I was extremely disappointed last night as my parents did some research on how much financial aid I would be able to get from a bunch of private schools, and essentially 2/3 of my college list was lopped off (all public schools now).
My family is, by a raw-income standpoint, upper-middle-class at about 150k a year for a family of four. My parents have been saving for my college tuition since I was born.
However the bulk of my mother’s and father’s salary are essentially cost-of-living adjustments from their employers, because we happen to live in West Nor-Cal, where a 1 bedroom shack sells for a million dollars. We live a relatively frugal lifestyle, never travel internationally, have 10 year old cars, and most of my parents income goes toward our rent. For where we live, we are definitely below average income.
But in the world of higher-ed financial aid, it looks like colleges don’t take this into account, and I’ll basically be paying full price at most schools (50-65k a year), which, despite my parents best efforts to save, we’re unable to afford.
I know that most of this post is just a gripe, but I’m wondering what I should do.
I’m very thankful at this point to live in California where we have a fantastic public education system with the UCs and CSUs, but I’m wondering if there’s any way I can appeal and explain my situation in this financial aid process and find at least a few private schools that I can afford.
I’d also like to apologize in advance if this post sounds like I’m complaining about living in a high income area with an upper-middle class family. That’s not my intention at all and I recognize how fortunate I am.
For reference, my SAT is a 1410 and GPA is a 4.2, so I could get some merit help at less-competive private schools, but for schools that I would be an average student at (like USC, for example) probably not a chance.
I like your attitude. You dont come of as a complainer; you’re just trying to come to grips with your predicament.
The situation you describe is unfortunate but very real. You’ve identified your best options, which are instate public or less competitive private schools offering merit aid.
One way to look at it is that at least California has high quality public colleges, whereas some states with high costs of living don’t. For families like yours in those states, the options are more limited.
Look at it this way…you are fortunate to live in California which has many very terrific public universities.
As your parents what their annual budget is for you…how much can and will they pay each year. Perhaps folks here can help you tweak your list to include schools within that budget.
So…what majors are you interested in? What schools did you have on your list? Is there a preferred geographic location?
Any chance you can increase your SAT score by retaking? Did you take the ACT?
Have your parents run the net price calculators for these schools? Is that what made them have you reconsider colleges?
If the kids will overlap in college at all, I’d run the NPC with one kid in college and also with two kids in college. You may find with 2 kids in college that you get some aid at some schools.
It’s important to turn your attention to what is realistic and get over the sting of finding out what isn’t. There are schools where you can get merit, and schools where you can get a reasonable cost for your family. What about other schools in bordering states that have agreements with California as well? (e.g. Nephew is at UN - Reno, niece had reasonable acceptance at Boise.) Start by making sure you have explored ALL the options, rather than some “dream list”.
Yes, you are fortunate that you have some great public option.
You probably won’t get FA from the UCs; decent workable merit options will most likely come from schools in other areas in the country (e.g., the midwest and the south).
Not all schools consider home equity similarly – some schools will cap the equity at a percentage of the annual salary. Basically, you need to run NPCs for any and all schools that you are interested in.
In terms of “bordering states that have agreements with California as well,” there is WUE – the Western Undergraduate Exchange" that you can look into for some other affordable options.
Your bigger concern now is MERIT. Getting to the mid-1400+ Range puts you in the ACT32+ range, which usually means bigger merit. Right now, you’re at an ACT 31, which is often below a larger merit threshold.
BTW…forget about applying ED. Students who are concerned about aid, and likely need MERIT, need to avoid ED and FOCUS on big merit…and here’s why.
Most schools’ with substantial merit have Nov and Dec deadlines for MERIT consideration (even if the app deadline is much later). ED kids who get their results and poor aid pkgs in Dec usually are too late to apply to those big merit schools. It becomes a disaster. They can’t afford the need-based schools and they’ve missed big scholarship schools’ deadlines.
If you insist on doing ED, then ALSO send in at least 3 apps to schools where you know FOR SURE you will get LARGE merit for your stats…as back ups. You may be thinking, but I have the UCs and CSUs…well, those admissions can be CRAZY, so you may end up with acceptances you don’t like.
Your situation is VERY common. Most families have financial restraints and affordability drives the process.
You’d never know that by the common narrative which places the emphasis on Getting Accepted.
One of our kids had a terrible time accepting our budget. She did not understand why, if we were not poor, we could not afford +$30K per year for college for her. She did not understand why, if she got accepted to a top school, we did not “make that happen” for her.
We had to target big merit scholarships in our college search, and frankly, she was not interested in any of those schools. U of AZ, ASU, U of NM, U Alabama, U Kentucky…all were offering full tuition or full tuition plus for her stats (a couple years ago). She applied for one competitive full tuition scholarship, and did not get it.
Start with your budget, and go search for affordable schools. We can help. @mom2collegekids has made important points about deadlines, and test scores.
We have seen kids end up with acceptances and NO affordable options come May 1. A gap year can be taken if a new set of strategic applications need to be done.
@mom2collegekids Wait, I’m not saying that I have some amazing prospect, but I’m well into USC’s 50% range (lower quartile is a 1360), I definitely think I have a shot of at least getting in…
Not trying to be cocky, but at least the statistics favor me somewhat
Anyways thanks for everyone’s advice. I’m going to be retaking the SAT in October, hoping to kick it up to at least a mid-1400s. From there I’ll also be taking some subject SATs in Dec that I think I can do well on. I’ve done some research and don’t think I’m going to be applying to any U of As, Os etc. I’ll just go to my local community college for one year and transfer to a UC (very high transfer acceptance rate) if I can’t get in anywhere affordable/I would like. Maybe start an e-trade account and make some money in the process
