<p>3.3 GPA, projecting 1900 SAT, some volunteering, some clubs (president of one), blogger</p>
<p>Rules:
1) Not rural
2) undergraduate population < 2000
3) Net price < 10,000 (family of 4, 2 in college, parents make 40,000 a year)</p>
<p>What does your own guidance counselor suggest?</p>
<p>I haven’t talked with her about it- when I had an appointment with her I was pretty set on my list but then I realized I don’t want to go to small/rural schools and subsequently cut my list in half.</p>
<p>I would suggest finding an LAC that is good for your interest area/major that has students with slightly lower SAT/GPA scores than you do. They’re likely to admit you and give you aid. The book, Colleges that Change Lives, might be a good resource. I like Ursinus College it’s in a small town within the greater Phila. met area.</p>
<p>Run the EFC Calculator on the College Board website, with your parents 2012 tax return and yours…</p>
<p>Keep hitting save so you can go back to it… Choose both IM (institutional methodology) and FM (federal methodology) Remember to select “two in college”. Print out the summary result. You and your parents should be aware of what is expected of your family financially.</p>
<p>I second Ursinus College
also butler university</p>
<p>the $$$$ is something you need to talk to any school directly.</p>
<p>As a safety? A safety is a college that you KNOW will take you and that you KNOW that you can afford. No ifs and buts about those things. When you have high need, the affordability is an issue. Unless a school has guaranteed awards, you can’t assume you get any money from any school. Which means that safety schools tend to be those that are local, where you know your parents can give you 3 squares and a cot. IF there is a local state 4 year school that you know will take you, then it’s likely with what your parents can kick in, what you can earn part time and with Stafford Loans that you can get, that’s where you can go.</p>
<p>Neither Ursinus nor Butler guarantee to meet need, nor do they have guaranteed merit awards for the OP. Unless the OP has some connection to those schools, or any school where some sort of cost concession will be made, s/he needs to look at local public schools. If there are guaranteed awards to any state school where the full cost of the school can be covered, then that would work too. If the OP lived in NY, with what the parents are willing to pitch in , TAP, Staffords, an away SUNY could be a safety.</p>
<p>These threads are a little dated but are still worth looking through:</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><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1348012-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1348012-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships.html</a></p>
<p>@cptofthehouse- None of my state schools (or any state schools) are less than 10,000- I would be depending on the school’s aid no matter what.</p>
<p>OP, there are some schools you are overlooking that are under $10K - community colleges.</p>
<p>If I stay home and go to community college I’ll probably kill myself, so…that’s out.</p>
<p>Look up momfromtexas in the archives and look at her methodology for full ride scholarships.</p>
<p>The truth of the matter is that you are expecting a college or tax payers to pay for your living expenses. Why should either? You are not a top flight student that is likely to get people wanting to invest that money in you. So I don’t get why you think you should be subsidized for food and a room, not to mention tuition. What you have to do is find a school that will think you are great guns and willing to pay to have you come there.</p>
<p>If you’ve run your number through an EFC estimator, you can see if your family’s situation is close enough to poverty level to get any PELL money. That is the only "free"money that the federal government is guaranteed to give you if the numbers have you qualifying. I don’t know your state, but you should check if you are eligible for any grants from there.</p>
<p>You are also eligible to borrow up to $5500 from DIrect Loans through the federal government as a freshman. Up to $3500 could be subsidized. After that, your parents need to apply through Direct Loans and borrow for you, and if they are declined due to outstanding bills on the credit report, you get to borrow an additional $4K in your name. </p>
<p>That’s it for money, and as you see, most of it comes down to loans. If you don’t want to stay at home, start looking for a job and a room share, and take classes as you can on a part time basis like most college students in this country do. The average college student commutes to college,is part time, takes many more than 4 years to finish and doesn’t always get a degree, and works part or full time to pay for it himself. That is the reality. Anything more is pure gravy on some pretty dry meat there. It’s not likely that anyone is going to hand you money to go live at a college. Parents are the first and often the only suckers that will pay for sleep away college. If they can’t or won’t and you can’t get money out of the colleges as they generally pay only for their top picks, well, then you don’t go. Most people, don’t, or go part time.</p>
<p>@cptofthehouse- ****, sorry, I’ll just go ahead and kill myself now since I’m completely not worth anyone’s investment. I’m not asking any person to pay for my college tuition, I’m asking a college, a ridiculously overpriced institution, to help me graduate with only what- $27,000 of debt? Even if you think only the top student deserve an education, then I’m still not stupid- the only reason my GPA is so low if because of a horrible year do to issues at home. The only reason I can’t do as many ECs as everyone else is because of issues at home. And now when I mention a way to get out of my situation aka college, I’m an idiot for thinking any school will give me need based aid? I have 7 schools on my list which meet much of my need, and it’s not a crazy chance that I’ll get into a couple of them. I found another school today in which I would be above average and would get a lot of merit aid.
And I typed up a paragraph more of a response but you won’t listen to me anyways and you’re also not much help so…yeah.</p>
<p>Ohio State University. You would most likely get a 14K scholarship a year + financial aid if you qualify. Making the price probably around 16k a year which is a great deal for an out of state school. In addition it is not rural. It has a ton to do and its a fun school with a lot of school spirit!</p>
<p>@greatperhaps I don’t think that cptofthehouse mean that colleges shouldn’t grant you any need-based aid (though the post did contain some typical CC snarkiness), but is referring to the fact that you feel it’s a necessity to move out (so colleges will have to grant you extra money for food, boarding, other living expenses, etc.) when boarding isn’t a necessity, it’s a luxury.</p>
<p>getting aid for education is one thing. getting aid because you want to live on your own is another</p>
<p>Look up Siena college in NYS near Albany.</p>
<p>How will Siena which costs >$30K help the OP who is looking for under $10K?</p>
<p>OP what state/part of the country are you in?</p>
<p>I’m in New York</p>
<p>It sounds like you’d qualify for Pell, TAP, and other aid for NY state schools. You might get the best aid pkgs from SUNYs/CUNYs where your stats are strong for the school.</p>
<p>Maybe someone here knows which SUNY/CUNYs would give someone with your likely stats some merit money. Merit money along with TAP, PELL, and a student loan may cover all costs. </p>
<p>Also, use some of the Net Price Calculators on the SUNY/CUNY websites.</p>