Financially Qualified for Questbridge College Prep????

Paying for College Access Programs (Questbridge, Posse)
1

I haven’t really looked through this forum yet so there is probably someone like me that has already asked this question. But I’m wondering if I financially qualify to be a Questbridge college prep scholar (I’m a sophomore right now btw).

In eighth grade, my mom (who was and is my only custodial parent) was making about $65,000 a year which is in the Questbridge range. But ever since then, her income has slowly increased and now she is making about $99,000. Yet our living situation hasn’t changed at all. She is still supporting 3 dependents (one of which is an elderly woman) in a two bedroom apartment and my family is just as unable to fund my higher-level education as ever. I learned that a lot of her money goes not only into supporting my sister, grandmother and I, but also into supporting family members back in our native country. She even pays tuition for some of her nieces. But they are not technically dependants of hers so I’m not sure if I can put that as a financial hardship. To make matters even more complicated, she just finished a 4-year divorce process with my father which was also a significant financial burden. I haven’t seen him in over 3 years and he and my mom are really not on good terms so I have no way of contacting him to ask for his financial information. My estimation for how much he makes is $40,000 which isn’t high at all but I don’t want the admissions committee to think that he’s at all contributing to my education or plans to. It if matters at all, my mom is working significantly less hours this year which I expect will lower her gross income but I don’t know by how much.

There are other financial hardships that I could list but I don’t know if it’s all enough to overlook how high my family’s income is compared to the median income of $35,000. I think, academically, I’m qualified and my family genuinely cannot afford to take me to a top-tier university without significant financial aid.

I’ll apply next year regardless of the answer but I’d really appreciate it if anyone could offer me (in the bluntest and most realistic way possible) their opinion on whether or not I am financially eligible. If anyone knows stories of people in my situation, I’d love to hear that too.

2

i think you’re income will balance out due to the number of ppl in your household. im by no means a qb expert, simply someone who applied to cp, but qb states their looking for a family of four making 65 K or less. if u write about ur situation in your writing supplements and the financial sections itll be easier for them to understand ur situation.

3

@sugarbearbench Thank you for your advice! I really do hope that they can understand my situation from the additional information sections. Does anyone else have thoughts?

4

Financial aid can be confusing. Colleges, and I suspect programs for low income students, won’t care that your mom is supporting family back in the home country or paying her nieces’ tuitions. Your parents’ combined income is ~$140k. If Questbridge counts both parents then that’s the figure they’ll be using. There are some colleges that only count the custodial parent’s income, but the ones that give the best aid use the income and assets of both parents. If your family can’t pay much make sure you have financial safeties on your list.