Financial issues?

College Search & Selection
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<p>So right now I'm a junior in HS, thinking about college, etc. I've been looking around at colleges (very exciting!) and have found a few that I really like, BU and Carnegie Mellon especially...</p>

<p>Anyway my father just told me yesterday that basically he's going to contribute $100,000 towards my college education. He told me I could go somewhere that was <$25,000 a year or choose somewhere more expensive and take out a loan....and end up like this person he was reading about in this article who was working a minimum wage job from attending NYU and racking up a huge debt.</p>

<p>This is probably a really naive post but I am pretty confused. How easy is it to get scholarship money? And it would be easier from less prestigious schools, right? My grades are nowhere near exceptional....take all honors (/AP lang and US this year) but get a pretty equal mix of As and Bs. GPA of ~3.6ish. My ECs are alright I guess...marching band, percussion ensemble, and art, ballet and piano as hobbies.... </p>

<p>I want to major in something w/ visual arts but am slightly reluctant about having to create a portfolio and all that stuff....not too versatile (mainly I've concentrated in photography). Will a strong portfolio/art supplement increase my chances at getting a scholarship? I know I have to first sort out exactly IF I want to go for it and prepare a portfolio and whatnot.</p>

<p>Or am I stuck going to Rutgers?....I understand it's a great school, it's just...so. close.</p>

<p>Thanks so much and once again, sorry for my naivety. I've tried to do some research but it's all pretty confusing. Also, is there anywhere to find a good estimate of tuitions? On collegeboard it doesn't seem very concise.</p>

2

<p>Do your parents feel they don’t qualify for financial aid? </p>

<p>Have them run the EFC Calculator on the Collegeboard website, choose FM & IM and hit “Save” to save their tax return numbers. </p>

<p>Obviously if their EFC (Expected family Contribution) is over the Cost of Attendance at most schools (Like way over 50k, for instance) then you probably won’t qualify for financial aid. </p>

<p>If you don’t qualify for need-based aid and your parents only want to pay 25k a year then you may end up at your instate public (Rutgers) OR you could look at private schools where you may get some merit aid. But you are starting early to look, so that is a good thing! </p>

<p>There are a lot of very knowledgeable people on this forum who can help you! :)</p>

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<p>I’m in a similar boat as yours (parents can afford publics but privates will be a bit of a stretch no matter how much I’d like to go). First of all, if you have $25k, you’re in a much stronger position than many other people, and I’ve learned to count myself lucky that I won’t be depending on merit/financial aid just to go *somewhere *decent.</p>

<p>Like SLUMOM said, you might be surprised at where you end up getting merit aid, so don’t cross off BU or Carnegie Mellon. For example, the school that my parents went to is OOS for us, and we decided it definitely wasn’t worth OOS tuition. Then I ended up getting a $10k/yr scholarship, bringing it down to just about the cost of my instate school. I know a lot of other people who applied to schools slightly out of financial reach, and got some pretty generous scholarships.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

4

<p>No, my family seems to have fallen just above qualifying for financial aid.</p>

<p>Oh man…this is worse of a situation than I thought when I started carefreely looking at colleges. But it definitely could be worse and I’m very lucky! Thanks for the replies.</p>

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<p>You can get lots of good ideas about financial aid by reading the threads in the Financial Aid Forum, and you can get ideas about your portfolio from the threads in the Visual Arts/Film Majors Forum. Click on “Discussion Home” in the upper-left of this screen, and scroll down to find them.</p>

<p>You are truly fortunate to have enough money in your college fund to pay for your full in-state costs. Most families don’t even have that. You also are truly fortunate that your parents have let you know your situation early in the game. There is time for you to figure everything out!</p>

<p>Wishing you all the best!</p>

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<p>[Alfred</a> University : Financial Aid : Undergraduate Freshmen Scholarships](<a href=“http://www.alfred.edu/finaid/freshmen/scholarships.cfm]Alfred”>http://www.alfred.edu/finaid/freshmen/scholarships.cfm) Merit Aid </p>

<p>[Alfred</a> University : Undergraduate Cost of Attendance](<a href=“http://www.alfred.edu/finaid/undergraduate_cost.cfm]Alfred”>http://www.alfred.edu/finaid/undergraduate_cost.cfm) COA </p>

<p>Take a look at Alfred University (NY) and the COA: (Cost of Attendance) </p>

<p>College of Liberal Arts = $37,472
School of Business = $37,472
School of Art & Design = OOS-$32,524 In-State-$26,778
School of Engineering = Varies by Program, some are private, some are NYS-affiliated </p>

<p>With the possibility of merit aid of between $10,000 to $14,000 per year, an excellent value for families who do not qualify for need-based aid. </p>

<p>2200 Undergrads, small classes-know your professors, great academics, Division III Athletics, set in small charming village of Alfred, NY. Alfred State is across the street from Alfred University. No Greek Life, housing for all 4 years! Shuttles run to Rochester & Buffalo airports at peak vacation times. </p>

<p>Princeton Review’s Best 373
Fiske Best Value
USNWR’s Great Schools Great Prices
Fiske Guide 2011
Fiske, Small Schools Strong in Engineering
Fiske, Small Schools Strong in Art & Design
USNWR’s Regional Universities-North </p>

<p>Rolling Admissions, Honors Program, Co-op Engineeering Program. </p>

<p>Feel free to send me a Private Message about Alfred University.<br>
Best of luck in your college search! :)</p>

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<p>Work as hard as you can to get the best grades you can this year. Junior year grades are very important.</p>

<p>Also, take the SAT and ACT…take both…some do better on one than the other. To get merit scholarships, you need a high ACT or SAT and a strong GPA. </p>

<p>Many of the top schools do NOT give merit scholarships (and the few that do require super high stats). It sounds like your best opportunities for good-sized merit scholarships are from mid-tier schools. With your dad’s $25k per year and a merit scholarship, many schools will be affordable…but they won’t be TOP schools. However, they will be GOOD schools. :)</p>

<p>Have you taken the SAT or ACT yet? If not, sign up for those tests. How did you do on the PSAT?</p>

<p>You’re not “stuck” going to Rutgers…you probably will have options.</p>

<p>What kind of visual arts major are you considering? Why are you reluctant about doing a portfolio? Are you unsure of that major?</p>

<p>At some schools, getting scholarship money is easy if you have good stats. Some schools have automatic scholarship for certain stats. If you have the stats, you get the money.</p>

<p>At other schools, scholarships are competitive. Those schools have a limited number of awards, so they look over the applications and select some kids to award them to. </p>

<p>Typically, to get a good merit scholarship, your test scores need to be WELL INTO the top 25% of the school. </p>

<p>So, if a school’s mid-range of ACT scores is a 25-28, and the school gives merit scholarships, then the better scholarships will likely be given to those students who have an ACT 30 or higher (or SAT equivalent). A good GPA is also usually needed…usually 3.5 or higher.</p>

<p>Re: loans. Taking out big loans as an undergrad is a BAD IDEA. Plus, your dad may not know that HE would have to co-sign those big loans…which he probably wouldn’t do. Your dad is right about the horror stories of kids borrowing too much and then struggling to pay those loans back.</p>

<p>Students can borrow SMALL amounts with federal student loans. </p>

<p>frosh $5500
soph $6500
jr $7500
sr $7500</p>

<p>If you do go the art major route, I strongly advise against borrowing much at all. Art grads usually don’t make much money.</p>

<p>I’m not sure if CMU gives merit scholarships…but if they do, they’re going to go to students with super stats (stellar test scores, very high GPAs).</p>

<p>BU can be chintzy with scholarships and aid.</p>

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<p>BU & CMU are both over 50k and not noted for merit/need-based aid.
Try to look at “Great Schools Great Prices” or “Best Value”. USNWR’s & Fiske. </p>

<p>Try to be open-minded, look at National Universities, LAC’s & Regional Universities. </p>

<p>Remember, Ronald Reagan was an alum of Eureka College (IL)!</p>

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<p>If you have a 1400 (CR+M) SAT, you’ll have free tuition at Alabama, Utah State, LSU, and (perhaps) Ole Miss. If you’re a little under that range, you can get a big enough scholarship at Arizona State to bring the Cost of Attendance down under $25K. Baylor has an online merit scholarship calculator on its site that will tell you how much you’ll get there. OOS tuition, room and board at Minnesota is under $25K.</p>

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<p>I’m finding they are not equal… that is, there tends to be a floor for GPA, but SAT is king.</p>

<p>A few schools I’ve looked at are like this: </p>

<p>1) Unweighted GPA 3.5 or higher
2) SAT: 1300 = $x, 1400 = $y, etc.</p>

<p>Having a 3.8 vs. a 3.5 doesn’t seem to do anything at these few places I’ve looked.</p>

<p>Alternatively, some schools are very concerned about top 10% class rank, or not. 11% doesn’t cut it, etc.</p>

<p>My advice: spend most of your discretionary time prepping for the SAT and ACT, even if it means you get a B in one of your classes instead of an A because of your diverted time and energy. One grade is 5% of your GPA, whereas your SAT or ACT is equivalent or more in importance to all 20 of your core classes combined.</p>

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<p>^^^</p>

<p>I completely agree…</p>

<p>There is a huge pool of kids with high GPAs (which is why a high GPA alone rarely gets you much, if anything).</p>

<p>there is a smaller pool of kids with high test scores.</p>

<p>There is an even smaller pool of kids who have both high test scores and high GPAs…THESE are the kids that get the big merit. </p>

<p>From what I’ve seen, of the schools that give big merit, if your test scores are in the upper 5-10% of the school, you have the best chances for big merit (and you need a high GPA as well).</p>

<p>Sorry if I wasn’t clear. :)</p>

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<p>Hi everybody. Thank you so much for your responses. They are very comforting and make me feel less in the depths of despair!</p>

<p>My PSAT score was about 205. I didn’t really study at all. I took the SAT for the first time in January and don’t think I did very well…I was hoping for a 2250+ (dream is to be in the 23’s) but don’t think that happened…however, I am confident if I will be able to achieve that with another shot (and a lot of studying!). Not to seem arrogant or anything but I would consider myself a bright person. My grades in math and science have always lagged behind, and that, in addition to some unfortunate teachers.</p>

<p>mom2collegekids, concerning visual arts, for some time I was obsessed with becoming a photographer/making it in the fashion industry, but then I realized that I want to make a larger impact and be more engaged with the world. I love documentaries and NPR so my dream would be to make documentaries or work in radio/photojournalism. More realistically, I am interested in Design/Visual Communications where I may be able to use my skills to illustrate information and inform people. Sorry if this is really vague lol I’m kind of tired and I hope my writing is coherent. Anyway that is mainly why I was so interested in Carnegie Mellon…they’re Communications program seems very strong, but I suppose that is not really feasible anymore. I’m also just looking at general Communications program that are not visual arts related but I’m still very uncertain…</p>

<p>I’m pretty particular about my choices already, unfortunately…I’m not interested in partying or frats…on a Friday night, I’d rather be watching a documentary or making a cake, haha. Also I want to go somewhere that is really diverse…being Asian, and attending a diverse high school, I can’t imagine not being around the same diversity. I understand that I’m probably being too picky though and have to compromise somewhere…</p>

<p>Perhaps at this point it would be best to consider liberal arts colleges? I’m just concerned about how I can guess which schools will have a greater chance in offering merit aid.</p>

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<p>Ohhh I started writing that way before you guys commented. \I will be sure to focus on my SAT. I was hoping that would be the case because like I said before, my GPA is average/low (well considering where I want to go) but I know I am capable of a pretty high SAT score.</p>

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<p>Bump! Still need advice! =]</p>

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<p>CMU will give you NO money, we have two kids last year from my HS accepted into SCS at CMU they had stellar stats. One of the two was one of best friends he had completed 13 AP classes with 5’s on all exams, a 2400 SAT score, 36 ACT a perfect 4.0 GPA, class valedictorian, weighted GPA was a 6.0, National Merit Scholar, AP Scholar, he was also a recruited athlete and he was did not come from a very rich family and CMU gave him NO MONEY. He had to take loans and he did but he will be in massive debt when he is done but Computer Science does pay well so he will be able to make it up.</p>

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<p>I find it VERY hard to believe a 4.0 valedictorian with a 2400/36 got NO scholarship from Carnegie Mellon IF they got all their financial info in on time for the scholarships. However, it is worth noting that you need to have extremely excellent stats for scholarship $ there.</p>

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<p>They did, Carnegie told them that they can go if they can pay their own way. Look at Carnegie’s Endowment it is 800Million dollars, that is a very insufficient amount to run a institution at the caliber of CMU.</p>

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<p>OP, look at LAC’s if you like, but some of the higher ranked ones give no merit aid.</p>

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<p>*CMU gave him NO MONEY. He had to take loans and he did but he will be in massive debt when he is done but Computer Science does pay well so he will be able to make it up. *</p>

<p>Not to go off-topic, but CS majors don’t get paid more for graduating from CMU. This student is not doing himself any favor by racking up big debt for CMU. When he graduates, he’s going to be very upset to see that his colleagues from cheaper schools (and little debt) are going to earning the same as he. They will be able to afford to move on in their lives, buying homes, etc…while he’ll be struggling under debt for a long time.</p>

<p>The “good salaries” of new CS grads is really not that much once you subtract state taxes, fed taxes, FICA, rent, utilities, car related expenses, food, entertainment, clothes, cell phone, cable, internet, and other personal expenses.</p>

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<p>Yvette…once you have some SAT and ACT scores (take both tests), we’ll be able to better suggest schools that will work for your stats, your major, and your budget.</p>