Other than loans where is a good source to apply for financial aid Do not qualify for FAFSA or merit
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If you don’t qualify for financial aid or merit scholarships, what else would any aid be based on???
Entities don’t just award money for breathing. Awards are for achievement and/or financial need. If you can’t demonstrate financial need, and academically have modest stats, why would any entity award money?
A rich relative.
Put a sob story on gofundme that tugs at the heart strings.
Each college and university has a Net Price Calculator on its website. Run your financials through a few of those, and find out what you are likely to be expected to pay. Then get straight with your kid about what his/her options really are based on your family’s financials.
I did that. Happykid ended up at our local community college for the first two years, then transferred to an affordable in-state public U. Lots of her HS classmates did exactly that same thing. They all got great educations, and are heading out into their professions nearly debt-free. Win-win all around.
There are colleges that award merit scholarships even for students with relatively lower test scores. In my state, a few of the state colleges (not the flagships!) begin providing a couple of thousand dollars in merit awards with a 22 ACT. Some others calculate an eligibility index that combines the student’s gpa and test score, and bases merit awards on that. Probably the best deals for your family will come from looking carefully at all the awards available at all of the public colleges in your state.
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In my state, a few of the state colleges (not the flagships!) begin providing a couple of thousand dollars in merit awards with a 22 ACT.
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Unless a school is really lowly ranked or unranked, getting merit for an ACT 22 is really just playing games.
I have seen it here on CC. There was a mom who was “gathering merit” for her ACT 20 son. All the awards were coming from very small largely unknown privates that are struggling for warm bodies. So, the tuition is raised and then a “merit award” is given for modest stats…just to flatter and to hope that the flattering works and the person enrolls.
In such cases, the award is quite small, not enough to make any significant difference.
@mrsmfleming What do you need to “net cost” to be ?
U of Wyoming gives merit awards at 22-23 ACT scores. Since the tuition, even OOS, is so low to begin with, the $3000 helps a lot.
It sounds like the OP’s child is not going to Harvard. WHy not look at some of the unranked schools? If someone’s child had an ACT 20, that’s what that parent had to work with, so maybe she was successful looking at unranked private schools. How is that different than someone with a really high set of stats looking for the most money among the LACs and directional state U’s?
OP, everyone ‘qualifies’ for FAFSA since it is not an award but an application. Just by filling it out your son will get a Stafford loan. You may not qualify for a Pell grant.
Schools like UWy and UMaine Fort Kent are great places to look because OOS tuition is low and they give merit.
What I was referring to were unranked schools that had inflated price tags, so that they they “awarded merit” which really only brought costs down a tiny bit…and still left parents with a big price tag.
Lesson: Do researches on FA before applying to colleges.