<p>Since you live next to Cummings Research Park and Redstone Arsenal, as a Bama student you can easily get a summer eng’g job there. </p>
<p>Were you accepted to MIT? Have you used their NPC to figure out your aid pkg? </p>
<p>I’m suspecting that your parents work in CRP and they have highish incomes and you won’t qualify for a lot of aid.</p>
<p>*m2ck - how the heck did he find time to work towards a medical school. *</p>
<p>lol…what??</p>
<p>I hesitate to post on this but… After his second year my S was able to pay his living expenses from his co op jobs. If you are so pressed for funds you can work a semester and go to school for a semester. He always paid for his own books. He lived cheaply and is pretty frugal.</p>
<p>I just want to say thanks to the parents on this forum. They are so patient and nice to all the posters.</p>
<p>m2ck - In those housing pictures it looks like the kids are on a permanent vacation!</p>
<p>@m2ck</p>
<p>Thank you so much for your advice. Yes, I was accepted into MIT. Using their NPC (just asked for the bare figures), I’d have to come up with 23k per year to go. I do have an older brother in college and other very important family expenditures, so I’m expecting that cost to go down quite a bit. I’m waiting until financial aid award from MIT so I can seriously start doing line-item budgeting.</p>
<p>Neither of my parents work in CRP. </p>
<p>On paper, we wouldn’t qualify for THAT much aid. But we will need a lot due to a family situation that we are still managing.</p>
<p>@texaspg</p>
<p>I am willing to help support my own college education, there is no question about that there. My brother currently does a work study and it fits into his schedule, I expect to do the same as well. I guess I did not factor in those costs.</p>
<p>@cptofthehouse</p>
<p>That’s why my college list ranges from Alabama to MIT. So far, I’ve been accepted to all of the colleges that have sent me my decision. Hopefully it’s a good list where I can shop and compare with my family (we learned the last time that ED is too restrictive even after you get in), so I can make the right choice.</p>
<p>spaceduck - MIT usually provides a response within a week (at least that was the case last year) after you file CCS and FAFSA. They leave it in your MIT inbox and don’t mail it to you. </p>
<p>If your cost is truly 23k for attending MIT it is a great deal if you plan to go into workforce right after graduation.</p>
<p>It’s all good and well what YOU want to do in sparing your parents the expense of paying for college and avoiding loans, but who do you expect to pick up the tab because YOU don’t want to pay, nor do you want your parents to do so. Who is paying for your brother’s expenses? With two of you in college, those schools that meet full need will be giving your family substantial aid unless your family makes a lot of money. There are families out there who do not have the money, and that is where the need element is focused.</p>
<p>If it is of paramount importance that you pay the full tab, then go to work instead of college and get your degree bit by by, piece by piece, paying as you go as you can. That is how the vast majority of people get their degrees, especially those whose parents can’t or won’t pay, or if you truly don’t want them to pay. THe choices are out there, but someone else paying for your living expenses is not in the picture unless you get an award that will pick up that tab. You’ve done very well in terms of good, low cost options, but it may not be possible to get your tab down to zero.</p>
<p>Well…I’m guessing. If this OPs Family contribution per the NPC at MIT is $23,000, then the total family contribution for two kids in college is about $45,000…maybe more. With that total family contribution, family income is likely in the $150,000 to $200,000 a year range.</p>
<p>OP, have your parents told you whether they will pay this family contribution…or not?</p>
<p>The issue here is that the way the system is set up is that families, parents specifically, are considered primary for being responsible for their children’s college costs up to age 24 and with a few other stipulations. Just as they are responsible for costs k-12. You want to go away to school in those years, they have to pay as well under most scenarios. That you or they do not want to do so, is irrelevant. No tickee, no laundry. Most of the time. There is financial aid, there are scholarships, there are commuting options, and you don’t have to go directly to college either. But the system, is so set up,</p>
<p>m2ck - In those housing pictures it looks like the kids are on a permanent vacation!</p>
<p>oh that. Yes, it’s amazing. Son enjoyed studying by the pool. I’m not sure what exactly he was studying…</p>
<p>Living off campus is practically the norm at Alabama and Auburn, figures from collegedata.com:</p>
<p>Alabama: Students Living Off Campus/Commuting, 72%
Auburn: Students Living Off Campus/Commuting, 80%</p>
<p>These are not at all commuter schools, so those are largely students living in apartments/houses nearby the campus. Not sure if fraternity/sorority housing is included in this or not.</p>
<p>@texaspg</p>
<p>I am open to going straight into the workforce after my undergrad degree. But my parents would be willing to let me go to grad school as well. Not totally sure yet, haven’t planned that far. </p>
<p>And does MIT really give an aid award that soon? I don’t see that on their site anywhere, but instead after mid-March I will find out my family’s EFC.</p>
<p>@thumper1</p>
<p>Yes, my parents do plan to share their burden of my education. My goal is, to make that as little as possible. Why? Because my parents deserve at least that. And my parent’s combined income is in that range. But on paper. Soon, if the situation says constant, that will drop drastically.</p>
<p>@cptofthehouse
Thank you for being realistic with me like everyone else. Right now I’m exercising ALL options that I am fortunate to come by. I want to make the right choice not only for myself but more my family. </p>
<p>I would like to thank you all for responding so far, your insight as parents on the financial aid process is fantastic.</p>
<p>*Living off campus is practically the norm at Alabama and Auburn, figures from collegedata.com:</p>
<p>Alabama: Students Living Off Campus/Commuting, 72%
Auburn: Students Living Off Campus/Commuting, 80%</p>
<p>These are not at all commuter schools, so those are largely students living in apartments/houses nearby the campus. Not sure if fraternity/sorority housing is included in this or not.*</p>
<p>Greek housing is not included in the “on campus” figures. It’s considered to be “off campus.”</p>
<p>Bama is practically surrounded by student apartments. Some are rather mundane, while some are quite lavish. The newer complexes are amazing and many include buses to campus.</p>
<p>SpaceDuck-</p>
<p>When it is time to compare multiple aid packages you can use the Award Letter Comparison calculator at [FinAid</a>! Financial Aid, College Scholarships and Student Loans](<a href=“http://www.finaid.org%5DFinAid”>http://www.finaid.org) It is near the bottom of the page that lists all of the calculators. You will also find links to loan repayment and other calculators there.</p>