<p>I am a 17 year old student, looking towards a 2014 college graduation.</p>
<p>I'm afraid that there are a few financial problems though..</p>
<p>My father went into a diabetic coma, and thankfully he recovered but now he is on disability..Instead of making 3k a month, he now makes about 1k a month..</p>
<p>My mother had a kidney stone problem and lost about a months worth of pay from her job, and because we're doing college visits this summer..she has to work extra in the summer for the first time in 30 years. </p>
<p>She's worried that this extra couple thousand will hurt when we file our fafsa forms and taxes and stuff..(I don't really understand the financial process tbh)</p>
<p>All the schools that I'm looking at are 55k a year...and most of them give out little to no aid, and when they do it's at max like 30k... My family can only afford about 3k a year and they don't want me taking out more than 5k a year in loans.. </p>
<p>I'm really worried that I'm going to have to go to a lower quality school just so I can afford to have a college degree at all..</p>
<p>Is there any type of special scholarships I can apply for..? My parents have a lot of medical issues..my father had a kidney transplant and has diabetes and my mother had a heartattack..</p>
<p>I will be crushed if I get into these reach schools but then cannot go because of money..I'll be very sad..</p>
<p>If you’re going to be crushed at the thought of being accepted to a school you simply cannot afford, then don’t apply. Seriously. Focus your efforts on finding a good school that you CAN afford.</p>
<p>Don’t equate price with the quality of education. The quality of your education has more to do with the effort YOU put in to your studies than the price tag for each credit.</p>
<p>A few extra thousand of income of your Mom’s won’t make a material difference on the FAFSA. The school won’t take it all, so she is still better off.</p>
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<p>Then you better start looking at other schools. An “ideal” school is not ideal if you can’t afford it. Maybe go farther away from home. Maybe to go a small town vs. a big town. Think about sacrificing something of lesser value to you in order to find an affordable one.</p>
<p>I’m still going to apply to the schools that I really wanna go to, to atleast see what they’ll offer. I’m just frustrated that I can’t apply binding early decision because I won’t know what aid I’ll receive.</p>
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<p>I really want to go to a college in/around Chicago, but I don’t want to sacrifice quality for location. I -could- go local for free, but I don’t want to. I want to get away and go somewhere different from the rest of the kids in my school.</p>
<p>Have you estimated your EFC yet? If not, do so! After your family files FAFSA you can also appeal your award directly with your school based on special circumstances (ie. high medical expenses) if it doesn’t accurately reflect your situation. </p>
<p>But, for now, it sounds like you have a pretty good handle on how the financial end is going to work. Don’t make yourself crazy with “dream schools”! Use your mom’s limited time and travel budget to find schools that you like and can afford - there are plenty of great colleges in America. Many are certainly not “lesser” institutions but just don’t have a $50K+ price tag. It’s generally the height of foolishness to indulge champagne tastes on a beer budget!</p>
<p>With your low family income Northwestern at least may offer you some pretty good financial aid if you can get yourself accepted. They have generous need-based aid. Not sure about Univ. of Chicago, but it’s worth applying and seeing what they come back to you with in financial aid.</p>
<p>But everyone else is 100% right. On top of options like those two schools, find a school you can afford, where you’ll be accepted, and where you’d be happy to go if things don’t go your way with the other schools.</p>
<p>Do you know what your mom’s income is? If your EFC is low, you may be in a position for decent need based aid at some schools. Generally those schools are difficult to get into. If you can get in, though, you may find that you won’t have to borrow a ridiculous amount. It’s good to apply to a school or two that you definitely will be able to afford - a couple schools where you have a decent chance of merit money - and a couple schools that offer good need based aid. Just remember that if the money doesn’t work out, you won’t be able to go. If you keep that in mind, you will have covered your bases, you may end up pleasantly surprised, and at the least you will be able to attend a school you can afford.</p>
If the extra money pushes your family over the $50K mark, it will drag in any assets you have into the picture. Otherwise it won’t make much difference.</p>
<p>Some of the Ivies (Columbia, Harvard, Yale, others?) are free if your income is under $60K. If you think you can get into NU or UChicago you have a chance of getting into these as well.</p>
<p>You need to have a balanced list in terms of admissions requirements AND in terms of finances. In the end, you want to have a school to go to where you are accepted AND can pay the bills. If you get accepted and can’t pay the bills, you won’t be able to enroll at that school. I know that’s not what you want to hear, but it’s the way it is.</p>
<p>It sounds like your family situation might fall into the “special circumstances” category if there are significant medical expenses. Special circumstances are considered at the discretion of the school. In other words, some schools will take your extra medical bills into consideration and adjust your aid, and others won’t. </p>
<p>Please…don’t allow yourself to only fall in love with schools where you may not be able to pay the bills. There is no sense in doing this. Apply if you want to, but be realistic and have some other affordable choices in your applications as well.</p>
<p>Unless you have fantastic app stats and/or you’re a very low
income student your anticipated payments - less than $3,000,
loans under $5,000 are not realistic. I suggest you run your
financial numbers through fafsa4caster to get a sense of what
might be expected at your income level. That may help you
develop a realistic college list.</p>
<p>I’m in a similar situation as you. Michigan State University, previously before my top choice is only 10 minutes from my house… and with lack of hospital diagnosing and family issues, I couldn’t see how I could countinue to have the school my top choice. Though I still have high interest in the university like University of Michigan- Ann Arbor, I also have interest in out of state universities. None I can afford without scholarships or loans ( and I rather not take out hudge loans) so I’m trying to look at more realistic universities. Most public universities only serve financial aid to state students, so this has become really difficult. I think my potential list can go from 14 to 5, and slowly re-build it. </p>
<p>Pennslyvania State University and University of Pittsburgh is far from your home, you should probably consider those universities within the state. I think University of Maryland- College Park is generous to out of state students, though I’m not exactly sure… possibly could have read wrong.</p>
<p>Sweetie, you aren’t desperate enough yet. My D is going to the school that offered the best aid; she will not have any loans, and we are paying about $3600 PLUS books and spending money. This is with a $0 EFC. My D is thrilled with this school and this aid; she would otherwise stay home and go to the local community college.</p>
<p>Your parents have health problems and you need to do what is best for your whole family, which is to attend the best school you can find for the least amount of money. Your parents will really appreciate it if you can take a mature approach to this and not act entitled to a $200K college education. Your family needs the money for their living expenses, health care, and retirement savings. </p>
<p>With some research, you can find good affordable schools, even ones that are away from home!, and you can have the best of both worlds – affordable schooling and parents who are not stressed by college costs!</p>
<p>Generally speaking, scholarships are used by schools to attract applicants they want who would otherwise go elsewhere, so if you really want scholarships, you should consider schools where your gpa and test scores are at the very top of their applicant pool. Consider a community college for the first two years and then your state university for the last two years. LOTS of students do this, and community colleges have programs that provide students appropriate transfer courses. The quality of your education is a matter of how hard you work and the opportunities you create for yourself wherever you end up. Instead of feeling sorry for yourself about what your family can’t afford, focus on how to make the most of the options available to you.</p>
Well, not really. Below this amount, these schools require no parent contribution, but as far as I know, they all require a student to contribute from summer earnings and from Work Study. On the other hand, some schools give top students 100% merit-based scholarships, which does pay for everything. And there are outside merit-based scholarships (can be used anywhere, I would suppose). The Ivies don’t grant merit scholarships, just need-based aid, that’s why it’s not really “free.”</p>