Hofstra and Adelphi will likely give you merit. Will they give you what you need to bring the cost down to $17,000 a year? Right now you don’t know what they will give you.
Will you consider commuting to Stony Brook… or is it too far? It will cost you under- or around- $10,000 and it’s a strong school. It’s a better drive than Brooklyn College.
Sure…you might get scholarships from some of these schools. BUT your costs will NOT be $8500. You have a LOT of expensive colleges on your list. You are hoping for full tuition plus part of your housing and board costs to be covered with merit aid?
Not. Going. To. Happen.
You don’t have tippy top grades…and schools like Hofstra, Adelphi. Qunnipiac, BU, NYU, Tulane, St. John’s…MIGHT give you merit awards…but you would need a LOT of merit aid to get the costs down to $8500 a year…a LOT. Tuition alone at NYU is almost $48,000 a year. You would need $39,000 in merit aid just to cover tuition.
The schools that meet full need…Northeastern, for example, will most definitely expect your family to pay their $35,000 EFC.
But go ahead and apply…you never know. Remember that a number of the schools on your list also require the CSS Profile for financial aid consideration…and that isn’t free.
Hofstra Quinniipac, St. John’s and Molly are not better than Stoney brook, which s a stronger and less expensive option
Even if paying full tuition, perhaps your parent can help you with a cheap reliable car to drive to school making your commute shorter than it would be to go to Brooklyn.
How much are your parents paying for private schools now? If they are paying more than 8.5, that can continue to pay just like you are in high school
What year of college is your sister in now?
You have to think about this as a 4 year plan.
unless you get a full tuition scholarship at the schools that you listed, once your sister graduates from college you will be full pay at all of the schools on your list. THis means that you will not get any need based aid toward the end of college (junior senior year). It may then be too late to transfer to a more affordable option leaving you financially unable to complete your degree.
Do you know that for any of the expensive schools on my list, IF I were to apply ED to one of them they would meet 100% need based on what my parents say they can afford not my EFC?
In total my parents are paying around 26-28k right now for private schools, but that is split among me and my two sisters. My older sister is in her second year of college. And my younger sister is in her second year of high school.
First of all… I would put in an application to Stony Brook now. It’s a very good school, it is affordable, and you could commute.
Second… You need to understand how financial aid works. Schools will not charge you the amount that your parents say they could pay. That’s crazy. Schools that meet full need will expect you to pay your EFC… which appears to be at least $35,000 ( probably more ) a year right now, and will go up if you are the only sibling in college.
Stony Brook is not commuting distance from my house; it is an hour and a half away from where I live just by driving. Commuting would not be an option there. And, I will never end up being the only child in college. This is because when my older sister graduates, my younger sister will be entering right after her.
An ED agreement means the school has less of a need to compete on price so your aid would likely be the same or lower than RD.
I would apply to SB. You might be able to swing it and live in the dorms. It’s a good school. I would also apply to Geneseo and New Paltz…
The expensive schools on your list are going to be way too expensive ( NYU, BU, etc).
Wait, I just ran the EFC calculator and it said was 10k…but fafsa around 35k. Which one will school look at?.
^ EFC calculator on CollegeBoard
For what school? Did you use your parents tax return? Do your parents have their own business- this would make the NPC possibly inaccurate. Does this schools NPC show merit?
Schools that meet full need will expect you to pay your EFC… Based on the FAFSA and CSS profile.
I just looked up EFC calculator and used the CollegeBoard. I used my parents tax return and no, my parents do not own any businesses. Does this change anything? I know that my parents can probably stretch a couple thousand to make it to 10k, but for sure not 35k.
You should run the net price calculator at each school on your list. EFC is a ballpark number, and many colleges have a net price higher than EFC.
Your College Board IM EFC may be lower than your FAFSA EFC if your parents are renters and have no real estate or business and few assets. But it’s still just another estimate - run the price calculators at your schools.
When EFCs are wildly different between different calculators, it’s also a good idea to double check the numbers you entered.
What school did you use the NPC for? The NPC gives families an estimate of cost and they are only as reliable as the information that is put in. Schools use the FAFSA and CSS profile to determine your FA award.
What school does the NPC show as costing $10,000 despite a $35,000 FAFSA EFC?
I did not do a NPC. I used an EFC calculator from CollegeBoard. It was not tied to any school.
Colleges do not use the EFC from CB. They determine efc from the FAFSA and css profile ( if required).
If the EFC is showing $35k with another child in college, then your real EFC is $70k. You aren’t going to see a lot of . movement from the $35k number. If your parents have the money to pay, they can insist on a name brand school, one that they’ve heard of. If not, you need to introduce them to some great bargain schools (although those are likely to be NY public schools, which they probably HAVE heard of.)
so they will consider the 10k EFC from college board but it won’t be guaranteed my package will be from it right?
^ NO… forget about any EFC from CB.
You should have filled out the FAFSA and possibly the CSS profile if the school requires it. This is what determines your EFC.
If your parents want you to attend BU or NYU… then they have to pay what the school charges them. This will be way more than $8500 and will have nothing to do with the EFC number that you are getting off of CB.
Sit down with your parents ASAP and fill out the NPC on each school. Show them the number and ask them if it is realistic.
You can afford $17,000 a year for school. BU will cost around $70,000 a year. Commuting to NYU will cost around $50,000 (?) a year. The likelihood of these schools giving you $50,000+ (BU) or around $30,000 a year (NYU) is slim to none. Apply if you want…