Financing My Undergrad Education

Paying for College
1

<p>I have already applied to 7 schools, but I'm starting to worry about being able to afford them. My parents have set aside no money to help fund my college education, but we actually have moderate income, so it's not like I'll be getting a lot of need-based aid.</p>

<p>I am simply worried because my brother is attending University of West Florida (a public school) and can barely afford it. He didn't apply for Bright Futures or any other scholarships. His education is being funded entirely by loans, and the loans will only cover tuition. He's forced to commute from home since he doesn't have enough money to live on campus.</p>

<p>Of course, I will be applying to tons of scholarships as well as Bright Futures, but it still has me worried. Here are the schools I have applied to. The only public school on the list is New College of Florida, so I know that will likely be the most affordable one.</p>

<ol>
<li>New College of Florida (Sarasota, FL)</li>
<li>Eckerd College (St. Petersburg, FL)</li>
<li>Stetson University (DeLand, FL)</li>
<li>Cornell College (Mount Vernon, IA)</li>
<li>Allegheny College (Meadville, PA)</li>
<li>Reed College (Portland, OR)</li>
<li>Whitman College (Walla Walla, WA)</li>
</ol>

<p>Obviously I am going for the small liberal arts college atmosphere. However, I'm wondering if I should add another Florida public school to my list (such as UF) just to be safe.</p>

<p>But my big question is this: how can I fund my education? I know private schools give substantial aid, but I did the calculator for Reed College, and it still left me with about $10,000 a year that I would have to pay for somehow.</p>

<p>Family income: approx $140,000
GPA: 3.65 (unweighted, 4.0 scale)
ACT: 28</p>

2

<p>Was your brother eligible for Bright Futures and didn’t apply for it? If so…why?</p>

<p>If you are eligible for Bright Futures, you need to figure out what level of support that will give you…and go from there. </p>

<p>What can your family contribute? If the answer is $0 (based on your brother having all loans, I’m guessing that might be the case), you will need to alter your list a bit.</p>

<p>I would suggest adding additional Florida publics to your list.</p>

3

<p>Yes, you should add at least another Florida school to your list, and also a commuting option like where your brother is going. You should run NPCs on al of the schools. If coming up with more than $10K a year is going to be an issue for you, your list is not a good one. Highly unlikely you are going to get a school that costs less than $10K a year for you with your family finances as they are, even with 2 in college. Look at how difficult it is for your brother to make ends meet when he is in a state school and commuting.</p>

<p>Most schools do not meet need, and you may not even have need as defined by FAFSA or by the schools themselves. You should run an EFC estimator–you are not eligible for aid, most of the time, until you have paid that EFC. Also be aware that with two in college that EFC is about half what it will be when your brother is no longer a full time student. Most importantly, be aware that most schools will NOT meet full need. I think the only one on that list that might is Reed.</p>

4

<p>My brother waited until February to even apply for schools, so he missed the deadline to apply for Bright Futures. He’s lucky he even got into University of West Florida.</p>

<p>Yes, my family contribution is $0. A bit of a problem when the FAFSA shows $140,000 family income.</p>

<p>What is EFC calculator? Is that the same as the Net Price calculator? I’ve run the Net Price Calculator for a few schools using last year’s data. Problem is that my family’s income varies slightly. I’m just throwing out an estimate of $140,000 out there. It could be more or less, depending on bonuses and other factors that are determined at the end of the year. When I ran Reed’s calculator with $120,000 family income, it said Reed would cost $9,000 per year after aid. Is that federal aid, institutional aid, or both?</p>

<p>Also: my brother’s loans from the government got cut off at a certain point. I want to say $8,000 or so. He wasn’t able to take out loans to live on campus even if he wanted to. He only filled out the FAFSA, though. He didn’t fill out the CSS profile. I’m learning from a lot of the mistakes he made what not to do.</p>

<p>I realize that I won’t know the exact cost of each school until I apply and get the financial aid packets. However, I think I need to apply to University of Florida and Florida State University. Ideally I’d like to attend one of the 7 schools on my list, but finances might get in the way.</p>

5

<p>Are there going to be other publics that are going to be cheaper than New College of Florida? I doubt it.</p>

<p>Can you commute to there?</p>

6

<p>Yes, you can figure out the costs of each school by looking at their financial aid pages and the costs to attend. Assume that you will be full fees at all of the OOS schools. </p>

<p>You cannot assume that you will get any scholarship money from any university, especially if your parents haven’t saved anything, because most schools just don’t have it. Additionally, I hate to break it to you, but your stats are not in range for merit scholarships and your parents’ income won’t qualify you for need based scholarship aid. </p>

<p>You will qualify, possibly, for loans of $5500 per year. That’s all I can see. Your best bets are your in-state schools. Try your instate options.</p>

7

<p>Don’t get all excited about Bright Futures. It’s nice, but only $2300/yr at your level (you need a 29 to get the full $3000). You can only use it at Florida schools (including privates). At Eckard and Stetson, you’d also get a $3000 Florida grant, but there is still a long way to go to meeting the price. Stetson gives a lot of merit money, so run the NPC.</p>

8

<p>I’m signed up to take the SAT in October. I’m trying to get the top Bright Futures for the full $3,000. I think I’ll do better on the SAT than the ACT. We shall see.</p>

<p>I cannot commute to New College. Too far away. I’m going to apply to FSU and UF as well, but can’t commute to either of those. That will put 3 state publics on my list, so hopefully I will have a pretty good backup plan if Reed or Stetson’s aid doesn’t work out. With top Bright Futures and top loan amount I think I should be able to afford to live at New College, UF, or FSU, right?</p>

9

<p>If you get $3000 for Bright Futures and $5500 in Stafford loans, you are still going to be very short on tuition/room/board for a Florida school. You’ll need about $18000 total. There are other sources of money for FSU and UF, but you’ll have to search for them. Merit money from the schools, ROTC, local scholarships. University of North Florida has a lot of scholarships.</p>

10

<p>Thank you. I think I have a more realistic idea of what I am looking at here.</p>

11

<p>Have you looked in the lists here?
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1678964-links-to-popular-threads-on-scholarships-and-lower-cost-colleges.html”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1678964-links-to-popular-threads-on-scholarships-and-lower-cost-colleges.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

12

<p>Because the EFC and NPCs are so sensitive to income, you really need to get a good idea as to what your parents are going to be making this year, which is what the primary driver of what your need might be. You are not going to get aid beyond EFC. That is usually the minimum that you have to pay before you get even work study and subsidized loans> Also many school will include those Direct Loans in your financial aid package as well as work study, so that you can’t borrow for your EFC and your work hours are already taken up to work towards the financial aid. Reed is a school that guarantees to meet full need, so that’s a good example of what you might be expected to pay, at best, if need is met and if your parents’ income is indeed $120K for 2014 and if your brother remains a full time student. I don’t know if Reed’s NPC broke down how they would likely meet your need, whether those Direct Loans and work study are already in the package.</p>

<p>A dependent freshman can borrow $5500 on his/her own. Anything else is discretionary on part of the college and the other student loan, Perkins is not easy to get, and is usually limited too. Parents have to get involved to get more than this, and if they are denied PLUS, a student can borrow an additional $4K freshman year. WIthout eligibility for PELL, you are not guaranteed any grants, so yes, it makes sense that your brother is limited as to what he can borrow. He would not be able to borrow to live on his own or on campus with the numbers you are giving out. </p>

<p>So you can get Bright Futures and borrow $5500 and that’s about all that is guaranteed here. That means you can likely commute to a local school,but it’s going to be tough to get enough to go away to school, even in state. Most schools do not guarantee to meet need even if it’s there, If your parents cannot pay anything, and you don’t have any money either, then you are going to have to go locally and use your parents’ home as your commuting base which is worth about $8-12K in terms of living expenses. With the loan and BF, you can get the tuition and other expenses paid to a local state school, and a part time job would take care of discretional expenses. Also look for schools that have full merit awards, but your numbers are on the low side to qualify for any full ride awards. Even full tuition paid leaves about $10K to pay out of pocket.</p>

13

<p>You need to apply to Florida schools where you would likely get some merit…like maybe FIU, FAU, UNF, and a few others. </p>

<p>Your parents have an unaffordable EFC. With two in school and that income, your EFC will be about $20k per child. And your parents won’t pay anything.</p>

<p>So…very likely no OOS schools will work for you.</p>

<p>If you can find some Florida publics that will give you free tuition (you should retest), then your BF scholarship and a Stafford loan can cover the rest. Plus, plan on working/saving during the summers.</p>

<p>Hopefully, some here can identify some FL publics that give large merit for an ACT 28 (or a bit higher if you successfully retest). ALSO take the SAT!!! You need higher scores. </p>

<p>Reed is a big reach for you anyway…and it is unaffordable. </p>

14

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<p>No! UF and FSU arent’ going to give you ANY merit. And your loan would only be for $5500. So that and BF will NOT cover any of those schools. Don’t know if you would get any merit from New College…anyone know?</p>

<p>You need to move down the ranks and apply to FL publics where you will get at least full tuition in merit. FIA and FAU are likely sources along with USF and UNF.</p>

<p>What is your major and career goal?</p>

15

<p>Have you considered Flagler in St. Augustine? It is private, but has very low tuition (about $17000 I think). You can use Bright Futures, plus the FRIG of $3k, plus there are several merit scholarships available. Your financial aid is going to look like a patchwork quilt, but you have a big head start to going after the local awards and working with the schools to find what they offer.</p>

16

<p>Look at what the costs of the schools you are considering are. Look at what you can get from Bright Futures, the $5500 and whatever else you know you will have. Getting an absolutely free education including your living costs covered is not likely. You look for some schools with possibilities of merit money for you, since getting much aid is unlikely. Do apply to FIU, or other schools that interest you. Maybe they’ll come up with something. But maybe they won’t. So make sure you have a few sure things that you can afford, and some things where the financial gap is not so big. You probably will have to find a job to cover some costs. Living at home and going to a local school is an alternative you should also keep in mind. If something comes up that covers all of your costs., great, go for it. But make sure that if it does not, you have some affordable, doable options on your list. </p>

17

<p>New College has merit awards. <a href=“http://www.ncf.edu/fl-freshmen-scholarships”>http://www.ncf.edu/fl-freshmen-scholarships&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>I currently qualify for the $1,000 award there. Additionally, I am a member of Phi Theta Kappa at the college I am dual-enrolled at, and Phi Theta Kappa allegedly has a $1,000 New College scholarship, but I need to double check if I qualify for it.</p>

<p>I definitely need to raise my ACT/SAT score in order to qualify for bigger scholarships from New College and other schools that offer institutional aid.</p>

<p>Planning to double major in economics and political science, attend grad school up to PhD, and become a professor. Either that or go to law school and become a law professor / lawyer. I will make the decision during college, but for right now, Econ and PoliSci are 100% my majors.</p>

<p>Basically my parents have screwed me by not saving up any money to cover college expenses. My mom lived at home while in college, took out loans, and worked to afford her tuition. And my step-dad had his college paid for by the military. They have told us (I have 3 siblings that are all in high school except my brother that’s a freshman at UWF) that we will be taking out loans to afford school, but I think they have a very limited idea of what “taking out loans” entails; they were unaware of the limits until my brother got his financial aid packet from UWF last spring.</p>

<p>I just reviewed this chart and it’s depressing: <a href=“https://studentaid.ed.gov/types/loans/subsidized-unsubsidized#how-much”>https://studentaid.ed.gov/types/loans/subsidized-unsubsidized#how-much&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>If I recall, I believe my brother was about $5,000 short to live on campus at UWF. My parents wouldn’t take out a PLUS loan for him because he failed to apply for Bright Futures, and he didn’t apply to a single other scholarship. If I take initiative to apply for BF and tons of other scholarships, they would take out a PLUS loan if I was only a few thousand short.</p>

<p>However, I think I need to set my eyes on New College and try to raise my GPA and scores to a level where I could get the most aid. I looked at their budget worksheet: <a href=“http://www.ncf.edu/c/document_library/get_file?uuid=4c56c7da-a116-450c-86c9-5b87973f3ae0&groupId=48902”>http://www.ncf.edu/c/document_library/get_file?uuid=4c56c7da-a116-450c-86c9-5b87973f3ae0&groupId=48902&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Tuition at New College is $6,916. If I get a triple dorm that’s $7,203 including the meal plan. Total $14,119.</p>

<p>$5,500 loans + $3,000 BF = $8,500 guaranteed. I believe my brother got about $3,000 in federal aid. I’ll keep that number and assume I have about $11,500. Puts me $2,619 short. If I strive for straight A’s all of senior year (would pull GPA up from 3.65 to 3.7) and pull my ACT (or SAT) up to 32 (or 1420) that would get me the $2,500 merit award at New College. Allows me to barely afford it, but it’s doable. If the $1,000 Phi Theta Kappa scholarship applies to me, then I can easily make it.</p>

<p>As I currently stand for New College:
Loans - $5,500
BF - $2,300
Merit Award - $1,000</p>

<h2>FAFSA - $3,000-ish</h2>

<p>Short: $2,319</p>

<p>If I pull GPA up to 3.7 and ACT to 32 (or SAT to 1420):
Loans - $5,500
BF - $3,000
Merit Award: $2,000</p>

<h2>FAFSA - $3,000-ish</h2>

<p>Short: $619</p>

<p>I think I can easily come up with $619 in additional scholarships. If I’m eligible for the Phi Theta Kappa scholarship that’s $1,000. Allows me to pay for the basic necessities of room/board and tuition. Any other scholarships and money that I have saved up over the summer from working will add on to that.</p>

<p>Have I missed anything here? I think New College is possible.</p>

18

<p>Your parents did not “screw you” by not saving for college. The huge vast majority of college students have no college savings from their parents. Many start by commuting to community colleges. Some commute to four year schools. Some go part time, and work full time. </p>

<p>You are absolutely not the only student who doesn’t have a savings to cover college costs.</p>

<p>However, you are lucky in that you have Bright Futures available to you. Our state offers nothing like that…at all. Most states don’t have programs like Bright Futures. </p>

<p>If you can raise your test scores a tad, you will be in better shape with potential money.</p>

19

<p>What federal aid did your brother get in the amount of $3000? There really isn’t that much federal aid to give out, so I am curious. The only federal grants I know about are SEOG and PELL, and if your family income is as high as you have indicated, with just your brother in college, PELL is highly unlikely and that much in SEOG is also unlikely. Is it a state grant or a school financial aid award? Don’t count on that as a given until you find out what that award is. Do not assume you will get it too.</p>

<p>Yes, New College is possible. The other thing you should consider is working, finding a paying job so that you can pay for some of the college too. Even the top schools expect that even from students with full need. Have you saved any money at all? </p>

<p>I do think New College is a realistic goal, and you should run NPCs for it as well as getting some info from your brother as to what the FAFSA EFC was for him. Most importantly, look at local options. That might be your best bet. If your parents will throw in some money, you might be able to dorm at the college where your brother goes, as you indicate they might pay if you put effort in getting what money you can. </p>

20

<p>My parents are very well-off for this current economy. Step-dad makes $90,000+ at engineering job and mom makes $35,000 as a public school teacher. We have very expensive cars, a boat, and a very nice house. That’s where all of our money goes.</p>

<p>It’s just disappointing in a household where my parents COULD afford to send me to college, I am almost not able to pay for a public university education because I have no family contribution.</p>

<p>I’m already dual-enrolled at a community college and will have my associate’s degree when I graduate high school. Going to a community college is not an option. Luckily for me, dual-enrollment classes are free. I’ve talked to several students that have graduated from my same high school with an associate’s degree (one of which is at UF) and generally they have 3 years left to complete their bachelor’s degree. This was the same consensus that the New College admissions officer gave me when I visited their campus over the summer. I’d spend 3 years at New College to complete my degree.</p>