Hey everybody,
I’m a rising senior in California beginning the college applications process. One of my top schools is Vanderbilt University, but I simply don’t know if I would get the amount of financial aid that my parents need to consider sending me there. My parents would prefer me to go to a UC, since in state tuition would save us a lot of money, but I was wondering if Vanderbilt (or other top private universities, like Rice or Northwestern) would offer me very much financial aid at all. We make about $143,000 a year, and I have an older brother who will be attending a California public state university in the fall. Basically, I’d like to know if there’s anyone out there with a similar situation who received considerable financial aid from a university like Vanderbilt.
Advice/tips would be appreciated. Thanks for reading!
Try their NPC to see if it is affordable to you.
Just remember that having another student in college at the same time will have a large impact so when the other student is not in college at the same time as you the package will change. So try the calculator with and without one other in college to see what it looks like.
http://www.vanderbilt.edu/financialaid/net-price-calculator.php
And remember, if your family owns property other than your family home or if your family owns a business, the NPC probably will not yield accurate results.
Vanderbilt has nice merit scholarships.
http://money.cnn.com/calculator/pf/income-rank/
Income of $143,000 is the top 11% according to the 2012 census…do you really consider yourself to be upper middle class?
Do you definitely have what it takes to get into Vandy? Not questioning you or trying to burst your bubble, but they do only accept 10-15%.
From what I’ve heard Vandy is generous… For 143K income with minimal savings you are probably looking for about $35K to 40K COA which is not that more expensive than a UC instate full pay. Your family income is not in the proverbial donut hole.
I just reread your post and with a brother in college, your COA might be less than what I mentioned above. Do the NPC.
@Madison85
IMO 143K income is upper middle class.
Thank you all for the responses. Yes, I’d consider myself to be a competitive applicant for Vanderbilt (you can read my other threads) but of course I can’t count on anything. And those stats must be nationwide, because $143,000 a year in California definitely doesn’t go as far as it would in Texas or Iowa. I’ve tried the NPC, would you say that it is fairly accurate? Currently, it isn’t close to the price it would cost for me to attend a UC. I’ll look more into their merit scholarships, but I know that they’re extremely competitive and there aren’t a whole lot of them.
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Currently, it isn’t close to the price it would cost for me to attend a UC. I’ll look more into their merit scholarships, but I know that they’re extremely competitive and there aren’t a whole lot of them.
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What was the result of the Vandy NPC?
merit scholarships will just get applied to need…and those private one’s you’d be applying for are likely only for one year, frosh year, anyway.
Have your parents actually said that they will pay $32k per to attend a UC? Your parents may know the tuition, but may not know that the R&B and other costs of a UC bring the costs up to over $30k. I know a lot of Calif families with incomes similar to your who can’t afford UCs.
@2018dad CoA has a specific definition. It does not change with student’s financial situation but with school. Do you mean EFC or OOP cost?
When you run the NPCs on the various schools, run each twice…one with one child in college and one with two. Also, when you run the NPC with one is college, reduce the household size because your brother will no longer count in the household. .
Your parents need to know now what their approx costs will be once your brother graduates. They’ll lose a lot of FA once the brother is out of school. His CSU costs are so much lower that a big rise in Vandy’s costs may be too much for your parents.
@billcsho
Sorry. Yup I meant EFC.