@bjkmom scores are really not everything and I wanted an evaluation of my whole application your comment is unhelpful, unecessary, and very ignorant
@MYOS1634 why wouldn’t I be able to borrow 10,000? My interviewer at W&L said they give government loans up to 60,000 a year for each student that wants it. And thank you for your info on USC my school looks down on it so I hadn’t given it much thought but I will definitely give it a visit! @spauldinglegend Coosawhatchie city! We hatchie ehh ehh!
@GnocchiB thank you for that link I will definitely show that to my parents hopefully this will help them understand the arbitrary nature of admission
Your interviewer’s job isn’t to keep up with recent laws governing student borrowing. Gone are the days when students could borrow whatever. And the government’s NEVER granted more than the current loans - private lenders did. (Up until the 80s, most of that was grants, not loans.)
If your interviewer told you there were government loans up to $60,000 a year to any student that wants them, either they were pulling your leg or being ignorant or made things up.
Right now, government loans are the only loans you’re allowed to have and for which you can’t be denied. They add up to $5,500. That’s it. The total, for the full duration of your undergraduate studies, is $27,000. (It’s linked to what a typical college graduate can reasonably pay back in 10 years).
You can apply to a bank but your parents will have to cosign, meaning that even if you die they have to pay them off for you. The cosigner loans are absolutely nasty. Other loans have to be taken on by the parents; the interest rates are high, and of course the parents have to qualify every year while each year piles up more debt thus makes them potentially less likely to qualify, typically resulting in the student not getting that money jr or sr year.
In short, your parents’ idea to make you pay for half the EFC is impractical because either it means you won’t be going to any college where there’s no merit (ie., most top tiers), or THEY will take on extra debt. If they can afford to pay their EFC, they shouldn’t take on high-interest loans for it. If they can’t you have to forgo the top tiers outside of those with large merit money.
Note that there’s a yearly student contribution (typically about $1,500 at first, goes up to about $4,000). At many colleges, i’s on top of the $5,500 loans and the EFC.
@jacobpbrugh one way that high stats kids finance their education when need-based aid is not possible is by looking “a tier down” from the Ivies. Many wonderful nationally recognized schools offer full merit and many more offer partial merit that would be easier for you to get than at, say, Vandy, Wash U. or Davidson. Check out this site and search for other threads on CC:
http://competitivefulltuition.yolasite.com/
You say you’ve been working towards top tier for a long time now, but you owe it to yourself to be realistic about the financing even if you do get into the Ivy of your dreams.
The Parent Plus loans can be more open ended, up to the max the college decides to endorse and limited by the total amount of loan money they are allocated.
In my own experience, you have to do the back up research on your own, not assume you heard right or that some other borrowing situations are parallel. There are very well informed posters who give solid finaid advice. But if you really have no perspective, it’s easy to misunderstand what a rep said.
We’re also using the term “EFC,” which is not the college’s final offer. It’s the older term for Fafsa numbers. If you’re using the NPCs, that’s one thing, but still, once you fill out the various forms and the college reviews that level of detail, things can change.
@GnocchiB I am applying to nearly every school that offers full rides up to my state schools USC and Clemson but there is an extremely low chance of getting that merit aide so my options are basically pay or go to a state school which I would really rather not do
@GnocchiB taking out student loans is very normal
Taking out student loans is normal. Making your parents take loans for you isn’t.
Also, you can’t stake everything on Top universities admitting you, and only have 2 safeties you don’t really like. Right now, you need to be working very hard at identifying universities with big merit scholarships that you like.
Could be the Hays at Hendrix, or Johnson at Washington&Lee (both LACs have very different vibes, so don’t apply to both. You can’t possibly fit both.) Or Rhodes, or Clark.
Ask your parents whether you can borrow the gap between the $5,500 and half the EFC from them.
USC Honors and Clemson Honors are strong options if need be. UAlabama Honors also is (excellent honors college, automatic scholarships.) Not guaranteed but financially interesting, the UMN Twin Cities scholarships. Check out SUNYs (Geneseo, Binghamton, New Paltz, Stony Brook).
Are your parents willing to pay the cost of your first choice? It sounds like they want to compare financial aid packages and it’s pretty disingenious to try to convince them to let you ED at your first choice with the reasoning that no other college will admit you. I don’t think they’re buying it.
Ask how much they’ll pay per year, add the $5500/year federal student loan, plus any merit scholarships you qualify for, and that’s your budget. Find some schools in that price range that you really like, and apply to a couple (that you’ll likely be admitted to) as safeties. Then add a few matches and reaches to fill out your list.
@jacobpbrugh you may know me, I went to boys nation
@spauldinglegend I was asleep whenever they announced that stuff so I don’t really remember
@MYOS1634 why would I want to go to any of the schools you just listed? I’m already going to apply for the INSANELY COMPETETIVE Johnson Scholarship at W&L which is turned down yearly by almost half its recipients because they got into HYSPM and decided to pay. If I got that OF COURSE I would go but IK I probably won’t. None of those school you listed s would be better than even USC or Clemson, the Alabama honors requirements for admission are lower than the Clemson standard student. Hendrix, Clark, and Rhodes are all below Furman or Wofford in SC. I like the feel of USC just fine but I want to go to a school where I will be challenged by a class of elite students learning from elite professors. If it doesn’t work out with a private school I will take my free ride to USC Honors and make the most of it.
And they call it the EFC because your family can afford it my parents would not need to take out loans even if they were paying the whole thing they just don’t want to pay all of it
EFCs are often not affordable to families. Most of your schools of choice are CSS Profile schools. Do you know what this means?
@txstella yes of course IK what the CSS profile is…
I also lost a governor election, go Feds
@spauldinglegend all I remember is you were a southern looking white guy like most of boy state including myself sorry man
Haha nbd, just thought I would say hey, good luck with your colleges
Your essay would not have to mention that you took all the most difficult courses. I 'm not sure why batool is saying what h/s is saying. You are a strong candidate for any school but obviously the most competitive on your list are never shoe ins. If you show interest to Vandy I don’t see why you could not apply to all the schools. I don’t know why you’d apply ED to Vandy unless you want to go there more than you want to go anywhere else. You don’t need to game it-in the sense that it is not as if you have marginal stats so not applying ED would cut you from consideration. If finances are a consideration, then apply to need blind schools that promise to meet need. Wash is the anti-need blind school so they may deny you entry if you apply for aid. But most other schools will provide what they believe meets your financial need.