Financial Aid

Paying for College
1

Hello,

Hoping you can help? I am of Mexican descendants having lived and went to college in Monterrey, Mexico. Currently, however, I am living in upstate New York with my family. My son is a senior in HS and has been accepted to some very good schools. I was wondering if his heritage could be useful with regards to minimizing college tuition and other related expenses.

I have heard from others that we should be trying to capitalize on his Mexican heritage having even heard rumors that some students even get “free rides” ? Is this just a myth?

2

What are his stats? Did he qualify for National Hispanic Scholar?

I think his heritage might help more with admissions than aid.

If you are a citizen here and a resident of NY state, the SUNY school are a great option. Hope he applied!

3

First, congratulations to your son on his acceptances.

Your ethnic background may help your son’s chances for admissions at colleges which have preferences for URMs, and at which Hispanic kids are considered URMs. This is most common at private colleges, since many public university systems are no longer allowed to do so. There are also scholarships which are aimed at kids from this or that heritage, but these are generally from outside sources.

In general, colleges themselves provide two types of support. One is financial aid which is dependent on family income, and not on racial/ethnic background, and the second is merit aid, which is dependent on academic achievements. There is also merit aid which is only available to kids from low income families.

I have not heard of any college which will provide a “free ride” to a student based solely on their ethnic or racial background alone. Again, there are private foundations which provide scholarship to students from specific ethnic, racial, religious, or geographical backgrounds, but these scholarships, especially ones that provide any substantial amount of money, are invariably also merit based.

If your kid has been accepted to a college, you should check all of their available scholarships and other types of financial aid, and see whether your kid qualified for any of the types of financial aid provided by that college. Most colleges should notify you or your son as to which scholarship/s he is eligible, and how he should apply to them (sometimes accepted students are automatically considered for scholarships, and do not have to apply on their own).

While most of the outside/private scholarships that are available are relative small (anywhere from $250 to $15,000), they can add up. So it is worthwhile for you and your son to see for which of these scholarships your son is eligible.

May I ask to which colleges he was accepted? That would help people figure out whether there are scholarships available to him. If you provide his GPA and test scores, it would help more. However, i understand if you do not wish to share this information.

4

If you qualify for Excelsior scholarship, he should make sure he applies to some SUNY or CUNY options.

5

Are any of the places he has been accepted affordable for your family now?

If you are only now realizing that money is a problem, talk with him about taking a gap year to get some work experience, and create a better application list.

6

“” I have heard from others that we should be trying to capitalize on his Mexican heritage having even heard rumors that some students even get “free rides” ? Is this just a myth? “”

There are some Hispanic kids with high stats who get NHRP scholarships, but you would likely already know if your child had been named a NHRP scholar.

It’s a myth that simply having Hispanic heritage means getting lots of money. There are just too many students here in the US who can claim Hispanic heritage. Literally millions of students.

Your son is a senior. What are his stats? Where did he apply? Does he have any affordable choices?

7

This should have been researched before he applied.

The schools where he applied will contact you if he qualifies for any URM funding.
Some of the larger scholarships are on the Hispanic Scholarship Fund web site, but there were earlier deadlines.

You could have him take a gap year, work and save some money, then reapply.
Is he a US citizen? Many of these scholarships require US citizenship and a SS#.