Honestly, they don’t seem to care. My mom wants me to take out loans anyway so I could have some “skin in the game” (so instead of making me go to a safety, requiring me to keep a certain GPA so that you could contribute, or having me work year-round, throw tens of thousands of dollars of high-interest debt at me that will keep me from being financially free until I’m at least 31.) I’m not even mad at them because they can’t pay more for my education. I’m just frustrated that they told me at the end of junior year instead of September of my freshman year that they could barely pay for room and board.
I wish my parents had that attitude…
I think Ole Miss would be fine. Except my parents won’t pay for me to apply there or to go there, so that’s $36k+ in debt right there.
https://www.albany.edu/undergraduateeducation/392_assembly.php
^U Albany would not be a miserable school. And for political science a good choice.
You work with what you have. It’s not easy to put two through college. I have one in pharmacy school and one starting college in the fall.
Both go to instate school within 2 hours from home, have some merit scholarships, a state grant, and will have student loans.
And your grades and scores are not bad. But full tuition and full rides, especially in the geographic area you are looking, are not plentiful, and are highly competitive.
West coast is out. UCs aren’t even that affordable to CA students, and OOS don’t qualify for aid.
You and your sibling need to find a few schools that would fit the budget, a few that might come in budget with merit, and present your parents with the net price calculator numbers.
You and your brother should file separate FAFSA forms. The EFC on your sibling’s FAFSA is their EFC, and the EFC on your FAFSA is yours. So if each EFC is $55k, the combined would be $110k, not $27.5k.
What FAFSA do you think you can file NOW? The 2019-2020 FAFSA won’t be available for completion and submission until October 1, 2018.
Unless you have worked through the FAFSA formula by hand, there is no way to know your 2019-2020 FAFSA EFC…yet.
So…where did you get that EFC of $27,500?
If your parent income is $250,000, I would expect their EFC to be between 1/4 to 1/3 of that amount…so between $60,000 or so and $75,000 total per year. The lower number would be if your family had zero $ in assets. My guess is this isn’t true. With 2 in college that FAFSA EFC would be divided between you two…but remember YOUR student assets count as well.
And as mentioned before…for Profile schools, your share would be 60% not 50%.
What is your twin planning to do for college??
@apost12 when you complete your FAFSA, you indicate how many folks are in your family…AND you indicate how many will be attending college for the year you are c9moleting that FAFSA. So do you,it’s how many would be IN college in 2019-2020. You would put TWO.
When you do that, the FAFSA formula uses that data point…and gives you YOUR EFC…already taking account that there are two in college.
Is your parent $250,000 income before or after taxes and other deductions? Remember also that any money put into a tax deferred retirement account in 2017 will be added back in as INCOME for FAFSA and Profile purposes. So…if both parents are working, and each contributes $20,000 to tax deferred retirement accounts…that would bump your family income right up to $290,000 or so…and your EFC could easily be $55,000 PER KID.
Really? A family income of $250,000 is almost five times the national average. Sounds to me like you have knowledgeable parents.
^ it’s true if they think colleges give 40k scholarships to average students, that top private universities give merit aid, etc. They would not be the first to have mistaken assumptions about college.
The OP should get merit to some of the smaller SUNY schools (Oneonta, etc) which happen to be very good schools.
Parent contribution: $12,000
Loan: $5500
Summer job: $3000
Room/board and tuition comes to about $21,000. There will also be books, spending money etc. There is a good chance that some of the smaller SUNY schools will give merit to make up the difference.
Isn’t there like one application to apply to several different SUNYs?
I would take advantage of that.
@twogirls Agree that OP should check each SUNY school site, but Oneonta is SUNY’s rising star–their merit goes to those with at least a 95 UW gpa. Merit at Albany is also not realistic. Unfortunately for OP, SUNY schools are going to be more focused on the gpa than the test scores…I just checked Oswego and OP would only qualify for for merit of $750 a year. How about Plattsburg, OP? Looks like you could get $3500 a year there.
@momdc you have to pay for every individual SUNY school you apply too.
Hmmm… I know a girl with similar stats ( lower scores) who received merit, so who knows. I do agree that Oneonta is a " rising star," but it doesn’t hurt to try. Brockport used to give big merit, and Plattsburgh is another good option. There is also Fredonia- he may qualify for merit.
My FAFSA is filed for this upcoming school year because I am attending community college full time senior year.
Op, you could also something drastic and ask your parents, if you leave your private schooland join the local public high school, would they set aside the amount of the private school tuition to help pay for your college?
It’d also take care of the pesky"super competitive school class rank" problem.
The point of a safety is to have a school you can get accepted to, that’s affordable, and that you’d be happy to attend. Finding a college that will offer enough grants to bring your net cost down to the $12k your parents will pay will be difficult, and unless your stats are super high and it’s guaranteed merit it won’t qualify as a safety.
The ~$5500/year students are eligible to borrow is a federal student loan. They’re not run by Sallie Mae. If you truly don’t want to borrow you can commute to your local 4-year SUNY, if one is available, or start at a cc and transfer. The ~$5k/year you save at a cc (with summer job earnings) would cover the difference between what your parents can pay and the net cost of the last 2 years at a 4-year SUNY.
I go to the local public high school already
I’m already doing CC full-time senior year and I’m coming in with either 13 or 17 credits based on my AP scores this year. I’m applying this cycle, but I’m apprehensive about staying for another year because I’d have to pay the full $130-150k in tuition at top private after two years of CC anyway, which leaves my family in $110k+ in debt.
What’s wrong with the SUNYs? If you said, I missed it.
The 2018-2019 FAFSA used 2016 income. The 2019-2020 one will use 2017 income. Was there any difference in your parent income between those two years.
Is your twin also attending community college?
Also, if you are a matriculated student at they CC, and are receiving any form of aid from the CC…you won’t be considered an incoming freshman in fall 2019. This means that merit aid for freshmen will not be available to you.
Why did you need to file a FAFSA for the CC, and are you considered a matriculated student there? If so…I would suggest that you plan to do two full years there at the low CC cost, then transfer to a four year college in your state that has an articulation agreement with your community college. The transfer advisor at your CC can guide you.