<p>How much money in financial aid should I get if:
I'm an only child white male who lives with a single dad because my mom passed away and he makes roughly 70k a year?</p>
<p>It depends on the school, and how much your dad has in assets will also be a factor in addition to his income. Also if you have any assets or income that is also a factor.</p>
<p>Some schools may give you nothing, others could give you nearly a full ride.</p>
<p>Each college and university has a Net Price Calculator right on its website. Sit down with your dad and run a few if them. That will give you an estimate.</p>
<p>But more important, you need to find out what your dad is ready, willing, and able to pay. That figure is what will ultimately determine where you can attend.</p>
<p>Sorry to hear about the loss of your mom. </p>
<p>With a family of 2 (1 adult, 1 child), your EFC will be substantial since your dad’s income is only supporting himself and one child. </p>
<p>As many schools, you might only get offered a $5500 student loan. :(</p>
<p>What kind of schools are you looking at? </p>
<p>What are your stats? GPA and test scores (include SAT breakdown).</p>
<p>What state are you in?</p>
<p>You need to ask your dad how much he’ll pay each year towards college. That will largely determine where you should apply.</p>
<p>*Yeah so I’m a middle-class white male. I live with a single parent with an income of about 70k a year. I live in Texas. The schools I’m looking into are Duke(for sure early decision), tulane, all UC’s, rice, UT Austin, Baylor, pepperdine, wake forest, and UNC. </p>
<p>CR: 25/686
UW GPA: 3.83
Weighted 5 pt scale: 4.998
SAT I: 1890(690 m, 570cr, 630 w)
SAT II:soon to take
ACT:26 (32 math and like 25’s/24’s everywhere else) I doubt I’ll put this on my app</p>
<p>4 year varsity tennis player
2 year NHS
3 year Latin club
1 year HOSA</p>
<p>200+hours of community service mainly through local library and I volunteer at my local country club helping with a little kids tennis camp every summer</p>
<p>3 strong recommendation letters from teachers who love me
Always taken the most rigorous coursework with 6 AP/honors courses junior and senior year individually
AP Psych:5
AP English Lang:3
AP US:3 but I also took this course dual credit through a local community college*</p>
<p>Oh my…you really need to change your school list.</p>
<p>You’re not going to get aid from UCs …those are STATE schools and their aid is for Calif residents (Cal grants, Blue and Gold…aid is only for Calif residents). The UCs will expect you to pay $50k per year. All you’ll get is a $5,500 student loan. I doubt your dad will pay the other $45k per year.</p>
<p>Unless you raise your scores a LOT, Duke is not a possibility. Tulane is a high reach as well with a 1260 Math + CR. Tulane has been rejecting many kids with sub 1400 M+CR. </p>
<p>It looks like your rank is high enough for U-Texas. However, you’re unlikely going to get much/any aid from that school with your likely EFC. </p>
<p>You need a couple of financial safeties on your list. Right now, you have NONE.</p>
<p>Well honestly college isn’t cheap no matter where you go. In Texas UT Austin is one of the cheapest so what do you consider a financial safety school? Also what is an EFC?</p>
<p>Yes, college can be cheap if that is your only option. </p>
<p>Do you really think that most college kids can spend $25k+ per year on college? In truth, most kids commute to their local CC or local state school and pay $2k - 10k per year because that’s all they can afford with student loans, a part-time job, and maybe some parent money. </p>
<p>I know that kids sometimes think, "well, Private U is $55k, and my state flagship is $25k, so $25k is cheap. </p>
<p>No school is cheap if you don’t have the money to pay for it. YOU can only borrow $5500 as a frosh. If you don’t get the money from Financial Aid, merit scholarships or your dad, you won’t be able to afford to go to UT or elsewhere. </p>
<p>EFC = Expected Family Contribution. It’s a misnomer…most people have to pay MORE since most schools (like UT or UCs) do NOT meet need. Your family will have a highish EFC since you only have 2 people in your family with a good income. </p>
<p>Maybe you also have good savings? Did you receive social security after your mom died? any life insurance payouts?</p>
<p>You need to ask your dad how much he’ll pay each year. </p>
<p>A financial safety school is a school that you LIKE, that has your MAJOR, and you know FOR SURE that you have ALL COSTS covered with ASSURED merit money, ASSURED aid, small fed student loans, and/or family funds. </p>
<p>that’s why you need to ask your dad how much he’ll pay.</p>
<p>Right now, your stats aren’t high enough for merit at many schools. If you retest and get your M+CR above 1300 (preferably 1400), you’ll have a lot more options for merit and to get into schools that give the best aid (not UCs!!!)</p>
<p>I’m not happy with the Texas public schools’ NPCs…they are obviously including Parent Plus loans in their estimates. That is unfair since many parents can’t/won’t accept those or won’t qualify for them. </p>
<p>In the NPC result below, I excluded the Plus loans (the NPC didnt’ say Plus loans, but when it says $20k+ in loans, then I KNOW it means Plus loans since student loans aren’t that high).</p>
<p>this is for UT-Dallas</p>
<p>Total Cost …$25292
Tuition & Fees $11592
Room & Board $9050
Books $1200
Other $3450</p>
<p>4.
Median Grant: …$0</p>
<p>Possible grant and/or scholarship assistance: $0</p>
<p>6.
Estimated net cost:…$25292/year</p>
<p>7.
Estimated student loans and/or student work earnings: $24906</p>
<p>Students can’t borrow that much…it’s wrong for the UTs to include that. Considering that kids are often using these things, to suggest that a large loan would be offered (and the kid would think the HE could accept it or his parent could easily accept it) is just so misleading.</p>
<p>The NPC for UT-Austin gave similar results with a possibility of a $2k grant…so IF you got that grant, your cost at UT would be about $23k per year.</p>
<p>OP - I think looking at your in state schools in depth would be a good start, as an in state student there may be some of your in state schools that would give you merit aid with a bit of improvement on your test scores.</p>
<p>I understand you have high asperations looking at your school list, but given your financial situation and the stats comparison you currently have, I think your interests would be better served by looking closer to home and being a stronger student within the local pool rather than a “I barely got in” student at one of your reaches.</p>
<p>Do you have specific career goals in mind?</p>
<p>yeah anesthesiology.</p>
<p>If you have hopes to get into med school, the last thing you should be doing is picking schools (like Duke and UCs and maybe UT) where there will be a ton of pre-meds with stats much higher than yours grabbing all the As.</p>
<p>As bchan states, you don’t want to be a “I barely got in”…those students aren’t the ones who’ll emerge with the super high GPAs for med school. </p>
<p>you should look at UT Dallas or maybe some of the UTs with med schools. </p>
<p>Have you asked your dad how much he’ll pay? If not, do so. You NEED that info.</p>
<p>Max 10k. No more. I’m looking into Tulane, smu, UT Austin, tcu, and UNC chapel hill now and all of which are very affordable after financial aid/ merit aid (calculator)</p>
<p>Stew, a financial safety is a school that is affordable that you are SURE you will be accepted to. Some of the schools on your list would be affordable IF you got accepted but they are reaches for you with the stats you posted. UNC Chapel Hill is HIGHLY competitive for OOS students. No guarantees at Tulane either.</p>
<p>I’m sure to be accepted at every school I mentioned besides those two? You aren’t supposed to have only safety schools.</p>
<p>Tulane and UNC are not academic safeties for you (they are more or less reaches).</p>
<p>Read above comment…</p>
<p>You should have more than one safety (because at the end of the day, you want to feel that you are choosing), and even among safety schools, you want to be able to make comparisions.</p>
<p>Keep in mind that a true safety is </p>
<p>a school that you can be admitted to (preferably early action or rolling)
a school that offers your major (you can attend med school from virtually any college in the country, so keep your debt low)
a school where if this were the only school that you were admitted to, you would be happy to attend
a school that is a financially feasible option for your family.</p>
<p>I found this online for Tulane:</p>
<p>Test Scores – 25th / 75th Percentile</p>
<pre><code>SAT Critical Reading: 620 / 710
SAT Math: 620 / 700
SAT Writing: 640 / 720
</code></pre>
<p>UNC:
SAT Critical Reading: 590 / 700
SAT Math: 610 / 710
SAT Writing: 590 / 690 </p>
<p>Realize that the stats for out-of-state students at UNC will be on the high side of those numbers. The low numbers at all colleges are made up of kids who the school really wants for some other reason-- athletes, children of wealthy/famous people, etc.</p>
<p>*Max 10k. No more. I’m looking into Tulane, smu, UT Austin, tcu, and UNC chapel hill now and all of which are very affordable after financial aid/ merit aid (calculator)
*</p>
<p>none of those schools will give you merit aid. </p>
<p>I highly doubt UNC will accept you. They accept few OOS students. The ones that they do accept have high stats. </p>
<p>Tulane is also a reach for you. They have been rejecting kids with your stats that don’t have some kind of hook…URM, athlete, etc.</p>
<p>UT’s aid is iffy. If you noticed, when you ran the EFC calculator, the aid was in ranges. That’s because merit is given to those who have high stats.</p>
<p>So far, you don’t have ONE financial safety on your list. You should have at least two.</p>
<p>Iffy aid is not “good enough”. For a school to be a financial safety, you have to know for SURE that you’d be accepted…and you have to know for SURE how you’d pay for it with ASSURED aid, merit and/or family funds.</p>
<p>A NPC calculator is NOT assured aid.</p>
<p>Lol. UT, TCU,and SMU are three schools that I’m sure to be accepted to. I know that. Those are my safety schools and I may throw in a university of Houston or something. With that said, I know for a fact that Tulane offers merit aid because I have two friends that go there with similar scores and background as me and aren’t paying much. Thirdly, you said that I need a hook… I am an athlete that could probably be recruited to play for some of these school’s tennis teams and I am in clubs, I have tons of service hours, I have good reccs, and I’m from Texas not some powerhouse like new York(yes that makes a difference). I realize that an 1890 isn’t ivy material but i think that some of you have been blinded by those schools high standards and are making scores any lower than those seem like crap.</p>