With $36k parental income, family of four, one in college, the NPC results are:
Chicago: **$17/b, but after including a $5,700 “Odyssey scholarship” (if you do not get this, it would be $5,717, which would need student work and/or loan)
Northwestern: **$2,731/b
Middlebury: **$5,800/b
Bates: **$5,525/b
Now, all of these are in the range of being able to be student self-funded with student work earnings and/or student federal direct loans (since your parents can contribute $0). You can try to cover the entire net price of Middlebury or Bates on work earnings (i.e. no loans), but that would be kind of a stretch.
It is the case that Chicago and Northwestern will be less expensive than Middlebury or Bates if the NPCs are accurate. However, since these are reach-for-everyone schools, you (and your parents) need to plan for affordable safety options in the event you do not get admitted to any of them. The full rides listed at http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/ may be safety candidates (but check college web sites to verify). http://competitivefulltuition.yolasite.com/ has other full rides, but they are competitive and should not be counted on as safeties. If you have National Merit, look at http://nmfscholarships.yolasite.com/ as well.
“My parents tell me they are willing to help out if the school i end up attending is ivy league status. It’s really unclear to me what they want though, they tell me a lot of things but sometimes it just doesn’t add up.”
Ok, so let’s say Brown came up with a 4K student contribution and the rest covered by grants, they are now saying they’ll come up with 16K for Brown, but not Bates?
There’s no guarantee for anyone that they’ll get into Ivy or equivalent schools like Brown and NU. The fact that your parents are giving you inconsistent information makes it even more important to apply to a variety of meets-need colleges.
Have you looked into full rides for merit (posted just above)?
If you can find a major or honors program you like on those lists, and get a full ride with your stats (what’s your GPA?), you’ll have a safety. And if your parents are prestige-conscious as they seem to be, when the offers come in you can say “Hey, mom, I can take my automatic full ride at X State U, or I can take out the federal loan to pay for my contribution at Bates (or wherever you get in)” and the loans might suddenly become acceptable. And it gives you an option so you won’t be shut out of college altogether. As a top student in a less prestigious college, you’ll have the opportunities to stand out.
This may not be ideal but what about deferring admission and taking a gap year? If you can land a full time job or coble together a couple part time jobs, you could save 1-2 years of your full contibution (student work + parents + loan). Your parents might get a lot more reasonable when you’re a sophomore or junior and need to take out a small fed loan to finish your education. Another option might be an Americorps program.
Adding to thumper’s #42 and others: you may not get into the first choice schools, yours or your parents. You will need a back-up plan. At some colleges named, there can be a lot of competition from kids in IL, especially from the more well-heeled communities.
I get that they don’t want you to take loans, but even the schools that don’t package them often make aid such that kids need them and “student earnings from summer employment.” Go back over the NPC projections. I think you may be quoting numbers aside from work study and summer job. Usually, we suggest subtracting free money (grants, scholarships) from the total cost. That leaves the family nut. Then you examine what that family balance consists of. Maybe you did that, but it’s a little confusing here. (Eg, some are saying you can bite into the family contribution through work, but is that already considered in the bottom line?)
Something else: “dream” colleges aren’t always a rational view. Every college has plusses and minuses. Most offer enough in academics, interaction, and social choices that most kids can find their place. Most reports we see on CC about Chi or NU are very satisfied kids. Same with Midd and Bates. There’s no magic that says, eg, competition at, say, Bates, will be lesser, just because it isn’t an Ivy.
If you like LACs, apply to a variety of them. In the Midwest, the best ones are Grinnell, Carleton, Macalester, and St Olaf; a step below but still very good, you have Lawrence, Kalamazoo, Earlham, Gustavus Adolphus, Drake, Beloit. Show interest at them all.
A 35 qualifies you to apply to McDermott Scholars at UTDallas: it’s more than a full ride scholarship. (Look it up). Deadline is October 25.
That’s a really, really good score. But universities like Bates or Brown are “reach for everyone”. NO ONE, regardless of achievements, can “expect” to get in. Therefore, you need some colleges that are similar to your top choices, but less selective.
My suggestion would be for you to apply to Bates and other LACs, include a couple other universities, give your parents each a “parent pick”, but first of all to find two safeties* and three-five matches.
due to budget issues, Illinois publics are unlikely to be affordable. You should apply, of course, but they're high cost and not especially generous.
If you’re going to consider Midwest LACs, Oberlin and Kenyon should also be considered among the one’s listed “best”…especially if Macalester and St.Olaf.
The fact of the matter is your parents are wanting you to hunt elephants with a BB gun. Any elite college with a full ride is going to have elite competition. Your parents can’t pay and don’t want you to work or take loans to pay for your education. Those expectations are simply unrealistic. Your parents need to see in black & white that their expectations cannot be meet. Here is what I would do. Apply to all the schools they want you to attend. They have to feel out the FASA to see the numbers. Once they see the numbers they will become more realistic. In your case showing them is better than telling them. You use your personal money to apply to the colleges you really want to attend. At the end of the process you guys should be able to sit at the table and go over the hard numbers. Your gonna have too take on loans,workstudy or both. I suspect your options will open up once your parents come to this conclusion. Best wishes.
You can also introduce your parents to the schools you want to attend. Find articles about the schools, take them to college fairs and school college nights. Find some alums from the school your parents would know about, like Hillary Clinton (Wellesley, Yale) Everyone hasn’t heard of Smith and Bates and Vassar, especially immigrant parents. I’ve lived in 8 states, have driven by 100s of colleges, have watch many college football games on TV yet I’m always discovering new schools or new things about schools I’m familiar with. I don’t think many people knew about Lynn College or Centre College until those schools hosted presidential debates. North Dakota State is big in the news this week after beating U of Iowa in football. Ask your parents to keep an open mind about your schools and you need to keep an open mind about their choices.
Educate your parents. Print off the NPC for the schools you like and the schools they like. If any of your neighbors or teachers are alums, have them talk to your parents. A cousin? Boss’s son? Last year’s val or sal from your school? .
feebonaleash, I think you need to change your mindset. Make your own plans and don’t include your parents. All you need from them is the FASSA and the profile. Make the applications you want to make, compare offers, make a decision and make it work. Don’t take money from your parents.
Of course you shouldn’t let your parents know that you’re making your own plans. Be polite and respectful. But this is your life. College is crucial. Your parents shouldn’t be making choices for you, especially given that they are not knowledgeable and they won’t listen to reason.
You can do this. Use the wise parents here for guidance.
^ that’s a lot to need from them. If htey won’t help, there’s no financial aid. I believe the parents have to be on board unless OP finds a merit-based full ride.
Parents have to be on board, but there can be a compromise between the child and the parents, where the parents can each add a “parent choice” but the child is the primary driver for safeties, matches, and a couple reaches.
It seems like you can honestly tell your parents that you have no idea if you’ll have to take out a loan or not at any of these schools. It’s not until you file the application (and the FAFSA) that you find out.
Once acceptances / offers are in hand, you can have another discussion with them about where to go. And you can decide how much you want to listen to them, if they disagree with you.
Also worth knowing that financial aid packages can be negotiable. If similar schools offer dissimilar packages, one may match the other. You won’t know about that until April of your senior year in most cases.
It always surprises me how often the advice on CC is to sneak around the parents or just apply to colleges without letting the parents know. I’d be furious with any teacher or adviser who suggested my kids just do whatever they wanted without letting me know. I’d be furious with my kids for sneaking around, and at that point I’d be a lot less likely to help them in the future.
I also do a LOT more for my kids than just filling out the FAFSA. I’ve found scholarships for them to apply to, figured out ways to apply their scholarships and grants to stretch the money, arranged medical insurance to save money, suggested taking an extra class (one daughter gets money per class), dropping a class (other daughter pays per credit, so pays more if she takes 17 than if she takes 14). I arrange transportation (and pay for it). I had to sign some documents/leases as one child was 17 when she started college. I’ve filed appeals for FA because awards are based on MY income. The OP is applying to schools that also require the CSS, so her parents will have to do more than ‘just the FAFSA.’
If the OP doesn’t want her parents involved, then she needs to wait until she’s old enough to do college without her parents. Sneaking around won’t solve her issue of her parents not liking her college choices. I suggested (and suggest again) that she get her parents to understand how great the colleges he/she has picked are, and how they can afford them with little in loans.
Apply everywhere you can using your fee waiver. See what comes back, and then worry about what your parents think. They seem like the kind of people who should only look at the cards that are actually on the table.
