EFC Score and the price of college ridiculous?

<p>How much do students usually pay with an EFC score of 0 for an out of state college? </p>

<p>My parents are divorced, I'm finishing up two years at a community college and I plan on transferring to a OOS college. I've got a 3.6GPA. If a college including tuiton, room and board, books, fees etc costs $34,000yr, how much do you expect to actually pay of that? With scholarships, grants etc, how much am I going to pay for the remaining two years? Is there a target number I should be looking at?</p>

<p>Why in the world are you looking at OOS colleges?? You would probably be expected to pay all of the costs if you consider loans paying… Public Us are supported by the state in which they are located. The aid that they offer is generally restricted to IS students (of the families which pay the taxes supporting the college). You need to look IS if you want a lower number.</p>

<p>You would most probably pay for everything you don’t get from the Federal government, and the only free money there is the Pell Grant. So with loans and work study, yo would probably be paying about $29K/yr.</p>

<p>As Erin’s Dad said, OOS publics are usually not a good choice for someone who can’t pay accept for a couple like UVA that do meet need for OOS stdents.</p>

<p>You would want to look at schools that meet need which are mostly private and your own state schools.</p>

<p>I’ve got a lot of family that lives OOS. One of the reasons why I did two years at a CC was to have more options my final two years. Having loans on two years of school is a lot better than having loans on all four.</p>

<p>Agree with the previous posters. </p>

<p>With a 0 EFC the only federal grant aid you are guaranteed is the Pell grant which is currently $5350. You can also get a Stafford loan which for a 3rd year student is $7500. So that is $12850 that you should get for sure.</p>

<p>Any other federal aid depends on the school and on your major. if the school has SEOG grant funds (and they still exist next year) then you may get that depending on the school’s policies for awarding SEOG. They are very limited funds and each school sets their own maximum and criteria for awarding it. At my kids’ schools the criteria is early filing of FAFSA and a 0EFC. At one school the maximum is $200 while at the other it is $2000.</p>

<p>If you are in an eligible major (mostly sciences) you may get the SMART grant which is $4000 for juniors and seniors (but is scheduled to be phased out in 2011-2012).</p>

<p>The Perkins loan is available from some schools - very limited and some schools do not have it at all.</p>

<p>That is about it for federal aid. Any other aid would depend on the school and if they award much in the way of transfer aid and much to OOS students. Transfer scholarships are usually not that generous. Impossible to say what you might get as far as institutional aid as each school varies. Some State schools do not offer any institutional need based aid at all.</p>

<p>yachts360…you will not be able to take $30,000 a year out in loans in your name. You will need a co-signer for that amount of loans. Do you have someone who is willing to cosign those loans?</p>

<p>You could save some money by living with one of those family members who lives OOS. That would mean you would “only” have to pay the OOS tuition as your family might consider giving you room/board in their home. Still…OOS costs are high in some cases. Schools like U of Vermont or UMich are quite costly. There are less expensive public universities also…U Minn, for example, is just about the same cost for OOS as for instate. The costs of some of the southern univerities in NC (not Chapel Hill) and SC schools is less expensive also. The SUNY campuses are not outrageously priced for OOS students (when comparing them with the costs of some OOS costs at public universities elsewhere).</p>

<p>A lot depends on where you plan to attend OOS.</p>

<p>Thanks for the replies, here is my situation. I’ve got family in NC/SC. I’ve applied to 3 schools for the fall of 2010. High Point University, Winthrop and South Carolina U. I currently live in New York. I applied to SUNY Cortland during H.S. and didn’t get in. I didn’t have the grades. With solid grades after two years of college, do you think I could apply there again and get in? I’m looking to major in Sports Management and Business with a focus in marketing and sales. There aren’t many NY schools that have good sport management programs.</p>

<p>Yachts…do you mean U of South Carolina? Their sports management program is outstanding and one of the tops in the country…and very competitive for admissions. Are you certain you will be accepted into that major? Go for it…but find out what their criteria are.</p>

<p>Since you are instate for NY and have done well at the CC, I would suggest that you retry for the SUNY schools. Talk to your CC folks. Perhaps they have an “articulation agreement” with a SUNY campus or two (or more). This would mean that the SUNY agrees to accept students who have completed the courses at the CC into the SUNY programs and that courses will transfer towards a degree. The question is worth posing.</p>

<p>U of SC and the U of NC campuses (other than Chapel Hill) will cost you an estimated $25,000 to $35,000 a year depending on the school.</p>

<p>thumper, sorry for not clarifying that. Yes, the University of South Carolina in Columbia SC. Their progam is top notch, I applied just to see if I could get in. However I would love to go to their school. I know my CC has articulation agreements with most if not all of the other SUNY schools. My CC is the largest SUNY CC in the state. </p>

<p>I always knew college was going to cost a lot of money, that was one of the reasons why I decided to go the CC route first. However, If I’m not able to get enough loans or come up with the money to go to U of SC then it wouldn’t matter if I got in either way.</p>

<p>U of SC and Winthrop have pretty typical financial track records for state schools. Expect pretty typical help, which means OOS… not much.</p>

<p>High Point unfortunately has a very poor financial track record. Don’t expect much there.</p>

<p>hmom has it right. Your in-state publics and other privates are the places to look. (unfortunate for High Point)</p>

<p>Do you mean that you would live with family if you went to these schools? Not having to pay room and board might make them doable.</p>

<p>That could possibly be an option however I know the University of South Carolina is a few hours away. </p>

<p>I didn’t get accepted to SUNY Cortland’s Sports Management program in high school. Do you guys think if I applied again after two years of college and with my GPA that I’d get in?</p>

<p>What are your safety schools? I’m concerned that you’re applying to schools that won’t give you much $$ for aid. Do you know what your family’s EFC is?</p>

<p>Private schools won’t give you much either if your divorced parents make too much money combined (they’ll be looking at everyone’s income when figuring their aid packages). If the combined incomes is too high, you won’t get much.</p>

<p>Obviously, you can’t save on room and board if your relatives are a few hours away from a campus.</p>

<p>Thumper is right. You need to also apply to some SUNYs that have your major. Apply to SUNY Cortland and a couple of others.</p>

<p>How much do you expect to be earning upon graduation? If you have to borrow too much, repayment will be very difficult. </p>

<p>Someone asked earlier…do you have someone who will co-sign these larger loans?</p>

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<p>True for most Profile schools, but there are a bunch of privates out there that will only look at custodial parent numbers.</p>

<p>^^^</p>

<p>Yes, but those are generally the ones who don’t give much money. That’s why they’re FAFSA only. They can often only offer fed/state money.</p>

<p>I would be more optimistic about Cortland with a solid CC gpa. Does Brockport have this program too? You might also apply to other NY schools, even privates, so you can take advantage of your TAP award. With an EFC of 0 TAP should cover about $5K of your expenses. If you end up at a SUNY, my estimate is that you could keep your loans down to $5K or less a year, including room and board.</p>

<p>I would recommend you apply to Cortland, you have solid CC grades. Also SUNY Fredonia and Brockport offer sports management degrees. Would they be options for you?</p>

<p>My parents income is hardly anything, especially right now. My dad got laid off a few months back. </p>

<p>My mom has great credit however because her income is so low I’m not sure if she would be able to co-sign a loan. </p>

<p>My plan is to major in sports management, however if upon graduation I can’t make enough money to pay loans I’ll obviously switch career paths. </p>

<p>Another thing that I need to consider is that with transferring if I can’t complete my degree in two years I’ll have to go for a third. That is a lot of extra money, if need be. Not to mention I’ve always had the goal of getting an MBA. </p>

<p>I talked to a professor in the sport management program at Cortland this morning. He said he was fairly confident that with my gpa that I would be able to get into their program.</p>

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<p>This is a myth which continues to be propagated on this board. I can thankfully say it is not accurate. There are plenty of private colleges which do not use the profile that have very generous track records.</p>

<p>Would you please list such colleges, scottaa? That would be a big help. Thanks.</p>