How am I going to afford Bard College at Simon's Rock?

Paying for College
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<p>You have to be either a HS graduate or have the GED (by the time you are starting school in the fall) to be eligible to complete FAFSA. </p>

<p>

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<p>You must be at least 16 to take the GED

[/quote]
Who is eligible to take the GED tests?
The GED tests can be administered only to persons who:</p>

<pre><code>* have not graduated from an accredited high school or received a high school equivalency certificate or diploma;

  • are not currently enrolled in a regular high school;

  • are at least 16 years of age.*
    </code></pre>

<ul>
<li>Applicants must receive special needs approval.
Contact the local GED Testing Center for more information.

[/quote]
</li>
</ul>

<p>In some States you cannot take the GED unless you are past the age where you would normally have graduated high school or must get special permission to do so.</p>

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<p>“or pass an exam approved by the U.S. Department of Education.” What’s this suppose to be any info on this?</p>

<p>How do seniors apply for fin. aid if they do not have a high school diploma yet?</p>

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<p>I may have to get the GED by the time I start school in the fall or ask my school for a diploma (not likely). But wouldn’t I have to drop out of school to get the GED?</p>

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<p>I think you should ask the college how their students typically qualify/apply for non-institutional financial aid. My guess, from a very brief look at their admissions page, is that many of their students actually do have enough credits through advanced coursework to meet graduation requirements at an earlier age than normal.</p>

<p>The FAFSA/Profile are filed annually, starting in January each year, for the following college year. So, this year’s HS seniors could have filed info Jan 2009-June 2010, for their freshman year. The information required is based on their 2008 financials as it’s always a “look back” assessment.</p>

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<p>From the people I have talked to lots of them have no GED or diploma. They said not having one was not a problem at all. I think I will need to talk to admissions and the guidance counselor in the fall.</p>

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<p>It wouldn’t be a problem for kids who have wealthy parents who can pay the cost without federal/state aid. Better to get the complete details from the school before you put yourself, and your parents, through the time-consuming and expensive process of applications and interviews.</p>

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<p>I agree and will ask them when I get a chance. There must be something I don’t know.</p>

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<p>If you haven’t already visited Simons Rock, I would suggest you do so BEFORE you apply. You should go when school is in session and when you can meet other students and see what the school is like. Simons Rock is not at all like ANY of the other colleges on your list. </p>

<p>Agreed with others…to get federal and any state aid, you will need to have your HS diploma or GED BEFORE you complete the financial aid applications.</p>

30

<p>I was going to go this summer, but there would be no point. I could go there and have an interview instead of having a phone interview. It’s also not close, so I would have to miss school. </p>

<p>I’m going to ask about the fin. aid stuff, because I’m confused about that. Is there any outside scholarships I may look into?</p>

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<p>This student has asked these same questions elsewhere, gotten answers, and apparently doesn’t like the answers he’s already gotten so keeps asking.</p>

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<p>No I haven’t! I have never asked about fin. aid and how am I going to be qualified? I made this thread, because someone suggested that I did from another thread.</p>

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<p>I don’t know of any scholarships for students with poor GPAs who want to quit high school early. The big money scholarships out there generally have a need component and an academic component. They are very very competitive and thousands of stellar student apply for them with only a small % winning them. If need is a big factor then schools that give the best need based aid are also the most difficult to get into. If you need scholarships you should focus on working really hard and bringing your GPA up a lot and graduating from high school. All the magical thinking in the world is not going to make you eligible for competitive scholarships with your GPA.</p>

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<p>I have been to Simons Rock and I know students who have attended there. I would NOT allow my child to even consider applying to this school unless and until they visited it. It is a great place for the right student but it is VERY different than a traditional college…students should be well informed about the school BEFORE they apply and in my opinion, this is one I would visit first. </p>

<p>But that’s my opinion. Barring that…you absolutely MUST go there for a visit before enrolling. It’s just something you should do so that you will know what the school is like. It may be perfect for you…and it may not be.</p>

<p>As I put in my other posts…Simons Rock is VERY VERY different than the other schools on your list.</p>

<p>Financial aid issues are also there. The school does NOT give full tuition awards to very many students. They just don’t.</p>

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<p>I wanted to know other scholarships. I know there are other scholarships such as essay’s. But a lot of them I do not qualify for, I’m not old enough. I do not want to quit high school, I want to further my education. Also, my GPA is not poor by any means. I have an 87% average and I’m not in the bottom of my class. You make it sound like I’m failing high school and I have a 2.0 GPA. Please all I wanted was scholarship info.</p>

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<p>Thumper, I did not see your post when I posted my other one. I will hopefully visit it and will take your advice. I still have to convince my parents to take me there though. I am also worried about fin. aid too. I thought some schools on my list which you can compare to SR are: Bard, Sarah Lawrence, Hampshire, Ithaca, Bennington and Marlboro.</p>

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<p>What is your schools grading scale if you have an 87% average but a < 3.2 GPA? </p>

<p>Unfortunately for competitive scholarships (and competitive schools) a 3.2 or 3.4 GPA is not good. If you can bring it up considerably then the upward trend *may *help you. Remember you are competing against other students who have maintained high GPAs through 4 years of school. Think of it from the viewpoint of the scholarship committee making the decision - student A completed 3 1/2 years of HS (remember your application will be based on your GPA at the end of this summer or next fall) with a 4.0 - student B completed 1 or 1 1/2 years with a 3.2-3.3. Who would you give the scholarship to? And you will be competing against thousands of student As. GPA aside, I don’t know of any scholarships a HS sophomore would be eligible for.</p>

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<p>I have a 3.198 and it may be because of an AP class? I would think a 87.198 would equal to a 3.2. That’s my problem I don’t see where there is other scholarships. I know my GPA would be a problem if I was a senior, but like you said there is no other scholarships. I think it will be hard to bring it above a 3.5 in only one semester.</p>

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<p>My daughter is an engineering major. She graduated in the top 5% of her high school class with a GPA higher than 3.6. She did NOT get any major scholarships and it wasn’t for want of trying. You don’t mention any SAT or ACT scores either and many of these scholarships required one or the other of those too.</p>

<p>I would agree that Hampshire, Marlboro, and Bennington are similar in some ways to the regular Bard College…but they are not similar to Simons Rock in that Simons Rock specializes in young college students.</p>

<p>Simons Rock and Bard are two very distinct campuses with very distinct college programs.</p>

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<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/simons-rock-college-bard/656798-what-my-chances-bard-college-simons-rock-aep-scholarship.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/simons-rock-college-bard/656798-what-my-chances-bard-college-simons-rock-aep-scholarship.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>You asked there how you are going to afford the school, too. </p>

<p>I concur with thumper; you should look at the school when students are there. Though there is a town a couple of miles down the hill, SR’s setting is New England rural; the school mascot is a llama because of a neighboring llama farm. When my son and I first visited the school, we were greeted by a very nice, tall, burly guy, a student, who was wearing a skirt and had his hair dyed a bright pink. “How CTYish!,” was my thought, and I suspected my kid would love the school. I was right; he does. And I think it’s a great fit for him.</p>

<p>You need to figure out what your EFC is and sit down with your parents to see whether they can pay the EFC, and then at least half as much again, because SR gaps; even if you get a merit scholarship through AEP, even if you get needs-based aid and take every Federal loan available to you and have work study, there will be a gap, and that gap is likely to be substantial – 50-100% of your EFC.</p>

<p>As far as scholarships, do what every other student who wants/needs outside scholarships does: search the web, ask at school. Most guidance offices have information on local scholarships, and your local library may, too.</p>

<p>IMHO, you should set a different goal for yourself than to go to college early just to go to college early; concentrating on improving your GPA would be a great goal and would make you more competitive for scholarships down the road.</p>

<p>The answers you’ve gotten to your questions are unlikely to change, regardless of how many times you ask. Please sit down with your parents and talk concretely about college costs so that you can base your dreams on the financial realities in your own family before doing anything else. That’s where you need to start this process, because that is what will guide all your options.</p>