FREAKING OUT!! I cant afford to go to college!!!

College Search & Selection
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>One $$ option is community college for the first two years. Don't discount it.</p>

3

<p>i've worked too hard in high school to settle for a community college :-(</p>

4

<p>When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.</p>

5

<p>Your new financial circumstances WILL be considered. My brother lost his job in June and they recalculated his son's finaid and he got a full ride based on need only this Fall.</p>

6

<p>^ what school is that at?</p>

7

<p>Don't panic. Even before the illness, 50k wasn't all that much money. So you would be eligible for a fair amount of financial aid at most private schools to begin with. Public schools tend to be more focused on FAFSA than private ones, in my experience. You may actually find that private schools will be a better deal than public schools.</p>

<p>Your stats are good. You should qualify for some private schools that have a fair amount of financial aid money to distribute.</p>

<p>I would suggest that you go to princetonreview.com and look up some colleges that interest you. They have a finanicial aid rating for each school that may give you an indication of where you might like to apply. In addition, collegedata.com allows your parents to enter financial info and then gives you an idea of what a particular college might actually cost you.</p>

<p>Good luck.</p>

8

<p>Hi Buffalo- we spoke before. I am the Oswego graduate and I certainly understand why you want to getouttabuffalo. As no one knows how financial aid will work until after the acceptance phase-- I am going to suggest you consider SUNY Stony Brook as a school to apply to.
--as it is a SUNY, the costs are reasonable. Long Island weather is very different than upstate NY. and Stony Brook is fairly close to NYC, so you can occassional go in any enjoy city life. And Stony Brook is a really solid school with alot to offer.
I am not suggesting that you limit yourself to SUNY Stony Brook or any other SUNY campus, but it may make the application process less stressful if you have a financial safety in the bag. Also remember Cornell ILR-Human Ec and CALS tuition for NYS kids is around $18,000. Much more $ than SUNY, but not as expensive as alot of other OOS schools. D # 1 is at Cornell ILR, if you have any questions just ask!! Good luck</p>

9

<p>you said ohio university.....checkout there gateway scholarship....if you get a good score on the act, you can pay the same as an instate student, and im sure you can get other scholarships.</p>

10

<p>Montclair State in NJ.</p>

11

<p>I recommend you find schools which give out merit aid based on some sort of gridwork. I know that new jersey public schools did that at least up until last year. (i.e. if you were like ranked 1,2, or 3 in your school and had over 1450 you got full ride and everything). Find a school you can get great merit aid - your grades are good enough to get full rides at most 2nd/3rd tier schools.</p>

12

<p>If you can't pay, they will give you money. Don't discount private schools, because they are bound to give you money.</p>

13

<p>go to cc, study hard while making some money in an old-fashion way, then transfer to university.</p>

<p>Best of Luck</p>

14

<p>Try looking at Questbridge's scholarship opportunities. They give priority to low-income students. Good luck.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.questbridge.org%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.questbridge.org&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

15

<p>"If you can't pay, they will give you money. Don't discount private schools, because they are bound to give you money."</p>

<p>Not true at all. Many private colleges don't have large financial endowments, and consequently favor students who can pay their way. Colleges also may give a student a small grant, and expect the student to take out $20,000 or more a year in loans, which is a crippling amount of debt.</p>

<p>If you decide to apply Ivy, your best bets for good aid would be Harvard, Princeton and possibly Yale. All Ivies provide 100% of the demonstrated financial need of students. However, Harvard and Princeton require no financial contribution for families whose incomes range from, I believe, $45,000 to $60,000 a year, depending on the college. There always, however, is a self help portion in which students are expected to take out relatively small loans and earn some money through work study jobs during the school year and summer employment. Check their web sites for info.</p>

<p>Continue to keep in mind distance from home and transportation. Since your dad is ill, there may be emergencies in which you need to get back home quickly. Emergency airfares are ridiculously high. Weather problems also can cause delays and other difficulties, particularly since you live in the snow belt.</p>

16

<p>i forgot to mention,</p>

<p>cooper union and berea college are free. apply to them.</p>

17

<p>To go to Cooper Union, one has to plan to major in, I believe, engineering, architecture or art, and I also believe that one needs sky high stats, but it still could be one for the OP to check into.</p>

18

<p>considering your stats and financial situation, you will probably find a good college that can cover a very large amount of your admission with a combination of need and merit aid.</p>

<p>In fact, some places might almost give you a free ride, need only. You just have to keep looking.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

19

<p>^ yes, the trouble is FINDING those schools. </p>

<p>eeeeeeeeeeek</p>

20

<p>Does your HS college counselor have any suggestions to offer? Sometimes they can be very helpful. I agree that it would be CRUCIAL to have a financial safety that you love, where you can attend & know your family can afford to send you. Whether it's a community college, a SUNY, or any other college which will guarantee you merit or need based aid, look now to find & love it. Do NOT assume that once you get into schools you love the schools will give you the need and/or merit aid you need to afford it. Our HS validictorian assumed that & is now going to our flagship U on a full-ride--she got in EVERYWHERE, but didn't get enough merit or need-based aid to swing it. She & her family were very disappointed.</p>