You can subtract that right off the top of the overall cost of attendance. You don’t hand that over to the university, so you do not have to come up with that money up front. Also, you can likely reduce that amount by buying used books or by renting books. If your permanent home is not too far from BC, your travel expenses will be lower than the average.
If I were you, I’d try to get the work-study award bumped up to the max.
You are crazy for not viewing the subsidized loan and work-study as awards. They most certainly are. I don’t get why you would think that you should not have to take out loans, just like almost every other college student in the country.
Your award for BC is EXCELLENT.
And I will repeat what others have said: If your mom gets a job, your household income will increase and your FA award will decrease for the 2018-2019 academic year. (You are lucky that the system is changing and during the change year, the 2015 income will be the basis AGAIN for the 2017-2018 academic year.)
Based on your threads, you come across as having very impulsive over-reactions. You need to fix that. Good that you realize that about yourself now, rather than when it’s too late.
Also, my major at UMass Amherst, is “Pre-Medical Studies” so if I do decide to enroll, I will certainly switch out of that into Biochem. While I am on the pre-med track, a pre-med major sounds like a terrible idea.
I don’t know what the criteria is for UMass Amherst honors college, but it costs an extra fee I believe. Anyways, bio, chem, ochem, calc and physics should be plenty challenging without taking honors courses.
The point Myos was trying to make I think was that you got some very good financial options in your state to choose from. State schools for about $5k and BC for about $18k.
The same student with income of $58,000 in PA would not qualify for Pell grant, same as you but at PA public schools would probably only be offered loans, since public schools rarely give need based institutional grants. Since Penn State, Pitt and Temple cost about $30,000 the family will have to come up with the remaining costs after student loan and possibly $2k state grant.
@MYOS1634 So I just called UMass and they said they do not reconsider applicants for admission to the Honors College. They consider applicants for admission to the program during their initial application review, but I have to apply after my first semester if I want the program.
@mg29409 Unless your parents have money saved for your education, the $10-$13k per year is likely going to be a financial strain. You said they were already struggling. So that’s something you should consider. And one other thing, if I recall correctly, BC has grade deflation, which may hurt you in maintaining a med school worthy GPA.
Just so it isn’t a shock if it happens, some colleges require all WS students to work in food service freshman year (so they have enough workers in that area). After that, students are free to seek other WS jobs on campus. Just in case BC is one of those schools, though I would mention it.
But you don’t have to shell out this amount. You should be looking at the amount you actually have to pay to the college when the invoice comes.
For example, the amount the school puts in the books/expenses column is not an amount that you are invoiced for. And the loan(s) are subtracted from the amount you are invoiced for because those are paid directly to the school. Figure out how much will be coming out of your pocket.
@itsgettingreal17 We do have money saved, enough for approximately the first 3 years. The fourth year and medical school might be difficult, but I do not mind taking out loans to pay for medical school, since I will be making a starting salary of $50k straight out. And I think you mean BU when talking about grade deflation?
I ran the collegeboard EFC calculator for a family of 3 in MA with $58,000 income, $14,000 401k contributions, $72,000 home equity. I did not put anything for student assets or income, older parent I estimated at 45, parents assets $5,000.
The federeral methodology (FAFSA) EFC came out to over $11,000
The institutional methodology EFC (CSS profile) EFC was a bit lower at $10,544
When I ran the calculator again with mom’s $30,000 income added the FAFSA EFC was now over $19,000 and institutional EFC $16,000
If tuition, fees, R&B at BC is about $65,000 and grants from BC about $47,000 then you have $18,000 left to pay.
If your parents can pay $10k then you can cover the rest with loan and summer job/ws.
In the last year or two you might have $5k more to pay because of increased income, but you can also take a slightly higher amount of loan. Of course tuition can also go up every year.
You will have to decide with your family if you want to take out loans and if they will be able to pay $10k.
Is the $14,000 for 401k contributions correct? That is almost 20% of gross income ($72,000). Is your dad catching up on contributing to retirement account?
I saw different fees for CC “commuters” than for on campus. The site is not clear. It says 98% of freshman live on campus. I’d call. That might be a good option (though would the grant decrease if the COA goes down?)
You need to verify that if you commute to BC their finaid will stay the same.
Basically no matter what they want you to pay student and parent contribution, take subsidized loan and do workstudy. If your living expenses go down then your need goes down too.
I caution you to create a plan to pay for all four years. Look at historical data to try to get a feel for how much BC increases tuition/housing/COA each year. Talk to the FA department and ask if grants are adjusted for price increases. Look at the housing cost for the 4 years. Boston is not cheap. While moving off campus after freshman year might save money, your FA will likely be adjusted since BC will have one COA for on campus as well as a COA for off campus.
Be realistic about your costs. You can save on books and miscellaneous cost but you will still need to spend a fair amount on these items. You might find that UMass schools will be more flexible about meal costs and dorms. Our state schools have many meal plans (including the option of no meal plans as a freshman). See what flexibility BC has in this are.
Also consider the tax credits you parent will get. It sounds like they should be eligible for the 2500 American Opportunity Tax Credit.
Make sure that your health insurance meets BC standards. If not that is another cost.
Ok, I’ll take this one. The reason to do all that effort in school was, in the first place, to learn that material. The kids that slacked off will bear the consequences when they take classes where it is assumed they are proficient in the science and math concepts taught in HS. Even in the liberal arts those that put in the minimum on papers and the like will find they aren’t at the same level as their peers in class and will be graded accordingly. Writing is a skill that takes time & practice to reach higher levels.
Furthermore you had the chance to actually practice skills of time management and focus. Your friends, the ones that slacked in HS, I’m sure they are all planning to be much more diligent in college. But while people are pretty rational about plans for the abstract future, it turns out that in the here-and-now the same things that distracted us in the past will be distractions in the future. I expect your friends to show up at UMass and be delighted at all the things there are to do, and no parents around to boot! Why pass up parties and the other fun things they’ve done, at least those first few weeks? So they’ll plan to crack down once midterms come around. But the opportunities for fun don’t disappear, and they’ll discover the level and pace of college classes won’t let them cram it all in over a few nites. Stay on the forum for a while and you’ll see posts saying “I did bad 1st year but if I really work hard and earn A’s the next 2 years can I still get into med school?” Those that stay around posting never seem to actually pull it off. Math/science is cumulative so if you didn’t really learn the material frosh year you’ll be sunk later when learning the new material assumes you know the old.
As for those ECs, as people post here regularly if the only reason you did them was to impress some adcom that was a serious mistake. Hopefully they provided some intrinsic reward on their own to you. And even if not, you still learned how to spend time outside of school while getting the studies done. If you continue on the premed path then you’ll need to be doing med-related ECs and optionally taking part in research. See the great guide at https://www.rhodes.edu/content/health-professions-advising-hpa on the “PreMed Essentials” link for more on this and for understanding the whole premed process.
There is one thing you posted in an earlier thread that sounds troubling to your premed plans.
I don’t know why you expect anything other than an A in O-Chem if you apply yourself. If you look online you can find profs teaching O-Chem that explain how to study it; there is a lot of memorization, sure, but to do well in it you need to understand the principles too. Med schools look closely at your O-Chem grade because it approximates what your med-school classes will require. @mom2collegekids has a son in med school, may have more to say on this. And as for your college career on general – if you don’t expect to get a 3.5 or better then your med-school chances drop precipitously. I would suggest reading the book “Make it Stick” this summer, which is a book by researchers about the most effective techniques for learning and has specific advice for HS and college students.