<p>My family is in no way poor. In fact, I think my family's rather well-off. However, my I have three other older siblings and all of them are in colleges already. This of course makes my family money situation somewhat worse. Should I still apply for financial aid? Do chances of receiving financial aid differs from colleges to colleges? I'm sorry, as I haven't applied to colleges yet. If someone can just give a concrete sense of it, that'd be really appreciated.</p>
<p>Do the others get aid? Run some calculators. And there is always merit aid.</p>
<p>How many siblings will be in undergrad next year? (Grad/med/dental/law schools don’t count)</p>
<p>Are any of your siblings 24 or older?</p>
<p>What schools are you applying to? For some schools, once you don’t qualify for Pell, you don’t get much anyway.</p>
<p>Most schools do NOT have much aid to give.</p>
<p>Merit aid may be better for you. What are your stats?</p>
<p>Will your siblings be in college when YOU are in college? This is the thing that can make a difference in your eligibility for need based aid.</p>
<p>Agreed…do your siblings get financial aid? Did they apply for it?</p>
<p>Also, you need to talk to your parents and discuss college finances with THEM. You need to find out if they have a plan for paying for college for you…and if so, how much the plan to contribute each year.</p>
<p>Fill out the FAFSA and any forms your school (college) requests. That’s the only way to find out for sure whether or not you are eligible for any federal aid and much state aid. Also, most colleges require the FAFSA before they will award any of their own (institutional) aid.</p>
<p>*Will your siblings be in college when YOU are in college? [/I</p>
<p>And…I think that they have to be undergrads and under 24? Right?</p>
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<p>Mom2…this depends on the specific schools. Some will count grad school kiddos in the “number of students in college” count and others won’t. My daughter’s college counted her brother for both years he was in grad school. Some of the other schools where she was accepted clearly said they would not do so when determining need based aid. SO…the OP needs to check the policy at the schools to which he/she is applying…YMMV depending on the school.</p>
<p>^^^</p>
<p>Do you mean some CSS schools?</p>
<p>FAFSA-only schools won’t count grad school kids, right?</p>
<p>No, I don’t think that’s true…if the other kid is enrolled at least half time, and they’re also counted in the parent’s household, then they would count as a student for FAFSA. I imagine that frequently the older kid doesn’t meet the support test in order to be counted in the parent’s household.</p>
<p>Well…it seems odd that a grad student would submit a FAFSA as an independent (I guess household of 1), but then a younger sibling would submit a FAFSA counting that independent student as in the household…</p>
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<p>Some do and some don’t. It depends on the school.</p>
<p>When my son was in grad school, he was still being supported by us more than 50% so he counted in our “number in household”. He was working on a degree so he counted there too. DD’s school allowed grad schools in the count…so he counted. Other schools would have taken him out of the count when they did their calculations.</p>
<p>The only thing that my son was independent for was the FAFSA…and that is only because he had a bachelors degree. He could NOT list his sister on HIS FAFSA…she was not a member of his household and she did not receive more than 50% of her support from him. So…his was a household of ONE.</p>
<p>BUT she was able to list him.</p>
<p>But again…that was her school. Others do not allow this. We know because we ASKED that question of each school to which she was admitted. And some were FAFSA only schools that DID count the grad school sib on the undergrad’s FAFSA (but the grad school sib HAD to be a member of the parents’ household).</p>
<p>Redroses: Is merit aid different depending on the school or is there a certain criteria from the gov?</p>
<p>Mom- all 3 of them are still going for bachelor’s. One is in community college, however. And I want to apply to schools like Penn State University Park, New York University (Stern), UPenn Wharton (bet it’s impossible for me to get in, but miracles happen…), and Villanova is all I know for now. My stats is 94.3 gpa, rank 26/145 on a public school (keep in mind that I got from 92.4 to a 94.3 in my Junior year, taking 2 Honors (English, Chem) and 1 AP (US History) class. I’m hoping to do better next year academically as a Senior, as I’m going to take 3 AP (English, Calc, Euro) classes and Dual Enrollment Advanced Art next year.</p>
<p>As for my extracirricular activities:
Sophomore Year- Snowboarding Club, Track and Field long distance runner (nothing notable), work at family restaurant</p>
<p>Freshman Year- Class President, I got 2nd on States at PJAS (a science fair kind of thing. Know that PJAS is assessed individually, so there are many 1st, 2nd, and 3rd places), Varsity cross country (I was actually automatically Varsity, since our school’s Cross Country team is so small), Debate (my team got 8-0; another team in my school won the whole region’s championship), student advisory, student government, work at family restaurant, Tennis</p>
<p>Junior Year- Student advisor (didn’t run for President again), work at family restaurant, Model UN (nothing notable), Debate (my team got 5-3, but another team in my school got 2nd place in the championship), Varsity Cross Country, JV Tennis</p>
<p>Senior Year- Cross Country Manager, that’s it so far (school just began this Wednesday)</p>
<p>SAT- My second time, I got a 530 on Reading, 660 on Math, 580 on Writing. I know that’s low, but that was because I didn’t study for my first 2 sat. I studied in preparation for the October one so it should be over 1900 at least this time.</p>
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<p>My dad is very unclear about how much he makes. He told me that there is no way he can’t pay off for my college, but would like financial aid, because you know, he wants to save money. So the financial aid, if I’m interpreting him correctly, would not necessarily be necessary, but a definite welcome in this economy.</p>
<p>Thanks, and all response (even about whether or not you think I should apply to UPenn!) will be appreciated!</p>
<p>My dad just told me last year’s income was 108000, if that helps.</p>
<p>*SAT- My second time, I got a 530 on Reading, 660 on Math, 580 on Writing. I know that’s low, but that was because I didn’t study for my first 2 sat. I studied in preparation for the October one so it should be over 1900 at least this time.</p>
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<p>*My dad is very unclear about how much he makes. He told me that there is no way he can’t pay off for my college, but would like financial aid, because you know, he wants to save money.<br>
So the financial aid, if I’m interpreting him correctly, would not necessarily be necessary, but a definite welcome in this economy. *</p>
<p>The part in bold in unclear because you used a double negative. Are you saying that your dad said that he can pay for college? If so, you HAVE to ask him what he means by that. He may mean $20k per year at a state school. He probably doesn’t mean $55k for a private unless he has college savings for you somewhere. A family who makes $108k with more than one in college can’t pay $55k per year out of current income.</p>
<p>You need to ask your dad…how much will you spend each year on college costs. Get a clear figure.</p>
<p>Thanks, and all response (even about whether or not you think I should apply to UPenn!) will be appreciated!</p>
<p>Unless your fall SAT is above 2150, I wouldn’t bother applying to UPenn unless I was a male URM, had some unusual hook, or were from an unusual state…</p>
<p>*My dad just told me last year’s income was 108000, if that helps. *</p>
<p>Well, $108k is a good income, but not really high when you have more than two in college.</p>
<p>Is that your family’s “take home” pay or the family gross income from both parents? Do your parents have a lot of savings/assets/investments?</p>
<p>Does your family own a restaurant? If so, that may be a valuable asset. </p>
<p>Is merit aid different depending on the school or is there a certain criteria from the gov?</p>
<p>Merit aid is from the school. Your stats have to be really high for the school. </p>
<p>If you’re white with a 1900 from the NE quadrant of the country, there isn’t going to be any miracle admittance.</p>
<p>I would also forget about NYU unless my dad said that he will pay $55k per year for NYU. NYU will not give you the aid you need. NYU is LOUSY with aid and you wouldn’t qualify for a scholarship. </p>
<p>**
You need some clarity from your dad about how much he’ll pay each year.** He may not know that NYU or Villanova would cost over $50k per year. Many parents don’t know how much privates cost.</p>
<p>Unless your dad has college fund for you kids, I don’t see how he can pay for several in college at the same time out of current income.</p>
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<p>Merit aid is awarded by the individual schools. There is no “government criteria” for merit aid. Some schools do use financial need as one criteria for SOME merit awards. Merit aid is based on your academic stats.</p>
<p>I’m going to be a bit rough here…I think you need to either raise your SAT scores significantly or get a more well rounded list of schools. Wharton is a HUGE reach. Villanova and NYU are not reaches…but they are not easy matches for you yet…and even Penn State main campus isn’t a sure thing. You need some academic safeties on your list.</p>
<p>^^^</p>
<p>I agree.</p>
<p>And, he needs some clear numbers from the dad about contribution. Will the dad pay $55k per year for a school like NYU?</p>
<p>Mom: I know UPenn is extremely tough and there is probably less than one percent chance of me getting in, but I feel like I must just to see how it goes, or it’ll always be a regret of mine, to not know.</p>
<p>The college price really wasn’t too expensive actually for all my siblings. My older sister is currently going for 2yrs at community college, while my oldest brother is going for his 4th year in state college (Penn State University Park), and my oldest sister is going for her 3rd year in state college (PSU as well). Overall, I think my parents spent about 111000 altogether on college thus far (and thats not including rent for apartments near penn state).</p>
<p>The W2 check just says $108,000 (my mom doesn’t work), but yeah he’s a businessman/enterpeneur/restaurateur so he should have lots of savings/investments/assets, but I honestly don’t know, and he probably won’t tell me. </p>
<p>I’m an Asian (both my parents came from China, my dad never got his high school diploma, and my mom never went to college). I heard that is a disadvantage though hah.</p>
<p>$50000 a year for Villanova? I saw from US News ranking 2010 that they are very willing to give aid, and the cost is usually $10000ish after all is said and done.</p>
<p>And yeah, my dad’s a firm believer in the American dream (as he did rise from being a dishwasher, to where he is now), and he wants me to attain it too. He believes that if I go to a good school, a whole new branch of opportune path opens, and that college cost is to be shrugged off in the long run, as according to him, (paraphrasing) ‘few can take a no-name business college graduate seriously when compared to a recognizable school graduate’.</p>
<p>So yeah, is there hope of getting any aid/scholarship with the statistics I have? Or any aid/scholarship I could likely get if I improve my SAT by x points?</p>
<p>$50000 a year for Villanova? I saw from US News ranking 2010 that they are very willing to give aid, and the cost is usually $10000ish after all is said and done.</p>
<p>Uh…no…</p>
<p>Villanova will not give you a lot of aid. It may give you NOTHING but a small loan.</p>
<p>You’ve admitted that your dad has a lot of savings. He also owns a restaurant. Your EFC is going to be quite high even with siblings.</p>
<p>Schools don’t award aid to those who have high EFCs and Villanova doesn’t meet need. The average aid package at Villanova is Average need-based scholarship or grant award: $25,493…so even if you got that (which I doubt you would), your remaining cost would be $25k per year.</p>
<p>Have your dad do a EFC estimator - he’ll need to include his savings/investments. You can’t count the sibling who will be graduating this next spring. </p>
<p>I don’t know if he needs to include the value of the restaurant building. </p>
<p>[FinAid</a> | Calculators | Expected Family Contribution (EFC) and Financial Aid](<a href=“Your Guide for College Financial Aid - Finaid”>Expected Family Contribution (EFC) Calculator - Finaid)</p>
<p>BTW…only HALF of Villanova’s student get aid, so this idea that students pay around $10k per year to go there is ridiculous. Half pay full freight! And…only about 1/3 of the “need” students got their need met.</p>
<pre><code>* Full-time freshman enrollment: 1,643
- Number who were offered aid: 869
- Number who had full need met: 233
</code></pre>
<p>*SAT- My second time, I got a 530 on Reading, 660 on Math, 580 on Writing. I know that’s low, but that was because I didn’t study for my first 2 sat. I studied in preparation for the October one so it should be over 1900 at least this time.</p>
<p>Or any aid/scholarship I could likely get if I improve my SAT by x points? *</p>
<p>To get merit from a school like Villanova, your M+CR SAT would have to be well over a 1400.</p>
<p>The top 25% of students at Villanova have M+CR SATs above 1400. Merit is given to students who are well in the top 25%…probably the top 5-10%.</p>