I’m a rising senior and my mom remarried with my step-dad last October. Last year my mom didn’t work at all(because of \ immigration), while my step-dad makes >300,000$. He’s not willing to pay for my college tuition at all, while I’m shooting for top tech colleges. How will my situation be considered by schools like MIT, Stanford, Princeton? I ran an NPC for MIT and it says I should pay full tuition. Is this really the case? That I will need to assume 300k on my own if I want to go to a top college just because of this step-dad that I haven’t known for a year?
No one tells parents or step parents what they have to pay. But aid is based on family income and assets. So yes, your family income means you do not qualify for aid. You as a student cannot borrow that much on your own either. You can borrow 5.5k freshman year, only.
But I don’t understand the philosophy behind [step parent=parent]. My step-dad is marrying my mom, not me. Why would he contributes as much to my education? So there isn’t even an income deduction for him as a step parent? The NPC didn’t ask me about the income distribution.
Has your mom considered getting a job? Do you have a job? How did your mom support herself with no income before her marriage?
@Madison85 She earned about 30000$ before this marriage. It’s just because she was busy with our immigration so she didn’t work last year. She is in a completely new situation now and it won’t be that easy to find a job that earns as much. Same thing applies to me, as I’m still adapting to this new culture and language. But whether she has a job or not I’ll still have to pay in full, as what I’ve learnt,
How will you pay in full? Who will co-sign a private loan? You can only borrow $5,500 your first year.
What are your stats?
@Madison85
Probably borrow money from my step dad.
GPA 4.0UW/4.47W
SAT 2160 in my first try. Gonna do it again in October
SAT2 M2 800/ Chem 790/ Phy 770
AP Chem 5/ BC Calc, Phy C, Micro, Macro substantial 5(will know 8h later)
also STEM awards and some good ECs…
It’s a position a lot of people learn about after the marriage. Your mother needed to consider this before marrying, but I’ll bet she didn’t even know how her marriage would affect the FAFSA and even worse, the CSS at the schools you are considering. It is what it is. If stepfather really won’t pay (he may be thinking if he takes this strong position, someone else will pay but he’s wrong), then you need to find a school that offers merit. Lots of schools do. MIT is a great school, but there are plenty of others where you can major in a STEM subject. If it is all too overwhelming for you, take a gap year or consider going back to your home country to study if it is cheaper to go to school there.
@twoinanddone Thanks for suggestions. But would you recommend me to take this burden if I’m going to major in CS? After all you can learn much much more in a top school and you’ll have much more opportunities and resources.
“After all you can learn much much more in a top school”
This is not true.
You may not have more opportunities, either; small fish in a big pond, etc.
Drop the need-based financial aid only colleges from your list, since you cannot afford $60,000 per year if your stepfather with $300,000 income won’t pay (and if your biological father is alive and has significant income and/or assets, that can also count against you for need-based financial aid at most colleges that give good financial aid.
Instead, build a merit-seeking application list. If you have a realistic chance for admission to MIT, you have have plenty of full ride scholarship opportunities at other schools.
Start with an automatic full ride safety from http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/ . If you have National Merit status, also look in http://nmfscholarships.yolasite.com/ . Then add schools with competitive full ride scholarships. You can look in http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1678964-links-to-popular-threads-on-scholarships-and-lower-cost-colleges.html . There may be other scholarship opportunities at your in-state public universities for in-state students.
It doesn’t matter if I recommend borrowing that amount or not (I don’t) because it can’t be done. You can’t borrow that much, and it is unlikely your mother can either. You may have another issue in that it doesn’t sound like you and your mother are citizens yet and may not be eligible for federal aid yet. You might if you have certain status, but it’s not something you can depend on.
I’m a believer that much more of learning depends on how much the student is willing to put into it than the school. A dedicated student at Ohio State is going to learn much more than an unmotivated student at Princeton. MIT is wonderful, no question, but the university of Wisconsin or Michigan or Purdue or Arizona are producing fine CS grads too, and so are some much smaller and cheaper schools. If you have the grades and scores to get into MIT or Princeton, you could get full merit aid at other schools (look at the links above). If you give your stats, home state, and any other criteria you feel is important, many on this list will help you come up with a list of affordable schools.
First of all, I doubt that your SF is going to lend you $250k for college. As you said, he barely knows you. There are parents who
Secondly, you will not earn more because you went to a top school. Employers pay their new hires the same, no matter where they graduated from. That’s how it works in this country.
Thirdly, that amount of debt would be crazy, even for a CS major. You don’t know how much it costs here to live…housing, taxes, other living expenses, insurance, etc. As a single wage earner, you’ll be hit hard with taxes. Your job may be in a high rent area…often, the better CS jobs are in high rent areas.
Lastly, is your bio father alive? If so, then his income will count, too.
Ask your SF if he’ll lend you $65k pre year for three years. He’ll likely say, “no”, and then you’ll have to move onto figuring out affordable schools. You need to know this now, so that you can move on to affordable choices.
I just asked my SF and he said yes… He is really great in this sense…My bio father isn’t responsible and didn’t earn much as well, so I can’t really count on him.
Thanks for all of your suggestions. I’ll do more research on this.
Top ranked colleges by **job recruiters **, by major:
http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748703376504575491704156387646
Scroll down the list to see Computer Science
Ask your SF whether the quarter of a million loan would be interest-free and over how many years can you repay it (10? 20? 30?)?
Does SF have biological children who will go to college?
Do you have siblings?
Are you a U.S. citizen? Do you all live in the U.S. now?
It doesn’t matter where you get $250,000 in loan money for college. That is TOO MUCH in loan debt. Are you hoping that your step dad will forgive that loan. If that is the case, give up that idea too.
If you are truly a competitive applicant for the school’s you listed, there are schools like University of Alabama where you will get a huge amount of merit aid.
Oh…and remember…for those listed schools, in addition to the fafsa, your mom and step dad, AND your dad and his spouse (if he has one) will need to complete the non-custodial parent Profile.
You asked your SF if he’ll lend you $260k for college and he said yes??? Or did you ask him to borrow $65k for college?
Did he say what the repayment terms would be? Over what period of time and how much per month?
What state are you in?
That is a crazy amount of debt. Not worth it.
Mom2 is right, that is a crazy amount of money to borrow for a CS degree, especially as many top companies do not care where you get your degree; they only care that you know how to program etc. My son goes to a wonderful state university (although not known for its CS department) and right now he is interning at a well-known CS company. Also its wonderful that your stepfather said yes to a loan, but what happens if your mom and he split up (it has known to happen.) Try to borrow as little as possible. If this means living at home and a community college for the first 2 years, then please consider that option.
Do you have green card status now? If so, you can file the FAFSA and you will be eligible to take out the standard student loans. Are you living in the US? There also might be some merit-based aid available to students in your state of residence - talk with your guidance counselor about that.