Extremely low income--options?

College Search & Selection
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<p>tl;dr What are some options that I have as an URM with decent academic achievement, laughable ECs, and no way to pay for school?</p>

<p>My mom made ~$15k last year. We're just a family of two and she's divorced my father. I can only imagine that he makes six figures since he's an immigration lawyer down here in Southern California, and has hinted at buying a sports car. He pays $12k child support/year, but that's going to end this January when I turn 18. My sister is in her final year at U. Seattle, but is in LOADS of debt since my father refused to financially aid her. I have a decent relationship with him, but I know it was nothing like what my sister had with him (she's stopped talking to him) so I'm unsure about whether he'd even consider helping.</p>

<p>My dream was to somehow get past QuestBridge's first round so that I'd be eligible for some financial aid.</p>

<p>Didn't happen.</p>

<p>As a result, I'm pretty lost. It was a hell of a mistake, but I hadn't really considered how my education would be financed in the future until I heard about Quest Bridge earlier this year. I feel like I'm really late into this game. Will I have to go into debt like my sister? What are some universities I can apply to? I'd like to be an engineer, and I'm crossing my fingers, hoping I can get into UCB, UCLA, or UCSD. I'll list some of my information to see if anyone can help make some recommendations.</p>

<p>3.8 UW/ 4.5 W GPA
2150 Superscore SAT
URM: Salvadoran
ECs:
I single-handedly put together a video game tournament to raise some funds for Child's Play Charity
I'm an editor for the school yearbook
Regular actor for school plays
I'm a National Hispanic Scholar</p>

<p>Schools I'm looking at/have applied to are: UCB, UCLA, UCSD, UCMerced, UCD, Cal Poly SLO, USC, Rice, GaTech (EA), V Tech, Purdue, UIUC, Carnegie Mellon, Harvey Mudd, and my four shots in the dark: CalTech, MIT, Stanford, and Cornell</p>

<p>I'll be applying as a Chemical Engineer to these schools.</p>

<p>I'm really lost here, guys. I'll be applying for small scholarships here and there, but not even making it past round one for QuestBridge is really a wake-up call. I know that it was pretty damn prestigious... I guess I was just ignorantly betting on myself.</p>

<p>Thanks for your time--I really appreciate any advice anyone can give me. It's a great charity you guys are doing for the students here--thank you!</p>

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<p>So your mother didn’t negotiate college contribution as part of the divorce I take it?</p>

<p>The FAFSA only schools are your best bet because most other colleges will take your Father’s income into account. Didn’t you have to report it for QB? So hopefully the UC will work out for you as they will meet need for your income level–you should have applied to all of them though. Assuming you are instate, you are right? Why did your sister go into debt for an OOS college? Don’t make that mistake. At the OOS colleges you will be paying the premium OOS rate and likely not get any aid at the ones you mentioned.</p>

<p>All these colleges will use noncustodial parent income for your aid calculation: Carnegie Mellon, Harvey Mudd, and my four shots in the dark: CalTech, MIT, Stanford, and Cornell.</p>

<p>Basically you are very late in the game for merit aid. There are deadlines that have passed. Now you can hustle and put in some applications at a few of the colleges that will give you automatic tuition guarantees for your stats. What is your M+CR single sitting? You may qualify for full tuition at univ of alabama, but get the application in by Dec 15. Engineering majors also get 2,500 per year merit aid. The application is no essay you can do it quickly. Then look over this list:
<a href=“Automatic Full Tuition / Full Ride Scholarships - Financial Aid and Scholarships - College Confidential Forums”>Automatic Full Tuition / Full Ride Scholarships - Financial Aid and Scholarships - College Confidential Forums;

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<p>How much can your family contribute per year? I understand it will be low, but is it zero? </p>

<p>Compared to the UCs, out-of-state publics like GT, VT, Purdue, UIUC will be expensive. Cal Poly SLO will be expensive. USC, probably expensive. Mellon, Cornell, Rice, Mudd, CIT, MIT, Stanford are reaches. The UCs are your most realistic options with affordability and admission. </p>

<p>You might be able to add a few more good options (and cut others). @mom2collegekids should be around to offer advice. </p>

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<p>I want to encourage you @Xenmas021 - University of AL has an awesome engineering program. @mom2ck can give you a lot more info on what UA merit will be for Nat’l Hispanic Merit (as well as tell you about CA schools from her experiences; she is very knowledgeable and can help you). My dau is in the eng program (civil eng) and loves UA - she has a Presidential Scholarship and Engineering Scholarship (those are both automatic based on ACT/SAT + GPA). Easy on-line application - but has to be in before Dec 15. Get your best ACT/SAT test score sent. UA does not superscore. Also you are eligible for honors college (HC), so a quick application for that also - a big benefit of HC is class priority.</p>

<p>You can later decide and weigh out what college will best fit for you financially and fit for you as a student.</p>

<p>A CA friend has a son studying ME at Cal Poly SL and he loves it there. </p>

<p>If interested, if you PM me, I can PM with you more about my experiences/knowledge of GaTech, V Tech, Purdue, UIUC, Carnegie Mellon, Harvey Mudd, MIT, and Cornell - friends or friends’ kids that have gone there. However I can also confirm that many on your list may not give you enough as a NHMF/S - some in those states actually find UA offers the engineering students better OOS scholarship because the student is high stat.</p>

<p>UA has built up STEM faculty and facilities over the last 10 years - beautiful facilities. Beautiful campus. The OOS scholarships for high stat kids has attracted many students from CA, which may surprise you. Look at the campus video clip, look at the web site, contact HC. And although students attend UA for getting a degree, the fall college football excitement is a real plus - students can attend all other sport home games free with their student ID, and the home football student tickets are $10/game although sell out quickly and freshman are only eligible for half the home game package. So there is ‘free’ opportunities for seeing things like the baseball/softball/gymnastics on-campus competitions - a break from academics or working.If you have applied yourself well at HS, you will make the college transition with a challenging major. My dau worked very hard at HS (hers was college prep, so she was use to the homework load and with smart students); she is in UA Million Dollar Band, and her grades at UA are great in eng - but she is very focused on having the study time. UA has a really positive campus feel; parents get ‘sucked into it’ too.</p>

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<p>You should also try those full ride scholarship schools. Howard is one. </p>

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<p>The Howard one is first come first serve. So get some of the apps in for schools that will give you money. You can worry about other apps later. At least you will have some choices later, you can always turn it down if you want.</p>

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<p>If you are a California resident, UCs and CSUs should come be reasonably priced after financial aid (though you will have to take federal direct loan and earn a few thousand dollars from work), since they only require FAFSA (i.e. do not require your father’s financial information). But out-of-state publics generally won’t be affordable. Private schools that require your father’s financial information won’t be affordable if he is unwilling to pay or unwilling to fill in financial aid forms.</p>

<p>You may want to look at merit scholarship schools. Apply quickly, since deadlines are coming up. With merit scholarship schools, you can probably afford a remaining cost of $10,000 to $15,000, depending on your willingness to take federal direct loans (up to $5,500) and work to add to the Pell grant you are likely to get (up to $5,700 or so).</p>

<p><a href=“http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/”>http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/&lt;/a&gt; has some that can be used as safeties. Those with engineering (assuming SAT CR+M >= 1400):</p>

<p>Alabama: remaining cost about $11,000
Alabama - Huntsville: remaining cost about $10,000
Tuskegee: remaining cost about $3,000
Howard: remaining cost about $4,000 (first come first served)
Florida A&M: remaining cost about $13,000
Louisiana Tech: remaining cost about $5,000
Temple: remaining cost about $16,000
Prairie View A&M: remaining cost about $6,000</p>

<p>There are also non-safety candidates listed at <a href=“Competitive Full Tuition / Full Ride Scholarships - Financial Aid and Scholarships - College Confidential Forums”>Competitive Full Tuition / Full Ride Scholarships - Financial Aid and Scholarships - College Confidential Forums; (competitive big merit scholarships).</p>

<p>Note: for big merit scholarships, check if there is a college GPA to continue or renew the scholarship. 3.0 is generally not that hard to get for a top scholarship student, but 3.5 may be more stressful to maintain.</p>

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<p>Alabama won’t likely be affordable for you. There is no Nat’l Hispanic award. There are some NH awards in Texas and NM and maybe Arizona…look THERE.</p>

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<p>Take off all the OOS publics, except ones that give HUGE NH awards. Purdue, VT, UIUC and any other OOS publics will not be affordable. They will not give you the aid you need.</p>

<p>WHO co-signed your sister’s debts??? </p>

<p>Applications take a lot of time and money…don’t bother with ones that surely won’t be affordable…ie VT, GT, UIUC, Purdue</p>

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<p>Wouldn’t a Pell grant + federal direct loan + some work earnings cover the remaining cost of Alabama after the full tuition + $2,500 scholarship?</p>

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<p>^^
Yes, maybe…I forgot that the student will be ChemE and getting the add’l 2500 per year, which could make the difference. The student can apply now before the scholarship deadline and then figure things out.</p>

<p>He’d have to apply NOW…the scholarship deadline is the 15th!</p>

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<p>@BrownParent‌ Unfortunately, she did not. We’re considering taking him to court for it, but I’m unsure why she didn’t do that for my sister. I’ll ask–I’m in school right now, sorry. In all applications I’ve sent in, I’ve had to omit my father’s income since he doesn’t want to provide it. Good for me at least, right? Here’s a breakdown of my two SAT scores:</p>

<p>650M / 680 CR / 720 W = 2050
750 M / 620 CR / 670 W = 2040</p>

<p>So my M+CR single-sitting is only 1370.</p>

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<p>@Dunboyne‌ Hmm… I need to break the big question to my father. If all works out well, he MAY be coaxed into aiding me. The story goes that he was giving $1,000/mo for my sister for the first two months. But the he just… stopped. I don’t want to get into family drama or anything, but it seems as if he had some family that didn’t like him paying for my sister.</p>

<p>My mother is slowly climbing back up into the real estate market, and my sister is soon going to be working. I’d have to ask how much they can contribute.</p>

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<p>@SOSConcern‌ Wow, thanks a lot! I’ll definitely start and finish that application ASAP. I’ll be pming you later today, thanks!</p>

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<p>@ucbalumnus‌ Sadly, I don’t think I’m eligible for those. Well, my single sitting CR+M is 30 points below 1400. Superscored,I’m at a 1430, however. I don’t know if that will be considered.</p>

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<p>@mom2collegekids‌ Ah, here’s the fabled mom2collegekids, lol</p>

<p>My grandmother co-signed my sister’s debts. I’m eligible for fee-waivers, so I’ve been applying to as many as possible to maximize my options in the future, but you’re right about the time it takes. Lotsa headaches.</p>

<p>I’ll start the Alabama app right now–it seems very urgent.</p>

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<p>It seems like my fears are realized–I’m pretty constrained to the UCs. Bummer, because Rice and GaTech were really schools I’d like to get into aside from UCB, which is as much of a reach for me as any Ivy.</p>

<p>My sister went to UCSC and then went to USeattle for post-grad–sorry for not clearing that up.</p>

<p>But seriously–thanks a lot to everyone who’s helping me right now. It’s almost mind-blowing how helpful you guys are–thanks again for your time. I’ll start that Alabama app today and see if I’m even eligible for merit scholarships. I’ll also give my sister a call to get specifics on her financial situation–I’m not sure if my mom knows much. Thanks! </p>

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<p>@Xenmas021‌ </p>

<p>Although it might be a bit of a stretch, you might want to consider applying for the Gates Millennium scholarship. It’s targeted at URMs and favors STEM majors (in my opinion), and you have pretty strong academics. It’s a long process, but if you have nothing to lose, you might as well try (the deadline is on the 15th of January, so you have time to get everything together). </p>

<p>I know plenty of people who received the scholarship who were in the same situation as yourself. If you want advice on it, feel free to message me.</p>

<p>The only problem that might stem from it is your EFC. If you are claiming just your mother’s income, there should be no problem, however. From what I can tell, your mother is your primary caretaker, yes?</p>

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<p>U Alabama does not super-score, and they require a CR+M >= 1400 to be eligible for the (most generous) Presidential Scholar OOS award. You qualify for the next level, the UA Scholar, but it is ~$8,000 less per year. </p>

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<p><a href=“http://scholarships.ua.edu/nationalscholars/”>http://scholarships.ua.edu/nationalscholars/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Am I missing something? This says National Merit or Achievement scholars. So he/she doesn’t qualify? Would be worth contacting them and clarifying maybe?</p>

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<p>Many of those listed have thresholds lower than 1400. E.g. Alabama for engineering needs a 1330. Actually, it may be only that Louisiana Tech needs a 1400, and Howard has a somewhat lower scholarship for scores a little less than 1400, but the others may give you the same amount for your 1370.</p>