<p>Hi, New to forum but want to thank everyone for all the info I have obtained so far. OK, maybe I am naive, but I expected more offered in financial aid packages. I am single mom supporting 3, oldest D going to UMich this fall, next year another in college. We got 90% from our state school, but all others expect me to contribute about 1/2 tuition. My EFC was 4k. There is no way I can afford loans for $20K per year. Am I missing something? Is this what to expect from these type of colleges? She applied to UMich, Northeastern, UVA, UMass. Is CC the only way to go so she wont come out 80-100K in debt? Thanks for your help in advance.</p>
<p>Well - if a second child starts college next year, that might impact the EFC on both students - I'm really not sure. </p>
<p>You said the state school gave 90%, is that all in loans as well? </p>
<p>You may be able to appeal to the college with something called a Letter of Professional Judgment - if you do a search on the term, there should be a few posts about what that is, and how to do it, or, perhaps someone else here can describe the process.</p>
<p>As far as I know, none of those colleges promises to meet full need... and they haven't. If they asked for financial information from a noncustodial parent (your daughter's father) - the the colleges are deriving part of that "family contribution" from his income, whether he actually contributes or not.</p>
<p>our instate schools offered little
small merit award of less than $1,000
loans
I think most public instate schools don't offer much need based if any, and not that much merit
When you apply to out of state public schools, the costs go way up and your aid is not going to be anymore in many cases than it was at your own state schools, in fact it may be quite a bit less.
Few private schools meet 100% of need.
Even when they do- say the costs of the private are $40,000 and your EFC is $4,000
The aid package will be made up of loans, grants and workstudy.
Even if ( which I have never heard) your aid package was $36,000 in loans, they could say they met 100% of need.
We aren't even applying to out of state schools that we can't afford.
D for example would love to attend UCSC. But not at the price of a private university for out of state students, but without the financial aid endowment of a private university.</p>
<p>Students do attend CCs for two years and transfer. Its pretty common actually, and a great way to save alot of money. YOur degree is still from teh 4 year school, but your costs are half the price.</p>
<p>We are in the same situation, Yes I know certain schools are not going to meet your efc exactly but to expect someone to come up with about 20000 a year when their efc is about 4000-5000 is insane. We waited for the pkg. to come in from a ceratin college for 3 long months and besides a merit it included a stafford loan work study and a Parent Plus loan for us of over 15000 and on top of that a 5000 balance.The one state school she appled to met our efc and gave her some generous merit scholarships, need based money and the stafford loan. Though she is not that excited about the state school she understands what debt she would be in if she chose one of the many private schools she has been accepted at.</p>
<p>To those schools I would like to say you are missing out on some great kids that could add alot to your campus.</p>
<p>Very well said Debbym, I think about all the kids from middle class that have to settle for state school or CC that could have contributed so much to the top school of their choice. My D worked her butt off in HS to graduate top 3 in her class and she is going to be going to state school more than likely. The kicker is she was accepted to alot of top schools so that made it seem like her hard work paid off but the reality is I cant afford to send her there. Expecting a kid to assume 80-100K in loans is ridiculous. Thanks to all. I am going to call the schools fin aid and see if we cant get more.</p>
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<blockquote> <p>We got 90% from our state school, but all others expect me to contribute about 1/2 tuition. >></p> </blockquote>
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<p>To the OP...this is from your original post. It sounds like your state school gave you 90% aid. That is great and sounds like a good option. In my humble opinion, all of the state schools you listed provide fine college educations. Also, I take exception to the term "settle" when it's used to describe instate U's or community colleges. For many students the in state university is their top choice and in many cases students from other states would love to come to YOUR instate U (at instate prices, of course).</p>
<p>What is your gross family income? UVA has AccessUVA, for families making under a certain threshold. (around 50K) And it's for anyone applying to UVA, not just instate. </p>
<p>Sounds to me like your instate school has offered an excellent package.</p>
<p>Your D needs to go to her state public institution. Michigan -- wonderful college that it is -- isn't worth $100 k in debt. Also, it's very probable that your state school would offer better networking for your D, particularly if she plans to return home after college to live.</p>
<p>Carrying $100 k of undergrad debt would restrict lots of her options after college including: grad or professional school; buying a house; when she decides to have kids; her job and career options. </p>
<p>Also, to get the best jobs now, usually graduate or professional school is necessary. Where you go to grad school is more important than where you go to undergrad. If she excels in her state public, she should be able to be admitted to a top graduate program.</p>
<p>"Northeastern UVA, UMass."</p>
<p>UVA and U Mass. as is true for all public colleges make their in-state studets a priority when it comes to financial aid and admissions. There's no public college that guarantees to meet 100% financial need for any students -- instate or out of state.</p>
<p>Northeastern is expensive and doesn't promise to meet 100% of students' financial need.</p>
<p>Your D has an excellent option in her state university that has given her a good aid package. Being able to graduate with low or no debt is a big deal. </p>
<p>Michigan was my older S's first choice. They admitted him, but offered no aid. He went to his second choice, a second tier public.</p>
<p>I saw on another thread that you posted that your D could graduate $100 k in debt. That is a big mistake. Surely there are less expensive options even if that means starting at a community college. She can always transfer to a public institution, and that would save her lots of money. I used to teach at a 2nd/3rd tier public institution, and some of my best students had transferred from community college. This includes a student who had about 9 excellent job offers after graduation, accepted a job with the highest starting salary I've ever heard of in my profession, and a few years out of college got a top professional fellowship in her field, and has been asked to teach a summer course at Harvard.</p>
<p>I concur with the other parents. NSM's advice is excellent. Michigan would be considered the "best" school of the bunch by most people assessing the options. For out of staters, it is as expensive as a private college and gives little aid to most OOS kids--they have to be waaay up there in stat and the school really has to want them for them to get money. </p>
<p>None of your D 's choices guarantess 100% of need, nor do they provide it for most students. So the results are pretty much as would be expected.</p>
<p>"Settling" for UMich which is arguably the second best public Uni in the country (and perhaps top 10 in the world) is an excellent choice that thousands of kids wished they had. Expecting other publics (i.e., taxpayers in THOSE states) to subsidize an OOS kid is not realistic nor fair, IMO.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, there are few colleges that guarantee to meet 100% of need, and they tend to be those well-endowed group that plays in a certain football league or go by initials -- full name unecessary.</p>
<p>There are more then just the Ivy league schools that meet 100% of need - Maclaester, Oberlin, Carlton and Swarthmore just to name a few. If paying for college is an issue then there should be research done prior to applying so that schools which meet 100% of need are targeted.</p>
<p>cubsfan:</p>
<p>you are exactly right, but the point is that the list of colleges that meet 100% of need is very short, and those schools are all highly selective (Macalester #24 in LAC selectivity according to USNews number-crunchers).</p>
<p>but...
schools that use PROFILE and their own forms- can come up with an EFC that you don't recognize</p>
<p>What we are doing- besides considering instate schools are also looking to the few schools that have agreements with our state to require students to pay just 50% more than their instate tuition.</p>
<p>CC for two years, is also a reasonable and viable option to save money
More so than moving to CA and paying their housing costs in order to get instate tuition rates
:p</p>
<p>Emeraldkity4, definitely. And for everyone who keeps posting about moving to CA and getting instate tutition, don't forget about our housing rates here, about state income tax, cost of gas, etc. and the instate tuition/fees/etc. for UCs is up to $25K now.</p>
<p>I have no idea where ebeeeee is getting his/her numbers on California college costs.</p>
<p>Tuition at UCs for in-state is zero at the current time, fees are $7,000, and housing plus meals (room and board) runs about $12,000. </p>
<p>That's still a bargain compared to many schools back east--although I agree with ebeeeee on the cost of the other items to live here in California (housing, taxes, cost of gas, food prices, etc.--all of which are significantly higher than the national average). The average 2700 sq ft home in my area runs from $900,000 to $1,100,000.</p>
<p>Calcruzer, What you have adds up to $19K and you've failed to add the additional $5K for books, supplies, health cost, etc. Ebeee is pretty close to dead on ($24K cost to attend).</p>