<p>Because my parents haven't.
There's never been any money to save.
We came here from the Philippines when I was 3.
My parents have worked hard, and now make about $85k a year.
We live on a tight budget, and all our money goes somewhere.
Also, a lot of our money goes to help support my parents siblings/family in the Philippines.</p>
<p>I've managed to go catholic school all my life, because a catholic education is important to my parents.
But more than half of my tuition is covered by financial aid(which is really generous at the high school level).
Now, I'm really hoping to continue to a catholic universitiy.
But they're like $40-50k a year.
That's more than half of my parents' income!
I read in another thread:
"If you family makes over $50,000 a year you are going to have to go the route of scholarships, loans, and work.".</p>
<p>I'm sorry.
I'm just really freaking out about this.
I've always expected to go to a catholic university, but now that the whole college search process has started for me, reality has set in.
And the idea of a catholic university is getting more and more slim.</p>
<p>Some Catholic universities will offer you a discount if you come from a catholic school. They also tend to be generous with merit money. </p>
<p>However, many kids, including mine, many parents, including us, are using savings, current income and loans to pay for college. IT’s a joint effort and not an easy thing to do when the cost is $50K a year.</p>
<p>I am pretty sure they expect the parents to save. I’ve heard about people in really awful home situations (ie stepfather yelling at the kid about how worthless they are and they are too stupid to go to college, etc) whose parents don’t save, and generally they have to struggle because the college still expects their parent to have saved. Hope everything turns out all right for you!</p>
<p>Lots of families do not save for college. It’s sometimes hard to do so for the reasons the OP posted. And families also make decisions to spend their money on other priorities (private schools, helping relatives, etc). AND those decisions are personal family decisions which are certainly up to each family to make.</p>
<p>BUT at the same time, college costs money. It’s not free for the vast majority of students. It’s not even “inexpensive” for the vast majority of students. If finances are going to be a consideration, this might affect the schools to which you apply…and also where you finally matriculate. </p>
<p>Families with significant financial limitations “can” look at private schools with significant endowments and generous financial aid. BUT the first hurdle is getting accepted at some of those schools which accept about 10% of their applicants. </p>
<p>There are other options families with financial constraints can look at…including instate public universities. </p>
<p>$85,000 income a year would not be considered “low income” except by the MOST generously endowed and competitive colleges.</p>
<p>If there were not assumptions in the calculations that people had to save then no one would. The FA calculation is not silly, it is the same for everyone. </p>
<p>The fact may be that you cannot afford a $40k/yr private school. I’d like a BMW but cannot afford one. You have options. Look at cheaper schools, go to a CC for a couple years then transfer, take a gap year and work to save money, etc. </p>
<p>What about merit scholarships to help? If you have excellent grades you can get help there.</p>
<p>85,000 per year, 2 income earner, location in country and possibly other siblings does make this salary potentially low to middle income. So we can’t make too many assumptions about that. However, some Catholic Colleges like Holy Cross are very generous with financial aid. You should research those options as well as meet with your guidance counselor, VerryHappy is right about a lot of options available.</p>
<p>Parents should talk to their children of finances, age appropriate of course. Be frank on your abilty and desire to shoulder the cost of college. My daughters knew I’d support their decision to apply any where, help with applications, financial aid assistance, scholarships, etc. But ultimately their choice would have to depend on financial aid offers. For the OP…if your present school is quite generous with financial aid, talk to guidance for they are aware of your present situation and may know of financial aid to continue.</p>
<p>Two possibly not hideously expensive places come to mind:</p>
<p>Trinity University in Washington, DC - all women, half of them attending in the evening and weekend program so that they can continue to work and support their families while they complete their degrees, the other half are in the day-time program and are typical college-age students. Wonderful place, wonderful administration. I’m sure they would try to work things out with you.</p>
<p>Ashford University, Clinton, IA - Small, warm residential college with an extensive distance/on-line program. This institution began its life as Mt. St. Clare College, and although it is no longer affiliated with the Catholic church, the Franciscan Sisters are very much still a presence, and teach many of the on-campus courses.</p>
<p>Talk to your guidance counselors about your options. They will have good ideas for you.</p>
<p>Just to answer a few questions, I’m a Junior, and YES I am an American Citizen.</p>
<p>I’m also the youngest in my family, so by the time I get to college, I’ll be the only one in school.</p>
<p>Okay, so judging from other threads, do colleges, FOR THE MOST PART, not always, assume that your parents can pay 1/4 of their income?
Because someone else said that their parents make $200k a year, and her EFC is $50k.
My sister is at a catholic university right now, &the tuition is about $29k a year. And she gets $9k in aid.
Leaving $20k expected to be paid by my parents, which is about 1/4 of our income.</p>
<p>(BTW, my parents don’t pay that $20k a year. My sister was hit by a car, and recieved $40k from court. So that’s how she goes to a private university)</p>
<p>It’s more complicated than just 1/4 income like you are guessing. Go to
[FinAid</a> | Calculators | Expected Family Contribution (EFC) and Financial Aid](<a href=“Your Guide for College Financial Aid - Finaid”>Expected Family Contribution (EFC) Calculator - Finaid)
and ask your parents to help you to fill in the numbers. Things like money in the bank, age of parents, other assets, all play a big part. Someone with $80 in income and no “college” savings but other assets (rental properties, lots of investments) is in a different situation than parents with $80k in income and nothing else.
Private colleges will sometimes take into account a family helping to support other family members. They have a great deal of leeway in deciding how to look at the numbers.<br>
I agree with those who have advised you to talk to your school guidance counselor - he or she should know where past graduates went (especially to Catholic colleges) and how they fared in the fin.aid department. They should also be able to identify schools where you might qualify for merit scholarships.</p>
<p>Thanks for the support guys.
I guess I pretty much ahve no chance at private school.
This fact isn’t relaly sinking in though.
It’s hard to accept…</p>
<p>run your numbers, talk to the schools you want to go to, explain YOUR situation. Listen to the FA officers, do they offer merit money, etc. Don’t rule ANYTHING in or Out until you know more.</p>
<p>Look for schools that meet 100% of demonstrated need–a lot of times they will keep things in mind such as the fact that you support outside family members. If you go to a school that uses the CSS Profile it’ll allow a lot of things to contribute to what your aid is. </p>
<p>I’m going to send you a message about my financial situation and what happened; I don’t want to go into TOO much detail on here. it worked out really well for me and hopefully will for you too :)</p>