Hey everyone, I am currently a freshman attending UMass Amherst, and while I like the school itself (education, professors, ect.) the location, surroundings, and distance from home are very big negatives for me, and I have decided to look into transferring. One of my biggest hurdles is that I wish to get into and go to a school in Boston. My parents do not want me to sacrifice my education for location, so I’ve been looking at good schools that I feel I have a shot at getting into, like Northeastern, BC, and BU (where I am a guarenteed transfer for next fall). My question has to do with aid. I realize that transfer often do not get aid priority, but I need aid to attend these schools as I can’t afford to pay $40-50,000 on tuition for these schools. I plan on doing very well this year (aiming for a 3.8 at the lowest), but I am unsure of how much merit aid I may get. In addition, I used last year’s FAFSA and CSS to use the NPC for these schools and I got very low net prices based on need, but how often does this carry over into an actual aid package? Assuming I have a high GPA and high need, will that make me more likely to receive aid? I realize I will have to take loans and I have loans now, but I don’t want to take out a fortune in loans either and my family is in a bad spot at the moment and won’t be able to help me pay for college past small expenses like textbooks.
NPCs are not accurate for transfers. You’ll need to contact each school to see how they treat financial need for transfers. If they meet need you may be fine. If they don’t meet need then have low expectations.
Both Northeastern and Boston College pledge to meet the full need of all acceoted students, including transfer students. But neither school accepts a large number of transfer students. And the college cost double or more what UMass Amherst costs.
Boston University does not guarantee to meet the need of all students…regard,ess of your status when applying. It also costs more than double what UMass costs.
All three of these schools require the CSS Profile in addition to the FAFSA.
What was your FAFSA EFC for the current year? When you say you need a lot of aid…what does that mean? Both BC and Northeastern are need aware for admissions, so your ability to pay will be considered when your application for admission is considered.
Also, it’s only the third or so week of classes. I would give UMass a better shot than a few weeks.
Do you expect to go home often? Do you need to?
@thumper1 My FAFSA EFC for the current year is 0. I definetely want to get as much aid as possible since I have to pay for pretty much everything myself. I expect to go home every other week and have been, but the cost of the bus to get home has been taking a toll on me and my parents and I would much prefer the city environment. Would a 3.8 or higher be a good enough GPA to have a shot at getting into either Northeastern or BU?
I don’t think you will see the aid you want at BU. But you would have to apply and see.
Northeastern…maybe…again…apply and see.
You would need a stellar GPA to get accepted as a transfer.
While NEU pledges to meet full need, it doesn’t have really deep pockets.
BU does not guarantee to meet full need.
I hate to harp on this…but is there a compelling reason you must go home so often? It’s hard to become part of the fabric of your college when you don’t spend weekends there socializing.
Are you looking at other MA public universities that are closer to Boston? UMass Dartmouth maybe?
It sounds like your parents expect/demand that you come home a lot. If they’re not paying for those trips, you’ll have to just say that you don’t have the money for those trips…period. They can’t make you come home if you don’t have the money. (Even if you technically have money in your wallet, you can truthfully say that you don’t have funds for trips home since THAT money is already needed for OTHER things).
Your grades will have little to no effect on your aid pkg since I doubt that those schools are giving much/any merit to transfers. Your aid will be based on your FA apps.
You have a 0 FAFSA EFC. Don’t those schools use CSS Profile?
Do your parents own a business?
I think you should stay where you are but tell your family that you do NOT have the funds to come home more than once every 6 weeks. Coming home every other week is a bad idea anyway.