so true about the EFC. Duquesne is their #1 choice. Got $12k each in merit, but 0 need based aid. COA is $49k, so I broke the news to them today. Not gonna happen. I did call financial aid, but they don’t award any need based aid unless the EFC is below $11k.
I know I’m preaching to the choir, but I don’t get it. We make decent money and are not close to affording these prices. Charging $200k for a bachelor’s degree does not make sense, and it is common. I’m guessing there are a lot of kids out there with essentially a mortgage payment, but no house.
Nick…it sounds like your girls applied to some expensive colleges that do not meet full need for all. And it sounds like most use the FAFSA only as a financial aid application form. That being the case, you might only see those Direct Loans…and little additional aid for your students.
I’m hoping there is an affordable school on their list. Are you instate for NYS? Hopefully they applied to a few SUNY schools also.
Yes, our fallback for 1 is SUNY Oswego. The other daughter is sure about being a Physician Asst and 5 year direct entry programs – SUNY doesn’t have one. Oh, and the scholarship $ she received, is only for 4 yrs of undergrad. Fifth year is sticker price.
Yes…because that fifth year is not considered undergrad school…it is grad school for the PA kiddo.
So where is she going for that PA degree? Are you able and willing to cosign loans for her?
We’re looking at King’s, St Francis, DeSalles, and formerly Duquesne…
Do the net price calculator on all of these schools. Misericordia is pretty reasonable I think. Also if you are in NY, is Mercy College a viable option?
The unfortunate thing is that last year you thought your EFC was $30k for one, so $10k each for 3…and likely that mislead you and your kids into applying to the wrong schools.
Attending pricey privates is often a luxury. Most kids commute to college…for a reason…most can’t afford the costs to “go away,” particularly if there are more than 1 in college at the same time.
What are your girls’ stats?
If I’m not mistaken St Francis’ 5 year program is three years ‘undergrad’ status and tuition and 2 years ‘grad’ (masters). Even if they got the highest merit scholarship it would still be over $25,000. For three years. And then they would take out their own grad loans for year 4,5.
1100 3.5 gpa, and 1280 4.0 unweighted
www.paeaonline.org/index.php?ht=a/GetDocumentAction/i/136364
There is a list of a bunch of schools with accredited PA programs in NY or PA.
Did she apply to any NY schools?
http://www.thepalife.com/physician-assistant-program-tuition-and-costs-estimated/
list of schools and tuition of pa masters program, some of the NY schools are pretty affordable for NY students.
Suny Stonybrook and some others are listed
I think the issue is the student wants a direct admit five year PA program. She does not want to apply again as a masters student.
I’m still wondering how the EFC was $30,000 with an income north of $180,000 a year last year. Something isn’t right with that. To the OP…did you actually file the FAFSA last year?
@thumper1, I know, but there are other 5 year PA programs in New York and PA who might be more affordable, direct admit or not.
My daughter wanted to go to a guaranteed admission pharmacy program, but if that was not affordable she would have had to do her pre-requisites at one school and then apply to pharmacy school.
Also you don’t know if the student will stay with this major for sure.
Seton Hill I think has a sibling discount, but not sure how much that would save. Lock Haven is a PA state school and has a PA program, but not direct admit. That’s why I said to check all the net price calculators on the schools on the list above in PA or NY.
Mommdc…are these colleges eve still accepting applications for the upcoming academic year? Many are not.
Yes, you are probably right, but what are they going to do if none of them are affordable, borrow $60,000 or more every year for all 3 kids?
We are meeting with a college FA officer this week to review the FAFSAs – this year and last year. It sounds like if anything the mistake I made was last year and the resulting EFC was too low. But we’ll verify. Yes, it is way too late to apply to other schools. One other “tragedy” is that the aspiring PA applied to Seton Hill’s PA program too late - deadline is actually August I believe, and then received notice she is a finalist for a full tuition scholarship. So, I’m even doing the math on that to see if it is cheaper for her to go there (if she gets it), and apply to PA as a graduate – resulting in 1 extra year of school and lost earnings.
We spoke last night with a mom who’s daughter is a PA and graduated with about $100k in debt. She said it is “manageable” b/c she’s making good money, living at home and paying it down.
Nick. You didn’t receive any need based aid for the current college student this year, right?
When you submitted your FAFSA, did you link to the IRS Data Retrieval Tool? If so, your FAFSA tax info numbers would have been populated right from your 2013 tax return for the 2014-2015 academic year.
Is it possible that you lined to the DRT, and never really looked at the revised EFC generated when those numbers were put in?
If you received NO need based aid, to be honest, I wouldn’t get tied up in knots about this.
Just make sure THIS year is correct and DO use the IRS Data Retrieval Tool.
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living at home
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No one can predict at THIS POINT whether a new PA would live at home. At that point, young adults are often in relationships and getting married.
No one should ever count on living at home to pay off large debt after graduation, particularly grad school because of the age at that point. Often, the job isn’t even near the parents home anyway. However, I know that PA’s can work anywhere…but at that age, a person is likely ready to launch
They could take a gap year and you could start again with a new strategy. 100k of debt is crippling.
I didn’t use the retrieval tool either year because I didn’t want to wait.