<p>"I am very happy with what I do get, don't get me wrong. I do not feel slighted or "ripped off" because of any of the things I said."</p>
<p>I only read your thread title, lol.</p>
<hr>
<p>"Not to shabby ehh lllklll?</p>
<p>Pretty expensive places...."</p>
<p>And your point? I've said nothing inconsistent. Yes, I'm probably going to a good school, but I am grateful.</p>
<p>EDIT: And even though this is implied, I will say this to avoid possible confusion. I originally thought you were ungrateful because I only read your thread title.</p>
<p>You REALLY need to calm down and wait until you see what sort of financial aid packages you are offered by your schools. REALLY. I bet you will be pleasantly surprised.</p>
<p>Repeat!</p>
<p>(And no harm in thinking of alternatives--but I bet once you start on campus at one or another of those schools, because they are mostly fabulous places, you won't want to be there only three years).</p>
<p>Please do not comment on this thread unless you read at least a quarter of what the posts are. You offer me 0 help by just reading the thread title.</p>
<p>Also by telling me about african kids w/ AIDS you are a hypocrite. You throw that around at other while you yourself are able to help them a great deal, yet think they are other peoples problems. Unless you are ready to go to CC yourself and donate your money to those kids, then you have no right imo to tell others to do the same or to compare others situations and call them spoiled when you yourself are in the same situation (or an even better one).</p>
<p>By the way, smallcollegesftw, did you apply to any lesser schools?</p>
<p>Hendrix, and other similar schools, would have been great financial safeties for you...It's too late now, obviously, but I'm just wondering if you have one or two safeties or not.</p>
<p>I think she's grateful for the position she's in, but it does kinda stink when you're in to your dream school and you realize you can't go because of money (example: me.). Don't compare starving children in africa to her because it's not relevant. We understand that's a problem, but given the opportunities available to the OP, it sucks that once open roads are now closed because out of something out of the OP's control.</p>
<p>I feel your pain OP, just amount of loans by like 4 or 5 and that's my dilemma :) I feel ya SmallCollegesFTW
It's the curse of the blessed, as they say it. Oh well, make lemonade out of oranges I guess :P</p>
<p>"Please do not comment on this thread unless you read at least a quarter of what the posts are. You offer me 0 help by just reading the thread title."</p>
<p>First of all, you've never done this before? Also, you shouldn't have made your thread title inconsistent with your actual post...</p>
<p>"Also by telling me about african kids w/ AIDS you are a hypocrite. You throw that around at other while you yourself are able to help them a great deal, yet think they are other peoples problems. Unless you are ready to go to CC yourself and donate your money to those kids, then you have no right imo to tell others to do the same or to compare others situations and call them spoiled when you yourself are in the same situation (or an even better one)."</p>
<p>You still completely misunderstand.</p>
<p>I originally thought you were ungrateful. You really are grateful I now know, but that is irrelevant. Since I originally thought you were ungrateful, my first two posts were based on that (false) fact. </p>
<p>I am grateful. I thought you weren't. So I pointed out, by using Africa as an example, that your life is actually way better than the majority of the world's, and you should not be ungrateful.</p>
<p>Where is the inconsistency? Where is the hypocrisy? It would have only been hypocritical of me to post that if I wasn't grateful. I am.</p>
<p>There was absolutely nothing hypocritical about my posts.</p>
<p>(And no harm in thinking of alternatives--but I bet once you start on campus at one or another of those schools, because they are mostly fabulous places, you won't want to be there only three years).</p>
<hr>
<p>I didn't want to say that myself, for fear of other posters jumping on me saying that I am unrealistic and out of my mind, but that is a major thought on my mind.</p>
<p>And hmom5, I understand what you are saying about the stress, but at all those schools, I spoke to kids who where in a lot worse situations then me (60,000+ EFCs, but could get no parental support, due to circumstances FAFSA did not account for) who had graduated early and worked full time day jobs and some even full time night jobs in addition to that, to pay for school, and said it was the best decision of there life. They did not take out ridiculous amount of loans, but got good merit scholarships and coupled it with a little loans, work study and jobs. They were very happy and said that their education was worth every penny.</p>
<p>@ lllklll, my point is made, and I am not going to argue further.</p>
<p>"You throw that around at other while you yourself are able to help them a great deal, yet think they are other peoples problems."</p>
<p>And wait...this is also completely wrong.</p>
<p>When did I ever say that I think they are "other people's problems"? I never said or implied that. In fact, I said I believed the complete opposite. Here is a direct quote from the fourth page of this thread:</p>
<p>"And will I send my own money to Africa as an adult? Maybe? I'm not sure. I'm a socialist of sorts politically. Whether my money would go to Africa specifically, I'm unsure. Let's put it this way. If I became a professional athlete and made, I don't know, three million a year, I would give away all but .075 million of it to charity."</p>
<p>I have said absolutely nothing hypocritical in this thread.</p>
<p>Illkill -- oh wow I am so impressed. If you were to become a professional athlete, you would then give money. My guess is your family is better off than OPs, yet you feel justified in picking on him.</p>
<p>Easy to say when it isn't your money. Quit arguing on his thread. It is his thread for support and help, and you aren't helping, only threadjacking and being obtrusive. How about avoid the conflict and post somewhere else where your help will be better directed.</p>
<p>Illkill -- oh wow I am so impressed. If you were to become a professional athlete, you would then give money. My guess is your family is better off than OPs, yet you feel justified in picking on him.</p>
<hr>
<p>I don't want you to be impressed. That's just the way I am and the way I think. My family is actually (slightly) poor than the OP's.</p>
<p>What does this matter? </p>
<p>You and the OP keep bringing up irrelevant points.</p>
<p>And I no longer feel justified in "picking on him" because I now know he is grateful.</p>
<p>"Easy to say when it isn't your money. Quit arguing on his thread. It is his thread for support and help, and you aren't helping, only threadjacking and being obtrusive. How about avoid the conflict and post somewhere else where your help will be better directed."</p>
<p>The only reason I've continued to argue in this is thread is because I continue to be falsely accused. Why should I let false accusations slide?</p>
<p>"The only reason I've continued to argue in this is thread is because I continue to be falsely accused. Why should I let false accusations slide?"</p>
<p>Why not? It's a forum... Get over yourself. This thread is for the OP and not to defend your own sense of pride. If you want to do that, start a new thread.</p>
<p>I may have missed this, but just because your EFC is 28, doesn't mean that you will get FA to bring you to that number.</p>
<p>DS's EFC was 9K, his college tuition is 31K...Guess what we got? 7K. We had to bring to the table 24k, WHICH we pay monthly loans on. There is a big difference from being told your family should contribute 28K to actually having a bill for 28K.</p>
<p>I wish you the best, I hope that your folks will realize that this is your dream school, but if they don't and the FA doesn't arrive you need to move foward with a plan that you can live with</p>
<p>hmom5, You wrote if she works for a year, it will only raise her EFC. That's true-- but she has merit and the gap between her merit + parent's contribution is only $11K/ year at one school before any other aid. If she worked a year or was able to shave a year of her studies (with cc and AP) and worked summers, her loans would be under $30K at that school. I still think if she can do it in 3 years, she should ask her parents if they would be willing to pay off $10K of her loans with their 4th year contribution. If she really has a bunch of APs, it can be done. She needs to research how much credit she would get.</p>
<p>I think it can be a sad surprise for families when they discover the realities of finaid for their situation. It does not matter what others tell you, it matters what your numbers are. Back when we began my DD only had one financial option because Profile ruled in home equity and also met need with lots of loans.</p>
<p>Since that time the FAFSA equation is posted on this website so any one can understand their situation up front.</p>
<p>Since that time, many Profile schools have added home equity limits, income limits, etc such that were my kids 2-4 years younger they could have gone affordably to the same schools they had to decline previously.</p>
<p>I vividly recall realising we were faced with one financial safety (and being grateful I required one state school to be added to the mix) and realising that the other options were not really options- and that decision has been proven to be wise with DD finishing up a couple of years ago she would now be paying on huge loans.</p>
<p>I think the title and OP just underscore the reality that many people discover in their first season of university apps. Even FAFSA people are blown away at their EFC....Profile people have no real way to tell how each school will factor in their interpretation so you have to wait until March to know where you stand.</p>
<p>It's a tough thing to take in without whinging, at least the first few days ;)</p>
<p>Some colleges now use AP's to validate, in other words, it really doesn't shave off a yr. DS will not be graduating early because his program requires certain courses, those courses are only offered at certain times i.e. fall only or spring only...and then they make sure you must complete 1 before you take the next...no doubling up. I think many colleges are trying to stop the flood of AP/IB credits...colleges are in the business of counting on that tuition. Back in my day, we only had a few APs now there are dozens. I did manage to graduate early (I went to a LAC...and the debt was becoming insane...20 yrs ago for me I walked out with 20K+ in loans) Here is my suggestion from what I did.
I went to summer school between my yrs and did non-major classes...i.e. bio, psych, soc, etc at the community college...I also worked during the summer. I graduated in 3 yrs, with a 3.2 gpa.</p>
<p>Can you explain what you mean by "Profile Schools?" Are you talking about the CSS Profile? Are some schools Profile Schools and some not? Do some schools use the CSS profile and some do not? How does one know or find out? Who are "profile people?"</p>