<p>I'm becoming very aware that I've started nearly half the threads in this forum...well, maybe that's an exaggeration, but I just have so many questions! I read up on Emory Advantage, but I wasn't exactly sure what it was saying. For someone whose family income is around, say, $95,000 a year for nine people, what exactly would Emory Advantage do? Also, can you still get it if you get a partial scholarship? On Oxford's website, I read that if you get a partial scholarship- that is, you get the interview but don't become an Oxford Scholar- it only lasts two years. If I ended up with that rather than becoming an Oxford Scholar, I'd be in trouble for my two years at the Emory main campus. Of course, I'll be in trouble if I don't get any scholarship OR Emory advantage. I mean, I'll have HOPE, Zell Miller, probably the Georgia Tuition Equalization Grant, and possibly some outside scholarships; I just want to make sure that before I drag my parents up to Oxford in a week or two that I actually know we can make this work.</p>
<p>Emory Advantage caps your total 4-year loans at a certain amount ($15k I believe) if you pay the amount Emory determines with their institutional FA calculation you should be able to pay. And this applies to families making $50-100k with typical assets so I’m guessing it should be you. Also the number of people in your family only affects the amount your parents have to pay by very little unless you have multiple people in college at the same time. Also, know that to count all 9 people in your family, your parents have to provide them with at least 50% of their financial support. But I’d use Emory’s NPC to find out how much Emory expects you pay:<a href=“Net Price Calculator”>Net Price Calculator. It’s usually accurate to a few thousand dollars unless you have a complicated financial situation. Also, if you get scholarships (HOPE, Oxford/Emory Scholars, GA TEG, etc…) they’ll replace your work-study and Stafford loans first, then replace any need based FA you would get from Emory (ie Emory College Grant). It other words, if the amount in merit-based scholarships you get exceeds the amount the NPC says you gotta pay, then it’s a win for you since you would be getting more than if you just relied on need-based FA, but you also won’t get any need based FA at all (their FA unfortunately isn’t always additive). If it’s less then financially you should get the nearly the same as if you just relied on need-based FA than if you got the merit aid, since every dollar of the merit aid you get will just decrease the need-based aid you get one dollar. So I wouldn’t say you’re necessarily in trouble if you only get the Oxford scholarship for 2 years; once you don’t have the scholarship for the last 2 years Emory’s need based FA should just kick in to replace it (or the portion of it until the remaining amount is the amount they deem you can pay). </p>
<p>For example, in your case with a $95k income Emory may expect you to pay $22k (just a rough estimate; again run the NPC to get a more accurate number). The COA is $58k so you have $36k of need. HOPE/Zell gives $4k, the TEG gives $0.7k, and you get a WS award of $2.5k and a stafford loan of $5.5k. That’s $12.7k of non-Emory aid right there (although the WS and loan aren’t real FA). So $36k-12.7k = $23.3k, the amount of “free money” FA you would get from Emory through their need-based Emory College Grant. And let’s say if you got that Oxford/ Emory Scholars merit aid for half tuition, say $21.2k, that’ll just subtract from the $36k of need you have, and after taking out the $4.7k in HOPE+TEG money you already have you would only have $10.1k of need now. They’ll still give you WS+Stafford loan first (total of $8k), so now you only have $2.1k in need, which Emory cover with need based Emory College Grant! Notice how in both cases, you any your family are paying the same amount ($22k out of pocket + $5.5k in loans + $2.5 in WS money you have to earn); the only difference is where the aid comes from!</p>
<p>But honestly, I’d contact their FA office for a better answer…</p>
<p>Thanks for the info, but I talked to my dad and apparently he DOES make over $100,000 a year…I don’t think it’s much over, though, but I guess that doesn’t matter. There are going to be three of us- well, four, since my dad is taking college classes- in college at the same time. /: I’ll get them to fill out that calculator, though.</p>
<p>If your family makes over $100k that means Emory isn’t going to cap your loans anymore. You should still get a good amount of FA though, especially with 3 people in college (parents in college don’t really count).</p>
<p>Sorry to inject some negative news, but we got basically no financial aid from Emory even though our income is $85K. 2 Stafford loans and work study. I was shocked – our income dropped by 50% from last year and we’ve been living off savings and borrowing. I sent in 115 pages of financial documents for an appeal. They just responded – they’re not going to give me any additional funds.</p>
<p>What makes it even worse is my financial aid officer basically said “I think you’re lying” about our finances. She couldn’t understand how we were able to live. I showed her that we’ve drawn down on savings and increased our debt.</p>
<p>You know who’s lying? Emory, and their financial aid department. They don’t meet need.</p>
<p>And by the way, I used their net price calculator. According to that, our contribution should be $38K. Which it’s not.</p>
<p>Good luck.</p>
<p>Sorry about that. /: My dad did the net price calculator the other day, and as it turns out, we would get nothing. Sure, I’ll get HOPE and Zell Miller, but that’d be it. The only way I can go is if I am an Oxford Scholar…my parents at least are encouraging me to try, which is good! As for now, instead of reading every last detail about Oxford on their website, I’m looking into…safety schools…so if anyone has any suggestions, they’d be appreciated!</p>
<p>Thanks. Sorry to be Debby Downer on the financial aid thing. I am just stunned at their response. I think they are very very suspicious of self-employed people’s statement of income, let’s put it that way. If your parents are salaried and make < $100K/year, I think they do come through for you (based on what I’ve read here).</p>
<p>I’m guessing you’re female from your screen name. Would you consider Smith? Great education and generous financial aid. If not, and if you want to be in the South, I would look at Loyola (MD) and U of Richmond. I know one girl from our town who got a very generous fin aid pkg @ Richmond. Not sure what your scores etc are but they might be safeties for you.</p>
<p>I got more or less what I expected from FA. If you’re making 85k and being asked to pay almost half of that, I would imagine you must have some assets or something else must be going on. I’ve met quite a few students whose parents own property that they can’t sell, which drastically increases their expected contribution–even if they don’t have the money available. Remember, the Emory Advantage is for those with typical assets.</p>
<p>The loan cap is only for unsubidiized loans not all loans so no matter what there are going to be some unmet costs and college debt. Learn that the hard way. What I heard was that scholarships lower your unmet costs first before your loans or work studies. Am I wrong?</p>
<p>@Classof2015 Thanks for the list of colleges! I think I have the SAT scores for them- the first time I took the SAT (without studying) I made an 1890, but I’m taking it again in the fall and shooting for something over 2000- but the tuition prices make me a little worried. Right now I’m trying to find a safety school that I know for certain I can attend with or without a scholarship, but where I most likely would get a scholarship. My parents are suggesting Georgia Southern; even though it’s definitely not my first choice, I have been there before (my brother, who was the salutatorian of his class, went there), and I really like the campus, but I guess it’s just not, uh, prestigious enough for me. :P</p>
<p>I found it very hard when helping my daughter to find safeties she actually wanted to go to, so I feel your pain. </p>
<p>You might also want to look at Tulane – not as a safety so much, but another friend’s D (with very similar stats to my D) applied in August of last year, got accepted with a scholarship, filled out some forms and did a project then got a full scholarship. I’m not sure what it’s called but it covers tuition, room & board.</p>
<p>You might want to post your stats on the College Search forum and/or financial aid forum and see what you get. I am definitely not the expert, but your first SAT sitting was very solid! There are a lot of people on these forums who are very good at giving you a list of schools if you lay out the facts for your stats; what you can pay; and what kind of school you’re looking for.</p>
<p>Tulane would be awesome- I have a friend going there this fall and he says the campus is really great- but it’s really far away. I’ll check it out, though. </p>
<p>And thanks for the advice! I’ll definitely have to do that.</p>
<p>aleyna22: I’m guessing you’re from GA right? If so obviously consider UGA and GA Tech, the two state flagship schools, before GA southern. And with the Zell Miller covering all of tuition at these two schools, you’d only have to pay about $12k in room, board, and personal expenses a year, which should be easily manageable with a ~$100k income. But it also really depends on what you want to do. For example, if you wanna do go pre-med, Emory will give you a lot more opportunities than either UGA or Tech. If it’s engineering you wanna do, obviously Tech would be the only choice (or Emory’s 3-2 program with Tech if you also want a degree from Emory). And if you family can’t pay the full price Emory expects them, don’t be afraid to take out some loans as long as you keep them in reason. You only go to college once, and you really want to make the best experience out of it.</p>
<p>Yep, I am from Georgia! While everything you said was true, I can’t go to Tech because my major is English/ Creative Writing, and while UGA is a great school, I don’t want to go somewhere with 30,000+ students. I feel like I should consider Mercer, because I would automatically get a $20,000 scholarship there, but I’ve heard that the majority of the students there are conservative and snobbish…hopefully that’s not true!</p>