I don't think I will get financial aid but can't afford college!!!!

I’m talking Bridgewater, Salem, Fitchburg, Framingham. Those schools. Total average COA is $26k to room there and attend. If you borrow $5500 and parents borrow $5500 and you work for some of those expenses like now, summer next year and on campus, it would be affordable. Borrowing not all bad. I think entirely fair for parents to borrow unless they absolutely refuse, if they can afford to do so and did not save for college or have savings tied up so cannot use, and they want you to go to college. You can match them dollar for dollar with your Direct loan each year

yes $20,000 is what we can afford

like about $15,000 is what he can give and i could make about $5,000 working maybe

@averageapp1852 That is where I got the 10-12k. Your dad gives you say 12k and then you add your Federal loan and work and you end up with 20k. Your dad needs to understand how boxed in you are going to be. That this will mean commumity college or commuting unless your stats are higher. You are barely paying for tuition. You could also gap year and work and save 20k yourself. Let your dad know your limited options. Sometimes when parents understand that they are willing to contribute more.

i’ll let his financial advisor deal with that i feel it would be insulting and ungrateful to tell him i want more money. he told me to apply to as many schools as i want to see where i can get the most money and what i really need is the list of schools i should apply to where chances are good to get merit aid

Look at these schools…they have the potential to come in at your price point Bridgewater, Salem, Fitchburg, Framingham.

Look at these schools. They have the potential to come in at your price point.

Of your dad gives you $15,000 and you take the Direct Loan of $5500…that gives you a $20500 budget for college. If you work, that money likely will be needed for your books and personal expenses.

Look at the smaller MA publics list that was posted upstream…Framingham and the like. It’s possible those could work for you financially…but you need to raise your standardized test score to get merit aid.

Look. @averageapp1852. You likely can’t get the aid you need with the current stats. Even with slightly higher you have very narrow chances. Not in New England to get to 20k. You could gap year and work and save 20k and then have greater options.

Have you looked at Truman State, a well regarded public liberal arts college? As others have pointed out, your cost would likely be less than 20k.

You may consider working while studying. You just need to have proper time management. My friend did graduate on time, he works to support his studies.

Other alternatives are community college, on line courses— some employers help pay for them, such as Starbucks, Walmart. You can also apply to colleges that srevout of reach in hopes some merit money does come your way. As long as you have something that is doable, you can give other options a go.

Don’t like the vibe at UMass Amherst. No I don’t get what you mean. It’s Super competitive now to get especially engineering CS AI and the Isenberg school. Nursing is top notch too. Really tough. . But that’s ok. It would be a high reach for you at this point.

I think the Dartmouth campus might work out well. University of Maine offers instate pricing to New England residents. It’s very economical and you would be a solid candidate with your high GPA. University of RI and Johnson and Wales are worth a look too. URI is a great bargain and you would be a competitive applicant and Johnson and Wales may offer you some merit.

@privatebanker URI with the best merit aid for OOS is a 12.5 k package. OP would be in the 28-29k range. For instate with the best merit is 22k. UMaine Orono will match OPs state tuition which is high. OP will be at 24-25k. UMaine Farmington, a public LAC might come in as affordable. 20k max is a low amount to pay in New England. Very hard to reach that target.

Got curious when someone mentioned Truman…if we’re going with that theme, what about Missouri State? If I’m reading their website correctly, with a 29 ACT and 3.8+ GPA, you could get a 5k scholarship plus out-of-state tuition waiver, bringing the cost to approximately 17k/yr. That’s not bad, although you do have to go West of the Mississippi just a little – that will increase your travel costs, bringing it up to ~20k, but if your concern from your OP was solely about location, you can’t afford to be picky (the Midwest is a very nice and, conincidentally, very affordable place).

You could probably squeeze by at Kansas State with 21k/yr. Basically just look up the names of generic state schools and hope some of them have good scholarships – I would have mentioned Huntsville but it was already brought up upthread.

Another possibility is the University of Toledo, where you would be eligible for a $14,500 scholarship. Remaining costs would be under $20,000.

If your budget is $20k/year including parent contribution ($12k), federal student loans ($5500), and student work ($3k), and your stats aren’t high enough for enough automatic merit to go where you want then you need to find financial safeties based on your current situation. Students on a lowish fixed budget don’t have the luxury of choosing schools based on fit. If the finances don’t work, fit doesn’t matter. Choose a couple of financial safeties first and find something to love about them. Then look for schools that offer enough merit (based on your current stats) to make them affordable.

Residency is based on where your parents live, so attending an OOS school with the hope of getting in state rates the 2nd year is unrealistic. Why would colleges bother to charge OOS rates if they were going to waive them for everybody later on?

It’s also unrealistic to think you can take your younger sister’s college money to repay large loans if she gets a full ride somewhere. Your dad doesn’t sound like someone willing to cosign large loans, so you won’t have the loans to repay. If she’s only a couple years younger and you think he’ll spend more on you if she gets large merit awards then you could start at a cc and ask for the extra money when she commits to a school. But if he’s saving ~$50k on her education he may not want to give it up when you have affordable options close to home.

@privatebanker the match is to the flagship in state cost. UMass isn’t affordable…UMaine won’t be either.

If you are premed, @averageapp1852 , then you simply need the best grades at a school in which you will incur the least debt. Medical school will be expensive.

Be sure to add Westfield State U to your list of in state schools to visit/investigate. Costs are similar to Framingham State U, and other regional state Unis.

Our income doesn’t get us any FA. Dd had a 34 act, 9 AP classes, weighed GPA of 4.175, 8th in her class of 300+, her cheapest option was in state for under $20,000 after merit. She is going OOS public for over $30,000 after merit, because she loves the school (highest scholarship besides full ride, which I believe she would’ve received if she got the ACT up to 35 ((SAT was 1470). We had to co-sign for loans for her older brother and sister (we pay interest and first year).

What about Youngstown State& its honors college? It’d be within budget with the scholarships.
Don’t forget MCLA, too.
Catholic colleges don’t have much in endowment and don’t offer large enough scholarships. You can hunt for full tuition or full ride scholarships at small colleges but those are rare because small colleges are often tuition dependent and can’t afford to give big breaks.
Your dad can’t tell you to apply wherever you want to since our won’t be able to attend. Even a budget of 20k from parents would make a big difference, making state universities affordable.