<p>Most of them are on the Columbia Campus and I think a few are in the medical center campus. I’m living on campus for a year then splitting the costs with my bf in an apartment which will reduce the costs around 7000.</p>
<p>IS the school providing you with housing, or do you have to find your own? </p>
<p>Me? I’m not sure what it is exactly, It’s for students who go to the school, but it’s separate than the school. They’re made like apartments, sort of, you get a fully furnished kitchen, fully furnished living room, 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, full size bed, dresser, desk, closet, there’s washing machines in the building, along with a gym, and its across the street. heat and air is all included in the housing, but there’s not meal plan.</p>
<p>Torrismiles, if that is the case, you need to talk to the school about what their schedule is in releasing government funds. it differs from school to school. Unless they take care of the payments to the place. Like I said, whatever excess, if any, often is held until the drop date when it comes to government aid, but schools have their own rules.</p>
<p>OP: What state is the school in?</p>
<p>Upstate New York, I’m in Michigan(:</p>
<p>Centennial quote: I’m doing med school in CA so it will be free (if I get in)</p>
<p>Why do you think the medical school in Calif will be free? Do you think the UC med schools are free for residents? they’re not. they’re actually quite expensive.</p>
<p>OP: I live in Michigan, so I will PM you some more detailed information about how I’m making it through college here in our own state. You seem very up-to-date with your info and very responsible, so I’m sure you will make the best of whichever choice you make, though it seems you are pretty much set on the school in NY</p>
<p>I’m impressed you worked all of this out yourself. You do actually have support in that your mother did fill out the FAFSA and give out the info, has signed some forms, offered to let you live at home and given you advice. Your grandparents seem to be ready to help you out. That is a nice bit of support a lot of kids do not get.</p>
<p>As to addressing some of your original quesitons: For financial aid purposes, you do not qualify to be an independent student (age 24, have a dependent, married, a veteran of the Armed Forces, court ordered removal from parents before age 18). The rules for who your custodial parent is, are very clear. Your custodial parent is the one you live with the most. In your case, it is clearly your mother, and it doesn’t matter who claims you as a dependent. In many divorce situations, agreement is made as to who gets to claim the kid(s) for tax purposes and that often has nothing to do with who is actually supporting the child and who the child is living with, etc,etc. FAFSA ignores all of that and just want the info for the parent the child is living with. So the tax thing is a whole separate matter. </p>
<p>Since it is clear that your mother is your custodial parent, it is her financial info that determines the EFC. If your mother makes under $23K and can file a short form, her and your assets are ignored and you get an automatic EFC of zero, which makes you entitled to the full PELL grant and all of the subisidization available on your Stafford loan. A warning—if your mother has to file a long form, 1040 in the future or her income goes over the $23K level or a change is made about this, if you have money sitting in an account in your name under your SSN, your EFC will be 20cents on every dollar sitting there. Once you lose that auto zero EFC, every friggin’ cent starts to count. In such a case, it would be wise to have an account with your mother’s name and SSN as primary, and to pay her for expenses and let her have that as her college fund for you, or the same with your grandparents. Because it can make a difference in your PELL money, dollar for dollar. </p>
<p>So far, we are just talking about FEDERAL money which is what PELL and Staffords are. When you start talking about the school’s own money or state money, it’a a whole other thing. </p>
<p>NY has TAP for low income students/families but you do not qualify because your mother is not a NY State resident nor are you. Michigan might have state programs, of which I am unaware, but it is doubtful that they will give you the money to go to an OOS school. TAP has to stay instate, for example. </p>
<p>Most colleges give some financial aid/merit money, and it depends on the individual school, how they distribute it. As a rule, state schools give more of the money towards the need of their own state residents as opposed to OOSers. Not always, but usually. So this NY school is not as likely to be as generous to you as it may be for an instate applicant, and you might get money from some like schools in your own state. Something you might want to check out. If you are a top catch for them in terms of academic stats, you might get merit money. All of that is up to the individual school. You’ll get something from the financial aid office of that school which would verify the PELL and Staffords, and include anything else it cares to add to the package.</p>
<p>So, yes, as a rule, you do better in your own state, but not always. Any reason why you picked this school? Did you get into their nursing program? That could be a very good reason to do this as admissions to some programs are so difficult that you have to cast a wide net for the best chances to get into one. </p>
<p>Your mother is giving you good advice about loans. If you borrow the maximum Staffords each year, going for a four year degree, you will end up close to $30K in debt. Only a portion of the interest on those loans are subsidized, and the unsub rates are no big bargains,and the interest starts accruing the instant the loans go into effect. </p>
<p>If you did live at home, you would not have to take out as much in loans, maybe none at all, and could graduate loan free. $30K is a lot of money to have as loan as a 22 year old. You very well could be paying on it for a long time. Something to think about. </p>
<p>Your aunt and uncle are totally off base about loans and interest rates. No one is likely to lend you or any 18 year old much money without a credit worthy adult cosigning with you , and it looks like your mother is already juggling finances with her own loans. If she does try to borrow for you through PLUS (easy online app if you have FAFSA already,) and is turned down, you could get another $4K a year through the Stafford program. But, as a caution, you are already up there in terms of borrowing, especially with your parents not able to help you much financially. You are not on a level playing field as those who have family who can help out with loans if the jobs don’t pan out or things go wrong. </p>
<p>So, hopefully you have done homework in terms of in state options and weighted the advantages and disadvantages of going OOS and borrowing, and all of that. . </p>
<p>Good luck.</p>
<p>^ I know in Michigan we have something called TIP that will help pay tuition for low income students attending community college. Or, if they’re still qualified by their junior year, they can even get money towards a university. </p>
<p>Is that similar to TAP in NY?</p>
<p>TAP is for low income NY residents. It’s not given to OOS students.</p>
<p>I don’t know anything about TIP. TAP is for NY residents with a family income of under $80K, with graduated levels of grants depending on the income level. Not only does the student/family have to be NY residents, but the school has to be in NY too. Can’t take the money out of state.</p>
<p>The OP should check out what she’s eligible for in Michigan. I am curious as to how the college she found, caught her eye here in NY when she is from Michigan.</p>
<p>Like TAP, TIP is only good for IS schools. <a href=“SOM - 404 - Page Not Found”>http://www.michigan.gov/documents/FactSheetTIP_161201_7.pdf</a></p>
<p>Mom2CollegeKids: actually they are
do your research. If you are a current resident, UCLA, UCSF, and UCD are FREE.
I went to a conference with the UC Medical people. They said just prove your a CA resident and if you get in it’s free.</p>
<p>^ Have you actually looked anything up? I have a bridge to sell you</p>
<p>[UCLA</a> Medical School](<a href=“http://www.medical-school-insider.com/ucla-medical-school.html]UCLA”>UCLA Medical School - Insider Info to Help You Get Accepted)
</p>
<p>Tuition: UCLA medical school tuition is $0 for California residents.
I said tuition was free WHICH IT IS!!!
You people irk me.</p>
<p>Secondly, your child goes to Lewis & Clark. I got into COLUMBIA. Don’t talk to me about Medical Schools when your child will never get into UCLA Medical School from L&W
What is that even?</p>
<p>
Med school is not free…</p>
<p>And Chicago EA if that matters.</p>
<p>Centennial13, if someone were to ask me which schools would be the best to give a student the best chances to get into medical school, the LACs would be on the top of my list. Not UCh, not Columbia, not Cornell or JHU. And I assure you, I am about as pedigreed as can be in this area. Though the top schools often boast close to a 100% admit rate of those who apply to med school, the number of kids that are flushed out by their rigorous programs and steep grading curves is astonishing. I’ve seen many, many brilliant students who would have gotten into medical school had they not gone to such rigorous school that had such difficult premed gauntlets. </p>
<p>You are young and brash which is fine, but to insult some of the parents who have helped so many kids who may not be getting guidance from home or school is rude. You don’t know who you are addressing the way you are. Our paths may be crossing soon, for example.</p>
<p>What the parents are telling you, which you may well know, but some kids don’t, is that in the state of California, though the tuition for medical school is zero for state residents, the fee is not exactly a trifling amount. Whether these schools want to call the charge a fee rather than tuition, it still costs money. It can confuse those who may be reading these posts to make statements that give the wrong impression. Mom2collegekids and Erin’s Dad are just correcting some statement you made that are not true. Nor is it true that most kids with a zero EFC get their costs covered, another statement you made. Very few schools meet full need; they usually gap. </p>
<p>We all try to learn from each other’s posts. I had not known that Columbia had a Neuroscience program on the the undergrad level, for example, and I know a lot of kids who go there, profs who work there and alums. So even familiarity with a program does not mean one knows everything about it.</p>
<p>Cpt- you have the patience of a saint.</p>