Hi!
I want to apply to some schools like Vassar, Barnard, Tulane, etc. but my parents have no money saved up for college. They make around $155,000 a year but don’t want to help me pay. Could I potentially get pretty good grants at these schools and help get my cost below $20,000 annually??
Not likely. Barnard and I believe Vassar provide need-based aid only. With a family income of
$155,000, your family’s expected contribution is most likely higher than $20,000. Tulane does have some merit scholarships, but you would need close to a full-tuition scholarship to get costs below $20,000. Have you run the net price calculators for these schools?
What are your SAT or Act scores…and your gpa?
Yeah I have, my estimated out of pocket cost would be around $20,000 with grants and work study
My GPA is 4.4 and I’m working to get my ACT up to a 31. I’m also going to graduate a semester early and earn a semester’s worth of transferable credit at a community college. I also have a decent list of ecs and, I am going to shadow a medical/scientific professional my senior year
If you want to bring your out of pocket below the EFC calculator you need to look for schools that offer “merit aid” without financial need. I don’t think the schools are your list are the right ones - I know Vassar in particular offers absolutely no merit aid. I kind of assume Barnard is the same - but Tulane offers merit aid. It’s really school-by-school but many schools already have very high stats for their “average” applicants so they only offer aid for those with demonstrated financial need.
Just make sure that you are not viewed as a transfer student IF you take those CC courses. At some places you WILL be considered a transfer student and merit aid awarded to incoming new college freshman won’t be available to you.
Also, you want to be 100% certain that your community college courses will be able to be applied towards your degree…otherwise you are wasting time and money taking them. Some colleges will not allow you to use these courses to fulfill degree requirements. Some colleges don’t accept some CC courses because they do not do so.
If you are planning to apply to medical school…will you be taking any CC courses to fulfill medical school required course work towards competency? If so…you probably want to check that too.
Neither Vassar nor Barnard gives merit based awards, only need-based awards. Run the Net Price Calculator on each school’s website to determine your expected family contribution – ask your parents to input the information about their income etc. If the EFC is out of reach for your family, then shift the focus to schools which do give merit awards, such as Bryn Mawr and Mt. Holyoke. Oberlin has some cultural overlap with Vassar and gives merit awards as well.
OP would need full tuition at MHC to get the net cost to $20k. Bryn Mawr’s largest publicized merit scholarship is $30k, which only reduces the net cost to about $40k.
Tulane has made it clear that they are cutting back on merit money to redirect more to need-based aid. They do have some excellent merit scholarships, but the top ones that will cover more than just tuition are pretty competitive. Not saying you shouldn’t apply, just be aware that they are competitive.
Unfortunately schools do look to your parents to cover some/all college costs (depending on income, merit awards, etc). Schools are not going to give you more aid simply because your parents don’t want to help you pay for college.
Have you looked at Macalaster College? It’s similar to Vassar, but it does merit-based financial aid.
Don’t do that! Doing that after high school graduation will ruin your incoming freshman status.
That could make you a transfer student, which usually means worse aid.
As others have written, taking college courses after high school graduation could force you to be a transfer applicant at many colleges, which usually means fewer merit scholarship opportunities, as well as less transparency in admissions (frosh admission selectivity tends to be much more written about and documented than transfer admission selectivity, making it harder to determine reach/match/safety as a transfer in most cases).
Also, there are pre-med implications for taking any college courses, including while in high school. All college courses and their grades from all colleges attended will be included in your medical school application and used to calculate college GPA.
If you do want to take college courses during what would be your 8th semester of high school, see if you can remain officially enrolled as a high school student while taking those college courses, so that you do not lose eligibility for frosh admission at colleges. (But the pre-med implications still apply.)
DO NOT graduate early - use your high school’s dual enrollment (PSEO, Running start, CollegeNow…) to attend for free.
You should have the following classes:
4 years of English including one AP or dual enrollment if possible
4 years of history/social science
4 years of math, through precalculus or calculus (AP stats may be acceptable)
Bio, chem, physics + one more
Foreign Language through level 3 or 4
At least 4 AP classes chosen from the subjects above
Some personal picks
Have your parents said what they expect from you after graduation?
You may have made a mistake. On a $155k income, you’re unlikely to see costs this low with at a school with only need-based aid, unless there are multiple kids in college.
Yes, agree with @ordinarylives
What are they expecting you to do??
Why are you estimating a $20k cost? With that income (and likely some assets and retirement contributions), your net costs would be higher.
Besides, how would you pay the $20k per year anyway???
That is not high enough for merit at schools like Tulane, etc. It may not even be high enough for admission.
And take the SAT as well.
A $150,000 income would likely have a fafsa EFC somewhere between $35,000 a year and $50,000 a year with one student in college. 1/4 to 1/3 of gross income as an estimate generally.