Hello. I am senior in high school this year, and have a question regarding financial aid. Both of my parents are not from here, so they do not know how the system works. I have tried my best to figure it out myself, but I know I am still lacking in understanding. Here’s the bottom line. While this is not the forum for “chancing,” I am well aware with the scores, GPA, and ECs that I have, I am a strong candidate for many of the Ivy League schools. However, I am not sure how I would go about paying. My father is in a successful career, with his salary being over 500k. However, when he first came to America, he did not have any money to start my college fund. Even though I am a senior, my college fund was started last year, and I have next to nothing in it. However, my parents do not want to file FAFSA because they think we do not qualify, however, they do not have nearly enough to send me to a four-year ivy league school with no loans. So, three questions. One, how should I go about paying for college? and two, how do I apply for other forms of financial aid not relating to FAFSA? and three, would i qualify? Thanks, please let me know, I am very confused and lost right now.
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Figure out how much your parents will pay, how much you can earn from work (probably <$5k), and how much you can borrow (~$5k). Pick colleges that cost less than that, net of merit aid.
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Look on the college websites for institutional scholarships. Outside scholarships are likely to be small amounts, not renewable for 4 years, or both.
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I think it is extremely unlikely that you would qualify for any governmental or institutional need-based aid.
You will NOT qualify for any need-based aid anywhere.
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However, I am not sure how I would go about paying. My father is in a successful career, with his salary being over 500k. However, when he first came to America, he did not have any money to start my college fund. Even though I am a senior, my college fund was started last year, and I have next to nothing in it. However, my parents do not want to file FAFSA because they think we do not qualify, however, they do not have nearly enough to send me to a four-year ivy league school with no loans
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How long has your dad been earning an income of over $200k per year?
How long has he been earning an income of over $400k per year?
Ask your parents now how much they will pay for college each year.
They can’t cash-flow $60K/year out of their $500K income each year?
This poster does NOT have to go to a $60,000 a year college. A public university in their state should be fine. See if there is an honors college. Maybe the parents have $35,000 out of that $500,000 income they can dedicate annually to college.
Your parents should be able to pay out of current earnings if they really earn $500,000 a year.
@sasukeuchiha33 are you a U.S. citizen?
And while this isn’t the chances forum…you may be a strong candidate for the Ivies…but so are most of the rest of the more than 90% of Ivy applicants who get rejected annually. So please…do yourself and your family a favor…find some sure thing colleges in terms of admission that your parents CAN afford.
Are you a citizen or a legal resident? If not, you can’t file the FAFSA.
If you do file it, at many schools (like the Ivies) you also have the CSS. With an income of $500k, you will not get need based aid at any school. You may qualify for merit aid at some schools, and that may be your best bet at funding college.
But really, if you recently had no income and now have $500k, why can’t they pay for college? Are they spending $500k per year? They could cut that spending down to $400k and have plenty for college.
You might qualify for merit aid at some schools…but not the Ivies. None of them award merit aid.
You need to cast a MUCH broader net than just the Ivies. You need to do,that even IF your parents can pay the full cost of attendance.
Please come back and answer the following…
You will NOT qualify for any need-based aid anywhere.
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However, I am not sure how I would go about paying. My father is in a successful career, with his salary being over 500k. However, when he first came to America, he did not have any money to start my college fund. Even though I am a senior, my college fund was started last year, and I have next to nothing in it. However, my parents do not want to file FAFSA because they think we do not qualify, however, they do not have nearly enough to send me to a four-year ivy league school with no loans
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How long has your dad been earning an income of over $200k per year?
How long has he been earning an income of over $400k per year?
Ask your parents now how much they will pay for college each year.
Along with what Erin’s Dad said, your parents could pay the $60k out of the $500k income. They would still have a LOT left to live on. A LOT!!! A lot more than 99% of families in America.
Ivies will expect your parents to pay from their current income. Fafsa would be a 5.5K loan so if your parents won’t fill it out, it’s okay, provided they’re willing to pay full cost at top 20 universities/LACs.
Other possibilities: apply quickly to your state flagship as well as good colleges that offer merit for your stats. UAlabama, Miami-Ohio, Truman State, Pitt… are some that offer good scholarships for high stats (especially high test scores, 32+).
OP didn’t say he/she was only applying to Ivies, just that they were concerned about the cost. Those concerns apply to most other selective private colleges which would be reasonably on OP’s radar if his stats are in the Ivy ballpark.
OP: Is your father is concerned about cash flow or does he just object to the cost on principle? If it’s a cash flow concern, does he understand that he doesn’t pay $60,000 at once but rather it is split between two semesters? If two $30k payments still make him nervous, many colleges offer monthly payment plans at reasonable fees. Although rather than do that he could simply put aside that money each month starting now and he can easily have $30,000 ready to go come next summer and each 6 months following.
Hey guys, thanks so much for all of the replies, I never expected to get this money! To answer the questions about his income, while his salary on paper is about 500k, he takes home only about half of it, only about 250k. In addition, we have two sets of grandparents living with us in our house, and my father is paying money to send my sister and I to a private high school. So it’s not that he doesn’t want to dish out the money, it really is that we don’t have it, despite his income. Whatever money he has left over goes to whatever of his family is left overseas, and helping them to settle themselves there. That is the origin of my whole dilemma, can I explain this to colleges in some way, that even though my dad earns this, very little of it actually circulates directly back to my immediate family.
Sorry, but colleges do NOT care that your parents CHOOSE to send money to other relatives.
Colleges have NO INTENTION of supporting those relatives, which is what would happen if they gave YOU money. If a college gave you need-based aid, then it would effectively mean that THEY (the school) is now supporting your relatives overseas.
You will NOT get need-based aid no matter how you spin this story to colleges. They see the huge income and they believe that CHILDREN should come first in a family, and that your parents need to make hard choices and either pay for their kids’ college or find schools that will give you merit scholarships for your stats.
Maybe your mom needs to go to work so that her earnings can either pay for your college or pay for the relatives abroad.
How much do your parents spend on YOUR private school tuition each year? That amount should soon be available to pay for your college costs PLUS whatever extra your parents can contribute. ASK THEM
The colleges are not going to grant you need based aid because your family is making a choice to support other relatives. The colleges will rightly believe that the choice could be made to support your college education.
The choice to attend private high school…and pay for it…is also a choice. Colleges are not going to grant you need based aid so that your parents can pay private HS tuition costs.
While it is nice, and generous that your father is helping family overseas, again…that is money your family could choose to use for your college costs.
I hate to be blunt, but there is nothing in your post that would make a college grant you additional need based aid. Sorry…there just isn’t.
Your family income is almost TEN times more than the average family income in this country. TEN times more.
You are not going to get need based aid.
If your family can’t pay $60,000 or $70,000 a year for you to attend college, you will have to look for options that cost less.
If you are really a competitive applicant for the Ivies, you could garner merit aid at other colleges.
You need to find out what your family WILL pay annually for you to attend college. Work with that number. Find some schools where you will have either a guaranteed or good chance of getting merit aid.
With $500,000 in income, you won’t be seeing NEED based aid…even with the reasons you just put.
No, you really do have it, but your father is prioritizing other things. This is not a bad choice, but it is a choice, and colleges will not give you more aid because of those choices. (We make about 20% of his salary, and we don’t get need-based aid either.)
Your family is making a CHOICE on how to spend their money. Colleges will not care that they choose to support other relatives instead of their own child. I don’t think you understand the difference between families that can’t pay and those that make the choice NOT to pay. If your family will not support your college education, as other have said, you need to find a school that will give you serious merit money.
You need to figure out how much if any money your family WILL pay each year, perhaps they will at least kick in the cost of your private high school tuition, and then find a school that will give you enough merit to make it work. I’d also advise you to get a job ASAP because I don’t think you have a clue how difficult it is for most people to earn a fraction of what your parents do.
OP, in your posts on other threads you are basically saying that people who post advice here on CC do not know what they are talking about!
Hopefully you will believe the people on this thread.
@TomSrOfBoston since OP is a senior it won’t be too long before she finds out if the advice given on this thread is legit or not. We are a full pay family (nowhere near $500K!) and need to chase merit to make it work for our three kids. I would LOVE to be proven wrong! I just hope for the OPs sake she has a solid plan B with an affordable safety.
First of all, I greatly appreciate the advice I am being offered on here, and I really do value the insight. However, I want to address some points people are making. Fist of all @TomSrOfBoston this is taken drastically out of context. If you look at the posts where I said that, it was for chancing college admissions, it was not for more concrete concepts and plans such as financial aid. With colleges now a days, I am well aware there is no rhyme or reason why some schools accept some students while others don’t accept some, and that is what I was trying to emphasize in this posts. Also
@3scoutsmom I do not appreciate your posts. They are insulting and offensive, I have had two jobs over the course of high school, both of which were minimum wage pay, and the reason being exactly what you just stated. I am aware that many do not have the luxury of my parents, and I want my own sense of perspective. I sought employment at local fast food places to get a sense of how some people live, so I am well aware. The reason I shared my parents income was not so that people such as yourself lecture me on my lack of perspective, but to inquire as to how much aid I would be eligible for. I do not know the system as well as I should, hence the reason for my posts. I do not know what kind of your financial situation your family is in, but please do not vent your insecurities and frustrations upon me. I have gotten the advice I needed from this thread and I appreciate all the advice, I think its about time to close this thread.
You got employment at a fast food restaurant to see how some people live??? You lost me there.