<p>I was wondering, do i qualify for financial aid if my parents make 68,000 together a year? They pay for my sisters college as well. I don't think ill be able to afford ANY good college without financial aid, and I want to go to places like Rutgers, Georgia Tech, etc. How do I know if I qualify or not? What are some things I can do to ASSURE that I will get financial aid. BTW i am in the top 2% of my school and 2000+ on SATs if it makes a difference. Please and thank you :)</p>
<p>your family EFC will be roughly split in half, however many, many colleges do not guarantee to meet need. Do you have Georgia Tech on your list because you are looking for engineering? If so, use Cappex or CB to search for colleges that meet your criteria (size, location, major) and then do some research by using the cost calculators that each college has on their website, look at the financial aid pages to see what kind of merit scholarships they have and search these forums to learn how those colleges approach finaid. Make sure you have a conversation with your parents about how much they can contribute for your education in addition to what they are contributing to your sisters. Where she attends college and how they structure her financial aid could also change when you also enter college.</p>
<p>Not engineering but computer science. I dont understand what do you mean by half. I will get half the amount i have to pay for college? Because I live in NJ but I want to go either out of state or a really nice college.</p>
<p>Your family’s FAFSA EFC will be basically split in half between you and your sibling. But, most schools do not meet full FAFSA EFC need.</p>
<p>If you want to go to college out of state you will likely want to look for schools that offer guaranteed merit for your stats, hopefully bringing the COA down to an amount that you and your family can afford. Then apply to a few schools with competitive merit.</p>
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<p>and I want to go to places like Rutgers, Georgia Tech, etc.</p>
<p>Even if you were to “qualify” for aid, the problem is that those are state schools. Are you instate for either one? if not, you can’t expect much aid from them. They charge high OOS costs for a reason.</p>
<p>What state are you in?</p>
<p>What are your SAT scores (including breakdown) and GPA?</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/848226-important-links-automatic-guaranteed-merit-scholarships.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/848226-important-links-automatic-guaranteed-merit-scholarships.html</a></p>
<p>Im in state for rutgers, not anything else. For some reason my sister didnt get financial aid, shes going to a community but its not in the same county as she lives in. Is that why? Or is it because we make too much?</p>
<p>Most community colleges only give federal money in FA awards (and possibly some state funds depending on the State). The main federal grant is the Pell grant. To receive the maximum Pell grant of $5550 requires an EFC of 0. As the EFC goes up, the Pell goes down until there is no Pell at, I believe, around 4617 EFC. With a parent income of $68k and just one in college, your sister’s EFC was probably too high to be eligible for any Pell (so yes, you make to much). She would still have been eligible for federal student loans though.</p>
<p>If 2 of you are in college at the same time, then the part of the EFC generated by parent income and assets will be divided in two. For instance if your sister’s EFC was $10.000 with just her in college, then with 2 in college her EFC would be 5,000 and yours would be 5,000 (assuming neither student has income and assets of their own to affect the EFc). This doe not mean you would only have to pat $5,000. It is just a number that is used to determine eligibility for federal financial aid and for institutional aid (if the school offer institutional need based aid - many schools do not).</p>
<p>Out of State public Us are not a good bet for you if price is an issue. Very few public Us promise to meet full need even for their instate students, they certainly don’t for OOS students.</p>
<p>Maybeltstrue, most kids do not get the financial aid they need and/or want for college. The way it works is that you fill out a FAFSA form on or after the January 1 of the year you want to go (for fall entry) to college. It includes the income for the prior year for you and your custodial parent and spouse,and assets for all three of you on the day you fill out the form. Those numbers give you an Expected Family Contribution figure the EFC. With two kids in college at the same time, that figure is split in half for the parent contribution portion. The EFC will determine if you are eligible for the PELL grant which is for low income families. That is all that is guaranteed in grant money by the EFC. The rest depends on your school and state, and/or are loan amounts. All freshman who qualify though FAFSA may borrow up to $5500 in Stafford loans, and some of that could be subsidized by not accruing interest while in school.</p>
<p>Your grades and test scores will determine your eligibility for some of the more selective colleges that may have good financial aid and for merit awards. </p>
<p>The most important thing about all of this is to line up a school or schools that you know you can afford and will take you. After that you can give it a go for any number of schools. The sticker price for the instate schools like NJIT and Rutgers are going to be lower, for the most part, and if you commute, you can cut down on the living expenses. Other than that it comes down to whether any given school will give you the money in financial aid and/or in scholarship money. You will be eligible, I believe for aid, with the family income you report, and with a sibling in college, But eligible does not mean guaranteed. It’s a tough go to get money.</p>
<p>Many, many schools don’t give you any “free money” once your EFC is beyond Pell qualifications. That’s probably why your sister didn’t qualify for any aid.</p>
<p>Since you’re not instate for Georgia Tech, don’t count on much/any aid there. OOS publics have to give most of their aid to instate students. And, they charge high OOS rates for a reason. Why bother charging more for OOS, is they’re just going to cover with need based aid.</p>
<p>If you want aid, then apply to the particular privates that give lots of need-based aid and apply to publics that give VERY LARGE merit scholarships.</p>