<p>Okay, so as most of you know, many top colleges offer 100% loan free grants to meet all of the student's calculated need. That's great. The problem is that my parents aren't contributing anything, and with their income bracket, I would probably have around a $10,000 EFC. Are there any top colleges with these loan free grants (that meet 100% of need) that don't don't take away any grant money for outside scholarships, and instead put it towards the EFC? Does that make any sense? I'm sorry that this is such a specific question, but it is very important to me. I don't want to settle with a college that I don't want to be at, but I don't want to have to go in $40,000 debt just to go to a top college. Thanks!</p>
<p>first of all…to clarify…100% of need met without loans doesn’t mean that you’ll only be given grants.</p>
<p>for instance…</p>
<p>COA = $60k
Parents contribution = $10k</p>
<h1>Student summer work contribution = $2k (very common for top schools to require this - and the amount grows each year)</h1>
<p>Need = $48k</p>
<p>So, the school may give you:</p>
<p>$46k in grants
$2k in work study (the goes towards NEED, not towards family contribution</p>
<p>So, if you got $3k in outside scholarships, then the school might put that $3k towards the $2k in work study and reduce your grant by $1k.</p>
<p>Be sure to apply to some financial safety schools just in case you can’t cover the “family contribution”.</p>
<p>keep in mind that YOU can’t borrow $10k per year. You would need co-signers. you can only borrow $5500 for frosh year,.</p>
<p>You wouldn’t be able to put the $3k towards the family contribution.</p>
<p>What are your test scores and GPA?</p>
<p>No loan schools are the hardest to get into.</p>
<p>*So, I’m middle class (my household income is about $85,000), and an in a family of four (dad, stepmom, brother, and me). My parents have decided that they won’t be contributing to college, so other than textbooks, I’m on my own. This is because both work at places with no retirement plans, so all of their saved money is going towards that. </p>
<p>I am mainly interested in top LAC’s that meet 100% of need with no loans (Amherst, Swarthmore, Bowdoin, etc.) I was wondering how much my EFC might be (typical assets, 1 other sibiling in college). Will the colleges take into consideration my parent’s situation? I’m fine with taking out about $5,000-$8,000 in loans each year and then do work study, but I’m not so sure about taking out $10,000+ each year.</p>
<p>As of right now, I want to go to med school as well, and I would have to take out loans to cover all of the tuition/fees, so no matter what, I’ll be $200,000+ in debt after that. Because of this, I want to take out the least amount of loans during undergrad.</p>
<p>So, what does my situation look like? How much debt do you think I will accrue in undergrad? I’m not exactly sure how much money they actually give students I just hear the same 100% need, no loans.*</p>
<p>If you want to go to med school, then avoid undergrad debt.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>First of all ** you** will not have more than 40k in debt because no one is going to loan you this kind of money with out a co-signer and this is above the direct (formerly stafford) loan limits.</p>
<p>Keep in mind that if you have a non-custodial parent (your mom), her income and assets will also be used to determine your financial aid package.</p>
<p>In answer to your question:
You would have to get outside scholarships that would cover your whole need based financial aid package (highly unlikely) before your EFC is reduced.</p>
<p>Keep in mind that your parents are first in line when it comes to paying for your education. The institutional aid that you receive to pay for your education is made through the generosity of other people’s parents (alumni, parents of alumni, etc). If your parents are not choosing to pay for your education, essentially what they are saying is let other people’s parents pay for your education.</p>
<p>I agree with m2k, since you know what your situation is, make sure that you have a financial safety and some place where you stand a chance of getting merit aid.</p>
<p>Since you are a junior, my advice is to do really well on the PSAT later this month. Perhaps you may be in a position, where you can get a scholarship as a NMSF that will cover your tuition room and board (even these are extremely hard to come by).</p>
<p>And if you truly have the stats to be a competitive admissions candidate at those highly competitive school, it is likely that you would be able garner merit aid…perhaps significant merit aid…at other schools. </p>
<p>You need to broaden your list to adhere to the financial criteria your parents are stating. Sure…apply to those competitive meets full need schools. Maybe the money will be forthcoming. But have other options in case the money doesn’t come from those schools…it probably won’t.</p>
<p>From your post, it doesn’t seem to me that you know how it works with financial aid. First of all, most colleges do not meet need. They don’t even come close to meeting it. Most financial aid packages are comprised of federal and state money with maybe a bit of college money. That is how it mostly works.</p>
<p>The most selective colleges, to which you seem to be referring that do meet a high percentage of need and do use a lot of their own money to meet it, usually use a more stringent definition of need than what is defined by FAFSA’s EFC. These are mostly the PROFILE schools.</p>
<p>So when you are applying for financial aid, you will complete the FAFSA for eligibility for federal and state money, and most all schools require the completion of this. The EFC, which is the Expected Family Contribution is not going to net you federal money unless it is very low. Even with a zero, only about $5K of PELL money is grant money. For student Stafford DIrect Loans, the maximum under most circumstances is $5500 for freshman year and that is pretty much what anyone can get, with subsidization of interest rate and no acrrual of interes if you qualify for need and have college costs that the loan is covering.</p>
<p>That’s it for federal money, pretty much. Your parents have PLUS Direct Loans and THEY can borrow from there. If your state has programs, there is money there, usually enough to commute to a local state school. </p>
<p>The rest is up to the college.</p>
<p>Do fill out a FAFSA EFC estimator to see what your family EFC is, and also fill out some NPC that are on the web pages of colleges and see what your family is expected to pay. IF your family is fairly well off, I doubt your EFC is $10K. It’s probably a lot more. And if you have a divorce situationm both parents are usually on the hook for PROFILE.</p>
<p>SO it’s with merit money that a person whose family can pay on paper (or by calculator) but has commitment not recognized by the schools. or who just won’t pay, that a student might be able to make a go of it.</p>