So, he does earn $72k per year, not $58k.
His total earnings were $63,000 from his first job…and $9000 from his second job.
So you are back to the beginning, although with more information. BC with about $40k in grants, $8k in loans, $2k in work study, the rest to be covered by your family (savings, work, other loans). I think you were originally right, it will be about $21- $25k. You could save $3-4k by commuting.
Holy Cross is out for you, even though it looks like the same amount of aid as BC.
One of the UMass schools, which you have said were $5k OOP for you (no loans?).
I know you never had to deal with this before, but it helps to be familiar with the correct terminology.
It is incorrect to say “leaving $49k left as salary for his first job.” His salary from job #1 is $63k. His salary (or wages) from job #2 is $9k.
Therefore, his gross income was $72k. That’s the number. No matter how much you want it to be so, you do not get to deduct the amount that he chose to contribute to his 401k to come up with “salary left for his first job.” Putting $14k into his 401K is discretionary. Indeed, there are many, many other deductions from his salary that are not discretionary, like income taxes, social security taxes, and other deductions.
Again, what is wrong with your low cost UMass bargains?
Fact is, BC is affordable with loans and work. It’s up to you to decide if that’s something you can handle -and I can assure you that working 10hours a week while in college is doable without affecting your grades - or not.
You have two excellent choices.
It also requires parents to pay $10k and only they can decide if the can/want to do that.
If the OP commutes the total cost goes down, but then the school reduces their grant by the same amount. OP already checked with the school on that.
I thought the grant was $47,000.
Thought BC said commuting would reduced the grant by 10k, so 37k.
I think many of us, especially those of us in New England, have a good opinion of UMass Amherst. Everyone I know who went there, young and parent gen, was happy there.
Yeah, but just barely, it seems. If the OP goes to medical school, he’s going to have to take on really significant debt. The most practical thing to do would be to take the less expensive option, with no debt. As said previously, UMass Amherst is not “inane,” as the OP claimed early in the thread. It’s a good school with many top students there. I’m sure plenty of kids from there end up at good med schools and go on to be successful. The OP could be one of them, if he could just let go of the idea of the “dream school” and essentially meaningless prestige.
BC is a great school but it is not Harvard. UMass would be a perfectly good option.
The title of this thread says a lot about the OP: $47,000/year in grants is crappy financial aid.
In post #175, OP said:
OP also said in another post that BC had increased the grant by $4000 after an appeal. That brings the grant up to $39k.
When asked if the grant would change if he lived at home, he was told yes, by $10,000. Total COA would go down by the price of r&b, about $14k, but commuting costs would go up. By how much? We don’t know. In my city, all college participate in the public transportation system and students ride public transit for ‘free’ (cost is included in a mandatory fee)
So to live on campus at BC:
Grants $39k
Loans $8.5k
Total $47.5
Work study available $2k
If the billed costs are $62k, this student is going to receive a bill for 1/2, about $7500, in August and again in Dec.
^^^
You’re confusing the BU numbers with BC. Not same-same.
BU shows 8500 loans freshman year, well over the Direct amount of 5500. Too much debt over the 4 years. Same old BU nonsense.
Oh, my mistake. I didn’t even know BU was in the mix.
It’s amazing to me that some students feel that they are owed financial aid money. My parents are not paying for my college and I do not qualify for any financial aid. Oh how I wish I received $47,000 a year in grants! No, instead I spent hours upon hours applying for outside scholarships. And you know what, I received over $200,000 in outside merit aid to sue for the next four years. I actually have earned more than I can use. I over applied because I had no idea how this was going to turn out. I applied for about 100 scholarships. It really wasn’t that difficult because many of the essays overlapped and I did tons of “cut and paste” on the applications since they basically all ask for the same information. If my merit aid quest did not work out I had a number of schools as back ups that offered me full tuition and a couple which offered full ride. I could have stopped there and accepted those but I really wanted to go to my dream school which does not offer merit aid so I put my effort into outside scholarships. The small scholarships really do add up.
I think we should remember that outside scholarships can be harder to get and cough up a relative pittance. The biggies require effort to get through and win, some strategic thinking. Many are also one year only. Jr2016, not aiming this at you. Congrats. But a much earlier poster made it seem outside money is a close to ‘ask and ye shall receive.’
OP, at this point, what are you thinking?
Holy Cross is out as of now. They rejected my appeal, and I will end up paying more there than at BC. No thanks.
BU will probably reject my appeal too since I didn’t hear anything from them. Plus, it’s also too damn big for me, I’d rather not have my college be on a streetm but have a real campus.
I will try my hardest to make BC work. I’m starting to look for some part-time jobs around the area, to cut down a bit on the costs. While UMass Amherst may be better from the financial standpoint, I honestly feel like I could fit at BC, and be happier there. UMass is too big + partying and I will have to dorm if I go there, since I’m practically on the other side of MA (Amherst is like 3 hours away). BC is near Boston, so more proximity to hospitals and more opportunities for research and internships. Not to mention that a 47k/yr grant is pretty generous, so I should be thankful and take what they offered me, which many people wish they had.
I will work my butt off to get into med school. BC will set me up for a good future, and I know it. I already called a few hospitals for some shadowing opportunities, and spoke to a professor at BC for research during admitted students day. It will pay off, hopefully. If I need to take on some debt for med school, then so be it. My parents have enough savings to cover me, and my work-study and future job will compensate for other needed expenses. I can make this work, and will make the most of my time there.
That doesn’t sound so crappy after all.
Best of luck to you.