<p>I just finished my junior year of high school and I really need to start looking into colleges and all that. The problem is, I'm pretty much on my own and I have no idea where to start. From lurking around this site and other internet sites, I have learned quite a bit but I am still somewhat lost. I have no idea where I should apply and all that. I'm hoping I could get some help here. I'm not really the average person on this site with a 4.0 GPA and amazing EC's but I'm doing OK.
I attend a public high school in Long Island, NY.
I have around a 94 GPA weighted. My school only does weighted so I don't know what this would be unweighted. I have taken pretty much all enriched/honors courses including enriched chemistry, physics, English, e.t.c. I took only 1 AP this year which was U.S. History. Next year, I will be taking AP biology, AP Language & Composition, AP Literature, AP U.S. Government and Politics and a college Italian course.
I am a member of the National Honor Society, National Italian Honor Society and I wrote for the school newspaper. I'm also the secretary of Italian Club. I play guitar outside of school as well. I also hold a job if that means anything.
I just took my SAT in June. I hopefully got in the 1800's but I'm not too sure. I will retake in October and also take subject tests in November. I will probably try the ACT's as well. </p>
<p>I would like to either major in English and minor in Journalism or double major in English and Journalism. I would really like to attend school near a major U.S. city like NYC, Boston, D.C., e.t.c in order to get good internships. Unfortunately, my parents refuse to pay for my college education even though they could afford to pay some so my financial aid will not be too good. However, they are willing to cosign any loans and I am willing to work reaaalllyy hard in order to afford it. </p>
<p>Any help about where I should apply or anything else would be greatly appreciated.
(:</p>
<p>“Unfortunately, my parents refuse to pay for my college education even though they could afford to pay some so my financial aid will not be too good. However, they are willing to cosign any loans and I am willing to work reaaalllyy hard in order to afford it.”</p>
<p>You need to deal with this issue before anything else.</p>
<p>Sit down with your parents and run the Expected Family Contribution (EFC) calculators at [FinAid</a>! Financial Aid, College Scholarships and Student Loans](<a href=“http://www.finaid.org%5DFinAid”>http://www.finaid.org) and at [College</a> Calculators - savings calculators - college costs, loans](<a href=“College Board - SAT, AP, College Search and Admission Tools”>Calculate Your Cost – BigFuture | College Board) Talk with them about how much they are willing to contribute to your education. Will they pay your EFC? Would they be able to pay more? If they won’t pay your EFC, how do they recommend that you pay for your education? How much student debt to they believe you should take on? How much money do they expect you to make during the summer vacations and during the school year?</p>
<p>Once you know how much your family is willing to pay, you will know how to go about your college search. Start with your guidance counselor. Where have students with courses and grades like yours been accepted in the past? How have students with financial situations like yours come up with the money for their educations? Based on your counselor’s experience, how likely is it that you will qualify for merit scholarship money?</p>
<p>*Unfortunately, my parents refuse to pay for my college education even though they could afford to pay some so my financial aid will not be too good. </p>
<p>However, they are willing to cosign any loans and I am willing to work reaaalllyy hard in order to afford it. *</p>
<p>Please do not go there!! Your parents aren’t doing you ANY favors by agreeing to co-sign loans. As a matter of fact, they would essentially be signing you up for a very difficult adult life.</p>
<p>You can get Stafford/Direct loans which are limited (thankfully). Do not borrow more than that!</p>
<p>There are affordable choices. Once you have your scores, we can help you with some recommendations.</p>
<p>First of all as a Long Island parent, I must say your parents may truthfully not be able to pay those ridiculously high EFCs that are some times quoted. We have a great state university system with good quality schools. Maybe they are just too close so the tendency is to look down on them. But if cost is an issue and in this day and age cost is an issue to most, I would say start your search with local schools, so that you can save on paying room and board. If you want the experience of going away, many Long Island students achieve that and still pay in-state tuition by applying to the SUNYs up north. Speak to your guidance counsellor that’s what they’re there for. Your credentials are good and while you can’t count on it, you might even get merit aid from the schools you apply to.</p>
<p>Thanks so much for replying everyone.
My parents are honestly not willing to pay anything. I actually have to pay for my AP tests and any other classes that cost money next year.
My parents are under the impression that I could take out any amount of loans to fund my education and just work really hard until than and during college in order to pay for it. They couldn’t really careless if I went to my local community college or just didn’t attend college at all. </p>
<p>And I know that there are affordable options for me but I’m really not interested in the SUNY schools. None of them are in a desirable location for me. I do not plan or staying home for school for various reasons. </p>
<p>And I know I sound naive for saying it, but I really don’t care about the price. I’m a really driven, determined person and I’m used to working hard for things I want. I am willing to work 2 jobs this summer and until and throughout college if I have to. I want the best education and college experience and if that means working my butt off, that’s what I’ll do. </p>
<p>I wish financial aid took into consideration the fact that parents are not always willing to pay for their child to go to college… I will be talking to guidance counselors as soon as school is back in session. This whole process is just so overwhelming. Thanks for everyone’s help. I appreciate it!</p>
<p>Even if your parents aren’t going to pay, ask them to at least calculate an EFC so that you can figure out whether you would qualify for need-based aid.</p>
<p>Some of the SUNYs are actually quite good. You can also check out the CUNY schools and maybe try to raise your stats to the level of the honor’s college. You don’t have to live at home to study at them. Check out the link in post #2 for some merit scholarships.</p>
<p>Your parents are right about your being able to work hard and pay for your own education - but not at a private college. With the Stafford Loans you could go to a SUNY or a CUNY. </p>
<p>If you want to be in the NYC area, I would suggest you look at CUNY. Baruch, Brooklyn, York, and Lehman all have journalism programs. Brooklyn College has just added dorms for this coming fall semester. If you can raise your stats a bit, getting into the Macaulay Honors College also gives you free tuition and a number of other benefits, including funding for internships.</p>
<p>Wow you are in a tough spot. To echo other people here, you need to talk to your parents. Whether you have a great relationship with them or not, you need to tell them that without any financial help from them you simply cannot attend a school out of state. Even if you get into some great schools that are an academic match, you would not get aid from a single school that offers journalism. Cases like this are always disheartening.</p>
<p>Some schools though that fit your interests are Richmond, Colorado College, Hamilton, Brandeis, UT-Austin. All of those may be a little bit of a reach and, unfortunately, even if you got in the reality of financial aid is unlikely which would put you into significant debt. Here is a list of some of the top journalism programs and maybe some other posters more familiar with the schools can back me up on likelihood of aid: [Top</a> Journalism Colleges and Top Journalism Universities](<a href=“http://education-portal.com/top_journalism_colleges.html]Top”>Top Journalism Colleges and Top Journalism Universities) </p>
<p>You may want to consider some free colleges (like Berea College), or, if you don’t get your scores up attending a CUNY for the first 2 years earning awesome grades and then transferring to some of the top schools with journalism that might give you aid without help from your parents (i.e. USC, Northwestern, Washington and Lee). might is key word there though. If you are dead set on not attending a CUNY, you need to find a list with all of the journalism colleges and find out which ones are least selective. These will be the schools most likely to give you merit-aid. If you don’t care about the journalism program as much that would give you some more viable options.</p>
<p>I know you said you don’t want to go to a CUNY, but if you have to choose between attending a CUNY for 2 years and transferring or getting a degree from one of the schools susgeek listed, OR going into $100k in debt choose the former. Just a general piece of advice, do NOT take out more than $30k (and realistically you should try to keep it to 20k) of debt unless you are going to be making a huge salary, which a career in journalism does not offer.</p>
<p>Students can’t borrow much because you don’t have the income/assets to qualify for big loans (which are a bad idea anyway). You will be limited to borrowing about $5500 for freshman year. </p>
<p>Also, new grads don’t earn a lot of money, so borrowing too much will be a strangling problem for your adulthood. If you borrow the federal maximums (about $30k total) that will be about the most you’ll be able to pay back (about $350 per month for 10 years) while also paying for rent, food, utilities, transportation (car, insurance, gas, etc), clothing, etc.</p>
<p>Hopefully, your test scores might be high enough to get some scholarship money. </p>
<p>New York is a big and diverse state. Each region of NY is very different from another. You can go to a SUNY in another part of the state and it will be a different experience than your home town (that’s the beauty of bigger states - a student doesn’t have to leave the state to have a “new experience.”) :)</p>
<p>I am not dead set against a SUNY school by any means, it’s just that none really offer what I’m looking for (going to school within 30 minutes of a major city). I was interested in CUNY Hunter, however; the dorms are very limited. I live about an hour and a half from the city so it wouldn’t be reasonable to commute and finding a cheap apartment in NYC is close to impossible. </p>
<p>So, even though it isn’t desirable, it wouldn’t be possible to take out private loans to pay for all those expensive schools? I was under the impression that if it was absolutely necessary and with my parent’s co-signing that I would be able to take out a large loan. </p>
<p>I want this so bad. I’ve been saving up all the money I’ve gotten since my 16th birthday and every paycheck I make I immediately put in my bank account. Unfortunately with a minimum wage job, I only have $4,000 saved which is obviously nothing when it comes to paying for college. </p>
<p>Thanks again for replying everyone, it means a lot.</p>
<p>OH and btw, while I plan to major in English and Journalism, I’m not entirely sure what my career path will be after graduation. Obviously something in the writing department but that’s all I really know.</p>
<p>Your most affordable route is looking at a CC for a couple of years and transferring to a SUNY, or looking at the CUNYs. BTW, SUNY Stony Brook is a little farther than 30 mins from downtown NYC but you can do that on the train.</p>
<p>Schools like Alabama and Ohio have guaranteed scholarships, and, if you’re good enough, you can qualify for a pretty hefty one (the best scholarship at Alabama is full OOS tuition, I believe). Seattle University also has guaranteed scholarships, but I don’t think they’re big enough to cover much (I think the largest is $18,000 and the cost of going there is like $35,000 per year)</p>
<p>Stony Brook is about 10 minutes from my home and I don’t want to stay home for school. In addition, it’s over an hour away from NYC which is quite far. CC is out of the question for me, it’s just not where I see myself. </p>
<p>I did the EFC calculator using a 2006 tax return paper I found. I’m not sure if I did it completely right but the FM said $11,000 and the IM said $16,000. That’s good news, right?</p>
<p>SUNY Purchase, SUNY New Palz, and SUNY Old Westbury are near NYC.</p>
<p>SUNY Buffalo is near Buffalo</p>
<p>There are probably others that people can recommend.</p>
<p>.
You’re very naive about how much you have to earn in order to pay back big loans.</p>
<p>A typical new graduate is only earning between $35k-55k per year. If you borrow $200k for 4 years of a private college, your monthly payments will be…</p>
<p>…at least $2300 per month for 10 years ($28,000 per YEAR!!!). How could you support yourself if so much is going to loans? </p>
<p>Do you understand that once you’re working, a chunk of your income goes to taxes, a chunk goes to rent, and the rest goes for other living expenses.</p>
<p>I did the EFC calculator using a 2006 tax return paper I found. I’m not sure if I did it completely right but the FM said $11,000 and the IM said $16,000. That’s good news, right?*</p>
<p>Well, your parents income might be higher now…and that doesn’t include any assets. </p>
<p>However, keep in mind, that if your parents income isn’t very high, then they WON’T qualify to co-sign big loans for you. You’re expecting people with modest incomes to qualify for big loans…the banks will say, “no.”</p>
<p>Most schools don’t meet need, so unless your stats are higher, you won’t likely get into the private schools that meet need.</p>
<p>Your parents are being ridiculous, but you’re also being a little unrealistic, too. If you’re ten minutes from Stonybrook, you have a good alternative. And it’s not unrealistic to commute for an hour and a half to go to NYC, either–I’m sure there are lots of people who commute there to go to work from your area. If you have $200,000 in loans, you’re going to be either commuting from even further, or doing just what you most hate, which is ending up back on your parents’ couch.</p>
<p>My younger D spent her Freshman year at CUNY Brooklyn. She rented an apartment for $1,100 a month, which she split with a roommate. She was a block and a half from campus in a nice Jewish neighborhood. So there are inexpensive options should you choose CUNY.</p>
<p>We are a bit farther east than you are on Long Island and yes, there is no way you could commute. We figured that the cost of a monthly pass on the LIRR (about than $400 a month last time I checked) would be almost as much as her rent was in Brooklyn. The extra aggravation of having her leaving very early and coming home very late (she was a theater major and had commitments every night) made sense for her to get an apartment.</p>
<p>I know, I need a reality check but thanks for replying everyone. Susgeek, how did your daughter feel about CUNY Brooklyn? I guess it’s always possible to go to a cheaper school, save money and transfer out if need be. Or go to a better grad school. </p>
<p>I’ll be finding out my SAT grades soon, so maybe that will help figure out what schools I may potentially apply to and which schools would give me enough aid. Again, thank you all so much for applying, it really means a lot and I need all the help I can get.</p>
<p>*If you have $200,000 in loans, you’re going to be either commuting from even further, or doing just what you most hate, which is ending up back on your parents’ couch. *</p>
<p>Exactly…Young adults in their 20s and early 30s with large loans often end up having to live with their parents because they can’t afford to pay rent and pay loans.</p>
<p>But…all is not lost. If your stats end up high enough, you might get a scholarship and with TAP, work-study, and a small student loan, you might be able to afford to go away to a SUNY and live on campus.</p>
If your stats end up high enough, you might get a scholarship and with TAP, work-study, and a small student loan, you might be able to afford to go away to a SUNY and live on campus.</p>