I don't know how I'm going to pay

Colleges and Universities A-Z Boston College
1

<p>I got my financial aid package a while ago, and I got barely anything. My parents are divorced, and my dad makes a good amount of money (not a lot, but a good amount), but I live with my mom, who is a teacher. In scholarship money, I got $2200. My total amount with loans and work study is $8800. </p>

<p>Is there anyway that this could be changed, or if it is even correct? The real problem is that I’ll be coming out of college with more than $100,000 in debt, and I’m getting upset when I see that other people are getting way more scholarship money. My mom called, and they wouldn’t change their decision, but my dad is going to talk face-to-face. Is there any chance that this could be changed? Does anyone know of this could just be one big misunderstanding? I really want to go to BC, but I’m freaking out when I think about everything.</p>

2

<p>Where else were accepted, what are you’re other choices. BC, or any school for that matter, is not worth that kind of debt.</p>

3

<p>If BC gave you only $8800, then your parents together must have significant annual income (>$100k?) and/or have substantial savings/assets. Like most schools that use the CSS profile, BC doesn’t care that your mother is the custodial parent. It assumes both parents are responsible for your educational expenses.</p>

<p>$100K in debt for an undergraduate is far too much. I sincerely hope that you have other more affordable schools that you can attend.</p>

4

<p>The other factor that comes into play with CSS Profile is home equity. If both your mom an dad own homes, many private colleges will factor that in the home equity as well.</p>

<p>I concur with w-mom. $100k of debt is wayyy to much. I noticed on another thread that you were also accepted at 'Cuse. How does their need-based package compare to BC’s?</p>

5

<p>Appeal. That’s what we did and we received more in aid. Show BC what other aid you’ve received. But make sure you do the appeal process.</p>

6

<p>Thanks for the help. We did end up appealing, and I got 22,500 in aid, which was a lot better. I am still deciding between Stonehill and BC, but I felt good knowing that they actually cared about my situation, and I am hoping that I can go. But thank you for your advice/help! :)</p>

7

<p>I guess this is what happens when a school goes from great regional school to a national powerhouse. My wife went to BC in the late 70’s and it has changed significantly since her day. We toured it with our D’s and she could not believe the campus. Every square inch of the campus seemed to be covered with new buildings (she remembered more open space was available). Back in the day a very large percentage of the students were working class from the surrounding cities who comuted to school. Today I get the feel that it is becoming a school for those with $$$. I may be out to lunch but you have to admit the price tag is daunting.</p>

8

<p>Yes, the price tag is daunting, but BC is no more expensive than other top private schools that it now competes with – Tufts, Northwestern, Notre Dame, Brown, etc. BC is not a regional commuter school anymore; it’s a top 40 national university and the facilities, faculty, and student body now reflect that. Unfortunately, the price tag does too!</p>

9

<p>Gary:</p>

<p>Education inflation is significant everywhere. I paid less for my Masters (at a cc top 10 private) then local private schools now charge for Kindergarten tuition. :)</p>

<p>Last year, BC wrote (somewhere, but I forgot) that the Class of '09/'13 is the first where every matriculating Frosh put down a Housing deposit, i.e., no commuters planned, altho I think a few Frosh decided to save money and live at home.</p>

10

<p>Actually worried_mom and bluebayou I think BC can claim to also kick ND butt in the cost of attendance. Not sure what year this was but BC ranked higher in $$$ of attendance then good ole ND and Holly Cross.</p>

<p>Top 500 Ranked Universities for
Highest Total Cost of attendance</p>

<p>Read more: Top 500 Ranked Universities for Highest Total Cost of attendance [Top</a> 500 Ranked Universities for Highest Total Cost of attendance](<a href=“Top 500 Ranked Colleges - Highest Cost of attendance”>Top 500 Ranked Colleges - Highest Cost of attendance)</p>

<p>1 Landmark College $53,775
2 George Washington University $53,110
3 The Art Institute of New York City $53,092
4 Sarah Lawrence College $52,210
5 Georgetown University $51,466
6 Yale University $50,350
7 Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art $50,225
8 University of Chicago $49,976
9 Vanderbilt University $49,834
10 Washington University in St Louis $49,796
11 Northwestern University $49,779
12 Drew University $49,674
13 University of Southern California $49,489
14 Mills College $49,460 15 Pepperdine University $49,430
16 Bard College at Simon’s Rock $49,385
17 The Art Institute of Charleston $49,380
18 Wesleyan University $49,346
19 Carnegie Mellon University $49,315
20 Columbia University in the City of New York $49,260
21 Stanford University $49,227
22 New York University $49,190
23 Barnard College $49,174
24 Bennington College $49,155
25 University of Pennsylvania $49,080
26 Skidmore College $49,000
27 Johns Hopkins University $48,992
28 Haverford College $48,932
29 Gibbs College $48,904
30 Boston University $48,900
31 Tufts University $48,900
32 Bard College $48,880
33 The Boston Conservatory $48,879
34 Colgate University $48,710
35 Brown University $48,660
36 Vassar College $48,565
37 Rhode Island School of Design $48,550
38 Harvard University $48,550
39 Claremont McKenna College $48,520
40 Babson College $48,450
41 Scripps College $48,450
42 The New School $48,406
43 Boston College $48,384</p>

<p>97University of Notre Dame $46,727
98 College of the Holy Cross $46,702
Read more: Top 500 Ranked Universities for Highest Total Cost of attendance [Top</a> 500 Ranked Universities for Highest Total Cost of attendance](<a href=“Top 500 Ranked Colleges - Highest Cost of attendance”>Top 500 Ranked Colleges - Highest Cost of attendance)</p>

11

<p>Take a look at Kiplinger’s listing of Best Values in colleges and universities. Holy Cross ranks 8th a mong all liberal arts colleges while Notre Dame finishes 16th among provate universities and Boston College makes a good showing in 23rd, but really shouldn;t be compared to Notre Dame or Holy Cross.</p>

<p>The best quality is always a better buy…</p>

12

<p>And how exactly are you measuring “quality”?</p>

13

<p>Actually worried_mom the list is not KY Crusader 75 list but Kiplinger’s who jumped into the “rate a college frenzy” with great zeal some years ago. I believe these “rate a college” lists create vast profits for those mags who pump them out and add fodder for the excellent arguments we see on the CC boards everyday (U Blanks anthropology department is ranked at 6 and U Stink is ranked at 8! Man you would be nuts not to go to U Blank!). Personally they mean absolutely nothing to me but they are a nice diversion. What really counts is does the school fit the student and what debt you are looking at when leaving. To justify how they pick ‘em they come up with various categories. If you go to the Kiplinger web site here is what it says on their “methodology”. Of course every school now knows the “methodology” as well and they play all sorts of games wth the “data” to get a higher ranking. It is interesting to see that they split the list public/private when talking about $$$$$. Here is the info:</p>

<p>How We Rank the Schools
Our rankings measure academic quality and affordability, with quality accounting for two-thirds of the total. We started with data on more than 600 private institutions provided by Peterson’s, then added our own reporting. Our list ranks the top 50 universities and liberal-arts colleges in separate tables. To determine each category, we used the Carnegie classification system, which organizes institutions based on the highest level and number of degrees offered. </p>

<p>Admission rate is the percentage of applicants offered admission.</p>

<p>SAT or ACT shows the percentage of the 2008-09 freshman class that scored 600 or higher on the verbal and math SATs, or 24 or higher on the ACT. </p>

<p>Students per faculty is the average number of students per instructor. </p>

<p>Graduation rate is the percentage of freshmen who earned a bachelor’s degree within four years or five years. </p>

<p>Total cost for academic year 2009-10 includes tuition, mandatory fees, room and board, and estimated expenses for books. </p>

<p>Cost after need-based aid is the 2009-10 total cost minus the average need-based aid amount (excluding loans). </p>

<p>Aid from grants is the percentage of the average aid package that came from grants or scholarships.</p>

<p>Cost after non-need-based aid is the 2009-10 cost for a student with no demonstrated need after subtracting the average non-need-based aid amount (excluding loans).</p>

<p>Non-need-based aid is the percentage of all undergraduates without need who received non-need-based aid.</p>

<p>Average debt at graduation is the average amount owed by graduates who took out education loans. </p>

<p>To break ties, we used academic-quality scores and average debt at graduation.</p>

14

<p>gary614, I agree with you completely about the 'value" of rankings. That’s why I asked the question, “What is quality?” Quite frankly, I fail to see how the admission rate has any impact whatsoever on what I would consider to be the “quality of education” at a particular school. There are certainly more valid measures, but ranking schemes – by their very nature – just focus on a few areas where data are readily available (although whether or not they actually measure anything meaningful is often not important). And trying to imply there is a significant difference between #8 and #16 and #23 (out of thousands of colleges in the US) on a particular list is just plain nitpicking, IMHO.</p>

15

<p>I agree. It all comes down to how much you think something is worth. If someone thinks its worth 50+K to go to BC then by all means go for it. If not then don’t go. These lists are just what I said a nice source of information for the annual CC board argument for someone supporting why Y school is better than X.</p>