I will not qualify for any need-based aid. What is my best plan of action to help out my parents?

Paying for College
1

Stats:
1540 SAT
34 ACT (35 Superscored)
3.8 UW, 4.5 W
1490 PSAT, NMSF, likely NMF
800 Math II, 720 US History
Will graduate with 14 AP classes, almost all with 5’s (Of course I’m projecting a little bit here)
Pretty decent EC’s
White, Male

I realize with these stats that there are a lot of schools out there that would give me considerable amounts of merit-based aid for attending, but the problem is that my parents feel that I should be attending an elite, private university for my college experience to be worth it and the majority of the colleges I’ll be applying to do not grant merit-based aid. Also, probably unlike most people posting here, they are willing to pay for me but in order to do so it will difficult (due to a sibling in college at the same time as well as being a bit overextended financially). Due to this, I would like to help them out as much as I possibly can. What is my best plan of action? Thank you!

2

Very few “elite” schools offer merit aid. Duke and Chicago are two. But the cutoff for merit at these schools is extremely high and even with your stats your chances of getting merit at these schools are very low. If your parents are insistent on you going to an elite school, they may have to pay for it.

Also, be sure to have some matches and at least one safety choice.

3

I fully realize the above and that is the exact reason I posted this. Are the no decent alternative ways to secure money for college? Are need and merit based aid really the only ways to get significant money for college? Even if so, what are ways that I could help contribute (at this point I just mean a small portion of tuition to help lighten the load)?

4

“willing to pay” is not the same thing as “can and have said they will pay”

How do they say they are going to pay? Private parent loans?

To help out your parents, often the best thing you can do is start the process of teaching them about the gift of graduating debt free. Sounds like you are the lone voice of a reason in your family. Where do you want to attend?

Which schools are they fixated on?

Have they seen this article?
http://www.businessinsider.com/ronald-nelson-turned-down-every-ivy-league-school-for-university-of-alabama-2015-5

You can secure only a $5,500 loan your first year. You can co-op during the year and make decent money. It will make only a small dent if you go to a $60K/year school though.

The best way you can contribute will be to go to a school that will award your NMF status with a huge merit scholarship. Will they not even consider it?

5

"Are the no decent alternative ways to secure money for college? "

Yes, athletic scholarships.

6

You could take a gap year and work in order to build savings.

7

Have this same conversation with your parents. It’s admirable you want to help save them $. They need to get over the prestige thing.

8

Kudos to you - for your thoughtfulness and your stats.

If I were in your shoes, I would get very specific (respectfully) with my parents on how, exactly, they envision college being funded. If ‘paying’ for your education includes you taking on student loans (and not just your parents) then I would insist that there be a number of full merit schools in the running. With your stats you could get some great deals.

9

Not at the Ivies. No athletic scholarships at these schools. Also no athletic scholarships at Division 3 schools. Not permitted.

How can you help out? Get a job. At least cover your own personal expenses and books.

Also, how many years will you and your sibling BOTH be in college at the same time? You could be eligible for some need based aid at elite schools that meet full need while you both are in college at the same time. Of course, if your parent income is $300,000 a year, and you have significant assets, this would likely not be the case.

10

What state are you in? Perhaps a state with one of the public ivies?

11

Take out your federal loans. Work summers and part time during school to cover your own spending money & books. Try to be an RA is the dorms after freshman year, saves on housing.

12

What is a “public Ivy”? I’m guessing this poster means…do you live in CA (UCLA or CAL), NC (UND-CH), VA (UVA) or michigan (University of Michigan)?

None of these are Ivies of any kind, but all are great schools…and are highly ranked…if that is what your oarents are looking for. But then…so is University of Pittsburgh. The Big Ten schools are all very good…Ohio State, Wisconsin, Purdue, UIUC.

Do,your parents ONLY want you to attend an elite private college? Why?

From other threads…it looks like you are in CO. Ypu also feel confident that you will get NMSF status. If that is the case…would your parents consider University Of Southern California (USC) to be “elite enough”. You would get a half tuition scholarship there if you attained NMSF status, I believe.

13

@jrob1765

what state are you in and what do you want to study in college?

you could apply to the Naval Academy, Air Force Academy, US Military Academy, and/or Coast Guard Academy. These would cost your parents virtually nothing and still offer top academics.

You might find a bargain at a premium school in Canada, Australia, or the UK. I don’t know anything about this myself but I have read about people on this forum who have gone this route. Some of the names they have mentioned are McGill, U of Melbourne, and St Andrew’s.

If a service academy or going international does not appeal to you, here is what I would do.

  1. Lock in the best auto merit deal you can for your safety.
  2. Target elite schools that have merit scholarships.
  3. Go for some attainable competitive scholarships at some top public U’s.
  4. Pursue a few of the best NMF/NMSF deals available.

The important thing is you need to protect your interests. You don’t want to be the kid whose parents tell you not to worry about the cost, and then when they actually see what they are in for, tell you they cannot afford it after all.

  1. find the most appealing school from this list and apply ASAP
    http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/

it will take 15 minutes, cost like $40, and give you a safety net that if everything else falls thru, you know you will have a place to attend that you can afford.

Personally I would apply to Alabama, lock in your acceptance + full-tuition scholarship, get an extra $2500 per year if you are going for Engineering, go for Honors College, and then aim for the most prestigious programs they offer (and the $$ that comes with them) such as Computer-Based Honors Program, University Fellows Experience, and the Academic Elite Scholarship.

Ole Miss would be full-tuition plus as well, and has some programs that might appeal to you such as Barksdale Honors College, Lott Leadership Inst, Croft Inst for International Studies, Center for Manufacturing Excellence, and Chinese Flagship Program.

you could apply to one or both and have your safety net in place ASAP.

  1. and 3) look here:
    http://competitivefulltuition.yolasite.com/

here are the most highly ranked schools that offer competitive scholarships. you might want to focus on these rather than schools that will offer no $$$ and make you pay full sticker price

Duke
Johns Hopkins
Vanderbilt
Washington U St Louis
Notre Dame
Rice
Emory
USC
Virginia
UNC
Wake Forest
Boston College
Davidson
Washington & Lee
Hendrix

as someone pointed out these will be insanely competitive. so here are some good schools where your odds might be better:

Georgia Tech
Boston U
Northeastern
Tulane
Texas
Ohio State
Maryland
Villanova
Pitt
Texas A&M
SMU
Rutgers
NC State
Rochester
Clemson
Clark
Richmond
Syracuse
Indiana
Delaware
Miami FL
Mich St
Georgia
Miami OH

  1. comb thru this list for the best NMF/NMSF opportunities:
    http://nmfscholarships.yolasite.com/

your parents might be saying they will pay for an elite private U, but they might change their tune when they see what kind of scholarship offers you might get. IMO it would be something to celebrate if you could go somewhere like Ohio State or NC State on one of their premium scholarships.

14

The student lives in Colorado, according to other posts.

15

http://scholarships.ua.edu/nationalscholars/

@Wien2NC, I believe NMF also get one year of housing paid for at U Alabama, a four-year $3500 stipend and free tuition for 5 years, so you could get a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree.

16

Is University of Alabama “elite enough” for these parents? The OP says he is applying to colleges,that do NOT give merit aid.

To the OP…you have excellent GPA and standardized test scores…but those schools that do NOT give merit aid at all…and are “elite” have very low acceptance rates…like under 10%. This means that 90% of applicants…or more…are rejected from these colleges each year. In the NO pile, there are many well qualified applicants. The schools just can’t accept them all.

Hoping you have a couple of sure thing for admissions schools on your application list.

17

You have the grades and scores for top awards at excellent schools. Some of them you can get automatically and some are competitive.

University of Pittsburgh awards about 10 Chancellor’s scholarships (full ride) a year. If you got one of them it would be prestigious. There are similar programs at several very good schools.

Rather than focusing on school name, research the program and opportunities at each.

18

@mommdc

good call. a lot of scholarships end at a BS or BA degree. Alabama lets you use it for a Masters. if OP has 14 AP’s that can knock off a year of college credits, he could potentially earn a Bachelor’s + Master’s from Alabama in only 4 years. OP should definitely apply to Bama and see how much they can offer. he/she and parents might be pleasantly surprised.

19

@thumper1

thumper is 100% right, your stats are stellar but if you are only shooting for “elite schools” you could run a real risk of being shut out. if Alabama is the only safety in this scenario, it’s going to have to be elite enough.

20

I would either attend a school that you can get aid at or attend community or junior college two years while living at home then transfer. (to save money) You have good stats and there are a lot of schools who would probably give you assistance but you have to do your research and apply at a lot of places. You may have to attend a school that was not your first choice but it is nice when a college wants you.