High Family Income w/ a catch... do I have a high EFC?

Paying for College
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My brother is going though the college fafsa process and stuff and he’s the first person in my family to not get roughly a full ride due to non-need based stuff. We don’t have any savings for college. So I don’t know if its because they’re mad, but if he doesn’t get enough financial aid to cover the COA, then they won’t help him take out loans to go to college . Now I’m worried since I doubt I will get a ton of merit aid at my dream schools so should I am for lower schools that are more likely to give me a full ride? Or do you think I will receive some financial aid (like say half or coa)? It doesn’t need to be only grants, just enough so i don’t need to take outside / non federal loans.

Facts: 6 people (not including me) in household (2 parents, 1 college graduate, 2-3(if he goes to college) siblings in college) , I am a Texas resident, and my family makes about $95k. (most of our money goes to Africa) I’m worried about affording Texas Tech, Texas A&M and UT Austin if that helps.

Will my EFC be pretty high? DO you think I might qualify for work study or pelt grant? Testimonies from former / current students are appreciated from Texas Tech, A&M or UT who went though a somewhat similar situation.

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and my family makes about $95k. (most of our money goes to Africa)


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how much goes to Africa?

Schools will not give you more aid because your parents choose to send money abroad.

I doubt that you’ll qualify for a Pell Grant.

What are your stats?

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Why not try the Net Price Calculators on the schools’ website?

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I would call the schools that are in scope (and consider some privates in addition to those state schools you listed). talk to them about it. schools may consider the money sent to Africa as an extenuating circumstance (like paying for elderly care). But I have no idea if that’s likely; just think you should ask about it. If considered, it would likely vary a good bit from school to school, with less likelihood at the publics than the privates. most likely at financially generous schools.

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The fact is your parents have a given income. How they choose to spend it is not the college’s problem. Your parents expectations seem to be that their children either ‘earn’ merit money or they take on the debt.

As @GMTplus7 suggested, run the NPCs on the schools you are interested in, and see what it looks like. Whether there are 2 or 3 other kids in college will matter, so if there are 3, and one graduates each year, your NPC will change each year.

Once you have an idea of what you can get through need-based aid and what your stats are likely to qualify you for in terms of merit aid, you can work on your list. Before that, though, you need to sit down with your parents and ask them to talk you through what they expect of you.

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“Sending money to Africa” whether to help family members or to pay for a lion-hunt safari is a choice not a legal obligation.

Many colleges, especially private ones, aggressively recruit black students and give generous money. I suggest u look at schools further afield.

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MOST of your money goes to Africa? Colleges will view that as a choice. They will expect that those resources will be redirected to college costs.

ETA…there is nothing unusual about your financial situation at all.

And if your oarents are truly living from paycheck to paycheck…as you imply…then it would to be wise for THEM to take out loans to fund college for all of you kids.

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<<<anyone think="" i="" might="" get="" work="" study?="" anyone="" they="" can="" guess="" my="" efc?="">>>>

The money that goes to Africa and is definitely by choice and they colleges my siblings went to didn’t give any sympathy since its ultimately to make a profit later. It just goes to some farms, shelters, and family. I know efc calculators don’t care (to my knowledge) .

I don’t really know many private schools for mechanical engineering. I really want to go to a school with a strong networking connection for their engineers and undergraduate research opportunities. So if anyone knows a private school like that, please tell me I’m all ears.

@mom2collegekids
Last year around 47k went. Next year it should be less.
Rank Top 25%(should Improve), Sat (old) 1230(m + Cr), Sat (new / predicted) 1300+, ACT 30 (will retake and improve), 7 AP / IB classes every year of high school, 3.2 UW GPA 3.9 W GPA, and I’m an African america first generation immigrant if that helps.

My Clubs
Church youth group – founder / president (2010-present) and 1500 hours of community service
Academic Decathlon – President and winner in math, science, music, and economics (2013(or 2011 if you count lone star) -present)
Book Club – President (2014-present)
Film making society – Officer and music composer (2014 – present)
Color Guard / Winter guard – (2014 (Composer) and 2015(member) – present)
Technology Student Association (structural design) (2015-present)

@GMTplus7
The Tech, A&M, and UT don’t seem to have official calculators. They just redirect me to college for all texans where they tell me i could get $0 - $23000 of aid. SO I don’t know if their is another calculator with more accurate results. If you know one please tell me

PS love your new profile picture!

A problem with looking for other schools is that most schools with automatic scholarships don’t make automatic full rides anyways(unless your NMF). So it is inevitable that I will have to rely on finical aid and/or loans at any school i go to.

PS 1 more thing i forgot, my dad lives in New York 1/3 of the year while the rest of us stay in texas

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Your state of residency is Texas…in case you were wondering.

So…you are saying that your parents send more than half of a $90,000 a year incime for a for profit endeavor in Aftica annually?

That same $47,000 or half of it…could pay for your college education at one of the Texas public universities.

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@thumper1
Yes completely true, but they are hardcore, christian, conservative Nigerians who believe 15% of your income goes to your home church, 10% to parents, 15% to the prosperity of your home country etc for the blessings you will receive later

But we are first generation immigrants and the idea of taking out loans is Taboo. They may be okay with it if the loans are apart of the college’s financial aid package(since they were fine with the “B-on-Time” loan), but other wise no loans allowed.

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http://hbculifestyle.com/abet-accredited-engineering/

Have you looked into HBCUs? They might offer you generous scholarships. Do some test prep this summer to increase your options.

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@mommdc Thank you for the link! I am actually interested in one of them-- Prarieview A&M, but i will be sure to check out the rest of them. Thank you so much!

Meanwhile I am still curious if anyone can guess if I might get work study or what my EFC might be. (all I want is a ball park guess). And before I consider other schools, I would still like to know if I have a chance to get ANY financial aid from A&M or Tech or UT. That would be very helpful

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Did your brother submit his FAFSA yet? So he would be the only one in college until you (and a twin?) go next year?

What is his EFC this year with one in college?

And you have an older sibling who already graduated from college living at home? Are your parents supporting him/her too?

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@lessonwitch2 No one will be able to answer your questions. The best thing you can do is wait and see how your brother financial aid works out. I feel your pain about the NPC. Lots of state school NPC are like this GA included. Not very useful.

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@mommdc
yeah he did sumbit his FAFSA. And no, he has a twin and we have another sister still in college by the time I go to college the following year. Yes by the time I go one of my siblings will come back home and will be living with my mom and she will support continue to support him. But no one wants to show me what our EFC is for any of his schools. (thats why I came here).

@sensation723 I’m not looking for a straight yes or no, I just want to know if I can at least hope for work study… or maybe have an EFC around 6k a year.

I have no basis for an estimate so I was hoping people who have gone though this might. As far as I can tell I have absolutely no need. Can someone tell me if I ** might ** get some need based aid. Not alot, but just ANY amount of financial aid from A&M, UT or Tech. IDK if that is a realistic goal or not. Someone tell me if it is.

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OP, the Aid for College in TX is the NPC for TAMU (and most TX schools) but UT uses a different one.

Yes, the TAMU NPC is not good. It doesn’t look at your stats for any merit aid and just gives a range.

I believe this is the UT NPC. http://www.collegeportraits.org/TX/UTAustin/estimator/agree
Using $95K and 6 family members I get a grant of $9678 leaving ~$16.5K to pay. For that you can take a $5500 loan, still leaving you with $11K.

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You are right about the Texas NPCs. They are not accurate. From my experience, I don’t think you should expect any institutional aid from any of them, especially given your situation. The only thing you can count on is getting the federal aid that you’re eligible for.

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Looks like Prairie View A&M, Texas Tech and Texas A&M are about $18-20k for tuition and room and board.

Depending on EFC there might be a Texas state grant possible.

If you got some merit, and with the student loan and summer work earnings it might be possible.

I would work on increasing your test scores as much as possible this summer, and GPA till the end of year.

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Why don’t they want you to know the EFC?

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Here is a link to a financial aid calculator. It will estimate your family EFC.

https://fafsa.ed.gov/FAFSA/app/f4cForm?execution=e2s1