I am looking to get into some top schools including ivies (more info on this in my chances thread) but I am in a sticky situation in which my family earns too much to qualify for aid, but with three kids all with good academics can’t afford to send all of us with full tuition and no merit based scholarships. Are ivies still even an option at that point? All help is welcome!
Did you run the net price calculators for some of them to get an estimate of what you would be expected to pay?. Will any of the college years overlap for the 3? Did you discuss the budget your parents are willing to pay for each year yet?
It depends on how much income your family has. Do run the net price calculators and see what the estimates are. Ivy League schools financial support is all need based, so you may be in the same position as many students and have to focus on schools that give merit based scholarships depending upon your family finances.
A couple of thoughts…
- Agree with others. run the net price calculators on the college websites. BUT...if your parents own a business, are self employed, own real estate other than your primary residence, or are divorced...the net price calculators will not be accurate.
- What can your parents pay per year for college for you? That is an important question to pose to them.
- All Ivy League financial aid is need based, and would primarily be based on your parents' incomes and assets. Princeton uses its own form in addition to the FAFSA. The other Ivies use the CSS Profile and the FAFSA. Some of these schools award need based aid in some amount to families with incomes of $150,000 a year. Some don't.
- There are MANY colleges where you would be eligible for guaranteed merit aid (University of Alabama, for example). And there are others where you would be a competitive applicant for merit awards. These might require a special application but you sure have the stats to apply.
- You are from Virginia. I sure hope you have University of Virginia, and William and Mary on your application list. And Virginia Tech. And possibly James Madison, especially if you are looking for merit money. As an instate resident, you have outstanding choices. UVA, and WM are very highly regarded colleges. And these would be quite the financial bargain for your family at instate costs.
- There are other colleges where you might get merit aid...Vanderbilt, Rice, University Of Chicago, University of Southern California...lots of others...that are not part of the Ivy League.
- Will your siblings be in college when you are in college? And related, do your parents have any college savings for you, or them?
“Are Ivies still an option?”
Well, if your parents can pay 65K per year for you to go to college, either straight out of savings or by taking home equity loans, yes, Ivies are an option.
Note also that if there are three kids and their college careers will overlap, some consideration is made for reducing how much the family pays per child in college if more than one is in college.
What year in school are the other siblings?
When you say that your parents earn a lot, what exactly does that mean? $150k is “a lot”, but not too much to get some aid from ivies…unless there are other factors (a lot of savings, business deductions, etc).
Do your parents own a business? Do they have a good bit saved or invested?
Have your parents run the NPC (not for HYPS), but for schools like Cornell, Brown, etc. HYPS NPCs will give you the wrong impression since they give super aid. If you do run H’s NPC, then understand that HYPS gives unusually good aid, yet they are the hardest to get into.
What are your test scores and stats?
the ivies and similar do NOT give merit scholarships. If you need merit scholarships, then you’ll have to also apply elsewhere.
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Gpa: 3.9 UW 4.75 W
Rank: looking like I’ll finish up valedictorian or salutatorian of my class
Sat: reading 790, writing 800, math 630 (I am studying to bring this up in June!!)
Act: also being taken in June
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Schools don’t really care about the Writing score. The M+CR is what really matters. You need to bring up your M to at least a 700 to be competitive for top schools.
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1776883-city-girl.html#latest
Here is the OP’s chances thread with stats. The CR and Writing scores on the SAT are great. The Math is good but not superlative. Everything else looks really good.
The OP is a Virginia resident where there are some excellent instate public options that should be considered, in my opinion.
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live in Virginia, so my match schools are UVA and William & Mary, and my safety is JMU
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Have your parents run the NPCs for those schools to see if they’ll pay for those. If they won’t pay the costs for those schools, then you’ll need more picks.
What will your parents pay annually for you to attend college? That is THE question.
I’ve found the Ivies and the Ivy likes have the best NPCs on their websites. Remember the more detailed questions they ask, the more accurate they will be and have that discussion with your parents early. I talked to a parent recently who downsized their home to a smaller home and will use that equity to shell out about $350k for their child at an Ivy like.
Why would it cost $350,000 to attend an Ivy when the most costly is still just under $70,000 a year?
I do definitely need to ask my parents what they would be willing to do. They have talked about downsizing before which would possibly make room for some money but my brothers are outstanding students and are rising 7th and 10th graders so they are coming up on college soon as well. I have run almost every Ivy NPC out there and none will give us aid.
I said Ivy like and $70k x 4 is in that range. I know I was shocked.
@colleenmarie Be aware that COA costs rise about 3-5% each year. So any prices you’re seeing today, will not only have TWO increases by the time you go, but be significantly higher by the time you’re a jr or senior in college.
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I do definitely need to ask my parents what they would be willing to do. They have talked about downsizing before which would possibly make room for some money but my brothers are outstanding students and are rising 7th and 10th graders so they are coming up on college soon as well. I have run almost every Ivy NPC out there and none will give us aid. <<<
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You need to ask them TWO questions, at least.
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how much will they pay per year when YOU are in college.
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how much will they pay per year TOTAL when there are TWO in college. <<== This often trips people up.
@mom2collegekids thanks! Very helpful 