<p>So I got an email from my counselor saying to bring in my parents tax forms and w2 to school for her to see on Monday. I still don’t think she will offere me waviers as she says asked me for the 3rd time of I was on free or reduced lunch. To which I gave the same response I always do; I don’t buy school lunch since I’m a vegetarian.</p>
<p>As for my college list its currently Hamilton (thinking about ED II here), Haverford, Franklin & Marshall, Dickinson, Lafayette, and Vassar. All of these colleges net price has been under $10,000 and I can’t really change not apply to these anymore as I have already sent my ACT scores, transcripts, and recommendation letters.</p>
<p>Lastly, are you sure I shouldn’t submit my SAT scores because with superscore I would have 1400 CR+M (740 M + 660 CR) or 1380 (740 M + 640 CR) CR+M without super score. As for my writing score, let’s just ignore that hehe. Isn’t that comparative to a 30 ACT? I was devastated that I was only off by 20 points for a full ride at Temple.</p>
<p>Sent from my HTC.</p>
<p>If students at your school are on reduced/free lunch, are they allowed to take some cafeteria food of your choice, and complete it with a packed lunch you bring themselves? That could solve your problem - no one says reduced-lunch kids are required to eat EVERYTHING that’s offered. I doubt Jewish and Muslim kids are made to eat sausages and ham, for instance. 
Vegetarians wouldn’t have to eat meat.
You could register for reduced lunch with your counselor and eat vegetarian items only (at the very least, there’d be vegetables, milk, and bread, probably also beans, salads, apple sauce, and/ or yoghurt, and you could bring something from home). If that means you get fee waivers for all your colleges plus for any ACT/SAT you need to take, plus convince your guidance counselor to not take your wealth for granted ;-), I think it’d be worth it for the rest of the year.
For information:
Unless you live in Alaska or Hawai’i, the annual income for reduced lunch for kids in a family of 4 is $44,123, and $51,634 for kids a family of 5.</p>
<p>The answer you need to give your counselor isn’t I don’t eat at the cafeteria because I’m a vegetarian, but rather “I can’t eat most of the food at the cafeteria and my family can’t afford to pay for food I won’t eat, but if it’s possible for me to have balanced vegetarian meals from the cafeteria I’d gladly be placed on the reduced lunch list.”
OR
“I would qualify for reduced lunch but I can’t eat most of the food at the cafeteria and my family can’t afford to pay for food I won’t eat”.
She’s not asking about the food you like, only about the meals you can afford (or not).</p>
<p>Note that “income” DOES NOT include your income, it means only your parents’, as declared on their tax forms.</p>
<p>Can you retake that test in December? You’re just 20 points short! Send the scores directly to Temple and 3 others. If you have fee waivers you’d only have to pay for the late fee.</p>
<p>Submit your SAT to colleges that superscore CR+M and don’t count writing.</p>
<p>Yeah, but the problem is that i have already told her that i would be willing to sign up for reduced lunch, but she was the one who said that its kinda too late since the budget for the year is almost empty. My dad and I applied anyway and we were rejected from receiving reduced lunch prices. Also, my parents income is right above $44,123, it’s at $44,194.</p>
<p>Can’t take it in December, since I’m taking the Math II in December. and also how does one go about finding out if a school looks at writing SAT scores or not? I know F&M doesn’t, because when I visited during the info session they said they ignore the writing SAT. </p>
<p>“the budget is almost empty” is not a valid reason - 'the budget is empty" would be, but that doesn’t really make sense.</p>
<p>is that $44,194 taxable income or gross income? With or without Federal Income Reductions? If relevant: with or without education/child care credit?
You’re literally $70 above the limit… not sufficient to apply to 6 colleges, certainly, when you would qualify for fee waivers… that small amount would require a little bit of flexibility I would think.</p>
<p>The amount I mentioned is taxable income, gross income is something like $41,000.</p>
<p>I assume taxable income is $41,000, and gross income is $44,194 wtih your AGI likely well below 44,194, and by “well” I mean “by more than $70”. Meaning you’re under the limit as far as I can tell and should qualify for that fee waiver.
“Income” for the purpose of the school lunch program is NET income (before taxes), not GROSS income. It includes salaries, unemployment compensation, or veterans’ pension, but NOT anything coming from federal aid (ie., TANF, WIC, SNAP - note that if someone in your family qualifies for TANF, WIC, or SNAP, you automatically qualify for reduced meal and fee waivers).</p>
<p>Also, remember that on the CommonApp, there’s now a new category, where the guidance counselor can explain that, n good faith, the family can’t pay, and the applicant should get a fee waiver.All counselors have to do is check the box and write a sentence. Top colleges WANT lower-income students to apply (and at many private top colleges, it means anything from 45,000 to 75,000!)</p>