I’m a high school junior but recently I’ve been freaking out about financial aid and wanted to know your estimates about how much financial aid I would be qualified for (need based, not academic). My family has never been wealthy but not very financial unstable (I’ve never really needed to figure out where my next meal was coming from). My parents combined income is no more than 80k and there’s seven people in my family, including my older sister who is currently in college. She has taken out loans and has 2 jobs (I’m planning to do the same). My parents work crazy hours and lots of overtime just to provide for all five of their kids and so on paper it looks like they make a lot of money, but they virtually have no savings.
I know it’s depends on a lot of factors but how much would I possibly be able to get if I’m applying to all public universities in my home state? THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!
Every college has something called a Net Price Calculator on their website. If you enter information on family income, assets, number in the family, number in college, plus other stuff depending on the school, it should give you a reasonable idea of how much financial aid you will receive. Note that if your parents are divorced, self-employed, own a business or have real estate other than your home, the Net Price Calculator may not be as accurate.
People on CC can help you find colleges that you can afford if you post information like your home state, SAT/ACT, GPA, ECs, preferences (urban, rural, size, part of country).
My parents work crazy hours and lots of overtime just to provide for all five of their kids and so on paper it looks like they make a lot of money, but they virtually have no savings.
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Your parents work crazy hours and lots of overtime and “on paper it looks like they make a lot of money,” but combined they “only” earn $80k per year?
That doesn’t sound right.
What is your home state?
What is your major?
What are your stats?
What was your sister’s EFC this year from her FAFSA?
Does either of your parents have a business? or take business deductions?
with multiple kids in college and 7 total, you’ll qualify for aid. but don’t limit yourself to state schools. privates usually kick in institutional funds (whereas publics don’t so much). search for ‘need met’, ‘100% need met’. also check out ctcl (colleges that change lives), many of them give decent aid. forget about oos publics, but oos privates are good.
@lz57c4 Let’s wait till we hear back from the OP. If his parents “work like crazy” with “long hours” then they may own their own business…which likely means that they really earn a lot more than $80k…and privates will not give them the aid they need.
Right, but those people don’t look like they “earn a lot on paper.”
It was the two points together…two parents working crazy hours and lots of overtime…AND…'on paper it looks like they make a lot of money," that made me wonder if one or both own their own business.
Super sorry for this late response, was busy with HS and summer just started lol. When I meant that it looks like they make a lot on paper, What a lot means to me I know understand, isn’t very much to others. They work a lot but we moved to Texas recently and with a new house comes with new furniture, etc & we had to get a new car since the other we gave to my older sister i mentioned above ^. ALSO, no they do not have their own business. Sorry I wasn’t specific enough!! This isn’t first time posting on here and so as a result I didn’t know what info was needed lol.
in the above calculator you can get an estimate for your EFC (expected family contribution, federal and institutional methodology).
That is the minimum your family would expect to have to contribute. What each school decides to do with that number and gives in aid you can get an idea of by running net price calculators on the college websites.
The federal EFC (determined by filing FAFSA) is a number that qualifies you for federal grants if low enough. I think maximum Pell grant was $5775 last year for fulltime student per year. Then the state might give grants as well.
When you say instate schools, do you mean the schools in Texas, where you just moved to?
Are you going to be a high school senior when you go back to school in the fall?
Then you need to find out if you will be able to get state aid and be considered a resident of Texas by the time you start college, since your family just moved there.
Where is your sister going to college and what year will she be in?
If you have good grades and test scores it might be better to look for schools that give a lot of merit, especially with younger siblings at home.
As suggested earlier…each college has a net price calculator on their website. You need to run your family financial figures on the NPCs for each college you have an interest in. This will give you an estimate of the net cost to attend THAT school.
The FAFSA does not consider the cost or value of your primary residence at all…or the cost of new furniture, and new cars.
$80,000…is that their net income after taxes…or before?
Your parents should have completed their 2015 taxes by now. Those are the tax info numbers that will be used for the 2017-2018 FAFSA (and Profile if any of your schools use that).
I just have to add…your FAFSA EFC is NOT necessarily going to help you know how much college will cost you. Need based aid policies vary by college. So…if the college doesn’t guarantee to meet full need…the EFC should be viewed as the minimum your family will be expected to pay for college annually. MINIMUM.
The sister could have the same FAFSA EFC and get a significantly different need based award…depending on the colleges involved.
Use the net price calculator on each college website. They aren’t perfect either…but at least they are for THAT college…and not just a FAFSA EFC which doesn’t give a speck of information about institutional need based financial aid.
In addition to talking to your in-state schools to see if you will qualify for resident tuition, you need to talk to your high school guidance counselor to see how your classes transfer over from your old school and how your class rank will be calculated. Texas uses high school class rank for admissions purposes. It will be a very important stat in addition to your GPA and test scores.
In-state tuition is usually your best financial deal, but not always. Sometimes, particularly if your stats are high, you can do better by getting merit aid at certain schools. Sometimes, if your state is not generous with aid, you may be better off applying to private colleges that offer better need-based aid to all those they accept. If you are not eligible for in-state tuition in your old state or your new one, you will really need to research those schools that provide good financial aid. This is the reasoning behind all of mom’s “nosy” questions. It’s all part of the puzzle of figuring out where to apply.
OP, it id so important that you are looking into this NOW, and I commend you!
As others with more experience have stated there is still a lot to do to figure out your best approach. Posting your stats will give CC posters a better idea what strategy to suggest you take, need-based or merit, or both. Privates with large endowments are the most generous but they can be difficult to get admitted to. Merit can be difficult to get bc it is competitive by nature, and you can’t count on it until it is offered. So I hope you keep coming back to CC to keep getting feedback.
Since your parents do not own a business and are not divorced, net price calc’s will be a very handy tool. Have a copy of their tax returns in hand so that you can get the best estimate possible.
Print out the results so that you can go over the figures. Schools set up the info differently so it helps to have something on paper to help you compare.