According to all the net price calculators I’ve completed to try and figure out what my aid would be, I would receive $0 in aid from any of the schools that I’m interested in.
I understand why-- my dad makes around $270-280k a year. However, my mom doesn’t work, I have 6 people in my family, and we recently bought a new house and my parents have a high mortgage since we bought it for $1.3m.
On top of this, one of my sisters is a year younger than me and will begin college the year after me, making my parents pay for two tuitions at once. I also want to go to medical school after I graduate from my undergrad school, so I want to keep the amount of debt I get stuck in during undergrad to a minimum. Plus, by the time I enter med school, my parents would be paying for 3 of their kids to be in college, since I have another sister.
I really think that I need some financial aid, even if it’s not a lot. I only have one working parent and he has a lot of bills to pay. Would there be a possibility for me to get any sort of aid? I don’t want to pile up so many loans that by the time I graduate med school I would be $100,000’s in debt.
Any advice or suggestions?
FYI, I am a junior in high school right now. Just trying to figure out my aid options so that I know what to expect next year and so that I know which colleges I simply won’t be able to afford.
You won’t receive NEED based aid unless a few of you siblings are in college at the same time with that annual income.
Are you really saying that your familynshould receive need based aid after buying a house worth $1.3 million? That was a choice. Your parents made the decision to,purchase annexoensive home…with a high mortgage payment. College financial aid is not set up to help your family pay the mortgage on your primary residence.
The good news…that $1.3’million house won’t be considered at all on the fafsa. For Profile purposes, it will only be a portion of the equity in that $1.3 million dollar house that will matter.
The bad news…your family income is TOO HIGH for need based aid.
So…what can you do? Look for affordable colleges. Start with your instate public options.
Get a top SAT or ACT score…hopefully you have a top GPA. That could put you in the position for merit aid which is not income or asset dependent.
And lastly…your second parent could get a job to pay for college costs. That’s what we did in this family.
Well, that’s what I’m asking. You said I won’t receive need based aid unless I have siblings in college at the same time. I will have my siblings in college at the same time as me, particularly the one that’s a year younger than me. Would that mean I wouldn’t receive aid for my first year, but I would for the rest, once she’s in college?
It is unlikely you will get need based aid with a family income of $250k+. You might get some when your younger sibling is in school (it would come from the school, not the federal government, and usually only the top top top schools give aid to families with high income even with several in school), but they do not award for that situation until it happens. For the first year, you will not get it. You have to accept that you aren’t middle class, but wealthy, no matter how many new houses you buy.
You can, however, do a lot to keep the costs down. Go to your instate school. Go to a school that gives merit aid for your stats. Apply for Posse scholarships or other outside scholarships based on your interests and talents. See if your state has any scholarships available to residence, find out what the requirements are (gpa, community service, activities, sports) and make sure you accomplish all those things.
I’m in the same situation. Because my family is upper-middle class, I won’t receive any need-based financial aid, even though $65k a year is far too expensive. You could possibly receive merit aid, but only if you really apply yourself to outside scholarships and the like. If you’re thinking of attending a more selective college, merit aid is usually minimal.
Yeah, a lot of my top choice schools are 60/70k per year and that’s just too much to pay. My dream school is Haverford, which isn’t extremely selective, it’s 21%, but it’s like $71k yearly, which isn’t possible for me. The only in-state school that I’d want to go to is Stevens Institute of Tech (NJ), and their usual tuition is around $50-60k; they’re offering me merit aid to bring it down to somewhere between $20-30k. On the other hand, Haverford wouldn’t offer me any merit aid. Stevens is a nice option, but ideally I really would like to figure out a way to go to a school that I’d enjoy. I’d hate to get accepted into my favorite schools and only not be able to attend due to financial reasons.
First of all…even with two in college, your need based aid would be minimal at the VAST majority of colleges with an income approaching $300,000 a year. Remember, the VAST MAJORITY of colleges do not meet full need for all. At most places, you will be offered a Direct Loan…and that’s it.
If you have three in college at the same time, you MIGHT (note…MIGHT) get some need based grant aid at THE most generous colleges…but that’s assuming you get into THE most generous colleges…where the acceptances rate is below 10%.
In addition, you mention income, but you don’t mention assets. Do your parents have any savings accounts, investments, money market accounts, or the like? How about college savings accounts? Those all will count in the calculations for need based aid IN ADDITION to your income.
The best way to save money is not to spend it. So…I would suggest you ask your parents how much they plan to spend on YOUR college costs annually…no wishful thinking…what they can realistically pay.
Then start looking for places where you can get merit aid to lighten the financial load.
If you plan to go to medical school…you want to aim for $0 in undergrad debt.
I don’t like Rowan. And I know about Lafayette, that was one of the schools I was referring to when I said that “a lot of my top choice schools are 60/70k”. I also don’t like the atmosphere of Rutgers, and if I stay in state, the only school I’d like is Stevens.
If you like Haverford, you might also like Earlham, which does give merit aid, is also Quaker, is about the same size and has other similarities to H.
There are probably other schools that would give you merit aid that have a lot in common with some on your list that don’t. We cna make suggestions if you would like to share what you’re looking for.
Your current stats would put you in the running for decent merit aid at University of Alabama, I believe…guaranteed. You posted your stats on another thread. Perhaps you could share them here so folks can point younin the direction of merit aid.
You might want to keep an eye on Temple. They offered guaranteed merit aid, but that might not be continuing because of over enrollment for it…but if they DO, I believe you would qualify.
Stevens is private, and when it is suggested you go to an instate school, usually people are talking about public schools where the tuition for instate students is subsidized. Sometimes there are some grants available for students to use at public or private schools in their states, but those go a lot further at publics. In Florida, Bright futures is about $2300-3000 per year. It pays almost half the tuition at a public school (about $6500) and hardly makes a dent at a private school with a $40k tuition bill.
If you have high stats, you might get a big merit scholarship at Stevens or at other schools. Look at the schools pinned to the top of this forum page which offer good merit awards. You don’t get to be selective and have to open your mind to different areas of the country (south, southwest, midwest), but you might get a lot of aid. You might have more luck if you look at the list and pick a school off it rather than picking a school and then trying to figure out how to pay for it.
If you want to figure out if you will get more (or any) financial aid once your sibling starts school the year after you, play with the net price calculators. Put in the information as it will be for just you in school, and then run it again with 2 in college. It most likely will not show much difference.
As stated above, your parents chose to buy a $1.3 million dollar house. If they bought a more modest house they could contribute more to your education. That was their choice.
Your circumstances aren’t unusual. Many families are paying a mortgage while putting multiple children through college at the same time. The thing that does make your situation unusual is that your family is doing it on a salary that’s ~6 times the median US income. If your mom went to work, it would be higher still. I don’t know of any colleges that offer need based aid to families with a $270k+ income; Stanford is the most generous college that I’m aware of, and their cut off is below that.
All students want a school they’ll enjoy and nobody wants to have to turn a college down due to finances, but many kids have to settle for their local commuter school or cc because that’s what their parents can afford. You need to create a list of schools that are affordable for your family too. How much will your parents pay per year? You can borrow ~$5500/year and earn another ~$3k if you work during the summer, so add ~$8500 to whatever your parents will pay. If the net at Stevens ($20-30k) is their limit, then your budget is ~$28-38k/year. There are a lot of great schools you can attend for ~$30-40k/year.
Start building your list by finding some safeties (schools you’re sure to get into, that are within your max budget, and that you’d be happy to attend). If your dad owns a business the NPCs may not be accurate, so add one or two state schools where you can afford to be full pay.
Then start looking for schools whose guaranteed merit aid will bring costs to within your budget. Add a few financial reach schools if you want, but make sure they’re close enough to your budget that they’d be affordable if you got a little bit of aid. But don’t waste time applying to colleges that are clearly unaffordable. Find something to like about the schools your family can afford.
Your best bet locally might be Temple and hope they offer you merit aid. They stopped automatic merit scholarships last year, and each year the applicant pool is increasing, but it’s worth a shot.
How about TCNJ? It’s in-state and you might get some merit aid which would make it more affordable.
Lastly, you could research the smaller PA state schools (like West Chester or Bloomsburg). They might be cheaper than NJ in-state tuition if you can get some merit aid.
Temple just released its merit to applicants last night and money has gone down A LOT!!! We are also in NJ and are in a similar situation as far as not qualifying for need based aid. My D is seriously considering Alabama because she got 18K in merit aid just based on her numbers. She also got into the Honors College, it is something to consider for sure.
Your family is not “upper middle class”. Your family is part of the 1%! I’m shocked that you think you should get aid when there are many, many families who make much less don’t get any need based aid. Once you do the FAFSA and the CSS (for private schools that require it), you’ll see you are due $0 need based aid. I’m sure with an income like that your parents have a lot of money in non retirement accounts. I have one in college thankfully getting a merit full ride and a second about to go into college who will thankfully have a 529 and the GI Bill. Our only option would’ve been to liquidate money in mutual funds, sell a home or pick a college that wasn’t expensive. You REALLY need to talk to your parents and find out realistically what they are willing (not what they can) spend on your education…and then go from there. If I were you I’d also get a summer job or after school job to show them that you are invested in your education as well. At the very least, that can be your spending money. Best of luck to you and kudos to you for looking into this stuff. Many your age are SO naive and have no clue.