Do I have any hope of getting financial aid?

<p>Okay, I'm a junior now so only recently have I begun thinking about actually paying for college tuition. </p>

<p>I just need to get one thing straight. I'm an only child and my family's income is just over 120k a year, do I have any hope of getting any financial aid if I hope to go to one of the prestigious top 25 schools that generally charge ~40k a year? I'm starting to think the chances are pretty slim...</p>

<p>My dream school is brown but if my parents have their way I'll be headed to suny geneseo and be stuck in upstate new york for another four years. i really don't want that, but I don't really know what alternatives I have because my parents refuse to pay the full cost of an ivy league calibur education and my guidance counselor is generally no help because no one from my school ever goes anywhere more well known than syracuse university. Is their any way I can get merit aid or scholarships? </p>

<p>This is all foreign territory to me. I've always been so caught up in the whole admissions thing that I've never ventured into the financial aid discussion board. please some one comment, and thank you...</p>

<p>It depends on the value of your house, your parents savings and assets, etc.</p>

<p>Because the FAFSA and Profile formulas are heavily tied into the income level, it is indeed going to be difficult for you to get financial aid even if you and the family do not have much in assets. You can run some rough numbers through the calculator that CC has provided that gives you some idea of where you may stand. </p>

<p>My suggestion to you is to start working. Hard. Look at your saving to date. My kids have saved over $10k over the summer, and there are places that will hire now for spring break and perhaps one day a week. All sort of tip heavy jobs too such as homework patrol, baby sitting. You would have a lot more clout in negotiating if you earned about $20k by the time you are ready to go to school and are willing to pay 10-15% of the cost of going to a school like Brown. You can work 10 hours or so a week there and pretty much cover your meals if you work the cafeteria. Your parents would then need to discuss if they can pay that $30K tuition vs the $15K total cost at a SUNY that they were anticipating, and they just might decide to go on an austerity program and borrow to do that. It would not be as terrible of an imposition as you do not have siblings coming up the pike.</p>

<p>If you want to go to a better school than Geneseo and also have the stats to be able to seriously contemplate a school like Brown, I also suggest that you look into the various colleges that offer excellent merit aid. </p>

<p>If you are likely to be a NM finalist, here are some schools that are very generous with National Merit scholars: <a href="http://homepage.mac.com/l_j/secondhome/National_Merit.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://homepage.mac.com/l_j/secondhome/National_Merit.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Some also are very generous with students with excellent stats who didn't make National Merit.</p>

<p>In general, to get excellent merit aid, you need to apply to a school that is not as competitive as is your reach school. If your stats are good, you should be able to get a good deal from a school that is more competitive than is Geneseo.</p>