FREAAAK OUT: financial aid!!!!!

Parents Forum
1

<p>I'm absolutely stressing about financial aid. My parents make like ~50k a year, but my dad had cancer from sept 05 to march 06 and was out of work. we used up all our savings to live off of. but i dont think many colleges/FAFSA will be sympathetic. we have 0 money for my college. where can i go!?!?</p>

<p>Female, Age 17, Buffalo, NY, White
Estimated Class Rank: 7/275ish
GPA: 4.0 unweighted, 96/100
SAT: M: 640 V: 730 W: 730 (1370/2100)
Total APs by graduation: 6
So far, AP scores: AP European (4), AP US (5) Gov (4)</p>

<p>Classes:
Freshman year:
Biology Honors, 90. Regents Exam, 93
Design Drawing for Production, 100. Exam, 93
Global History I, 94. Exam, 96
English, 95. Exam, 98
Latin, 99. Exam, 99
Math, 90. Exam, 89
Advanced Spanish, 93. Exam, 96</p>

<p>Summer school to get ahead: Global II, 97. Regents Exam, 97</p>

<p>Sophomore year:
English, 100. Exam, 99
Math, 97. Exam, 88 Math A exam: 95
Advanced Spanish, 98. Exam, 99
AP European, 97 Exam, 98, AP: (4)
Advanced Latin, 99. Exam, 95
Earth Science Honors, 93. Exam, 94
Business and Personal Law, 99. Exam, 100</p>

<p>Junior year so far:
AP American, 99
English, 100
AP Government, 97
Advanced Spanish, 96
Advanced Latin, 99
Chemistry Honors, 94
Math, 97</p>

<p>Pretty steady incline in grades...</p>

<p>ECs:</p>

<p>Freshman year:
~ Class President
~ Principal's Advisory Council
~ Pep Club, Ambassadors' Circle, a couple others...can't remember...
~ JV Cheerleading (Most Improved award, lol)
~ Community service program (25ish hours over summer)
~ Latin award: Summa cumma laude - National Latin Exam</p>

<p>Sophomore year:
~ Student Congress representative
~ Principal's Advisory Council
~ Student Recognition Council (secretary)
~ Environmental Club (secretary)
~ SADD (Officer of Publicity)
~ Best Buddies (Officer of Publicity)
~ JV Cheerleading (MVP award)
~ Town of **** Supervisor's Youth Council
~ Community service program (50-ish hours)
~ Youth Consortium (promoting leadership and wise choices in younger teens)
~ Awards:
~ NY State winner of Essay Contest
~ Published in Parade Magazine: fresh voices
~ Featured: "Someone You Should Know": town newspaper
~ National Latin Exam: Silver Medal
~ Kodak Young Leaders Award
~ HOBY Youth Conference (summer)
~ National Young Leaders Conference (summer) (Assistant Majority Leader of Model Congress)</p>

<p>Junior year:
~ Co-President of Environmental Club
~ Vice-President of SADD Club
~ Student Congress Executive Board
~ Principal's Advisory Council
~ Student Recognition Council
~ Youth voting member of Town Board
~ Youth Consortium
~ Community service program: from summer 2004-present: 100+ hours
~ National Honor Society (maybe President -- running next week)
~ Varsity Cheerleading
~ Keynote Speaker: Junior National Young Leaders Conference
~ Girls State Nominee
~ 2006 NY State winner Lewis and Clark essay contest</p>

<p>~ WORK: Busser at restaraunt (May 2005-present, 12 hours a week)
Only member of family employed at moment due to father's cancer
Hostess at another restaraunt (Jan. 2006-present, 7-8 hours a week)</p>

<p>applying to:
-- UVA
-- UNC, chapel hill
-- U south carolina
(all 3 OOS)
-- Vanderbilt
-- University of Dayton
-- University of Scranton</p>

<p>and WAS thinking: cornell, UPenn, u of delaware, and ohio university
^^ but my concern with these is if i get in, will i get enough money?!
im dying here.</p>

<p>please evaluate:
of the schools i listed, where would I get in
AND...would my fin aid be good.</p>

<p>lastly, gimme some suggestions! im taxed out here and apps start like NOW.</p>

2

<p>OOS financial aid is very, very dicey, and rare except for the most outstanding students. Scranton financial aid rep. is poor. Don't know anything about Dayton. Of those, if they want you, Vanderbilt is your best bet.</p>

<p>Have you considered some of the LACs? Smith, for example, has 26% of its student body on Pell Grants (family income $40k and below), so most of these are in as bad or worse financial shape than your family is. And meet 100% of demonstrated need. They'd love your leadership work. Mount Holyoke would also be a good bet. A major reason to consider a LAC is that they may (if they accept you) be more likely to taylor a financial package to your situation.</p>

3

<ol>
<li><p>Use the financial aid estimator that you can link to from CC's home page.</p></li>
<li><p>Look at each college's financial aid and merit scholarship web pages to find out how you may fare.</p></li>
<li><p>Pay the $14.95 to access the US News Premium college website, which will give you in depth info about individual colleges' financial aid.</p></li>
<li><p>Make sure that you apply to at least one school that is a financial safety: You know you'll get accepted there, and you know you can afford it. Typically, such a college is a local 4-year or 2-year college that you could attend while living at home and possibly on merit aid.</p></li>
<li><p>Out of state public universities usually save their financial aid money for in-state students. It also can be very hard to get merit aid from such colleges unless one has stats far, far above the norm.</p></li>
<li><p>Make sure that your parents tell the colleges about their unusual financial circumstances. Still, make sure that you also do #5.</p></li>
</ol>

4

<p>scranton = bad? </p>

<p>also, i got a pre-fin aid scholarship form from monmouth and they said they'd give me 15k a year if i went there. </p>

<p>any thoughts on monmouth?</p>

5

<p>Monmouth: If they give you $15,000 and you can't afford to pay anything, it's out of your price range.</p>

6

<p>Great suggestions above; add a SUNY to your list too for a financial safety.</p>

7

<p>If your parents can't afford anything for your college education, how'd you go to the National Young Leaders Conference?</p>

<p>You also should spend lots of time applying for local scholarships. You seem a strong candidate for those. While many probably are small, they add up.</p>

8

<p>True about Monmouth. The total deal is $38,000 so you'd still have to come up with $25,000 plus living expenses.</p>

9

<p>"Out of state public universities usually save their financial aid money for in-state students. It also can be very hard to get merit aid from such colleges unless one has stats far, far above the norm."</p>

<hr>

<p>This is good to know! I bet a lot of people do NOT know this. I know a few families whose kids are expecting F/A from OOS publics that they are applying to (and their stats are not far, far, above the norm)! I think these people think that OOS publics just use the F/A calculator and then give F/A to help meet those extra OOS costs.</p>

10

<p>NYLC was before my dad was sick. and i got money from a rich uncle to help me. rich uncle is now sick too. :-&lt;/p>

11

<p>I think that you need to look at in state second tier public and private colleges. Check to see what kind of financial aid that they offer, too.</p>

<p>Those are likely to be most affordable for you.</p>

<p>Your stats are low for Ivies and similar colleges.
Your stats are decent for many in-state public and private colleges, plus you can use your Regents Scholarship. Because you need a lot of financial aid, I am thinking that NY state public universities may be your most affordable options. While you may qualify for merit money and need-based financial aid from some private universities, they still may leave you with a large gap between what the college costs and what you can afford to pay.</p>

<p>Since your dad is ill, you probably want to be able to get home affordably and quickly in case of an emergency, which means it would probably not be a good idea to go to college far away. Going within a couple of hours drive from home also willl make it relatively easy and affordable for your parents to get you to and from college.</p>

<p>If you're willing to live with the distance and inconvenient transportation to it, Mount Holyoke may be a competitive college that you can be admitted to and can get good financial aid from.</p>

12

<p>While I do agree that OOS save most of their financial aid for in-state students, S's experience with Univ of South Carolina was surprising.</p>

<p>He's OOS, but applied anyway. His grades were less than yours (around a 3.5) but his SAT slightly higher (1400). The only major "hook" he had was that he's an Eagle Scout. He also worked for 2 years on the school paper, and was a varsity letter athlete in x-country/track (co-captain for x-country). One other comment: he chose a less popular major-geography. Due to his personal interest, not trying to "game" the system.</p>

<p>Anyway, he was offered a scholarship that gave him in state tuition rates, plus another $3000 or so towards that. It ended being the cheapest option for us, even though we live in GA, with the HOPE scholarship. You'll be eligible for Stafford/Perkins loans which would cover the rest of your costs.</p>

<p>Apply early to So Carolina..I believe they still offer rolling admission. He knew EARLY that this was an option. He ended up not choosing it, but honestly, it was a complete and amazing surprise.</p>

13

<p>My d is at UNC. I know oos is tough, but if you are applying you will be considered for a Robertson Scholarship (full ride) automatically. Fill out the optional Robertson supplement to enhance your chances for both admissions/scholarship. Not sure if you qualify for Morehead (must be from a nominating school) or the Pogue (must be a minority), but both are generous UNC scholarships as well. All are open to oos candidates...strong consideration will be given to community service for the Pogue and the Robertson. These are a few MERIT options available for UNC-CH. Not sure how they address straight need-based aid.</p>

<p>PS...Just re-read your accomplishments. Your writing awards and published pieces will really grab UNC's attention. It's one of the things they really look for in oos candidates.</p>

14

<p>U of Dayton is a Catholic U (Marist) and they might be sympathetic to your family's financial situation </p>

<p>Your SATs are at the higher end or above their middle range:
Math 520-640 yours: 640
verbal 510-620 yours: 730</p>

<p>Another option might be Marist College in Poughkeepsie, NY - a beautiful campus with similar SAT ranges as U of D</p>

<p>One concern: If you go "far away", will you be able to afford to go back and forth (travel) for holidays, breaks, summer? </p>

<p>Northstarmom makes a great point - since your dad has cancer, you have to consider that you may have to make "quick trips" home occasionally - such trips home are often financial disasters if airfare is required on short notice</p>

15

<p>May I suggest University of Richmond. They have oodles of $$$$$ and an extremely generous financial aid package. I do not know what field of studies you wish to persue, but their pre-med program has an over 80% acceptance rate and their undergrad business program is listed 25th overall, but 3rd academically, just behind Penn and Carnegie Mellon, in the nation (BusinessWeek). BTW, I GotOuttaBuffalo along time ago. Good luck!</p>

16

<p>curiouser is right about USCarolina. Actually many southern states give OOS merit money but I think stats have to be higher. Plus, with OPs financial situation, I would be concerned that she won't have money for home visits.</p>

<p>The Roberson at UNC chapel hill is VERY competitive and much higher stats would be needed. My S has higher stats and he was told "don't bother".</p>

17

<p>ldmom...thanks! i wanna go to UNC Sooo bad!!!!</p>

<p>nobullman, good suggestions. a tad small tho and very expensive if i dont get 100% need met. and good for u getting out of buff!! where did u head to and whats it like in comparison to b-lo?</p>

18

<p>The University of Delaware is already on your list, and it's a good choice for you. UDel offered my son a merit scholarship. He's an out of stater, like you, with SAT scores similar to yours and a LOWER grade point average. The merit scholarship was enough to make his costs, as an out of stater, similar to those of an in-state student. He didn't even apply for the scholarship. They just gave it to him. (It's not their fault that he turned it down and went to an in-state school.)</p>

<p>UDel is a nice place, and your stats might qualify you for its honors program. I would definitely suggest keeping it on your list.</p>

19

<p>What about some other SUNYs or even a CUNY like Hunter?</p>

20

<p>Actually I got out of Clarence. Went to U. of Michigan. My son is at U. of Richmond now (his first choice and my second after U of M) UR was actually less expensive for him than instate U. of Virginia or William and Mary. Do not let the tuition scare you like it did me :) . Absolutely beautiful campus and wonderful people, students and staff. Best of luck!</p>