<p>Leave this thread and the naysayers behind.
Don’t waste anymore of your energy here.
Find a way to pursue your dream.
You can do it…</p>
<p>I’ve heard good things about Lehigh, but I’m not familiar with Dickinson. I’m sure you’ll do well and will call it “home” and eventually never look back… or at least I hope that for you. </p>
<p>Life is about choices and sometimes we just can’t have what we want :-(</p>
<p>I’m sorry about the family situation. I don’t find it fair, but then I don’t know both sides either. I hope that you recognize that these experiences make you stronger, which I hope will eventually make your life easier.</p>
<p>Take life one day at a time, because you don’t know what might happen tomorrow. Good things are coming your way!</p>
<p>Good luck :-)</p>
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<p>Damn, I’m sick of hearing this nonsense over and over! Reality: for a kid with no money, the ONLY two options are (a) community college and (b) work your tail off to get full aid at one of the few colleges that offer it. For the kid with no money and less than stellar grades and test scores, community college often ends up being the only option.</p>
<p>There is financial aid for middle class kids, but it is, admittedly, more limited. Middle class kids have access to the same merit scholarships as anyone else, though . . . and with careful planning, it is possible to find schools offering generous scholarships even if you don’t have perfect scores and grades!</p>
<p>No, it’s true that as a middle class kid, you don’t get your pick of any school you want. The only kids that have that luxury are the kids whose parents can afford to pay the full cost of attendance. (And those kids still have to have the grades to get into their dream schools!)</p>
<p>Things didn’t work out the way you’d hoped. That happens quite often in life. What’s important is how you respond. Blaming your parents, blaming the spoiled “lower class,” and lamenting all the work you’ve done for the past four years is fine . . . for about five minutes. But after that, you need to see if you can’t come up with a more constructive approach. You’re going to face plenty of adversity in your life . . . is this really how you want to deal with it?</p>
<p>"There isn’t a college in this country that guarantees to meet need based on FAFSA EFC. "</p>
<p>This is not exactly true. While most of the schools compute the EFC as higher than that of FAFSA, there are a few schools that give more aid sot that the EFC is lower than that indicated by the FAFSA. These are usually super selective schools, but nevertheless, they do. HYPS and Amherst come to mind. Some times Dartmouth, Williams and WASHU also do. Northwestern tends to go strictly by the federal methodology, so NU numbers tend to be right on target with FAFSA.</p>
<p>Enlist. Serve 4 years. Earn the GI Bill. Try again.</p>
<p>There ya go.</p>
<p>It sucks that your dad was caught in a surprise layoff and that the loan against the 401k counts as income. When you feel calmer, talk this through with your parents. If you take a gap year, what will your family income and assets look like for next year’s FAFSA and Profile?</p>
<p>From your description, it looks to me like your parents fully expected to be able to pay for the places on your list when you applied last fall. That was the only real mistake here. Everyone needs a worst case scenario option on their list in case the worts does happen.</p>
<p>Happydad was laid off at the end of February in a massive company-gutting event. Our kid is at a cheap state school and the money for next year (her senior year) was already set aside. We were lucky. Some of the other college kids will have to transfer or take time off if the formerly working parent doesn’t land a good job soon. At least one family is likely to lose their home. So believe me, I do get it about the scary finances thing. We are living it too.</p>
<p>There is no school that out and out guarantees to meet need as defined by EFC. There is only one that comes close that I have seen. Schools may have formulas that can come out beating that EFC at times, and schools may give out financial aid packages that are better than EFC even when they have no guarantees because they so want a student, but I’ve yet to see a school that says it uses the FAFSA EFC alone for need determination and that they guarantee to meet that figure. </p>
<p>Many of the colleges with generous formulas have a required student contribution figure that the FAFSA EFC does not have. They almost all include home equity to some degree and most require NCP info, including Amherst and Williams. Yes, I’ve seen generous figures from the schools–we have a vicar who makes very little money have three in college with the twins at A and W, get very nice aid from the two schools but because the schools cut the contribution by 40% with three in college, instead of a third, they still paid more than EFC. </p>
<p>The reason schools often do not go under FAFSA EFC and some even have specific internal rules not permitting this in terms of aid is that the student cannot be funded with federal money when that happens. No subsidized Staffords, no SEOG, no Perkins, no work study permitted in the package when you are funding over EFC and that includes merit awards. Not to say it does not happen, clearly it does, but schools tend to make their financial aid formulas to avoid this from happening.</p>
<p>OP, your parents are clearly in a state of financial transition. I 'm sorry this is happening right at the crucial time when you are going to college. They are struggling to maintain their standard of living, house, school, amentities while your father is unemployed by hitting the 401K plans, and they do have some unemployment money coming in. They are going to have to decide whether they need to downsize and get used to a lower standard of living, and it will be decided for them if things continue this way, or your mother may be able to pick it up in terms of business and your father get a job that pays as much or more than it did, and they can then maybe go back to the way things were. But right now there is a financial storm and you are smart enough to see this, and they have to “batten the hatches and hang on” for it. Paying out $10K a year for college for you is not a good idea under those circumstances. Surely, you can see this. They are also not in position to take out loans. The interest rate is murderous. And if you have medical school in your sights, taking out more than the standard $26K in Staffords is not a wise idea for you either. I know young doctors here who are miserable with what they have to pay because they had to borrow so much for med school, and the pay is not panning out these days to make it an easy go to repay them. </p>
<p>So, hopefully, you’ve had your vent,and you can sit down and look at where your family is realistically and understand what the responsible thing is to do . You can get into medical school just fine, taking local school courses. I know many who have done just that. My close friend’s brother turned down Harvard to go to a dual program at his local state school, and let me tell you, that hurt, but his parents, like yours did not have the money to pay a private school comfortably, and he well understood why they wanted to live where they did, and how they did, and there were other kids in the family too. So he commuted and went 8 years for virtually free, free for the first four and you know what they called him at the end of that time? Doctor. There were kids in his class that did not make it into medical school after going to schools that were much better known and held higher in snob esteem as well as having high test score/grades kids </p>
<p>The fact of the matter is that you are not likely to be able to go to the $60K private schools with the 3 R’s, Reputation, Ratings and Recognition because it is highly unlikely your parents are going to recover soon enough to be able to pay for them, and yet they have the resources to keep their upper middle class life style going for a while which shows up on the financial statements. Yes, unemployment and 401K withdrawals count as income. The schools want their share of that if your family is getting them. They are not interested in being at the end of the priority list. They want to be FIRST. So you are not likely to get financial aid to cover anywhere close to the $60K cost You know I am just telling you like it is, maybe the first person to do so. And without pity and wild ideas. You need to find a school that has a low sticker prices, such as the local state options, and/or look for the ones where you are one of the very top students in their pool and they are willing to pay full freight for you. Forget Dickinson’s Gap year of $10K. Realistically you need more than $10K to make this work. Your parents are still in denial too and you need to get to the reality line for yourself before they do. It’s not just one year you have to come up with the money, it’s 4, and that GPA you got in high school because of all of your work and ECs, is not going to cut it for med school, honey. I can tell you that for sure. All the med schools want to see are the grades, particularly in the Premed cores science classes and that MCAT score and where you go to college figures much lower on the list. Believe me, I know. State U is just fine to get into into med school. </p>
<p>Once and if your family ends up truly at a lower income level, yes, any kids applying to colleges will qualify for more financial aid than you were offered. If your siblings apply to the schools you did, with the qualifications you had, they will likely get more money from some of those schools. But to get grant money like PELL , which is what about 20% of Stanford kids do, the EFC has to be around the $5K level. It’s not as though there is a gush of funds for low income folks. And your siblings and family will be living on an income a third of what you have been enjoying in the last few years. It woud be a tough go, for the extra possible dollars that one gets for financial aid, and not a thing I would wish upon my family. Nor would I want my parents strapped because I want to go to a private college. So you need to look at things differently. I think your parents attitude will be a lot better when you calm down and stop acting so antagonistic, accusative and entitled. Yes, there is a lot of blame that can be thrown around in these situations, but your family is hurting enough and there is no good to come of it, and you may push them into doing some things that they should not, like trying to come up with money they cannot afford to give you what you so want.</p>
<p>Oh, and do talk to Emory and explain the situation. That your father is out of work, that your mother is struggling on less than $4K of income, that you may be losing the house. They may know all of this, but not have it all in front of them. Let them know what your other packages are. You had better be very humble and lose that entitlement attitude when you talk to them too as you will put them off otherwise and that will be it. They don’t have to do a thing, you understand. You need to learn to beg and grovel, and maybe they will look beyond what is on paper and try to help you out. Your father might be classifed as a dislocated worker and professional judgement might be made on the 401 K withdrawals. </p>
<p>But do understand that even if the school comes up with money to make it barely possible to do this year, your family is going to be in dire straits for years to come, trying to recover lost ground and even if your dad gets another job, there will be bills to pay from what happened and there is no professional judgement category to cover that. Zero. So you may end up not eligible or back to the $13K pacakage when that occurs. The fin aid folks have ice in their blood, let me tell you. I 'm a sweetheart compared to them, and they aren’t going to be moved that a family making six figures is trying to get back their upper income lifestyle with their money. No way. You are way behind all of those kids whose family are truly poor. Have no money, are living in difficult circumstance and truly cannot pay. As long as your dad is taking money out of his pension, that is fair game. A lot of families do not have that pension. Your family is still in better shape than those who have and have had and always will have a lot less. You must have figured it out by now that the funds are LIMITED, very LIMITED and there are far more families and students wanting the money than there is, so it goes to the NEEDIEST first. There is not enough money there for everyone who even needs to get what is needed. Not even close. So financial aid is not going to help your family get back into the $100K groove, not at all, and they will have to be around the $30K line for you to get enough money so that you can earn what else is left. Even at that, the most generous schools like Harvard will expect you to work and make some money towards the tab.</p>
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Sounds a little sketchy to me, too. The clubs must be in name only, or else there is a club/activity period during the school day. This is a small high school in PA. I’m assuming it’s a public school? Or is it private? If OP worked “every day” from 3 - 10 p.m., that’s over 40 hours/week (isn’t that against the law?). Something doesn’t add up…</p>
<p>No, it does not. I do know kids who worked through high school. They had to have the money as their families did not have it or would not give them much. They did not participate in much in terms of high school activities. And the teachers, counselors all knew this. Those who were also very good students got a nice boost in recs and other things for that too.</p>
<p>If the OP really worked self to the bone that way, then there should be a job record, and it should be laid out to the GC who can call and say this is the most incredible student in the world, working these hours, doing so well and being president of all of these clubs. And list the hours and places worked, all verified of course, and maybe something can be done. </p>
<p>This is a frantic kid who sees his/her dream school slipping out of grasp for monetary reasons, and is throwing a fit because of it, is the way I see this.</p>
<p>Yes, it is a small public school in Pennsylvania in a very small town. I worked at a local restaurant who paid me under the table, there are no records and I was never taxed. I was Pres. of Key Club (12), Treasurer of Key Club (11), Vice President of NHS (11), Spanish Club Vice Pres. (10), Concertmistress of the Orchestra (10-12), Drum Major of the Marching Band (11-12), Junior Class President and Senior Class President…oh and cross country captain (11) and lead for the musical (12). My recs were outstanding…all about leadership, resiliency, community, my high idealism, and my hummanity. I had a VERY detrimental slip junior year (a 2.0 GPA) with work and all my clubs and activities…but I absolute picked it back up and got 5s on all my AP exams regardless of my grades. It doesn’t matter if some anonymous adult believes me or not. I know I’ll be fine wherever I go. Sorry about the rant, it definitely was just an overload of frustration but now I know that Pitt Honors college is a pretty good program and I can do wonders with it and I’ll be great and life will go on.</p>
<p>Pitt Honors is indeed a fine program that many OOS students would love to be accepted to. Glad you have this instate option that might be more affordable for your family. Emory has graduate programs, so maybe you will be able to go there for grad school.</p>
<p>I hope the finances work out for Pitt…a great school.</p>
<p>Thank you. Prestige is just definitely a problem in my family…being half-asian. My younger brother just got a full ride to Georgetown Prep for wrestling and that means he’ll get into Georgetown University regardless of his GPA, but his coach and my parents are already planning Ivy. It’s just hard to be the oldest and feel surpassed by a younger sibling…I feel like I need to set the bar, ya know?</p>
<p>Hocelyn, you can get your employers to write out a letter with hours and amounts. However, working under the table like that is illegal, you know. Not a good start at any college.</p>
<p>Your younger brother. is not going to get into GTU regardless of GPA,… I know the school well. I was just there. He may have gotten a scholarship for the Prep but for college is a whole other story. Ivies give NO athletic or merit scholarships either, so your parents will have to come up with a whole lot of money to pay for him going to any such schools. </p>
<p>Emory is a top school with high marks for the Ratings, Reputation and Recognition. If they can’t and won’t pay for you to go there now, unless things really turn around in terms of financial situations, they are not going to be able to pay for top privates for your brother when the time comes. As you have probably figured out by now, it’s much easier to talk about what you are going to do, then to put the money down on the table to do it. As one who has paid for colleges many times, I can tell you it hurts to pay and we are high income. Hurts terribly, and there are always things that come up so that there is not enough money to pay.</p>
<p>Nope. Georgetown Prep guarantees admission to GTU for all kids who go there…the two are closely affiliated. He has it in the bag.</p>
<p>I am telling you that is not the case. i guarantee you. Yes, they are affiliated. No, there are no guarantees. I was just there at Georgetown Prep last month, my dear. If you do not believe me, call up their college counseling department and ask if there is any such guarantee. Yes, a larger proportion of their kids do get into GTU, but there is ABSOLUTELY NO GUARANTEE. Look at the number of kids at the Prep. You really think that they are all guaranteed admissions to GTU?</p>
<p>You can appeal to Emory for a review/reconsideration under the circumstances (dads layoff), but its is unlikely , if the aid from Dickinson, Lehigh or BU is merit aid, that they will match that.</p>
<p>Emory is good about matching merit money, Jym? Good to know. I think the OP should appeal, but it appears as though parents are appealing the packages from the other school, possibly home business reasons, but they just figured the gap is too much for Emory. </p>
<p>So OP, if you get a doable package with merit money, from D, L or BU, Emory might ante up. Let your parents know. Jym knows the scoop about Emory.</p>
<p>And I know the scoop on Georgetown Prep. Out of 120 kids, only about 6-7 ended up going to GTU, which a relatively high number due to that relationship. But take a look where the 2012 graduating class ended up going: [Georgetown</a> Preparatory School: College Matriculation](<a href=“Georgetown Preparatory School: Class of 2012 Matriculation”>Georgetown Preparatory School: Class of 2012 Matriculation) You really think that if all of those 120 kids had a sure in at GTU they’d be going ot some of those schools? Nope. No guarantee. More kids from my son’s school went to GTU than from GT Prep.</p>
<p>No, I don’t think Emory is good about matching merit money, cpt. I said it is UNlikely they will match, especially if they don’t consider it a “peer” school and if they dont really want/need that particular student for whatever reason.</p>
<p>Sorry, misread.</p>