We have about 90k in equity on the business and that’s a great but we really don’t make enough income to afford a loan. We barely make ends meet with all the bills now.
Some schools’ NPC asks for GPA and test score and FAFSA EFC.
Those might give you an idea of the aid you might receive.
“we are an SCorp”
oh dear. that makes it even more complicated.
@Thumper, when can she plug #'s into FAFSA and figure out what her FA package will be for FAFSA public colleges?
Or can she already do that?
If the parent pays $5000, and the kid takes $5500 in loans…and then gets even $3000 in Pell…he would have $14500. Add to that a summer job…and UAH would be affordable.
If he can increase his GPA, he could get more at that school.
Then again…he would have that same $14,500 to use at UMass Lowell or UMass Dartmouth where he has the chance for merit aid as well. So these would be merit aid…plus the $14500.
Didn’t you mention there was a college he could commute to? While that’s not his top choice…it should be on the list.
^she said she did not qualify for free meals, there fore probably wont qualify for Pell.[?]
I think the key is to see what her son’s second SAT results are, and if they go up enough he’ll qualify for more merit $$,and perhaps a free ride somewhere.
I called UAH and his gpa weighted is over 4.0 so he is qualified but his SAT is too low for the full ride. If he can get a 1520 he will qualify. The only thing not included is meal plan and fees, books, etc. the air travel will be costly as will storage for his belonging etc. might end up being as much as something in state. I tried to find schools with engineering in Massachusetts but the only ones I saw that would meet full need are the ivies. I used Niche. Trinity in CT would have been great but from what I was told not a great school for engineering. If he changes his major we may have more options ha ha.
Doesn’t UMass Dartmouth have Engineering? Doesn’t UMass Lowell have engineering?
He might get enough merit at those schools to make them affordable with your $5000 plus the $5500 Loan plus his Pell amount plus his job earnings.
Plus…didn’t you say there as a college he could commute to? Which one is that?
Summer storage? Don’t worry about it. My daughter had 3 Rubbermaid containers with her blankets, sheets, a few decoration. She stored them at a friends house, but if she couldnt have done that, she would have brought them home or thrown them out. The value of dorm stuff should be low.
You can fill out a fafsa now if you want to, pretending he’s a senior. It doesn’t cost anything and will tell you if he will receive a Pell grant in a few years, and basically how much it will be worth (might go up by a few dollars )
You can ask how much he’ll receive in merit or how “colleges do it” but each school is different so we can’t answer if BU give both merit and financial aid. Most likely not.
I think you need to look at the “stacking” in the reverse order. Say the cost of the schol is $70k. If your son gets a merit award of $30k, that will be applied first. Now the cost is $40k. Next the school would apply outside scholarships, say $5k. Next Pell grants, say $3k, so now you need $32k. If your EFC is $10k, the school might be able to help you with some of the $22k, so will include the loans of $5500 and maybe another $10k in school grants. That will still leave you with $7500, plus the $10k that was your EFC, so you and son have to come up with that, plus the loan, plus the $5k outside scholarship.
Air travel is not going to be crazy. Four flights. Probably $1500. You don’t need storage.
@thumper1 Don’t forget about UMass Boston. They have Lowell, Boston and Dartmouth to apply to.
UNH will NOT be affordable. No way.
OP- storage costs are zero. Your son will make friends with someone in his dorm who lives in driving distance of his college. In May, your son will stash his stuff in that friends garage; in August, he’ll retrieve it. He will show up with a tupperware container of home made chocolate chip cookies to thank the parents for being so nice. And the next May, he’ll repeat- but with a different friend and a different garage.
We’ve stored furniture, boxes, books, and been a temporary hotel for kids after graduation and before starting a new job (kid waiting for the first paycheck so they could pay their rent/security deposit) who lived far away. It’s nice to be able to help someone else’s kid!
You’ve got to recast the thought process here. Either your son wants to be home for a meal or to celebrate the dog’s birthday-- great, here are two colleges within commuting distance which fit the budget. Or- not. In which case, here is a generous merit school, you’ll be able to fly home at Christmas and after finals; we’ll save the Thanksgiving dough for an emergency trip. If you try to thread the needle with “We need to find an out of state college which we can afford with merit, but where you can also fly home once a month” that’s not a likely scenario.
So…many of us keep following and responding to your threads. We mention schools that might be affordable. You keep bringing up schools that are notorious for low merit and financial aid. Several people have suggested 100% needs-met schools, myself included. UMass Boston, UMass Lowell…not UNH. Your son has a dream of attending BU, you can’t afford it. Squash that dream. Your son has called other schools “crappy”…what the heck? Does he also feel the students there are below him because that’s going to be a problem if you’re chasing merit.
I was in nearly the same predicament but add a non-contributing bio Dad to the picture whose family income was at least $150K+, probably closer to $200K. My husband was self-employed. Not easy to assess any finaid and the NPC could not be trusted unless they were FAFSA only schools.
My total costs including visits, testings, applications, etc. was nearly $5000 (it could have been done for half that but we made some of the visits into vacations…PA especially). Did my D aspire to attending some of the safety schools on her list. No, but she knew damn well that she might have to. Her other choice was community college or UMass Amherst (great school, acceptance into CHC) which was at the bottom of her list due to size.
You need to rethink this whole process, start a new list, toss out BU and UNH and UConn and all those other schools you KNOW you can’t afford. Start building a list where your son is in the top 25%, have him retake the SATS, look at auto-admit schools, and shift the attitude that any school is below him. It sucks to be pell-eligible poor, I know, we are, but there are some great schools out there for everyone. And your son absolutely should be taking out his student loans and contributing another $3000 from summer work and whatever work study they give him for his spending money during the school year. Now you are closer to the $15K range to work with. Not alot for sure but it can be done. Good luck.
Just need to say, living in New England, I know many who went to UMass Amherst. Their immediate comment is the size. But they all follow that with how much they enjoyed the experience and value their educations. And it’s part of a great consortium. Take your smaller classes at Amherst, even guys can take some at Mt Holyoke or Smith.
People on budgets whose kids need to fly home make reservations early, at a lower cost. Summer storage is easy, some colleges offer their own space. You aren’t furnishing an apartment.
But, right, you’re threading the needle too soon with these finer points.
Except for guaranted merit, you likely won’t know your FA package til you see it. So, for right now, with 8 months to go, you lower the bar, become open to all sorts of possibilities. Other than the less expensive publics, don’t limit your thiking to New England.
Last, I know that somewhere, among all your threads, you said some colleges would expect a 27k contribution or so. But we don’t have an idea of your actual financial position, iirc, just that you have 90k equity in the business. So it’s hard to get our bearings, based on our experiences.
While this is a little off topic…my kid DID pay for summer storage. She shared the unit with three others…there was plenty of room…in an air conditioned, indoor place…it was $90 for the whole summer. Not an onerous cost.
I totally agree with @NEPatsGirl.
Build your list from the BOTTOM up. In other words, find those sure things for admissions and finances FIRST, and get them on the list. They should be Schools your kid will be happy to attend if accepted…and it sounds like he needs to change his thinking a little.
It’s very easy to pick expensive schools that meet full need…with admissions in the 10% range. And huge costs. And net price calculators that might not be accurate given your business situation.
IIRC, you say your income is in the $20,000 or so a year range…but you can pay two mortgages, and still have enough left to give your kid $5000 a year for college? Is that correct?
In addition to your income, any assets you have will be counted as well…savings, investments, etc.
If your income is under $30,000 a year, and you have less than $3000 in the bank, it seems like you would qualify for SNAP…but you say you don’t.
Remember also, Profile Schools will NOT use your FAFSA EFC to award institutional need based aid. They will use the information from the Profile to compute your need based aid.
OP, I just wanted to add that you should consider having your child sign up for the June 9th ACT test. Both of my sons scored much higher on the ACT than the SAT which allowed them to be eligible for large merit scholarships.
My income is not 20k not sure where that figure came from? Also my son does not think schools are “beneath” him he just doesn’t hear good things about Lowell. He’d be very happy to attend Umass in Amherst if the price was right. They seem to have the best engineering school there of the Umass’ s. We liked Trinity College but were told it may not give him a great engineering degree. I think Umass Dartmouth and Boston would be the same as Trinity? Thanks again.
Id also like to add he doesn’t think he has a chance in hell at any of the Ivy schools or selective either. Schools with an acceptance rate less than 20% he feels are a long shot.
I think the $20k income was just an example based on your saying low income e. You may think your income is lowbut that does t mean you’ll qualify for a Pell grant or even that school will agree UT us low enoigh to qualify for full aid.
Do fafsa and see what your efc is. If it is $10k or more, you aren’t going to get a lot of federal aid
Trinity is very good but depending on your finances may be unaffordable. Run the npc.
Maybe we are not considered low income then. We are less than $65k which qualifies us for Questbridge perhaps?