hospitalization. If so, you could request a special circumstances review. But keep in mind…those expenses and that review would not be for all four years of college. And you need a four year plan to pay for college.
What do you plan to do with your savings?
I do think you should consider the CC to UC route. It will save you a ton of money, and get you where you want to be.
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That’s what I meant by appealing, all those costs were out of pocket, and the forms I filled out said premium increases are considered for appeals. My savings will go straight into my roth, since I can pull from the principal and interest penalty free for college expenses if needed.
Again CC is 100% in consideration I just needed to know I’m not putting myself in an even worse situation, which Gumbymom’s link calmed me about
just applied to bama and UoA, my parents like I said continue to be really dodgy saying we’ll work something out or we’ll figure it out by May 1 there’s time to make a decision, so they haven’t been clear at all. I looked through our expenses real fast, and saving 1k/mo on their end is feasible for a lump sum bi-annual payment of 6k(each semester), 12k base, I’m willing to put in the interest of my roth but not the principal if its a non emergency situation since the Roth will outpace the loans in returns and is to a degree a backup plan to help my parents out as well. So for a rough pre-loan amount the safest number I can give is 15k, 12k+ 3k worked out from part time work on my end as a conservative estimate.
If you can’t afford why spend the loot to apply ?
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120$ down the drain to have other options (which both their NPCs do put us in range of pretty cheap monthly payments($749.36)) is worth it imo
Only UC Merced and Riverside offer TAG (Transfer admission guarantee) for CS but if you meet GPA and course requirements at the CC, you are guaranteed admission with a lower GPA threshold.
https://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/counselors/_files/documents/tag-matrix.pdf
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ELC sp i’d get merced regardless but both UCR and UCM’s NPCs put my net cost as 36k-40k, significantly more expensive than Purdue and UMN
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Please clarify. Are you saying your parents had no health insurance that paid a portion of your dad’s and your medical costs?
Our insurance doesn’t cover orthodontic surgery nor my braces, which has cost us about $10,000, and my dad was in the ICU for a month, the bill was majority covered by insurance but that amount that was on us was approx. $3000
Almost no one has braces covered under their dental plans.
The only amount the college will consider for your dad is the $3000 you paid out of pocket.
And like I said any appeal might help you your first year…but not after that. So then what?
@Gumbymom is better versed on this than I am…but I thought that most need based aid was really Calgrant aid. And I’m not sure you would get down to that level anyway. Would you? You say you are NOT low income.
We were denied cal grant last week so no, but like I said these appeal forms and aid officers I’ve talked to said any UNEXPECTED and out of pocket medical costs are considered. Braces weren’t for cosmetic reasons but for an impacted tooth that would leave me toothless in one tooth and slowly start damaging the others, impairing my ability to use my mouth. The surgery was to chain that impacted tooth and remove my wisdom teeth. Your right that it’s only considered for one year, but regardless I’d need to appeal no matter where I go since those are significant changes in income (13k+40k income decline means a net 53k change in how much we have next year and the years going forward since that 40k won’t be coming back)
@Ramlord
Depending upon income/eligiblity, the UC’s offer Cal grants, University grants and the middle class scholarships which could reduce the COA for the UC’s. NPC’s are estimates.
@thumper1 wouldn’t OP’s savings/income be assessed at a higher rate so perhaps not eligible for some of the need-based aid offered for CA HS students?
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You are OOS for these public schools. I highly doubt an FA appeal will be successful at any of these.
I’d suggest following @tsbna44’s advice and apply to schools that will give you a lot of merit money - or go the CC route.
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I don’t need to know your parent annual income on a public forum like this. But your income going away is a small amount of the reason you didn’t receive more need based aid. This is largely based on parent income (and assets).
For FAFSA purposes, student assets are assessed at 20% of their value. Parent assets at about 5.5%. This student mentioned something about a Roth IRA as well.
I think they can appeal their aid but I’m not sure they will get to their unknown price point.
How about a full ride for those stats, if the scholarship deadline has not passed?
https://www.tuskegee.edu/programs-courses/scholarships/freshman-scholarships
Another option, if your parents will subsidize you living at home and commuting while you attend college:
- Commute to Santa Monica College.
- After two years, transfer to one of the following within commuting distance of Santa Monica: CSU Northridge, CSULA, UCLA.
Beyond some good school suggestions so far, I have questions:
-Confirming you are a US Citizen?
-Are you still running your business? Who is going to run this business when you are in college?
-Was the $40K earnings for 2022? If so, did you have earnings in 2021 (which is what’s on FAFSA for income)? How much? Your 2022 savings would be an asset on FAFSA though.
-Note you can only contribute $6K to a Roth IRA for 2022. You may be able to contribute more through a self-employed Keogh/IRA retirement vehicle, but need to talk with an accountant.
-For the private schools on your spreadsheet, why does it look like you only have budgeted to attend 3 years? (maybe I’m not reading it right though) The private schools will be unlikely to give you much credit for your DE or AP classes.
-if your orthodontics and related surgery were for a medical reason, not cosmetic, you should appeal that with the insurance company. Talk to the the oral surgeon and see what they think and if they coded the surgery correctly. I would also appeal the aid at the schools for all the extra medical expenses, it’s a long shot, but try…and get the ball rolling asap.
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Thanks for this, looking into both right now