Our daughter is entering 12th grade. She has taken honors courses throughout high school, even though she could have taken the easy courses. She has always talked about going to University. We never spoke of college like it was an option...it's just what's next after high school. She wants to be an elementary school teacher and she has an interest in art.
HERE IS THE DILEMMA My husband and I never attended college; we never even completed high school! We each had our own family problems (I know, no excuse), We both left home at early ages, moving into our own place at 17. Now at 38, and my husband 40. He is terminally ill. (12 years of being sick, since our daughter was 5) I don’t know what to do to get her to University. The things they are sending in the mail (they look like ads, Tulane is one!) it costs $50,000 a year! That’s more than we make in a year. I make $30,000 a year (my boss is retiring in May) My husband’s disability is $900 a month. I feel like crying; we made her think she can go to college. Please any and all responses are appreciated. Her SATs reading/writing top 97 percentile and the math portion was above the benchmark needed. What can I do? Thanks everyone!
What are the exact SAT scores and her GPA. (We need these to see if you qualify for merit scholarships)
You need to find the public university in your home state that provides the best support for low income kids, then you need to apply to a bunch of meets full need schools where her grades and test scores are in range.
I’m sorry you’re struggling, but I’m so glad you posted. There are schools other than the $60k/year colleges. Most kids commute to college (either to a community college then to a 4-year school or directly to a 4-year college if they live close enough to one). It’s still college, even if they’re not getting a residential experience. It’s the degree that matters.
Low income students who are US citizens may be awarded a Pell grant of up to ~$5k/year, and they can take a ~$5500/year federal loan. Some colleges give merit aid to students with high stats. If you tell us your state and your daughter’s stats, maybe we can suggest alternatives.
With your income level, your daughter will have a lot of opportunity to attend private colleges that give need based financial aid, or private colleges that give merit scholarships. You probably will pay nothing. I don’t know about Tulane University but you and your daughter should shop at the financial aid section and scholarship section of other college web sites.
Our home state is Maryland. 700 on reading and writing 530 on math. I’m not sure about her gpa. Her school is currently withholding her schedule for the year because we owe them $35 in lab fees? , but I will call them tomorrow to see if they can give me her gpa or are they going to say no because of the $35, I’m not sure. So maybe I should talk her out of a out-of -state universities and talk her into an in-state one?
Many universities offer special scholarships for “first generation” college students – which means students whose parents did not go to college – and other scholarships that are based on financial need. Your daughter could possibly qualify for these scholarships, some of which cover full need, including tuition, fees, room and board.
She can also look into living at home and attending a local college to start out with and working part-time and summers to pay her own way.
Another possible option is to check out any military programs or military colleges that might cover college tuition and more in exchange for serving in the military for some time.
Her high school college counselor should be able to help her put together a list of universities to apply to that fit the above criteria. You can also find more information about the above options on CC and through online searches, and visiting college websites.
She should apply to several universities, and then choose the option that works best after the offers come in. If the college application fees are too much of a burden, some universities waive the fee, so that shouldn’t stop her from applying.
You may want to ask the moderators to move your post to Parent forum to get more helpful responses.
It will be helpful if you post your daughter’s grades, test scores, extracurricular activities, talents, and interests so that the parents can suggest some colleges that match your daughter.
As a person who has been told from a young age that paying for college is my responsibility, I’ve never really considered how hard it must be for parents facing the task of providing for most of their child’s tuition. I can only imagine how stressful that must be.
First and foremost, YOUR DAUGHTER CAN GET INTO COLLEGE. Period.
Second, Fill out the FASFA and the College Board provided CSS Profile (which open October 1st).
Fill these out as early as possible! The CSS Profile is especially important yet severely overlooked - this is how you get institutional need-based aid, a huge component of your overall financial aid.
Help your daughter apply to “outside scholarships”. These are scholarships that aren’t provided by the college/university but can be used towards your tuition. Also apply for full-tuition scholarships at specific colleges/universities, though these scholarship programs may have extra requirements. Your daughter may also gain automatic scholarships through merit alone!
In addition, apply to QuestBridge! QuestBridge gives your daughter a chance to apply to high-tuition colleges and universities with a full-ride. Even if she’s not a finalist or doesn’t get matched, applying to schools through QuestBridge will give her application a greater edge.
Overall, broaden your options! It doesn’t seem that you or your daughter have extensive knowledge of the possible places that she can apply to. Sit down and consider things together, such as if she wants to dorm, how far away from home is she willing to stay, and majors offered at each school.
And DON’T WORRY! Most of the people on this site are applying to the top 10% of colleges and universities in the US (or even the world), but an art-loving future trainer of the next great minds of America can get a stellar education at more modest, affordable institutions.
[ If you need help compiling a college list, PM me! I do this for all my friends. x) ]
Is there a chance she get some tutoring in math and take the SAT again? I think a little boost would give her some scholarship opportunities. My daughter found that private women’s colleges were very generous with aid for good students. PM me if you’d like some suggestions.
I think that you should also let us know what state you live in, and check the opportunities for financial aid at your in-state public universities. I think that you should be able to find affordable options. Good luck!
Consider it a happy dilemma that your daughter wants to continue her education. It will be a lot of work to get her there, but hopefully you can make it work.
College websites have something called a Net Price Calculator which will give you a very good idea of what type of financial aid your daughter could qualify for at that particular school. You can run the numbers for different schools and see what looks affordable.
Some colleges give strong merit aid to top students. You can look through this list (which may need to be updated but it is a a start) http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/
I would start by looking at your Maryland instate public universities. There are a lot of them.
In addition, make sure you check out the community college options. Most have good articulation agreements for finishing the bachelors at those publics.
Unfortunately, Maryland isn’t one of the states with great guaranteed scholarships from my past research. That doesn’t mean you don’t have options and no where near $50,000/year. The full pay cost of Towson is $21,878. They offer scholarships but they are competive as opposed to guaranteed for certain stats. With your D’s stats, we can help more on scholarship options.
Questbridge requires a 1310 SAT score. Overall, put the advice to find “outside” scholarships on hold for the moment – most (90%+) financial aid comes from two sources: The federal government or the colleges. Only a small fraction of the money out there is from outside scholarships, so chase outside scholarships only after you have a solid college list.
As far as out of state goes, there are public universities and private universities. The out of state publics are out of reach - state schools save their best aid and scholarships for state residents. However, out of state privates may give her better financial aid than her in state publics since Maryland is not a particularly generous state. The College Park and St Mary’s College campuses are the most promising for good financial aid, so take a good look at those and see if she meets their admissions requirements.
A lot of the meets full need schools are going to be tough to get into with a 530 on math. Can you have her get some SAT math practice books and retake the test in October? You would need to sign up for this soon.
RE: SAT prep. You don’t even need to buy SAT math books, she can practice on khan academy for free and it will use her previous test data to target her weaknesses. Alternatively you can look in public/school libraries for prep books, no need to spend money.
It sounds like your daughter is a great candidate at schools that want “first to attend college” students! Contact Questbridge – we just visited Colgate with my son and we were taken around on a tour by a first to attend college student who was amazing. Many schools will offer scholarships. Do the FAFSA, talk to your daughter’s college counsellor (if she has one). There are many colleges out there that won’t break the bank and your daughter will get an amazing education. I agree that she should redo the SAT and do the Kahn Academy on line prep, which is free. Good Luck!
