<p>The loans were under my dad’s name and right now while she has a job he isn’t forcing her to pay them (she doesn’t make much) for psychological reasons (enough said) </p>
<p>Well when we applied like 5</p>
<p>Um…the income cutoff for a family of EIGHT is $39,630. Unless I’m reading the federal table incorrectly.</p>
<p>Idk then but I know I qualified</p>
<p>Here is the table. I was looking at the federal one and I think it was for free lunch. . This is from Florida.</p>
<p>In order to qualify, you must have an annual household income (before taxes) that is below the following amounts:
Household Size* Maximum Income Level (Per Year)
1 $21,590
2 $29,101
3 $36,612
4 $44,123
5 $51,634
6 $59,145
7 $66,656
8 $74,167
*For households with more than eight people, add $7,511 per additional person.</p>
<p>Again idk but I qualified…I really don’t know </p>
<p>Go directly to the linked schools and use the schools’ NPC. If you input your info, you should be able to determine fairly easily how much merit $$ you will automatically receive and then there are probably competitive scholarships you can apply for. </p>
<p>It takes EFFORT to find those additional opportunities. Don’t expect someone else to find them for you. Find a school that you think if close to affordable, spend a lot of time on that school’s website. Call the dept for your major, ask if they have competitive scholarships for incoming freshman planning on that major. Investigate their honors program. Does the honors program offer additional scholarship $$? Does the school allow stacking of scholarships?</p>
<p>All of the above, you can accomplish in the next few weeks with a phone and the internet before you even apply! Will your parents pay for transportation costs beyond the $1000? If not, you need to limit your geographical range. </p>
<p>Fwiw, do not rely on CC or your guidance counselor to give you all the answers. Find out yourself. We know first-hand that some of the info here on CC is not quite accurate bc the opportunities are restricted to only a couple of students per yr, so they are not well known or publicized. But that does not mean they do not exist. Putting in the effort to find out every opportunity a school offers and focusing on the opportunities that you know you are a very strong contender or overqualified for can have big pay offs. If those scholarships can stack, you can move from automatic full tuition to enough additional money to finance room and board.</p>
<p>If you spread yourself too thin, you won’t have the time to find out all the opportunities that do exist. Focus on ones that you can make work for you that are realistic options. </p>
<p>They will pay for transportation I think but thanks for the suggestion. How many schools do you think I should apply to then? Of course taking into account acceptance rates, my stats, NPC, and all of your recommendations </p>
<p>I guess no one checks income for free or reduced lunch?</p>
<p>I said I don’t know I really don’t know</p>
<p>Shockwave, your parents will need to complete the financial aid application forms. If your AGI is much lower, there is a chance you will qualify for some additional need based aid. </p>
<p>This additional aid won’t cover the costs of attending pricey OOS schools, but every penny helps.</p>
<p>So do you have a suggested number of colleges I should focus on so I don’t over extend myself but still keep a good pool of colleges available?</p>
<p>The answer is not in the number of schools but in the number of schools which will lead to something you can afford.</p>
<p>For example, my ds applied to Case Western and GT where admittance was pretty close to guaranteed based just on how we compared him to their student body. Both have very, very competitive high$$ scholarship opportunities. Without those scholarships, they were not possible. He applied to those as very LONG shots. Turns out, they were long shots. He got a huge award from Case, but it was not the full-ride award that he tried for. Was it worth the effort? Yes. He wouldn’t have known if he hadn’t tried. So, no regrets.</p>
<p>But, the vast majority of his applications focused on schools where he was likely to receive even more. And he did. The number can be as low as 1 if you can make it work. Applying to 15 will not increase your odds if you can’t afford them and spreading yourself over that many schools makes you miss opportunities that YOU could find if you spent more time researching and less time randomly applying.</p>
<p>I know it doesn’t depend on the number but I can’t have too many or I won’t have the time or focus to research 10 schools. Do you think 5 schools with my stats well above their upper percentile (after research of course) as well as researched competitive scholarships I have a good chance for + financial aid (and if necessary minimal loans and work study) would be my best bet?</p>
<p>you need to apply to at least 3 schools that give assured huge-huge scholarships for your stats. What is your major? Psych?? Why are you set on that?</p>
<p>My major is psychology but hoping to also complete the pre med requisite classes</p>
<p>If you want to be a doc, then go to your cheapest option. Include schools like ucf and usf and fiu because with bf and your scores, merit from those schools may make them affordable</p>
<p>Aspiring to become a psychiatrist and a good psychology background in college would help me do that</p>
<p>I do not know how to spell this out any more clearly. Spend the next week researching the schools in that link. Find about a dozen or so that appeal for your major, honors programs, and are within $10000-15000 financially. Dig into those schools more thoroughly. Find out if there are any scholarships that you can compete for to start to close the gap. You can take out $5500 in direct loans. Your parents are offering $1,000. Are there additional scholarships that are dept or honor, etc that can fill in the $3500-8500 gap? It is possible to earn more than that. But you have to search for the info.</p>
<p>If you apply to 10 schools that leave an $8000 gap, you have no options. You have to find at least a couple that come down to a realistic difference.</p>
<p>Since psychiatrists are nearly the the lowest paid docs, do not borrow much for undergrad or need school.</p>
<p>You do not have to major in psych to help become a psychiatrist</p>