I don’t see ANY guaranteed full rides at Texas Tech. And anyway…it’s way too late for that if you plan to start college in fall 2018.
I agree with others. You need to sit with your parents and find out what they want you to do come end of August.
You have a VERY good financial aid offer from a very good college. Pomona really offered you an excellent package.
With a $92,000 a year income, you got excellent need based aid from Pomona.
College would not have been free even at HYPSM.
Get a summer job now! That way you can earn 2k you need to pay for the fall term. Also, talk to your parents. You need to show them that 4k for a whole year of college at such a great institution is very, very reasonable and cheap.
EDIT: I wish I could be paying 4k for a whole year of college… Private student loans look really awful and daunting right now… 6%+ interest rates…
Ask your parents if they will loan you the money you need for Pomona.
Halfway through June might be a bit late to find a job, considering they’ll be leaving for school sometime in August, but could be worth a shot.
@bodangles It’s better than nothing… allows OP to show his/her parents that they’re serious about Ponoma
@ochuego Yes, also have a part-time job while in college. Then, you’ll have some money to spend for yourself or to save to pay for the direct loans after graduation. You mentioned student employment - work study?
Pomona College is a GREAT school. It is one of the very top Liberal Arts Colleges in the USA (third in the last ranking that I saw, ahead of great schools such as Bowdoin and Swarthmore and Wellesley). You can get a superb education there, and be very well qualified for whatever comes next (whether it be a job, or graduate school at any university including the absolutely top ones). The fact that you (i) got accepted, and (ii) got financial aid to cover most of the cost, is amazing. $59,600 per year is a very large grant and you have to be an exceptional student to accomplish this. You have not failed at all. You have done very, very well to this point.
I am wondering whether you can get information on what Pomona graduates do after they get their degree. I would expect that a significant number of them go on to graduate studies at places such as UCLA, USC, and even Harvard and Stanford.
However, Pomona College will be academically very demanding. When you are there you will need to focus on your education.
If I were your dad, I would try very hard to come up with the last $5,000 that you need to attend.
Also, I agree with @menloparkmom. Pomona College is very much at the same level as Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and Stanford. Personally I think you will get a better undergraduate education at a smaller school such as Pomona.
Baby sit, house sit, pet sit, mow lawns, do anything to earn some money this summer.
Again…Pomona is an excellent college. Take the $5500 Direct Loan, and ask your parents for $400 a mont towards college. That’s a great bargain.
Frankly, you wouldn’t be able to attend Texas Tech for $400 a month.
Thanks so much for all your support, I have a lot to think about and to talk to them about now.
For the CNA (Certified Nurse Assistant), due to Hurricane Harvey, Houston Community College is giving free certification classes including exam attempts. I plan on taking advantage of this, but the grant opens in like a week.
It looks like your parents should be able to qualify for the American Opportunity tax credit for tax year 2018. That is worth up to $2,500. They can get an additional $500 dependent credit for you.
Would they be willing to give you this amount?
If you contribute more than 50% towards your own support, they won’t be able to claim you as their dependent on taxes.
Houston Community College is giving free certification classes including exam attempts.<<<<<<<<<<
Right but you MUST make sure that Pomona is good with that, talk to your adviser.
It seems unlikely you would have this CNA thing done in a few weeks if you haven’t even applied yet. Are you realistic? This seems somewhat abstract, when you could have already been working at anyjob for a while now, right? You have been out of school since end of May?
Sybylla,
Due to Harvey, my school closed June 1st. I have a job as a child care attendant at a gym for $8.00/hr pending my background check. The CNA program takes a little less than a month and a half which I plan to supplement with a 3 week phlebotomy course. I could have started the course, but the advisor at HCC said that it might become free a week from when I talked to him (which was last week).
I don’t think it is Pomona’s business what I do during the summer since its non-credit.
Btw, thanks for your consideration
OP, Pomona may consider what courses you take over the summer their business. Some colleges will classify students who took any course after high school as a transfer. If you don’t contact Pomona and get their permission – in writing – you could lose your entire scholarship.
Yes, it is a very reasonable (and generous!) offer that most college students don’t have.
For the balance owed, Pomona has a payment plan (4 payments per semester; 8 payments total). There’s also a $50 fee for using a payment plan, but it will give you a little more time.
I’ll be tickled pink if I can get DD in anywhere for <$20K a year, let alone four years for that amount. Your parents are being unreasonable. Show them this thread.
Another question CC
If I had lowered the standards my parents kinda set, would I have been able to get a better deal at a state college like Texas Southern. When I was looking at colleges, I thought that since local colleges usually don’t meet 100% need that it might be more expensive. $9900 a year for tuition, room and board doesn’t seem like a lot but I understand that it’s still expensive. I ask cuz my siblings aren’t really as academically inclined as me so they aren’t likely to get merit scholarships.
Again thanks so much for the help so far.
With an income of $92,000 you probably would have only received federal loans at a lower cost state school. At the very least, you would probably pay more at any state school where you had to live away from home than you will for Pomona. At least, that is my gut feeling based on what you have said.
@thumper1 where did you come up with that idea? Pomona’s endowment per student is $1,213,282 versus Amherst at $1,061,568. https://www.■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/college-rankings/details/EndowmentPerStudent. On that list only Princeton, Soka, Yale, Stanford and Harvard have higher endowments per student. Pomona also ranks right next to Amherst in the NY Times College Access Index of colleges doing the most for the American Dream. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/05/25/sunday-review/opinion-pell-table.html.
@ochuego “I failed them so I’m gonna have to foot the bill.”
No, in fact they failed you and didn’t think to save any money for your college expenses. If they had saved as little as $100 a month when you little they would have had plenty of money to make up the COA difference. Shame on them for expecting you to pay for everything.
What if you got into Harvard, would they miraculously have found the money to pay for your college?
Someday when you have kids you will know better and do the right thing.
Good luck, I wish you the best.
Will they take parent plus loans if you agree to make the payments? I think $50K debt would be manageable and advisable for a degree from Pomona. It might also give them some time to think about their decision not to help you.