<p>Is there even any point in applying to these oh so expensive schools. I live in suburban NY, my mom no longer works, when she did she made less than 20,000 a year, my dad is a teacher so that doesnt really leave me any room to work with</p>
<p>I feel like every school that I look at and think "i like this school", is a school that I find on some list of most expensive schools. American, BU, GWU... Almost every school that I like is over 40,000 and that just isnt gonna happen.</p>
<p>Im sure I can get a few scholarships and im sure I will get a decent FA package. I have a 3.6 UW Gpa, only a junior so no SAT's yet, President of a few clubs, i have done tons of work for my town and have over 500 hours of comm.service from doing crap around my town. </p>
<p>Even with good FA and scholarships im still going to have to pay so much money and that is just discouraging, I hate that I would have to settle for a school, because my parents dont have enough money. Is there even a point of applying to those expensive schools...</p>
<p>It’s worth applying to see if you get a doable aid package. What did you get on the PSAT? Your chances of getting aid at these schools goes way up if you can get a high SAT score and/or are a NMS.</p>
<p>Work really hard to bring up your grades and to prepare for taking the ACT/SAT.</p>
<p>Frequently the poorer you are, the better your chances are at getting great financial aid. Stanford, Yale, Harvard, etc would all be “free” for you to attend, IF you can get accepted. Some schools offer miserable aid. Your best chances are with great stats, so keep working!</p>
<p>And absolutely apply to Questbridge, particularly as a senior, but check out their program for juniors too.</p>
<p>On the PSAT I got a 1930 which obviously is not the worst thing but certainly isn’t great. My school has mandatory SAT prep courses in Math and Verbal so I’m sure by the time i have taken a semester of each of those, and once I actually prepare for the SAT, I can get a 2000</p>
<p>And for the Questbridge thing, thanks but I’m not sure if I’m misunderstanding it but all of the partner schools are ivies or top twenties, or close to top twenties and my stats aren’t that great and I don’t think that its possible for me to get into any of those schools.</p>
<p>Those ARE pricey schools that do not guarantee to meet full need. Are you a NY state resident? If so, there are a ton of SUNY schools to which you can apply. You say your dad is a teacher…his salary will be considered when you are applying for need based aid. Are you considered low income (free or reduced lunch or something like that)? Do you qualify for the TAP awards in NY state?</p>
<p>You DO have many options…you just need to look around a little more carefully.</p>
<p>Thanks! Yes im considered low income, if I ever bought school lunch it would only cost me a quarter. And yeah im a NY resident and I will definitely apply to Bing. and Geneseo but I just wasnt satisfied with SUNY’s being my only realistic schools because of price. And I have no clue about the TAP awards</p>
<p>You definitely have a very good chance of getting both merit and need based aid, imo. But, you’ll have to apply to see. If your SAT and ACT are high enough, apply to top schools, they give merit and you should also get financial aid. I would not rule any school out if I were you.</p>
<p>And yes, the Questbridge schools are all top schools. Once you become a QB finalist, I think, your stats are almost irrelevant. They look at it as your stats are low(er) because of the adversity in your life, which you write about in your essays.</p>
<p>It doesn’t cost you a thing and certainly gets you prepared for college app season!</p>
<p>Teachers in the NY region are some of the highest paid in the country. You probably should have your parents identify how much they can pay for school & get an idea of what your EFC will be.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>FAFSA EFC is about 1/3 to 1/4 of before tax income. Schools that use PROFILE may have a higher EFC .</p>
<p>Is it too late to retake PSAT for NMS? That would certainly open up a lot more scholarships.</p>
<p>On the PSAT I got a 1930 which obviously is not the worst thing but certainly isn’t great. My school has mandatory SAT prep courses in Math and Verbal so I’m sure by the time i have taken a semester of each of those, and once I actually prepare for the SAT, I can get a 2000</p>
<p>In response to the poster who talked about teachers in NY being highest paid, that is the case but my dad does not teach in NY, he does not live in NY, he teaches in VA but thanks for taking the time!</p>
<p>And I may have misunderstood but I dont think my parents paid for any of my sisters costs so they of course wont be paying for mine, or my twin brother because paying for two kids to go to school at the same time would be hard… Anyway the school my sister went to wasnt that pricy and she got a bunch of scholarships, FA, and she took out a ton of loans.</p>
<p>emeraldkity, The PSAT is a 3 digit score. Perhaps OP meant 193. I don’t think the Oct. PSAT scores were out even online on 11/28. OP may be referring to sophomore PSAT, only junior PSAT counts for NM.</p>
<p>Just a reminder that EFC gets split over two kids so being twins actually helps. </p>
<p>You need to be realistic and it is not always a bad thing. Your bright but not extremely gifted so no big merit aid. You are low income but not low enough to get a great FA package. I am making a lot of assumptions but I am pretty sure this is what will happen because it happens to many students in your situation. </p>
<p>You need to be looking at colleges that may want you. Where your real SAT is at the top 25%. I am sure if you do this task well you will only have to pay for room and board at most. You will more than likely qualify for a partial subsidized loan of $5,500. The rest you either going to have to earn the money or get outside scholarships. Best way to tackle this problem is to really understand what you up against. Don’t play the poor me and do nothing because you feel defeated. You have options. The options may not be what you dreamed they would be but the reality is that you don’t always get what you want. </p>
<p>Even if you family made ten times what your mom use to make a year you may not be going to those expensive schools anyway. My dd applied to our equivalent of Bing and Geneseo because that is what we could afford. Those schools are to expensive for most people.</p>
<p>Wanted to add none of those you listed are worth the extra money at full cost. After you take your SAT(which I hope you taking this year), you will get all kinds of information in the mail from colleges. Some will give you cost free applications and offer you out right merit scholarships. You may need to cast a wide net to get the best options. Be prepared for the cost of applications too. They rack up with the cost of sending SAT score, transcripts and application fees.</p>
<p>It sounds like you know very little about how financial aid works. First, you need to run an EFC calculator to see what your family is expected to pay, as opposed to what the COA of the school is. For schools that promise to pay full need, then you are assisted with the rest.</p>
<p>If you have more than one kin in college, than the EFC for each kid goes way down, perhaps in half.</p>
<p>You need to sit down with your parents last tax form and run through an EFC calculator here on this site, another site, or the FAFSA site. You should apply for FAFSA as should any student in your household.</p>
<p>That said, you still might not get ‘enough’ to mak an expensive college (like the ones you mention that don’t meet need) doable. Don’t forget that there are other colleges that might give you big merit money, like read threads here about Univ of Alabama Honors, Tulane, others. Also Colleges that Change Lives have school that give merit aid if you are in the top of the pool, see the website and know that these are great schools with special features.</p>
<p>The only thing you can control is a) being more educationed about your options, b) working on gpa, c) working on test scores. I’d do grades over SAT, but that’s my opinion. Most people just can’t raise them much, and some do the best at first sitting. Always at least do practice tests from the blue book and understand timing and when to guess, but beyond that don’t stress.</p>