I think I posted one of the following questions, but I have more! So I live in North Carolina and was adopted at age 13. I’m doing FAFSA, and it says that I’m an independent student, and I thought this was a good thing, but I read elsewhere it meant less financial aid. My adoptive parents both work for the state in low paying jobs, but collectively we make more than 80K. Still, I was only adopted three years ago, so we have a grand total of ZERO dollars saved up, and we were counting of government help like my sister, but now we don’t know. I work six days a week, but with college costs these days, I have a grand total of less than two thousand dollars haha. I want to either attend Wake Forest (private) or UNC Chapel Hill (public), so my question is will I get ANY federal or state help? I’m doing scholarships right and left, but I need more because even if it comes down to 5k a year, I can’t pay it. Also, idk if I can get a loan. Any info on this? Anyone with good scholarship links, please let me know!
Sorry for the typos and terrible grammar. Exam week and no money=stress haha.
Being independent for FAFSA does NOT mean less FA, nor does it mean more. It means your income and assets will be all that’s considered. If you don’t make any money then you have an EFC of 0 which qualifies your for a Pell grant of <$6K and student loans of $9500 as a freshman (this would be $5500 for a dependent student). At UNC which meets need an EFC of 0 would probably get everything paid for but your student component (possibly your loan and a summer work component). Run the Net Price Calculators on the school’s web sites with your income to find out.
@"Erin’s Dad" Thank you so so so much for replying! Stupid question, when I do net price, I don’t include any of my parents’ info because I’m independent?
Okay so I just went on it, and the first question about my parents and ward of state I don’t know how to answer because my adoptive parents aren’t dead, but since I’m already adoptive, idk if I’m a ward of the state or anything.
How does @mademade 's savings of $2000 effect his independent EFC and can he do something about it? How would transferring it into a parent-owned 529 effect the EFC of a child who is independent?
@TexasCollegeMom Thank you for your suggestion–I’ll go on it now!
@MiddKid86 Thank you for your reply–I was a foster child, so I guess that was a ward of state. Before that, I was living with my birth parents. Sorry if this isn’t enough information–I’m not very good at this.
@Madison85 And thank you too for replying! I am a senior, and I could commute to the local community college via bus hopefully. And here are my stats from an earlier UNC post I did:
In-State Student
Unweighted GPA: 3.845
Weighted GPA: 4.69
Class Rank: 23/581
Percentile: Top 3.89%
SAT: Have not taken
ACT: 29 (34+ in writing parts)
APs: APUSH-5, AP Comparative Gov-5
ECs
Founder and officer of Newspaper
Founder and co-president of Model United Nations
Co-chairwoman (president) of History Honor Society
Co-chairwoman (president) of History Club
President of NTHS
State Vice President of Promotion for a UNC-held institute
Former officer and current social media correspondent of DECA
Volunteer
23 hours at local library, just started
Total of 30 hours throughout 9th grade to present in various organization
Social Media Contributor for a New York based charity promoting the arts
Lead Editorial Specialist of an organization working to end poaching
Awards
Two consecutive awards at the statewide media institute held at UNC
20+ DECA medals, two testing plaques, one district trophy, three state trophies, and one international trophy
Five underclassman academic awards in freshman year
AP Comp. Gov Outstanding Student Award
Various DECA schoolwide awards
Essays
Common app on background of child abuse and my new adopted home. My additional essay was on a different topic, but my teachers liked it.
Recs
Counselor rec and teacher rec were excellent
Additional rec was sent in by a UNC professor who I have known for about 4 years through a summer institute
Wow, thank you all for your help–it means so much!
@middkid86 Thank you! I think my mom was actually wondering about some of the application questions last night, so this means a lot!
@madison85 Thank you so much–that’s so kind of you! I applied to UNC Chapel Hill, Wake Forest, and Davidson as my top three, though the first two are preferred. I am Iranian (born and lived for 4 years), but I don’t know if that’s underrepresented. Some people have told me to put other instead of Caucasian for scholarship forms, but I don’t know how ethical it would be to do that haha.
Also, I went on the reach website, and it said one of the requirements was to “Enroll at either a state community college or one of the 16 constituent institutions of the University of North Carolina system, at least half time, pursuing an undergraduate degree, diploma, or certificate.” I know Wake and Davidson aren’t on that list, but UNC is right considering it is the University of North Carolina?
I believe all three schools use Profile in addition to the FAFSA. For Wake and Davidson, I am sure they will request the adoptive parent info … institutional aid differs from federal aid, and they can ask for additional info. Davidson is awesome - you could call and talk to someone in their aid office about your situation.