The net price calculator said I would have to pay $30k per year. I don’t know if that includes a possible merit scholarship or not, but I’m assuming it does (I find the NPC not that clear on this, can someone clarify?).
Just for reference: ACT is 34, UW GPA is 3.89
Honestly, no college is work going $100K+ in debt for.
^^^^This.
You can’t take that many loans anyway. How much do your parents have to pay for your college?
Do you know if the NPC includes possible merit scholarships?
It says “Your net price is equal to the estimated cost of attendance minus any grants and scholarships (“free money”) that you receive.” And then says “Northeastern University award: $31k”.
Because let’s just say I get super lucky and get $20k per year, if that’s not included, that would bring the cost to about $10-15k per year which is much better. But then again, I heard Northeastern doesn’t stack aid. So basically I have no chance of affording this place. Crazy.
@suzyQ7 Not a lot. Despite our income being above $100k, they said maybe $3000 a year at most cause my brothers are in college as well. Somehow our EFC is like $17k and no way that is happening.
Multiple kids in college can be unpredictable with EFC calculators. I would still apply just in case, but yeah, NEU is not worth 100K in debt. You should be able to find much more affordable schools given your stats.
Your major and career choice do matter as well. I see you are planning to major in CE - If you were able to go for say 50K in debt, I think it would be a reasonable choice given that you didn’t have significantly better deals financially. That said, I also notice you are a Florida resident: It’s going to be hard to beat the deal you’d get at UF, frankly.
$3000 per year would barely cover community college.
To reiterate, no college is worth $100k in debt, and you can’t take that on by yourself anyways.
Wait for your FA award. Having multiple kids in school can be tricky on the NPC, but it should be reasonable at the end.
That said, contributing $3k hardly seems reasonable if your family makes over $100k. There is just straight up no way any school is going to give you an aid-based near full ride at that income level. Merit is possible, but apply to some safeties if you’re worried. Good luck.
What schools can you afford?
Focus on those
Did you apply to university of Alabama? That is your best bet. You could go there for free! If you haven’t, please do, its worth the app fee @Floridaball
UA is not free with even the top scholarship.
NE is a fairly expensive school like many private schools in New England. The COA can get close to $70K per year (who’s counting small 1,000’s). If the NPC produced $30k for you then you are receiving some nice merit aid. I think you mentioned they are giving you $31K grant per year. that is fantastic. You also need to remember that NE has a fantastic co-op program that allows you to work full time in college. You can make most of this $30K during the co-op period. You then basically have a guaranteed job when you graduate.
It sounds like you have a great opportunity. Good luck.
The highest Alabama scholarship (3.8 high school GPA and 34 ACT) gives $15K per year stipend to cover room and board (~11K) plus free tuition for 4 years and free R&B for the first year. What am I missing @itsgettingreal17 ?
I do not believe that NEUs NPC factors in merit, OP.
@suzyQ7 That is awarded to 1 student per year. Not realistic for any student. There are a few more UFE, but that leaves a small amount of room and board uncovered, so is not a full ride. People on CC make it seem that there are many free rides at Bama, and there are not. Your post read the same way.
The UFE is also a lottery scholarship.
While there are a few cases where that can be true, you shouldn’t bank on that for affordability. You should assume that co-op covers living costs, and any more is extra. You’re only going to be able to bank 30K with a top paying job in CS, Engineering, or Business, and even then it is rare.
The thing about U Alabama is that they don’t have my major (computer engineering). I do have a good safety already (UCF with good scholarship) but I hope to at least get into UF, the most realistic option. So let’s just say I get into Northeastern and it ends up costing $15k a year (unlikely), do you guys think it would be worth going into some debt for that?
Also, if I do get a merit scholarship, that would not stack with their other financial aid, right?
Actually, UA does have CSE
http://ece.eng.ua.edu/undergraduate/computer-engineering/
And you can even get better scholarships there:
http://www.uah.edu/eng/departments/ece/undergraduate/computer-engineering
It may be worth it to compare UCF and UAH - UAH is less gigormous and is in a research park, it attracts top level STEM students, but it’s still not residential and UCF may be a better deal for you.
@MYOS1634 Oh wow, I did not know that. When you say it is not residential, do you mean not many people live on campus? Because I feel like that could be a big deal.
edit: Oh, I see. It’s on a different campus.