I have $250 saved from a summer job…I didn’t spend any money that I made from working, I saved it all.
I live in a very small town, with very limited employment opportunities. I’m also very busy with extracurriculars: 2 sport varsity athlete, member of 2 national honor societies, performing arts, I hold a seat on the town council, have to watch my younger siblings, student council member, yearbook member, and a member of the math team.
I don’t know why someone would tell you that either, that is a drastically large amount of debt. Some people can pay that much because they have it. Who did this supposed financial aid officer work for? One of the colleges, then they have no business advising on that, and it would be very unethical to tell anyone what to take out, especially a low income family.
Everyone always thinks that working hard has something to do with what college costs but it doesn’t. Well it can if you target colleges that give money for your stats.
UMaine is the closest school to me, and it is an hour away @PickOne1
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just don't understand why I was told that though, from a financial aid officer at one of the schools I applied to...
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first of all, that was a VERY irresponsible and ridiculous thing that the FA officer said.
Which school is this person from?
Are you sure it was a FA officer? FA officers don’t usually visit schools. This sounds like it might have been a college recruiter.
It’s just not going to be smooth is all. You may need to wait until March to know.
Even if your EFC is 0, you may still not get enough aid, which is what is meant by “gapped”. If the school doesn’t have the $ to give, it just can’t. It just means that school is out.
If worse comes to worst, you can take a gap year to regroup and figure out a list of schools that will give enough aid.
It was a lady from Husson University. She gave a financial aid presentation at my school.
I couldn’t imagine the shame of taking a gap year, college has always been the one thing in my life that I knew was a definite…
Especially since I am near the top of my class, and have worked so hard. It’s really hard because my entire life people have said “Work hard in high school, and you will be all set”. I worked hard, have a 4.0 GPA, received the highest SAT score in my entire school, I’ve taken honors and AP classes, joined the National Honor Society, and it seems like it all means nothing because I can’t even pay for college.
No shame! Stop thinking like that now!
What is your SAT? Perhaps you overlooked a school or two that may give generous aid?
If you have a near perfect GPA,and a high SAT, your Maine schools just might give you the aid you need.
I agree…is there any way you can make an appointment to speak to someone in the financial aid office at one of the Maine schools to see what they might offer a strong instate student to attend.
I got an 1800, and I am receiving new scores for SAT and ACT next week.
It’s just really embarrassing to me, especially since nobody at school really knows about my financial situation…
@thumper1 do any of the ctwcl’s give good financial aid do you know?
(Edited out earlier question about grade in high school).
Would you be open to attending an HBCU if it were your only affordable option?
I am senior! @Madison85
The $900 a month for 10 years amount would scare any rational person, especially if they want to start in a career like journalism with low salaries and lots of completion (would start a blog now … get some readers). How about a blog on finding a good school if you do not have a lot of money (or access to good advice … although you have found the right place now).
So the 1800 SAT is not that competitive outside of your school, but … that said, that may mean you are elligible for more aid, both in Maine and at some rich private schools …
I am not sure what to think about Husson, with this financial aid advice, I might avoid a private school of this type.
I know you like Mason, but there may be better schools out there that will be much more generous. A VA public is a very unlikely place to find large financial aid packages. A Maine public, yes. A rich private, yes.
You also should consider broadening your search a bit to include schools with good writing or communications majors, not just journalism. How about some private liberal arts colleges ?
I do believe there might be a journalism thread here on CC, find it and ask for advice on low cost programs there or programs with generous financial aid.
Your family finances are not likely to be do to anything you could control in your life. Don’t be embarrassed, start being proud of your achievements and come up with a path that will lead to future success.
I would like to see you graduate with at most $20K in debt, if possible with no debt but with some summer work and work-study contributions. So if it takes attendance at a community college for one or two years, that’s great. There are transfer scholarships for high achieving community college grads. if you can find a reputable college that will keep your estimated costs around $5K or $6K … or less … if I were you I would go there. While on-campus housing and dining is expensive, if you can get aid, it will really drop your non-school costs … almost everything is free or highly subsidized at college once you have room and board.
Your UMaine campus is the best place to go, financial aid office, admissions, diversity (if that counts), scholarships, whoever you can find who could help you. Talk to the journalism or communication department and see what they can offer you. Honestly, a prestige program may not provide you what possible UMaine can, it all depends on whether they have a good plan on how to bring you to your full potential in 4 years. Also, access to work on-campus, a good career office with some internship oppportunities (brings in money, makes contacts, etc) all good.
OP, have you considered Bates or Colby? These two selective Maine liberal arts colleges meet 100% of financial need, and they are strongly invested in enrolling Maine residents who have shown academic achievement (that’s you) but who lack the traditional family support system that many of their applicants have (also sounds like you). A liberal arts education at either of these two schools would be outstanding preparation for a career in journalism, especially at Colby, which has a tradition of honoring journalists.
I’ll repeat - these schools want:
-High achievers
-Disadvantaged background
-Maine kids
OP, I seconding what BelknapPoint said–look at Colby and Bates, and beyond those any school that promises to meet full need–those are the schools you need to be targeting. All of your schools don’t promise to do that, which is where your issue is.
I can speak to you as a former journalism major (Boston University) that it is NOT advisable to go into debt for a JO degree, let alone 80K. That financial aid officer was dead wrong. I started with 40K of debt, which has been generally OK (I signed onto that debt pre-recession), though not fantastic–$400-$450 a month in loan repayments is doable but not a lot of fun. Luckily, I ran far far away from journalism, where I could not find a full time or sufficiently paying job, and I work in marketing (which I really like!). I make 20-30K more than the average starting salaries in JO and live pretty comfortably and have paid down my loans by a lot… by not being a journalist. I cannot IMAGINE having twice the debt. I’d probably have sold out years ago and would be working in sales (which I hate). The most debt I will ever recommend to a journalism major is 20K, but zero debt will give you much better odds at actually being able to work as a journalist.
So I would apply to 3-4 schools that meet full need, and then wait and see what happens. You never know–American, BU or Emerson would offer you competitive aid, and the full need schools might be your saving grace. Look at Northeastern, BTW–they meet full need, though your SAT makes it a slight reach, but not too bad.
She was told about those 7 months ago.
Shame is in your head. If you want to live that way it’s on you. Many students at elite schools take a gap year, Princeton even finances it for some of their top students. Some work, some search for more college options, some travel, some just need to mature. You do if you want to make life and financial decisions based on what people in HS think instead of making decisions on what is best for you. You don’t have to share your reason. You didn’t plan well. You had some suggestions earlier this year. But decide to try a public that obviously won’t give you enough aid and run around calling it a dream school. At least you should have dreamed of UVA which will give more aid…
What about some test optional schools? Can someone here list some possible TO schools?
And maybe some of the women only test optional schools.
The problem is the list is bad.
What is your M + CR SAT?
Husson Univ is a low-resources private univ that only “meets need” for 8% of students. So, likely this school depends on students commuting from home (college is in Bangor), and/or parents taking out Plus Loans to cover gaps.
This employee’s job, when she goes out to schools, is to “get warm bodies” in her school’s seats. It’s appallng if she acted like it’s ok for students to borrow anything more than the federal limits, which is about $30k maximum. It’s not even wise for most parents to be borrowing that much for their child’s college.
From what this student has indicated, that her SAT is one of the highest at the school, it doesn’t sound like the student body is very affluent. This school representative should be ashamed of herself if she truly did suggest that it’s ok to borrow up to $80k for undergrad.
Hopefully, some here can suggest some “meets need” schools for you to apply to, possibly some test optional schools.
I hope that some NE schools will work out, since traveling costs for a low income student is often a problem even at schools that “meet need.” And, it would be nice if the school isn’t so far away that it would be impossible for her mother to ever see it or attend graduation.
How would she know her SAT score was the highest in her school?