Maybe generosity to home country and parents can be reinterpreted. Your ability to continue this tradition of generosity is probably related to your educational prospects and future earning potential as a college graduate. Perhaps while you and your siblings are in college, they might modify their approach to giving by taking a longer-term view of things?
A 3.5 GPA plus 26 ACT would get you a full ride at Prairieview, regardless of parental income. 3.25 GPA gets you full tuition. So my advice would be to work on that GPA. You are within striking range!
(assuming these numbers pertain to unweighted GPA but not sure).
See here for info on Prairieview as well as other options that you might qualify for.
Good news, my parents say that they will pay for my transportation to and front the school and for my books and supplies. So my main concern is Meeting the cost of tuition. Because housing and meals plans are negotiable
As far as merit aid is concerned, I am retaking the SAt in may, and the ACT in June . But i would really perfer to apply in September and I don’t know if they will super-score my SAT and ACT scores if I take them again in October. And I know that UT and A&M give merit based on rank, but at my school, If i made all 100s this year it wouldn’t change my rank by much. (i’m at an IB school and while the AP kids compete for a 5.0, the IB ones compete for a 8.0)
@mamaedefamilia
Thanks for pointing that out! But I don’t understand your first paragraph too well. Can you rephrase it?
@mommdc
I tried the college board calculator and it gave me about 6600 with institutional method and 5000k with federal method… I don’t know what that means or what to do with that. So I should subtract that from the COA to find my total need?
The maximum Pell grant is $5800. If you have an EFC of $5000 then you might qualify for a few hundred. If $6000 or more, none.
FAFSA uses federal methodology.
But you said your situation will depend on how many students will be in college at the same time, 2 or 3.
Like @mamaedefamilia showed you might be able go get full tuition or full ride at Prairie View.
This would be independent of your EFC, just based on GPA and SAT or ACT score.
With a federal student loan and maybe Texas state grant full tuition might even be enough, but it is in your best interest to aim for the best GPA and test scores you can.
@lessonwitch2 OK, here goes. If your parents invest in you and your siblings’ education now (with temporary reductions in their customary obligations), that ensures that you all will be in a financial position as young adults to continue the tradition of contributing to church, elder relatives, etc. If you are paying back personal loans (let’s say you took a Stafford, even though your folks don’t approve of loans), how are you going to be able to do charitable giving? If they think of these obligations in multi-generational terms, then supporting your education now, facilitates the possibility of future giving by your generation.
I’m not saying that you should feel obliged to devote half of your income to others. That’s beyond what I would do. I do believe, however, that charitable giving, within one’s means and comfort level, is a good thing for the giver and the beneficiary.
@mamaedefamilia Oh I get it now. I’m sure that cross their minds and we’ve had a similar conversation before. long story short, we need to send it to Africa before they even pay their bills or anything or they’d much rather just take us back to Africa (or at least somewhere cheaper to live in Texas) and that should come before personal expenses. No exaggeration. Because that was the reason we were able to come in the first place. So if we need to take out personal loans for college, we’d be advised to take a gap year or something and save enough to go without loans. But i really don’t want to do that because 7/10 of the people who took a gap year for engineering at A&M and tech dropped out by sophomore year… So I will try to avoid that
@mommdc thank you! That would be great! And I know that they will make less next year maybe I will get enough aid to get by. thank you so much! I’m defiantly looking into parire view A&M.
So the Pelt grant = (about)5800 - EFC right? That is so nice to know. And I will try to improve my grades, scores, and rank (who knows it junior year, maybe some people will fail). Because if I got into A&m or Tech that I will get at least some merit aid so its great to now I would get some Financial Aid.
Yes, Pell is max amount of about $5800 minus FAFSA EFC.
Unfortunately 2015 income will be used for this year’s FAFSA (2016-17) and also next year’s FAFSA (2017-18), since they are switching to prior prior year reporting. FAFSA will be available earlier then, October instead of January.
So it’s smart for you to focus on the merit opportunities.
In case this got lost in my previous post, get your GPA up to a 3.5 and you go to Prairieview for FREE. Your parents’ income would be irrelevant. Your ACT score is good enough (although taking it again and raising your score will give you more options elsewhere).
@mommdc Aww… I guess I have to deal with what ever I get. But Still thank you so much for the help! But if my EFC will be the same as this year for my brother, then I won’t get much aid right? Because my brother and his twin wouldn’t have spent a year in college yet. Will they take into consideration how my sibling will be in college by the time I apply for Fafsa? Because they will be enrolled by the time I apply for Fafsa.
@mamaedefamilia I promise I will remember. But It think I’m leaving as a fair bet and will try to raise my grades to 3.5 and my act to 33. But since my dream school is A&M, I still want to aim for their scholarships requirements, since they are higher then my other schools and they will push me to try my best.
Also, Since my EFC will be around $6600 due to institution Methodology, do I just subtract it from the COA to find my need according to that school .
6,600 - $27,000 (A&M’s COA) = 20,400?(and A&M meets about 70% of their students need. So is about $10,000 a *** possible *** estimate of financial aid (including loans and grants) ? (So i know if A&M might be in my financial reach)
Your EFC will be calculated using how many are in college THAT year, not those who have been in a year or those who were in last year. If all 3 of you are in college in the same year, the family EFC will be divided by 3.
Does Texas A&M use FAFSA or other financial aid form? If it’s a public school it uses FAFSA most likely.
I don’t think need will figure in much, except in the case of a texas grant. I don’t think public schools give any institutional need based aid.
Yes, Pell will depend on your EFC when you apply for FAFSA. If there are 2 or 3 college students in your family for the school year you apply, they will take that into consideration, you will indicate it on your FAFSA and your brothers on each of theirs how many are in college.
Yes, by all means do your best and apply to your dream schools. It’s nice to know, however, that there is a true financial safety for you at Prairieview if the others don’t work out!
You sound like a very hard-working, level-headed, and responsible student. I am sure you will go far!
@mommdc
Oh, I just assumed becuase they have a program (aggie assurance) that covers tuition with grants / scholarships for families with an income below 60k that a lot of their scholarships will have a financial aid component. The money in that program is what I’m hoping to get. And since most of the scholarships require some financial need I now know I may win some. Which (I hope) may lead to at least 10,000 in aid. (Its not a lot but it gives me room for compromise if I get other merit aid scholarships) Thank you So much. really, this is very helpful.
@mamaedefamilia
Thank you so much. I will try my best. Really you guys don’t know how much this means to me.
Housing and meal plans are negotiable? Only to a certain extent. You still have to pay for them.
I would strongly urge you to look beyond just your FAFSA EFC. The FAFSA EFC is the MINIMUM the colleges will expect you to pay…the MINIMUM. At most schools, your only guaranteed awards will be the $5500 Direct loan for freshman year, and any Pell Grant to which you are entitled.
Even IF your EFC is $6000, there is no guarantee that your college will cover all of the costs between that $6000 and the actual cost of attendance.
Other universities that may be interested enough (because an African American from Texas is rare there and thus interesting to them) that they’d provide sufficient merit aid include Howard, Case Western Reserve, Olin (if you have excellent scores), FAMU, Iowa State, South Dakota S&T, Lafayette, Union, Trinity-CT.
Also, run the NPC on Missouri S&T, Southwestern.
