Is any consideration given to geographical location? I live in New Jersey, where the cost of living and property taxes are very high. Is my application held to the same standard as someone with the same income in a part of the country with a much lower cost of living, who really would be wealthier with the same income?
Not really, fafsa has a state tax table that is used.
Individual colleges can do what they want with the info you provide on the Profile. So, maybe, it depends.
What is the income?
The income is $170,000. If you’re familiar with the northeast, it is really kind of average. We are by no means rich. I was wondering more for the CSS since I don’t expect anything for the FAFSA if some schools realize $170000 in New Jersey is not $170,000 in Mississippi, if that makes sense.
Also, I don’t have a job but I’m planning on getting a job as soon as marching band is over and into the summer. I have no idea where it will be or how much I will make or even how much I will work at this point. Do I just make up some random estimated number or should I put 0 because I don’t have a job right now and have never had one before?
Not likely. Even though you live in a high cost of living area, your income is still more than three times the national average. Were you thinking you would get need based financial aid?
Not really, but I am hoping for a good amount of merit aid, and not sure how much CSS will play into that, if at all.
The CSS and FAFSA usually play into need based aid. Some schools require these forms for merit aid, but others don’t.
So apply to schools where you have merit aid guarantees.
Even those that might require you to file FAFSA and CSS Profile will not consider those for pure merit aid. As @thumper1 stated apply to those schools with guaranteed merit aid.
I did apply to Temple, which has guaranteed merit, thanks to someone on here who pointed me in that direction, I would not even have looked otherwise, so thanks! I could actually get excited about going there, if need be, but I really see myself more at Fordham or Bentley, so we will have to see. There are not alot of guaranteed merit schools in the Northeast, where I prefer to stay. I know I should want to go to Rutgers, but I just want to not be in Central Jersey any more with half my high school there, and 25 minutes from home. I know it has a good B-school, but I think I’m just not going to like it. Same thing with TCNJ, which is ALSO 25 minutes from my house in the opposite direction! Also good B-School, but again like I never left high school. I went on a tour a few weeks ago, and saw like 10 people I know from school in the 1 hour tour! I still applied to both, though.
We were really impressed with Temple’s honors program.
Did you run your numbers through the net price calculators at Fordham and Bentley? When ran the numbers was the net price something that your parents found affordable? if the answer is no, then move on.
Rutgers is going to have way too many students to feel like your high school. It is big enough that you most likely will not see them (unless you want to). If Rutgers is a financially feasible option, make sure that it makes your list because it is a waste to be admitted to a school that you can’t attend due to finances.
All those kids that toured might also not get accepted or not to Rutgers honors.
tougher admission standards to TCNJ honors b-school especially if you want to be a finance major than Rutgers and way higher rated undergraduate program. You may think of it as high school but reality is , its only filled with academically talented kids from your high school (even the ones not in honors).
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Not really, but I am hoping for a good amount of merit aid, and not sure how much CSS will play into that, if at all.
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then you need to be concerned about stats. CSS and FAFSA wont likely matter even if the school requires them to be filed.
Also…you need to check with Temple to make sure that they superscore for merit. get their answer in writing. Their page is vague on that. If they don’t superscore for merit, then you won’t qualify for tuition …you’ll miss by 10 points.
Many schools do NOT superscore for merit.
Temple super scores for merit, I’m sure about that as that question was asked in an admission presentation and Temple said that is why they require all SAT scores to be sent by college Board bc the computer program super scores (as if you wouldn’t send all of the sat sittings with your best scores on your own) and it says this on their web site:
The highest result of two methods is used to obtain an SAT score on the 1600-point scale; in both methods, the highest submitted SAT scores are used:
• Critical Reading + Math, or
• the average of Critical Reading + Writing added to Math
@stones3 I didn’t mean to imply that I compare TCNJ to high school in the academic sense, but that a LOT of kids from my VERY close by high school go there:). I know its a great program, and probably should really be my first choice, both financially and academically. It’s just sooooooooo close to home. 
@mom2collegekids I also heard a a presentation that they superscore for merit, but it is a good idea to get it in writing, I will send them an email. To be honest, I’m more worried about my GPA for the Presidential than my SAT, since they have their own formula, and I am right there at 3.8. Worst case scenario, I could get Provost’s which is still a good chunk of tuition, but it will be painful to know I missed by a fraction of a point.
jnkam24, I went to a school about 45 minutes from my home. I NEVER went home! Even for Thanksgiving I’d go home for just one night. Too much fun at school. My nephew goes there now, probably knew 100 other students from his high school over the years, sports teams, neighborhood, and has a roommate he didn’t know before and a girlfriend from 4 states away. He mostly comes down on Saturdays to work as a referee, sometimes stops to see his grandmother or mother, sometimes not. My daughter who goes to school about 2.5 hours away (knew 2 kids from kindergarten) spends more time at home when she comes because it is more of a trip so comes for 3 days.
Do you think kids who live in Boston don’t want to go to Harvard because it’s too close? Do kids from Boston Latin not want to go because there will be too many kids from their high school? Look at the school, not how close it is to home.