<p>My dad invested $25k for my college fund a while ago and now it's around $110k. My parents got divorced my junior year and I'll be a first year college student. Do you think I have any chance at getting any aid. I live with my mom who makes a little over $20k a year. She gets alimony. My dad is currently unemployed (trying to figure out how he's going to make a living). I would like to go to UVa OOS but the COA is $56k a year. So when UVa says 100% of need met am I actually going to get any money? I really don't want to take out loans or spend over $100k. I may have a decent amount of money but I don't plan on spending $200k on undergrad school. I would really like to have some money left over for grad school or to give back to my parents but I'm not sure if that will be possible. I would run the net price calc but it's hard because my parents don't live together and I don't know all of their tax info. </p>
<p>It’s quite difficult to get into that school OOS so you may not have a choice, and if you don’t get an affordable package you can just walk away and go to one of the other picks you make. I’d focus on building the rest of your list. Meanwhile you can try to run the NPC with some assumptions to get a very general idea…</p>
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You would seem to be in the running for UVA and would probably receive some financial aid, but they will look at the income of both sets of parents. Definitely run the NPC. If your father was not self employed it should be relatively accurate. And I would like the name of your parent’s investor who turned $25K into $110K. :)</p>
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Wow!</p>
<p>My dad actually was and is self employed. He owned a pretty successful landscaping company and a drainage company. He quit both after the divorce to pursue day trading. He turned the 25k into 100k himself. That didn’t work out great so now he’s considering starting another business. </p>
<p>If you have $100,000 in college savings, you would only be spending about $25,000 a year to attend UVA…as you could take $25,000 a year out of this savings to pay for UVA. If your parents are divorced, and your mom is truly low income (hard to say because child support and alimony need to be added), you could be eligible for a portion of the Pell Grant, and you would also have $5500 in direct loans for freshman year.</p>
<p>So…you would have $25,000 from savings, $5000 or so Pell Grant, and $5500 Direct Loan. That is over $35,000 each year which should be able to pay for college in your home state.</p>
<p>Sure, apply to UVA. You will need to complete the FAFSA and the Profile with your mom. Your dad will need to complete the non-custodial parent Profile. See what happens. Maybe you will get enough aid to attend if accepted, and maybe you won’t.</p>
<p>In the meantime…find some affordable options to also add to your application list!</p>
<p>I don’t really want to take out loans. I have a bunch of colleges on my list but none of them seem to be affordable. The cheapest ones are wayyy too close or horrible city schools (I don’t like the city) in PA like Temple (full tuition scholarship) and Widener </p>
<p>You can’t find ANY colleges that are $35,000 a year or less that you like? </p>
<p>Including room and board… Uh no…</p>
<p>Julianna - is that $110K in a separate 529 account? Is it in an account under your name or under a parent’s name? Based on what you say, you should be eligible for need-based financial aid. If the $110K is still held in one of your parent’s name, or if it is in a 529 account – in that case they would only be required to contribute 5.6% of the value of that account toward college, under FAFSA methodology – or about $6200 a year. You would be eligible for grants and loans to cover the rest.-- so you could do pretty well at a college that meets full need, although CSS Profile schools might weight the value of the account differently than the FAFSA schools.</p>
<p>If the account is in your name (and is not a 529), FAFSA methodology would expect you to contribute 20% or $22K a year – but you could still be getting a very generous aid award beyond that. </p>
<p>So the answer to your question is – yes, you do have need. </p>
<p>Here’s a web site with more info:
<a href=“How do 529 plans Affect Financial Aid? - Savingforcollege.com”>How do 529 plans Affect Financial Aid? - Savingforcollege.com;
<p>Yes- ask your dad specifics about the $110k and let us know.</p>
<p>Also, your mom’s alimony, along with her job earnings, is part of her Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) for purposes of completing the FAFSA and determining EFC.</p>
<p>OP, UVa has early action, I think due Nov 1. You can still also apply to other EA schools provided they specify it is acceptable, Many (tho not all) EA schools will still allow you to apply to public schools even if they don’t allow you to apply to privates.</p>
<p>However I agree with comment already posted – right now, focus on creating a list. Find some schools that have the same atrributes you like about UVa and run net price calculators. To do this you obviously need to start having those talks with your folks. Plural because it sounds like it may take more than one conversation. It will really really help you to not waste time on schools you wouldn’t be able to attend if you can figure out what your real financial parameters are.</p>
<p>Best of luck!</p>
<p>There is a thread pinned at the top of this forum listing colleges <$25K. Go through that.</p>
<p>My top choices right now are UVa, UDel, and UMDCP. As far as I know none of them give great financial aid. TCNJ is a possibility but id rather go down South. My major right now is Biomedical Engineering but it might be wise to switch to ME and then I would have more choices I think. I’ll check out that thread in a minute. </p>
<p>Okay so according to this <a href=“http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com”>http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com</a> I’m eligible for a full ride from Howard University but they don’t have biomedical engineering. There’s also VCU. I’ll probably visit both since I’m going on a road trip to visit UMDCP and UVa and I’m staying with my</p>
<p>I just realized Howard is 1% white. Not be racist but uhh I don’t think I can deal with that. </p>
<p>If you want to go south, look at UAlabama. You’ll get full tuition + $2500/yr for engineering with your stats. I think they don’t have biomed, but call their chem eng degree ‘chemical and biological.’ The engineering college is loaded with kids in the honors college. People who go there love it. Check out their forum on CC, very active.</p>
<p>You should not have to pay for grad school, especially if you are STEM major. Your school will ordinarily waive the tuition and give you a living stipend of $1,500/month or so (varies by school) for which you work in a prof’s lab or TA classes or something. If you go to UAlabama, there will be lots of money leftover after college.</p>
<p>You will get half to full tuition at Miami U of Ohio which is public
<a href=“http://miamioh.edu/admission/merit-grid/index.html”>Scholarships | Costs and Financial Aid | Miami University;
<p>You would probably also get merit money at Ohio State, U Pitt, and Temple.</p>
<p>Rutgers is on your list, right?</p>
<p>Alabama is really far. I was trying to limit my search to Delaware, DC, Maryland, and Virginia. And if I have to NJ and PA. Temple is definitely a good safety bc they have bme and I qualify for a full tuition scholarship but I hate the campus!! It totally didn’t impress me and I don’t want to live in a city. I’ve been looking at UPitt and Widener. Not sure how much of a city feel they have. Rutgers NB would also be good with instate tuition but I hate that campus too. </p>
<p>Ohio is also pretty far but full tuition is pretty compelling. I’ll definitely look into it. </p>