<p>So as a junior, I'm really starting to worry about paying for college, since I'm planning on going to med-school and doing a surgery residency after that, so I have TONS of years of schooling to pay for. I have pretty good grades and high SATs, so while I may or may not be Ivy-league caliber, I think I have a good chance of getting into a top-30 school. However, since I live in NJ, my tuition at Rutgers University will be really low, plus my GPA and standardized testing scores qualify me for a Presidential Scholarship. I don't really like the school, the town, or the fact that a large portion of my high school matriculates there (I want college to be a fresh start where I meet new people, rather than just a rehash of high school). However, my tuition and room + board would be free if I went there. Is it better that I just suck it up and deal with 4 years at a school I don't care for much, or should I go to the school I like best, even if it is more expensive? I do have 15 years of training to complete before I can work, after all.</p>
<p>Well, who’s going to pay for the more expensive schools? You can’t pay for them on your own and you can’t borrow enough on your own. Your eligibility for financial aid will depend on school policies, your family’s income, and your grades and SAT/ACT scores.</p>
<p>You have a strong in-state option (Rutgers is a fine school) and if you get that Presidential Scholarship, sounds like you would be set. So make sure you apply to Rutgers and its Presidential Scholarship… then feel free to apply elsewhere and see if you get enough aid at your “dream” schools to make them financialy viable.</p>
<p>If medical school is in your future, you would be very wise to keep your undergrad debt to a bare minimum to none. You will have plenty of debt for
Med school.</p>
<p>Rutgers is large enough that you’d meet plenty of new people there . . . it won’t be high school all over again!!!</p>
<p>*Is it better that I just suck it up and deal with 4 years at a school I don’t care for much, or should I go to the school I like best, even if it is more expensive? *</p>
<p>Guess what? With your ACT 35 and high SAT your affordable choices won’t only be “cheap Rutgers” or “pricey other”. With your stats, you could get large merit scholarships to other schools. If your goal is to go “somewhere else” and get away from the high school crowd, then apply to a few schools that will give you huge merit for your stats.</p>
<p>(however, I agree that Rutgers is large enough that you won’t be tripping over HS classmates).</p>
<p>What are your parents saying? How much will they pay? If you’re like a number of Tri-State kids, your family may have a strong income, but that income may have to go mostly towards living in a high cost, high tax area. So, they may not be able to pay what colleges expect them to pay. Or, they may surprise you and have a college fund for you. You need to talk to them.</p>
<p>BTW…it is tooooo early for you to be certain of your medical specialty.</p>
<p>Need to add…</p>
<p>Your title is wrong. your choice is NOT between “good aid” vs “good school”. Rutgers, as well as many other schools that would give you large merit is a “good school.” </p>
<p>Why would you think that it wasn’t??</p>
<p>mom2collegekids and polarscribe you’re absolutely right, rutgers is not a bad school. its just that many people from my school (i would say 70-80%) who apply there are automatically accepted, and i feel like, if i suffered through 2398209 ap classes and worked hard to be in the top 2-3% of my class, that i should try to aim higher than the majority. but you’re right, it is actually very well-ranked and has good programs. maybe i just have a superiority complex of wanting to be better than “all the average kids”. as for my medical profession, i agree its too early, what i wrote down is just my dream for what i’ll be doing after med school.</p>
<p>my family makes around 200k a year pre-tax, but income/property taxes in nj are outrageously high, so the real amount is less than that. i dont know the exact number, but i’ll say around 120,000. is this eligible for need-based aid?</p>
<p>No. Your family’s income is in the top 3% of all American families - wealthier than 97% of American families. Your family quite literally has the ability to pay for any university in the country if they so chose to spend their money that way. Even the “super-aid” schools like Harvard, Yale, etc. are not likely to provide much, if any, need-based financial aid, because you have no financial need.</p>
<p>However, you should be in line for significant merit aid at schools that offer merit-based scholarships.</p>
<p>You need to talk to your parents and find out how much they can afford to pay for college. Then start working out a budget and apply to schools that are known for offering significant and generous merit aid.</p>
<p>I don’t have any financial need? 60,000 a year is literally half of our earnings. I realize I’m not by any means poor, but I did think that since this would make a significant dent in our budget (especially because NJ is such an expensive state to live in) that colleges would take that into consideration. I think you’re right that I really should focus on schools that give more merit aid though, as of now I’m really only thinking about prestige and not what’s good for my family.</p>
<p>
In general, families pay for college via
- Savings.
- Incomes.
- Loans.
- Scholarships and financial aid from governments and school.</p>
<p>
I don’t mean to harp on this point, but you need to get a sense of perspective: The average family in the United States earns $45,000 per year <em>before</em> taxes.</p>
<p>Your family could spend that entire $60,000 per year and still have more after-tax income than about 70% of American families.</p>
<p>Just about every family has to make financial sacrifices in order to support their college-aged kids, and you are incredibly fortunate to have wealthy parents who can afford to make significant contributions to your college costs. Many hundreds of thousands of students that do not have your family’s financial advantages would trade places with you in a millisecond given the opportunity.</p>
<p>S1 is a college freshman, S2 is a HS senior, and we live in NJ, so I understand the situation. Yes, $200k (or $120k) doesn’t necassarily go far in this state, but it’s far from insignificant and would expect that the EFC based on FAFSA will b significant. Have you thought about other state schools? TCNJ has a different vibe that RU, and it’s academics are terrific. It might be a real good fit for a pre-med major, since I believe their science departments are very strong. S2 looked at it for engineering, decided he wanted a more urban campus and did not apply, but we were impressed with the school. I don’t know much about the other state schools for a pre-med type major (i.e. biology), but they are probably worth a look.</p>
<p>Make a list and shoot for some good schools with good merit aid. Look at universities in other states with strong honors program (giving you some of the benefits of smaller school) with strong merit aid. Univ. of South Carolina, Alabama come to mind. There are some small LACs like Washington and Lee with fairly large number of full merit scholarships, but very competitive. My D goes to school in town where she went to HS. Not only does she very seldom see others from HS that she knows, she has been pleasantly suprised at people she has met from here that she didn’t know before. So Rutgers sounds like a perfect academic and financial safety. Just do some research on other schools and merit aid offered.</p>
<p>Similar questions are asked frequently on the PreMed Topics forum, check out the sticky thread about selecting an UG college and other threads, lots of good information there.</p>
<p>what if you don’t go to medical school after all?</p>
<p>Seconding what scmom12 said. I believe you could go to University of Alabama for free or almost free. A lot of LACs (outside the top 30 or so) would love to have you too, and would reward you with very generous merit aid. Many LACs do an exceptional job preparing kids for medical school. Take a little time to think about what kind of school environment you might like best, and then make a list. You will have a lot of options.</p>
<p>my family makes around 200k a year pre-tax, but income/property taxes in nj are outrageously high, so the real amount is less than that. i dont know the exact number, but i’ll say around 120,000. is this eligible for need-based aid?</p>
<p>First of all, aid isn’t based on “after tax” income. Aid eligibility would be based on the $200k income. Your income is too high for aid.</p>
<p>$60k is not half of your earnings. It’s less than 1/3 of your earnings. Your parents earn $200k. Again, things aren’t based on “after tax” income. That said, there’s an assumption that families with incomes like yours have saved for college, and might take out some loans as well. </p>
<p>So, instead of paying $60k out of current income, there may be an assumption that your parents will pay $20k out of savings, $25k out of current income, you’ll take out a $5k student loan, your parents will take out a $5k loan and you’ll earn $5k by working over the summer and part-time during the school year. </p>
<p>However, if none of that works for you, then you need to consider schools that will give you big merit for stats. </p>
<p>How did you do on the PSAT? Are you a likely NMSF? </p>
<p>Have you asked your parents how much they’ll pay each year for college? if not, do so. You need to know that.</p>
<p>i got a 236 on the psat, and my parents have been saving, but the 200k is after a recent promotion, not throughout the years. does the $2500 im probably going to get as a nm finalist going to help much with college?</p>
<p>anyway, thanks everyone for the heads up about need-basedaid. i definitely need to consider more strongly colleges with good merit scholarships</p>
<p>Many schools give much more than $2500 for National Merit finalists. Check out this thread for NM scholarship info. </p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/national-merit-scholarships/649276-nmf-scholarships-updated-compilation.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/national-merit-scholarships/649276-nmf-scholarships-updated-compilation.html</a></p>
<p>got a 236 on the psat, and my parents have been saving, but the 200k is after a recent promotion, not throughout the years. does the $2500 im probably going to get as a nm finalist going to help much with college?</p>
<p>Well, unless the recent promotion doubled your parent’s income, the income has been high for awhile.</p>
<p>The 2500 NMF award is a one time award that is only given to a small number of NMFs. Not all get that…(out of 15,000 NMFs, only 2500 get the one time $2500 award).</p>
<p>However, there are many SCHOOLS that give large 4 year scholarships for NMF status. Fordham would give you free tuition. There are many other schools as well.</p>