<p>No, the money is for a trip just for a few weeks. Generally, the top few people in the class are accepted for it.</p>
<p>Yes, that is the top 10%. My class doesn’t rank, however, but I have been told by some faculty approximately where I stand. I can only think of one of two kids who might have anything much higher than that. The average GPA is about a 3.2, from what I know. Anything that is about a 3.5 or higher is very well regarded (took some getting used to!).</p>
<p>Are you interested in a music related degree?</p>
<p>So the scholarship is for merit not need?</p>
<p>I have to say the top private schools in my area operate more like the very top colleges.
Everyone is assumed to have attained similar level of merit, so scholarships are need based only.</p>
<p>@absweetmarie: “The Ivies have very generous financial aid for middle class families, even those making up to $150K.”</p>
<p>This is not generally true. I know that Harvard and Princeton offer very generous FA packages which is why I strongly encouraged my son to apply to the Ivies. Unfortunately, he got waitlisted at both Harvard and Princeton. He did get into Brown which I am very proud of but their FA package was not generous. I cannot criticize Brown because their endowment is about one-tenth of Harvard’s.</p>
<p>My wife and I are going to bite the bullet so he can go to Brown.</p>
<p>@emeraldkitty4</p>
<p>I love music and always have. I might consider majoring or minoring in it, but I want to make sure that I have a degree where there are decent job prospects, as well.</p>
<p>@lynch112</p>
<p>Congrats on your son’s acceptance to Brown! That school looks incredible from what I’ve seen.</p>
<p>Thanks, lynch112. I was pretty sure all the Ivies were not so generous. Not sure why I said that. My point, in any case, is that mentioning Harvard is a red herring as it is not the norm.</p>
<p>@emeraldkity4: “With an income of $150,00O, your FAFSA EFC will be roughly $30,000. It may be more at a school that uses PROFILE and many schools do not meet need.”</p>
<p>@latichever: “I agree that $150,000 equals circa $30K EFC.”</p>
<p>Our income was around $140,000 last year (AGI was $111,000). Our assets (not including retirement) were about $100k. This yielded a FAFSA EFC of $48k. Ouch! We calculated the FAFSA EFC by hand and got $43. I still can’t figure out why there was such a discrepancy.</p>
<p>Most of the schools that offered us FA packages seemed to be working with EFCs in the $40-45k range.</p>
<p>Best of luck.</p>
<p>I believe FAFSA leverages assets of that size at somewhere around 20% per year - likely why it was so high.</p>
<p>ok, DO retake the SAT- the chances are very good that your scores will go up. I think you would LOVE USC- the have the Thorton school of Music, and you can minor in music and major in another area, which is actively encouraged at USC and play in the orchestra or other music venues. Classes at Thorton are more open to non music majors than at many other conservatories such as those at NorthWestern, Johns Hopkins, Oberlin and Rice for instance.</p>
<p>Well I did actually think it was likely to be higher than $30,000, since our income is just under $100,000 and our FAFSA EFC is about $26,000, but since her parents were only willing/able to pay $7,000, I didn’t want to scare the poop out of her.</p>
<p>I will definitely take a closer look at USC! I want to consider playing in a orchestra in college, and I think a minor in music would be a great option as well. Are my stats competitive enough for USC? I just did a bit of reading and it seems to be a relaxed environment…not too preppy or stuffy or snobby, which is a great thing.</p>
<p>*Well I did actually think it was likely to be higher than $30,000, since our income is just under $100,000 and our FAFSA EFC is about $26,000, but since her parents were only willing/able to pay $7,000, I didn’t want to scare the poop out of her.
*</p>
<p>lol…</p>
<p>but, when looking at your $26k EFC with an income below $100k, that really indicates that an income of $150k will have a high EFC…since the income over $100k is assessed at a higher rate.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Flowergirl, I’m guessing that your parents are typical–they’re assuming that college costs are kind of sort of similar to when they went to college, adjusted for inflation. Like your parents, I pretty much worked my way through college (a UC). That would be far more difficult for my children, since they wouldn’t receive any aid. </p>
<p>At this point, your parents aren’t going to be able to save enough for you to make much of a difference. I suspect that your parents’ complaints about how they’ve already sacrificed so much for you are because they feel terribly that they aren’t able to do more for you for college. </p>
<p>People here are giving you good advice on looking for schools with strong merit aid. I’d add that you should look at women’s colleges to see if any offer big enough merit to help your situation (not Wellesley or Barnard, though). A really wild thought: teeny tiny elite Deep Springs College is supposedly going co-ed in 2013. See if that might appeal at all, though that’s another lottery ticket school (albeit one which would be free). Check out the Colleges That Change Lives for LACs that offer some very generous merit aid (I’m thinking Rhodes College here, among others). </p>
<p>Among publics, Pitt offers a few full-tuition (possibly full-ride, can’t remember) scholarships; students turn down schools like U Chicago for those. Speaking of UC, check to see if there’s still a big merit scholarship there, though that’s a very tough lottery ticket to win. </p>
<p>That’s enough to get you started.</p>
<p>Flowergirl, the most important school(s) on your list are the ones that will accept you and that you know you can afford. Those generally do include the community colleges and local state schools. Once you have that base covered, you can go to town, but understand that very often where a student ends up if the parents can’t or won’t pay is to that safety school. So the search for that category is very important. Everything else belongs in the lottery ticket category because you have to get accepted (no small thing at some of those schools), get enough aid to make it happen, get your parents to agree to pay their share (and if it doesn’t meet what they like in areas like location or name appeal, you can be in trouble). If all works out, well and good, you didn’t need those schools, but more times than not, they end up being the viable choices. So spend the time dreaming about them and finding some choices within that category. Easy to cherry pick and discuss the virtues of Harvard vs Yale. Not so fun but more relevant to check out ABC Community College vs XYZ Local State U.</p>
<p>Just curious, you turned 18 at the beginning of March. What grade are you in? Why aren’t you graduating this year?</p>
<p>*Quote:
What can I do to convince my parents to save for me? They tell me that they had to work for their education, and I should have to as well (financially).
*</p>
<p>As others mentioned, at this point it’s too late to save enough to make a difference for paying much more. </p>
<p>Frankly, it sounds like your parents’ budget is so tight that after paying their bills, there’s nothing or not much to save, hence the limited college budget which is similar to what they pay for your private high. </p>
<p>Your parents are using the “pay your own way like we did” excuse because they think there is no other option. Disregard ANYTHING they’ve said about distance of various schools. Distance doesn’t matter if the awards are huge. Don’t think X school won’t work because it’s too far away. </p>
<p>Since your parents have set an amount ($7k), the distance of a school is irrelevant as long as the cost (for them) comes in at that price. </p>
<p>What did you get on the PSAT? Are you a likely NMSF/F?</p>
<p>You need a strategy…Apply to:</p>
<p>2-3 reaches that might surprise you with enough aid (like HYPS)</p>
<p>2-3 matches that might give you big merit (NEU, GWU, BU, etc - but I doubt those estimations you got, I think you made a mistake somewhere.)</p>
<p>At least 3 schools that you like AND will give you HUGE, HUGE merit that you know FOR SURE based on ASSURED scholarships (not NPC calculations), that the schools will be affordable with your parents $7k and maybe a $5k student loan for you. That means that these schools need to offer ASSURED scholarships of at LEAST full tuition. Not competitive scholarships, ASSURED scholarships. Applying to at least 3 of these schools will ensure that you’ll have some choice to make next spring, so you won’t feel railroaded into one safety if the other reach/matches don’t work.</p>
<p>What cptofthehouse said is so spot-on that it bears repeating:</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I would apply to a lot more match schools than the number suggested in post 95.
with the OP’s stats its very hard to determine a real “match” when you throw in the word “might” re Merit awards.</p>
<p>@mom2collegekids: when you refer to schools that will give ASSURED scholarships, how does one find out identify those schools?</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/848226-important-links-automatic-guaranteed-merit-scholarships.html?highlight=automatic+scholarships[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/848226-important-links-automatic-guaranteed-merit-scholarships.html?highlight=automatic+scholarships</a></p>
<p>Here’s a link to some. But, some of the posts are old, so check to see if the scholarships are still offered.</p>
<p>What if her parents can’t pay any more because they are getting close to retirement or may soon lose their jobs given the economy? Are colleges still going to look at their income and say they want as much as possible? Don’t colleges realize that many parents are no longer covered by pension plans and and have no medical coverage after their employment is terminated so perhaps they can only pay 7K max? Is there any way to illustrate this to colleges so they factor this in? I had head they take age into account, but what about lack of a pension plan and no medical coverage after employment?</p>