Towson, Salisbury, Frostburg and Stevenson might be some schools to research as far as tuition/fees, room and board cost.
Are any of these in commuting distance? Or she can start at a community college and transfer to a 4yr college after 2 years.
Thank you everyone! I’m happy she wasn’t interested in that 50,000 to begin with :)!, it just got me thinking, I have no idea how this works, I didn’t even get through high school. … know what I mean? I appreciate all the resources and tips.
She has ADHD and struggles in math. She hasn't had any accommodations in school at all...because she's embarrassed of having it. But she does the honors courses even in math, I'm not sure why. I know she was even more distracted during the SATs because we had almost lost her dad at that time. He was Hospitalized during the SATs. Maybe a second go would be a good idea. This time she should study for it.
We are in Maryland, her SATs Reading/writing is 700 and Math is 530
Welcome to CC.
Does your D attend a private or public school?
If she attends a private school, please make the sacrifice and pay the $35 so that your daughter can get her program. Owing money and not getting a program is just the tip of the iceberg. With an unpaid balance, the school may be reluctant to send out her transcripts to the college (It would help greatly if she had a copy of her transcript to accurately fill out her college applications).
You have to use a bottoms up approach to make sure that she has some affordable options.
@happymomof1, can you make some recommendation in Maryland where her D has a strong chance of getting merit?
Are there any incentives for people who ultimately want to teach in Maryland? If your daughter knows that she wants to teach and will teach in Maryland, she would be best served attending an affordable public in Maryland, where they an also easily take her through the certification process. Right now she is talking about 2 separate licensing processes; elementary education and art education, is she looking to get certified in both?
She definitely needs to retake SAT to improve her math scores. Many competitive deep pocket schools may also require the SAT II subject test. I would also recommend that your D take the ACT because some students tend to do better on this test.
If her strengths are not with standardized test, she should also check out fairtest.org for the list of SAT optional schools. As others have mentioned, don’t sleep on the Womens college, especially Bryn Mawr, Mount Holyoke, Smith first three are SAT optional, and Barnard (she will have to raise her math score for them).
We are about 30 minutes drive from University of MD College Park, Towson is also about 30 minutes away. Salisbury is a few hours away. I’m not sure of the others.
Look at this site: http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com
If your daughter meets certain grade and test score cut offs, she can get free tuition. There is also a yolasite page for competitive full tuition, Google it.
There’s a lot to consider. Make an appointment to see your daughter’s school guidance counselor as soon as possible. Explain the situation, and swallow your pride if needed. Ask what schools are good possibilites. Your daughter can possibly qualify for application fee waivers. She may need to apply for scholarships. She may be able to get a full ride, meaning tuition, room and board. Google colleges that offer it. She should study a lot for the ACT or SAT and retake it in September or October because a good score (probably 31 and up), may mean a lot of money for her education.
I am sorry to hear of your troubles. One thing that might help is to know that if she can get a high score on the SAT or ACT, along with her good grades, she may be able to afford college without too much stress. But you do need to act now. Look at the gov education website: https://studentaidhelp.ed.gov/app/chat/chat_launch/chat_data/cV9pZD0xJnN0YXRlPTYm/request_source/7
Call and talk to someone there so you can understand the process better. Post in the financial aid forum here and ask for advice, there are people who can really help you.
Have a look at the various forums and subforums, and ask questions when you need to. There is nearly always someone who can give you advice.
@confuseddropout Of all the issues you are facing right now, this one is fixable.
You can PM many of us anytime with questions. Most will answer you. And at any step, post and ask, there are answers for you that will make this work.
First: your income is quite low and your situation is hectic right now. So some specific advice: go to your D high school counselor and explain the situation. Most HS have a fund for fees for those who can least afford them. Ask them to waive the lab fee or give her a scholarship for them.
Second: you should not have to pay to take the SAT or apply to many colleges. Ask about fee waivers. These little amounts add up, and you don’t need to deal with that. Period. The guidance counselor will help with that. Ask her/him also about questbridge. If the SAT comes up, it is a good way to ensure you can afford the ultimate choice. Ask about good teachers colleges in the state or that give good financial aid.
Third: this is doable. Breathe. Make a list and the two of you figure out how to do all the research. It’s ok. Let us know if you need help.
To get a quick estimate for whether an expensive private school will come down in price after financial aid, visit the federal government college scorecard website, enter the school, then click on the + next to Costs
For example, for Bryn Mawr College,
https://collegescorecard.ed.gov/school/?211273-Bryn-Mawr-College
The average cost for a family with 30,000 of income is 12,892
Out of that, my guess is 5,500 is your daughter’s federal student loan and 2,000 or so is her work study job.
So, the cost to you the parent would be about 5,500 dollars.
Now, that is before we help you write a financial aid appeal letter detailing the costs of your husband’s illness and any other special circumstances that would help you qualify for even more financial aid.
This is why you should not cross off all the private schools: They can be very generous for the right student.
Look at these lower ranked women’s colleges in your area for safeties: Hollins (VA), Mary Baldwin (VA), Salem (NC). When you look at the cost of attendance at many private colleges, please realize that most students do not pay the full listed costs. My daughter got very good financial aid offers from some of the smaller women’s colleges - most much less than in-state public tuition. Many of the women’s colleges have bi-co agreements with nearby co-ed schools where the students can take classes for no additional fees.
Yes. She is in public high school. Sorry if I’m missing some of the questions being asked.
@lookingforward I’m not using myself as a point of reference.(: Plus, the university the OP was concerned about had a 50k tuition.
I second looking into fee waivers for an SAT retake and for college applications as well!
You definitely need to see the GC and let him/her know what is going on in your house so that you can have this lab fee waived. Make sure that your D signs up for free-reduced lunch (it does not matter whether or not she eats it).
If your daughter has been diagnosed with ADHD, get her an IEP while she is still in school. This way she can get extended time on her SAT/ACT. In addition, she will be able to register her IEP at the office of disability services to get extended time services when she goes to college.
Getting the IEP will also be the first Step (she will need her IEP/504- get the IEP, it has more long range protections) in your child getting services through Maryland’s office of vocational and rehabilitative services, which can also get her additional monies for college
http://dors.maryland.gov/consumers/specialized/transition/Pages/parents.aspx
RE: Mary Baldwin mentioned above…for what it’s worth: I think MB is no longer a women’s college although a disproportionate amount of the student body is female. Education majors also dominate the school. I drove by recently on a trip and it has a very pretty campus…
For an education major, you might also look into financial aid at Hood College…
In our public high school in VA, we’ve had students get a lot of aid from McDaniel, Hood college and Goucher (private schools in MD). Hood college and Goucher are SAT optional, but I think her score would be worth submitting to those schools. St. Mary’s college is a public instate option for you to consider in addition to Towson. She could qualify for need-based aid from your income or merit-based on her gpa.
Please talk to GC about your financial situation and see if you can get the $35 fee waived or extended. You are going to need waivers for the college application fees so you will need to have this conversation anyway.
Your daughter will definitely get in to college. You need to find one that is affordable for you.
The yolasite link posted above is VERY out of date. You will need to check EACH college listed there for current scholarship offerings.
Here is an updated link:
This student is a need-based aid case, not merit aid.
@confuseddropout sybbie is right. Is the ADHD has been diagnosed, the IEP should not be difficult to put in place. She just needs time, not services that will cost the school anything. Askvthe huudance counselor howvto go about it. They will help with the special ed people.
Welcome to the College confidential community!
Things to do ASAP:
- your daughter will get all kinds of advantages with an IEP, starting with extra time on the SAT (and extra support in college). It levels the playing field with kids who don’t have her challenges. She deserves it. Think that some kids pretend to have all sorts of illnesses just to have these advantages and the guidance counselors have to keep them from doing it… She deserves it.
- you qualify for free/reduced lunch, so go see the guidance counselor tomorrow to aak what you need to complete to get that as well as fee waivers (even if she doesn’t want to eat in the cafeteria or feels bad about it) because it automatically unlocks 2 free SAT exams, 2 free SAT subject dates (up to 6 subjects), and 2 free ACT, plus automatic fee waivers for all college applications (up to 20 on common app and for Maryland public universities) and CSS Profile (the forms for the best financial aid at the most generous colleges). Your daughter may feel uncomfortable but tell her to keep her eyes on the prize: college.
- once the fee waiver issue is solved, have her register immediately for the September ACT. She can practice as for the SAT using Khanacademy.org and check out an ACT book from the library.
Her Reading score is amazing but that math score is oddly low (due to her emotional state). She needs to being it up working through the Khan academy website. An issue is that the August SAT was yesterday… And there’s none till October. So she needs to register and take the ACT in September to have a score that reflects her skills on time for Questbridge, the deadline of which is fast approaching. She can apply with her current SAT score and indicate the circumstances in which she took it, then add she took the act and will send the score as soon as it’s available - that should do it.
She’s just 40 SAT points away from being able to apply to Questbridge. Questbridge is a program that selects excellent students whose parents have not gone to college and whose family makes less than 65k a year then sends their application to lots of elite colleges eager to diversify* their student body, and if the student’s a finalist and “matches” with a college, they get a guaranteed 4-year full ride (it may even cover transportation to the college and books on top of tuition, fees, room&board IE rent and food.)
Has she take the August SAT? - Meanwhile she should read the Questbridge website.
- Google the following
“Mount Holyoke NPC”, "Connecticut College NPC “, “Dickinson NPC”, “Goucher NPC” “U Maryland Baltimore county NPC”, " U Maryland college park NPC”, “St Mary’s College Maryland NPC” .
What is the net cost for you at each?
(All of those would be possible colleges for your daughter but I think net cost would be different at each so you could cross out the unaffordable ones.)
Good to know:
That price listed by the colleges on brochures isn’t what you’ll pay. The expensive private colleges “that meet need”** often end up cheaper than public universities for families that make less than 50k a year. Many colleges are very expensive but are also very generous, so that you’d be expected to pay nothing and your daughter would be expected to contribute earnings from a summer job and take on a loan (for $5,500 max). Some Universities don’t even expect her to take on a loan. However they’re very selective so use this website extensively - lots of people here can help you/her navigate the process.
What does she do when she’s not in class? (Activities, job, watching siblings…)?
- that may mean : students whose parents make less than 75k/year, whose parents have not gone to college, who come from rural areas...
** only about 85 Universities" meet need" out of 3,700 so most private universities don’t “meet need”. Not all universities are equally generous but if the student has taken honors and AP classes with good grades and has good test scores, even colleges that don’t meet need make an effort to incentivize these prize students to come. And then you have colleges that just don’t have scholarships for students outside their state, such as UCs in California or Penn State in Pennsylvania. No point in applying there if you can’t pay.
This website will help you explore colleges and the programs (including some scholarships) they offer for first generation students: http://www.imfirst.org/#!