My mom’s annual income is around $60,000. My dad makes $260,000.
Seconding NESCAC and St Olaf/Carleton (adding Macalester).
Express interest at all - fill out the request info form, read what they send you, ask questions about what you read.
Thank you to everyone who has contributed to this discussion! Everyone was so kind and gave me such good recommendations and advice, I’m super grateful to every one of you. I think I have a solid number of colleges to look into now thanks to all of your help. I’m going to leave this thread open just in case anything else pops up, or maybe to get some opinions on my finalized list. You all are welcome to add anything else if something comes up. To my fellow stressed high schoolers lurking on this thread (I know you’re out there, I’m one of you myself), best of luck to all of us. Again, thank you so much!!!
@MyDogsNameIsFat, I think you might want to revisit the financial side of the question, just to be sure that everyone understands the potential costs. All of the schools on your original list (barring the UCs) and most of the selective schools suggested in this thread are need-only schools, meaning that financial aid will be proportionate to your family’s demonstrated need. They do not offer merit aid.
I’m not an expert on how need-based aid is calculated with a non-custodial parent, but I think you need to become one right away. With an income of $260K, you’re not likely to receive much if any need-based aid and the amount that you can expect to receive in loans, part time jobs or outside scholarships is not significant.
If it turns out that need-based aid is not available and that your father is unwilling or unable to pay $65 to $70K per year, then you’ll have to look at schools that offer merit aid, which mean a mostly different list. I think you would be an excellent candidate for many of the generous merit scholarships, many of which are offered by schools that are academically excellent, but it takes some searching to find them and some work to apply for them
To start, among LACs you might look at Grinnell, Smith and Mt. Holyoke.
Sorry to hear about your parents’ divorce.
This adds complexity to your financial aid situation.
For schools that only require that you file the FAFSA form (typically state schools) the income you report is that of your custodial parent (which appears to be your mom). Since your parents are recently divorced and the FAFSA uses two year old tax information as input, I am not sure what value will be used. It would be a good idea to find this out.
For schools that require both the FAFSA and CSS Profile, (typically private schools) the income that you report for the vast majority of schools is that of BOTH parents. So for Yale the number is $320K not $260K. The amount of aid you receive will be greater than a family that is living together, because the cost of living separately is higher. If the EFC calculator does not have a provision for divorce, then you should see what comes back when you put in $320K. The CSS Profile is specific to each school and counts various assets differently for each one.The EFC does not always deal with these assets accurately. There is the same issue with relative timing of the divorce and the two year old tax information so you need to clarify this.
A small number of schools that require the CSS Profile only require that you report the income of your custodial parent.
An even smaller number of these schools also claim to meet “full need”. These schools are likely to offer you the best need based aid. They are: Oberlin, U Chicago, Vanderbilt and Wellesley
http://time.com/money/4218077/want-more-financial-aid-get-a-divorce/
https://profile.collegeboard.org/profile/ppi/participatingInstitutions.aspx?excmpid=MTG336-ST-1-a2o
http://blog.■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/blog/colleges-that-meet-100-of-student-financial-need/
For UCs and CSUs, if you live with your mother, her middle income of $60,000 will result in substantial financial aid. But for most private schools with good financial aid, they will include both parents’ incomes, or $320,000. Though methods vary, that would probably make you a list price student. List prices at private schools can be around $70,000 per year, so make sure that your father is willing to pay that.
Also, if he is willing to pay that or close to that, ask him if he would contribute the savings to medical or law school costs if you choose a low cost undergraduate school like a UC or one that offers you a big scholarship, or a private like Chicago or Vanderbilt that does not use his income to calculate financial aid.
@momrath @Mastadon @ucbalumnus Thanks for the advice on the whole financial situation, admittedly this is the part that I know the least about. What probably doesn’t help the situation is that my parents are behind on their taxes, so even if I am trying to use the EFC calculators or learn more about the available aid I don’t have anything to work off of. As you can see, I’m in a bit of an enigma here :-S
You and about 90% of all families starting the process! The distinction between need-based aid and merit aid comes as a surprise to many of us. But, it’s not too late to learn.
The complication now is that you’ll need to view your safeties from two perspectives: admissions safeties and financial safeties. The good news is that you have the UCs as excellent fall backs, but if they’re not your preference, don’t give up yet.
If Yale is your #1 choice and you plan to apply REA, then try Yale’s NPC. Once you have the results call or email Yale’s financial aid office to learn more. I believe you will find them receptive to your questions.
Have another heart-to-heart with your father to determine the most that he is willing to contribute each year. We all want our kids to have the best opportunities so sometimes these are hard discussions, but the sooner you have a realistic figure the better. Even if it means that the Ivy League and other selectives may not be in the picture, it’s still better to know now rather than after you’re accepted.
There are really are many wonderful schools that offer partial and even full merit scholarships. I think you would be a strong contender on many fronts. Learning about what’s out there is your #1 priority.
@momrath I’ll probably have to have a sit-down with both my parents then. I did start the Yale NPC but then got stuck when it came to the parts that require info from my parents’ tax forms since those haven’t actually been finalized yet. (Tbh they’re woefully behind and I’ve been hounding them about it. Problem is my mom wants independence from my dad but she herself doesn’t know how to do tax forms so we’re kinda stuck right now.)
What would you suggest as the best way to research the merit scholarships provided by the different schools? Is it typically only public schools that provide merit scholarships? I’m including the UCs on my list mainly because of financials and I definitely will be making two lists of safeties.
Since Yale is my number 1 and its deadline is much closer than all the other colleges, its application is going to be my main priority at the moment. Of course I’ll work on the other applications as well but if Dec. 15 rolls around and its a deferral or rejection, I’m going to be adding a lot more safeties and matches.
When we talk about the parent contribution, one important point is that even parents who want to be generous may not know just how bad costs can be. On 260k, 70k in tuition and room/board is a huge chunk. So yes, also be looking for schools that offer merit awards.
He may be thinking a job during college is a job, i.e., some large salary. Most campus jobs run around 10-12 or so hours/week. They’re flexible when you have exams or papers due, you don’t need to travel off campus, and aren’t competing with locals. But as an example, my girls earned about $2400 during the school year. Hardly a dent in costs, really just covered their personal needs.
No, it’s the opposite. Public universities offer lower tuition rates and need-based aid to in-state students. Although they may offer academic merit scholarships, the majority of their scholarships are athletics based.
Merit scholarships are often used as enticements to attract high achieving students who may be accepted to more prestigious schools. Sometimes there is a demographic or diversity element involved. Merit awards can be substantial (full rides) or a few thousand dollars. The bigger the awards the more competitive they are. Awards are difficult to predict and you have to cast a wide net. Also, many have early deadlines so check the calendars.
College Confidential parents and students are a wealth of information on how to ferret out merit money. Look at the sticky thread at the top of the Parents board, “Schools Known for Good Merit Aid.”
Often, the schools that are the most generous with merit scholarships are ones that you’ve never heard of, that are located in a part of the country that may not be your first choice (e.g. Grinnell, Rhodes) or have some other element that makes them less universally appealing (e.g. Smith, Mt. Holyoke).
I think @Mastadon gave you a very good tip to look for schools that only require that you report the income of your custodial parent AND guarantee to meet full need. Oberlin, U Chicago, Vanderbilt and Wellesley would be excellent choices. There may be others in this category. If only your mother’s income is considered you should be in line for a good chunk of need-based aid.
There are an abundance of professionals who can prepare her return. “I don’t know how to do it myself” is not a good reason to become a nonfiler.
Verification of financial aid information is based on tax returns. Your parents need to be up to date with at least the tax returns used for financial aid information (prior-prior-year, meaning the 2016 tax return for attending college in 2018-2019; see https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/about/announcements/fafsa-changes ).
The following can help:
- Tax forms have instructions from the IRS.
- Tax software can be used to help prepare a tax return.
- Enrolled agents and accountants specializing in tax returns can be hired to help prepare a tax return.
Note that, in California, there are also state income tax returns.
I would advise caution using this line of reasoning.
The “College Transitions” lists have major flaws that can result in what I like to call “Lemming logic” - a self-reinforcing logical fallacy rooted in the lack of consideration of what statisticians and logicians call “selection effects”.
Just in case anyone does not know what happens to lemmings: (Trigger warning - especially for @intparent ) 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOOs8MaR1YM
In order to avoid having to “battle for position within the herd” as well as the other perils associated with “lemming logic”, one might want to consider the wisdom of what I like to call “Frostian logic”. This line of reasoning encourages picking one’s own path based on an evaluation of one’s own criteria.
The application of “Frostian logic” can be much more rewarding than “Lemming Logic” - as long as one remembers that when taking “the road less traveled” it is easy to get lost, so it is important to periodically find and consult with guides along the way.
“Since Yale is my number 1 and its deadline is much closer than all the other colleges, its application is going to be my main priority at the moment. Of course I’ll work on the other applications as well but if Dec. 15 rolls around and its a deferral or rejection, I’m going to be adding a lot more safeties and matches.”
You’re an excellent applicant but you should have a set of matches and safeties lined up when you submit your Yale app, assuming that you’ll get deferred. This shouldn’t be a problem for Yale, but you and your family also have to be comfortable with the financial aid package. Typically California students have a couple of UCs or OOS public schools as safeties and since you want to get out of Cal and attend a small school, you’ll need to look at the LAC suggestions given so far for that.
@Mastadon Ooh thanks I hadn’t really considered that. I’m going to start interning for a legal team soon so hopefully through that I can find out if I really do want to pursue law and figure out which path I want to take.
@theloniusmonk Of course I’m already working on my list of safeties and matches. Other than the Yale app I’m working on the UC apps rn. I made this discussion since I just wanted to add some more safeties and matches, especially since half of the list I was working with before had acceptance rates below 10%. I’m definitely checking out those LACs and other schools that provide merit scholarships.
Given the OP’s parents’ situation – divorced, high income non-custodial parent, tardy tax returns – the OP’s number one priority is to sort out the financial situation. Basically, the situation is something like:
- For UCs and CSUs, only the mother's financials are needed. At $60,000 income, this can result in significant financial aid, but only if the mother files the tax returns. This also applies to the privates that do not consider the non-custodial parent finances (e.g. Chicago). Without the mother's tax returns, expect to be paying list price (though UCs and CSUs will be less expensive).
- For privates that do consider the non-custodial parent finances (e.g. Yale), the father's $260,000 income will probably mean no or very little financial aid. So the OP needs to let the parents (particularly the father) know that it will be list price (currently $70,570 for Yale, some are even higher), and verify that they (particularly the father) are able and willing to pay that (or most of that, minus a few thousand in student work earnings and federal loans -- but federal loans require FAFSA which requires mother's tax returns).
- Many merit scholarships do not depend on any financial aid information, though some do (e.g. merit based award that adjusts based on financial need). Large merit scholarships, if offered, tend to go to applicants at the top end of the application class.
- For out-of-state publics, do not expect good, or any, need-based financial aid, though some may offer merit scholarships.