Financial Aid 101? Spooked/scared.

Paying for College
1

<p>I don't really know exactly where i'm going with this, but i'll go with it (greatly appreciate if you read all the ramble)...</p>

<p>So i've now been educated about all of the different kinds of aid and ways to pay for college (merit, loans, scholarships, etc etc.), but I have a huge problem in my household when it comes to costs of colleges and a huge cloud of worry over my head.</p>

<p>Basically, I live in your typical little upper-middle-class teeny-tiny-is-it-even-considered-surburban? Massachusetts town just northwest of Boston. My family makes, according to my mom, just under 90k/yr (which to me is a lot, but not around here apparently...) with a family of 4. We have very significant medical expenses and my parents just took out a loan to "pay the bills". So our financial situation has never been good, but in the past few years with the economy it's just been getting steadily worse.</p>

<p>In HS i've had a rough time my underclassman years, but I think my stats now are 3.3uw, 4.3+ weighted w/ a 1920 SAT (haven't taken any subject tests yet, next fall though!), top half of a very competitive class, blah blah, our school is just a public high school but it's MA and our school is often ranked very high locally blah blah. I love my school.</p>

<p>The thing is we're kind of new to this whole song and dance. My mom went to college for an associate's just out of HS but otherwise I am the only one since then (and before her) to head off to college. I know that I am definitely qualified and will probably be receiving the Adams Scholarship, but otherwise for us it's a shot in the dark. I honestly have no idea how much we might get from the FAFSA or any other federal/gov't aid, etc.</p>

<p>It's a hot button in my house, because my mom is trying to stop me from even applying to a bunch of schools simply because of the sticker price. I want to study Nursing and we jointly agreed on direct-entry schools only, so this limits us to under 10 colleges in MA. My parents and I agree that UMass Dartmouth is for all intents and purposes my first choice (I really like the school as well), but my mom won't even let me consider looking at Simmons or any other college in the city (not that i'd get into Northeastern, but a girl can dream). Heck, as much as we loved UMD when we toured it, my mom isn't even on board with that because they don't have AF ROTC (no scholarship 4 me)! </p>

<p>While I respect and agree with my parent's wishes for me to not be burdened by lots of debt (we have ~1 yr of UMD paid for, otherwise i'm on my own), it really scares me because I'm just worried that I won't get into UMD Nursing (we are also looking at Worcester State and possibly Salem, unsure if Salem is direct-entry, and i've never visited either of these places yet) and I won't have anywhere else to go (my mom won't allow me to apply to UML or UMA, and i'm not interested in attending either). I also tried to argue with her the idea that I won't find out what they offer me until I apply and get accepted, but she doesn't want me to waste my time and money for the application fee. We are also loathe to consider CC and then transfer because Nursing transfers (according to the Dean of Nursing at UMD) are impossible.</p>

<p>So in my house it's a mix of frustration and uncertainly. I'd love it if people could share their own stories with federal aid and aid in general, how much they got, etc., anything to calm my (and my mom's) nerves. And financial safeties would be a huge help as well to add to my list.</p>

<p>And a question about work-study; are there any limits or restrictions? Can you only get a certain amount of $$$? Can anyone do work-study?</p>

<p>So I don't know, that was a huge ramblefest. Thanks if you read it, even more thanks if you reply. c:</p>

2

<p>You won’t get any federal aid.
Your income is about twice as much as it would have to be for you to get that.</p>

<p>Schools probably won’t give you any aid either.</p>

<p>Some schools allow kids with your income to participate in work-study, whereas some don’t. There is a limit, however, on how much work-study you can earn. Generally, you can only earn about $2000 in work-study money.</p>

3

<p>The most inexpensive option is to start at the local CC and then go on to UMD.</p>

4

<p>

</p>

<p>Ignore sticker price - Run the net price calculator for a couple of schools you like. Simmons has an excellent net price calculator that estimates both need-based and merit-based aid. For someone with your stats and finances, I would expect you to get both from Simmons.</p>

<p><a href=“Net Price Calculator”>Net Price Calculator;

5

<p>Your mother is very aware of a lot of the pitfalls of applying where you are unlikely to afford the cost. Nursing programs have become cash cows at a lot of schools, and while you might get accepted, getting the money is a whole other story. Direct entry, from all I have been reading about nursing, is the way to go since, yes, transferring into a program is nigh impossible in many areas. Why aren’t you also looking at UMA and UML? Those would be as affordable as UMD, would they not be.</p>

<p>At your parents’ income level, it is highly unlikely you will get any government money other than self help. Maybe some subsidized loans and work study. DO run the npcs for all of the schools in consideration, using your family’s financials and that will give you some idea of what you can expect in aid. </p>

<p>The reason your mother is not happy about you applying to schools such as Simmons that she knows are unaffordable is that not only the time and expense of applying, but the stress and hurt that ensues if you get accepted and don’t get any money. As a parent, I can tell you that it is one painful sore. My sons were wonderful about immediately taking any school off the table that turned out to be over our affordability, with no visible regrets at all, and it still hurt me. Oh, how I wish, wish,wish, I could have just said, “pick whatever you want, it’s your choice”. But we could not. I’ve seen some kids really stick it to the parents who are already hurting in this regard. Your mother just doesn’t want any such grief. </p>

<p>Still, if there is a chance, there is nothing wrong with giving a try as long as the understanding is firm that affordability is a prime issue. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. You might want to discuss this with her. '</p>

<p>UBuffalo (SUNY) has a direct entry nursing program and your stats make it possible to put you in the running for some money that might make it affordable even as an OOSer. So you might want to give that a look too.</p>

<p>Your most important mission, however, is finding a some schools with a good chance of getting into your program of choice that you can afford. Once that base is covered, you can go to town on whatever schools you please. But with your choice of nursing, there really are few sure things. I think you may have to have a community college or two on your list just in case so that if direct entry does not work out, you have some other options.</p>

6

<p>Wow! Sorry i’m so late, but thank you all for the replies - they are all helpful. :)</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>My parents are uh…how do I put this? They’re crazy Republicans (but I have nothing against the red!)…Which is not even relevant, but in all seriousness my dad is a (part-time) cop and my parents are worried for my safety if I go to UML or ZooMass. I don’t particularly think i’d be happy in as large of a school as UMA and I personally don’t mind UML. But the family hath spoken.</p>

<p>So i’m glad to hear that i’m kinda-sorta on the right track. I was trying to explain to my mom the other night that we will probably not get much money back on the FAFSA and that government aid overall will be small, but i’m not sure if she totally understood it. This stuff is way too complex, yo. u_u.</p>

<p>I definitely have a lot of links to pour over now…first, that calculator. The magical calculator approximates that, including grants and “self-help,” it would only cost me $12k/yr to go to Simmons. Jaw dropping ensues, even though I know it’s not 100% accurate. I probably finagled a lot of the financial stuff for my parents (I don’t ask them how much they have in their savings and whatnot, because that’s rude, but I included what I know), but the merit stuff is pretty accurate. I’ll definitely run more calculators of the schools i’m really interested in going to. I’ll also broaden my horizons a little as far as what schools should end up on my list.</p>

<p>You guys are all awesome. Thank you. c:</p>

7

<p>

</p>

<p>That’s a good idea. Keep in mind, however, that not all of the net price calculators estimate merit aid, and that the ones that do include merit aid may not be very accurate. But as you saw from Simmons, the calculator can tell you that you’ll likely be in the running for significant merit aid.</p>

<p>Most merit aid is competitive, so subjective factors beyond stats will enter the picture, and one of those factors is usually “demonstrated interest”, meaning schools may be influenced to give you aid by the level of interest you show in them (visiting school, asking lots of questions, contact with staff, early application, etc.)</p>

8

<p>Merit numbers are the most subjective so I would not count on that. Because you are looking at a very competitive program, nursing, eliminating any state options is not a good idea. Just getting accepted can be an issue and getting money for it is even more difficult. I’ve known nursing students and others who are applying to “hot” departments with higher stats than the run of the mills students and not getting a dime or not getting accepted while those with the lower stats going into the more general areas are not only getting accepted but getting money as well. That’ s because a given school might be able to fill its nursing class 5 times over with full pays but can run short on the general student body. One of my kids ran into this when trying to get into a musical theater program. Again, high demand as compared to other departments at a given school, so the program had high selectivity even though it would be easy to get into some of those schools as nearly any other major. When you are applying to a specialty program, your chances for anything are not the same as everyone elses.</p>

9

<p>Simmons does collect intended major as an input in the NPC, but we can’t know if they are customizing the results based on that or not.</p>

10

<p>Yeah, they did ask for the major, so I put nursing, but again, no word on whether that factors in or not. All I know is it costs an additional 3k/yr to be a nursing major there, which made me die a little inside.</p>

<p>But these calculators are oddly addicting. I found UMD’s calculator, plugged in for funsies and got…nothing! besides work study. Didn’t get anything from BU either (not even considering going there but it was one of the few for MA available, so I went with that), but most schools in the city were ‘giving’ me 15k/yr. Checked out calculators for other colleges i’m interested in, and overall Simmons was the most generous. Yikes. So I definitely am skeptical about these things, but i’m glad I was pointed in the right direction.</p>

11

<p>Elleya, once you have your bases covered, with a school that is reasonably certain to accept you and is affordable, you can apply whereever you want and see how it works out. Just realize that your mother does not want to deal with the emotional pain of not being able to afford a school that accepts you. SO if you so apply, then it might be a good idea to throw it out if the money does not work out without involving your mother. That’s what our kids did. No money, off the table it went.</p>

<p>A problem might also be your major, as was my one son’s. If you want to get into a program that is so selective that no one is guaranteed a spot anywhere, you need to make a back up plan for that as well. I don’t know how selective the nursing programs are and what your chance are to get accepted into one. </p>

<p>Once you have some certainties in place that you can afford, anything goes. Just understand that they are lottery tickets.</p>