We limit our children’s dreams by only having them apply to schools that we can afford. My kid applied to 4 schools - all state schools that offered substantial merit aid to highly qualified OOS students. Might have gotten into a tier 1, would have gotten into lots of tier 2s. We couldn’t/wouldn’t pay 70K/year. We’re paying less than half that at an OOS flagship state that is very strong in kid’s major. It’s just reality.
@cj12345 You have had a lot of questions thrown at you. Take a deep breath and see if you can answer them bc people are trying to help you. My kids could totally sympathize with you bc they have received similar packages, but as parents our budget is about 1/3 of what they expect us to be able to contribute.
Our kids have taken the approach of attending on large merit aid. If you truly do not already have any options you can afford, listen to @mom2collegekids. Being from NY, you might find the idea of attending a school like Bama as too far off the path you set for yourself. BUT, know that you can succeed in achieving your goals from all sorts of schools. Our ds is a sr at Bama doubling in physics and math. He has been accepted to some of the very top grad programs in the country.
Be open to creating a different path than you previously considered and take control over where that path takes you. You will be the main factor in your success going forward. (If you want a smaller school, UA Huntsville might be another option to investigate bc they also have an excellent NM scholarship.)
Yeah I applied to SUNY Binghamton. Don’t get me wrong; I would love to go there. I am fairly certain that is where I will end up going. My family doesn’t really have much saved…I was just wondering if the offers I have been getting are to be expected. Thank all of you for your replies!
The OP knew his FAFSA EFC of $30,000. That would be the minimum he would be expected to pay…as most colleges don’t meet full need.
Notre Dame uses the CSS Profile, and that form looks into much greater detail than the FAFSA. It is what is used to determine institutional need based aid…which is what this kid needs. His family income is far to high to qualify for federally funded grant money.
@BelknapPoint does ND use primary home equity? If so…this could add to the net cost/family contribution.
Are either of the parents self employed…or do they own a business. This could significantly impact institutional need based aid awards at some colleges.
The most recent information I have seen is that Notre Dame does this on a case-by-case basis.
Ok…so not much saved. How much will they pay each year for college??? How much will they pay for SUNY Bing???
Again…quickly throw an app at Bama. You’ll get the huge NMF award for sure. Many NY and Tri-state students there.
If the SUNY school is going to cost your family more than around $24k total for all 4 yrs and $$ is a serious concern, do look at Bama or UAH. UAH is an awesome smaller school with lots of internship opportunities with companies in Cummings Research Park. They extend full rides to NMFs.
Bama’s NMF scholarship is not quite that generous, but still keeps total costs low. Their scholarship can be used for 5 yrs and toward grad classes.
Eventually, more and more families will refuse to pay for room and board and insist that their kids go to their local cc or state school. In fact, it’s long been the case that many are already doing that. But I think it will become more the case. Take the CSUs…for the longest time, they had very few dorms because nearly everyone commuted from home. Now, kids are jumping past their local CSU to go to another part of the state. That means that instead of paying $8k per year plus books, they’re now paying $25k+ per year.
You are not making sense. SUNY Bing cost of attendance is about $25,000 a year.
If you got $20,000 merit from Miami Ohio…and took the $5500 Direct Loan…your parent cost would be at or lower than Bing.
Then again…if you go to Bing…and take that $5500 Loan…your parent cost would be just under $20,000 a year.
Again…how much will your parents pay?
I second (third, fifth, etc.) the suggestions to fire off some apps to a few high dollar NMF schools. Bama, UAH, UF, UCF or one of the other Benaquisto schools.
We are also a middle class doughnut hole family with an NMF kid, and we knew we could not pay our EFC. My son will be taking a full ride at University of New Mexico - tuition, room & board, everything. UNM is also still accepting applications, btw. They are fine for engineering but no clue about music.
These NMF schools are excellent schools, many with honors colleges that will provide a stimulating, challenging environment filled with other bright, motivated students who are a lot like you.
Hang in there!
Well Binghamton can give me full tuition because I am valedictorian. So it is cheaper than Miami. Plus I can get an additional $1,500 for attending a NYS school. And before all of you get judgmental about my parents, they work extremely hard and save up for their retirement. They can’t really contribute more than 5k a year, especially considering I am the oldest of 4 kids.
We are in a very similar situation. Great stats (4.0 uGPA, 1500+, 800 on 2 subject tests, and Area All State music… similar EFC, also from NY (weird huh??). Merit offers are nice (~25K) but not enough to go to a $70K+ private.
Right now we are deciding between Buffalo Honors and Bing Scholars. We’ll probably take the NY STEM scholarship (full tuition ~ $6300) and if they leave NY after graduation, I’ll pay it back unless they get a big salary at one of the FAANG companies. I’m hoping they do the Brooklyn hipster thing and work in lower Manhattan (great way to spend your early-late 20s), but that is 4 years away.
You still need to pay university fees which are about $3K/year at Buff/Bing. Room/Board/Books are closing in on $15K.
Waiting on HYP since their EFCs are real nice, but I doubt that will happen (un-hooked boys from our high school never get into any T-10 schools.).
@NoKillli lol how funny. I am actually from Western New York.
No one is going to jump on your parents. They’ve made a decision on what they can contribute ($5k) and that’s a generous amount.
It’s you who has to accept that. You have several options instate. Take one.
Have you broken down costs for Binghamton? Are you able to commute? If not, fees are $3000, room and board are estimated at $15,000. The $1500 additional amt allows for $750 for books, supplies, incidentals/ semester.
You can borrow $5500 plus your parents $5000. Do you have a job or money in savings or other $$ available for school? Do you have a plan for the additional +/-$7500/yr?
We are also in NY and my now HS junior will likely end up at UBuffalo (best one for her major). Have you visited Bing yet? When we visited UB, our engineering tour guide was telling us that students should pay attention and apply for departmental scholarships when they are students there. He said that many don’t get any applicants, that he applied for one recently and was only one of two students who had applied. He said he didn’t get that one, but they gave him a different one that no one had applied to. He said many of these are smaller scholarships but they add up. Anyway, something to keep in mind wherever you go, because I would guess it likely that it’s similar in other schools/majors. That money can help with books and fees.
Bing is a great school. One of my daughter’s friends just toured it last week and was very excited about it afterward. She seemed to like it more than U of Rochester. She felt like there were more activities and experiences available.
If you look at further away options, make sure to take travel expenses into account.
MODERATOR’S NOTE: Please stick to the topic of the thread, how middle class families, and the OP in particular, con afford college. This thread is not about the cost of college. I’ve had to delete some posts that were off-topic.
I agree with the other posted that IF you have good test scores and grades, applying to Us known for generous merit AND having a financial safety or 2 that you and your parents know they can afford and you will get in is key. U of AZ also offered significan merit awards to NMFs and that was our S’s safety, tho he didn’t attend that U.
Our D attended the local CC for very minimal cost for 3 terms before transferring into a U where she happily was accepted into her major and got her BA. All her credits except 1class transferred, saving her and us some $$.
It is increasingly competitive to get merit aid and FAid is generally not available for folks earning significant salaries like those your folks are earning. It sounds like there are some untapped guaranteed aid Us if you want to consider them, which have been mentioned upthread. Good luck!
I live in NYS and I disagree that $175k is middle income. Our state has plenty of low income families and they’re not confined to rural areas.
What OP’s parents earn matters less than what they’ll pay. OP can get $5k from the parents + the $5500 federal student loan. Add $3k if they get a summer job and that gives them a budget of ~$13k. That’s enough to commute to a SUNY. NYS tuition is ~$6k, so if Binghamton costs $26k, there’s still a ~$7k gap. That’s an additional ~$28k over 4 years. If the parents can’t pay that, applying to Alabama is probably a great idea.
Yeah all these people saying 175,000 for a family of 6 is not middle class, but I am hear to tell you living in NYS isn’t cheap. I already work 20 hours a week; planning on getting another job this summer as well.