<p>The program at CSU Fullerton is part of the communications department. it is a concentration in photocommunications as part of a communications major. it is focused on journalism as opposed to fine arts, which the ucsd and uc riverside programs are (fine arts majors). i think Oregon might have a similar program but i’m not sure. Good luck! shes lucky to have your help.</p>
<p>In another thread, you state that the family can only pay $6k-7k per year towards college. Since a CC sibling is also transferring to a 4 year college, does that mean that the family will split the $6k-7k to both kids (or have they not processed that?)</p>
<p>The family’s total EFC is going to be about $20k (about $10k each kid). I don’t think most/any of those OOS publics (even the WUE ones) will work since those schools are going to expect her to full pay. These schools don’t meet need, nor do they even really try for OOS kids.</p>
<p>They won’t give her aid beyond loans. If she gets her test scores significantly up, then maybe she’ll get some merit, but she could still be left with a $25k+ bill</p>
<p>Her current SAT is a 1640. Even with practice, she’d be lucky to get it to a 1800. That’s not high enough for good merit at most/all of the mentioned schools.</p>
<p>Remember, in order to reduce EFC, the merit has to be SO BIG that it covers ALL of “need” and THEN cuts into EFC. So, at the OOS schools with COAs of $30k-40k, she’d need to get nearly a full ride in order to reduce EFC.</p>
<p>So mom, what you’re saying is that it might actually be a waste of time to apply to these colleges as it looks like they can’t afford it? I think the older son is going to try and transfer to SDSU, which may be affordable to him living at home. He works and may be covering many of his costs. That’s why I wasn’t really thinking about him.</p>
<p>Guess I need to really have another talk with them concerning finances. I’ll also talk with my son who’s tutoring the daughter about what he thinks is realistic for her SAT retake score.</p>
<p>Boy, this is a challenge.</p>
<p>Is the other option to take out more loans? What kind of loans are those? I know a friend of my son’s is also at MIT and expects to have 70K of debt upon graduation. What kind of loan is that? (And no, in no way am I suggesting that for this student. I’m just curious as to loan options for her)</p>
<p>ASU - Go Devils!</p>
<p>sbjdorlo–</p>
<p>Even WITH the Amigo (which is not guaranteed) UNM will still cost ~$17,800/year. </p>
<p>OOS students who receive the Amigo are not eligible for additional grants or scholarships unless they are National Merit Finalists or National Native American/National Hispanic Scholars.</p>
<p>~~~~~</p>
<p>The “other” loans your son’s friends has–those would be private loans (which require a credit-worthy co-signer, usually a parent).</p>
<p>I think what you may end up doing is getting the financial info from the family and spending a lot of time plugging in numbers on NPC’s and see what schools come across as most affordable to start. Maybe you could get the student and a parent together, run 3 laptops at a time for the various schools and put together a working list of schools to consider. Use the search engine on the collegeboards or here to search for schools with his major and interests to narrow down the field and then get to work on the NPC’s.</p>
<p>This site makes that a little easier, lots of good net cost/loan/work study/grant info specific to your EFC: [CollegeData</a> - Net Cost Calculator](<a href=“http://www.collegedata.com/cs/netcost/netcost_home_tmpl.jhtml]CollegeData”>College Net Price Calculator - Find Out What College Will Really Cost | CollegeData)</p>
<p>What it doesn’t take into account is merit. The schools that gave S the best package did so in part because of large merit awards.</p>
<p>Thanks for the link to the calculator, ohio. Steve, I think we’ll do what you suggest when we get together this week. I’m getting a feel for what schools will be affordable to them, but they need to walk through the numbers with me.</p>
<p>I’ll just say that the calc link I provided was only somewhat accurate since it uses averages. He got a better package than it said he might with some, and not as good as it said we would with others. The school he chose gave him a LOT more than that calc suggested so I’m glad we didn’t skip applying based on the projected aid. The kid and the class and the adcom are going to determine a lot of this, as you probably already know.</p>
<p>What I’ve got, in general terms, in order of least to most expensive:</p>
<p>CC to SDSU or Cal State San Marcos (but no photography) ??? cost</p>
<p>SDSU commuter apx. 7K</p>
<p>Stanford (I did the numbers on their calc; I know there’s basically no chance of this school, but…) 8,600</p>
<p>UCSD commuter 13,234</p>
<p>Sacramento State 16,850</p>
<p>UNM 17,387</p>
<p>CSLB 17,396</p>
<p>SDSU on campus apx. 17,500 (again, no photography)</p>
<p>USD (commuter; with need-based aid and 10k scholarship w/ higher SAT) 20,172 (I added this school just to see)</p>
<p>NAU 22,228</p>
<p>CSU 24,832</p>
<p>UCSD on campus 25,158</p>
<p>UCR 25,884</p>
<p>I wish UCR could work out since I think it’s a really good fit for her. Well, we’ll see what the family thinks when they see the numbers.</p>
<p>Oh, and I took off Scripps-yes, veerrrry expensive with little aid.</p>
<p>What about trying some other small private schools that give merit aid.</p>
<p>I’m sure you’ve already looked into this, but do they qualify for the Blue and Gold Opportunity Plan for the University of California?</p>
<p>I feel like I’ve scoured every search engine and college in the west and am coming up with nothing based on their family income. Stanford was the only school that gave a lot of money to them because they are a family of 6, two kids in college in 2013, sitting in the 95-100K range with no savings and no assets. They’re just out of range of a Cal Grant A. I just think most privates are not going to give money for that income level, unfortunately, and unless her SATs go up greatly, merit aid will be very scarce. Since she wants to stay in the west, being Hispanic isn’t going to give her a boost anywhere really, from what I can tell.</p>
<p>I think the fire set them back. They were doing damage control when they might have been doing SAT prep so that she might have been a National Hispanic Scholar. They just didn’t turn their attention to college apps until the summer.</p>
<p>nottelling, </p>
<p>They’re not in that income range. While they’re grateful that the husband found a good job, I guess they have a lot of debt (maybe from the fire?? I need to ask) and their income throws them out of most need-based aid contention at state and UC schools.</p>
<p>I did just see another school that’s a possibily-Univ. of Northern Colorado. (From an ad at the top of CC just now!) I see they offer art scholarships and photography/photojournalism is one emphasis.</p>
<p>Off to check it out!</p>
<p>Private schools have the option of looking at a broader picture. They can get a better picture of your friend through her essays and recommendations and sometimes will give a student a better package.
When my son applied to one private his scores were at the level for merit aid but his grades were not. The admissions rep told us to just fill out the Fafsa even though we did not qualify for aid. That school gave him a university grant.
Have you looked into Cal Lutheran?</p>
<p>Have they specifically asked you to help with the financial planning aspects of the college application process? It sounds like they may have a complicated financial situation and will need professional advice from an accountant. I’m not an accountant and know next to nothing about financial aid but it seems to me that they may have casualty losses from the fire that can be written off and that those write offs perhaps can be taken over several years. This could well lower their net income to a number below the Blue and Gold Opportunity Plan limit of $80K (assuming that limit is based on net income). </p>
<p>My point is that if they didn’t specifically ask you to provide advice that is based on their financial situation, I don’t think you can rely on their income estimate as accurate. Are they going to have write offs that will lower the consulting income? People tend to overestimate their income in discussions with family and friends and, also, different parents have different levels of tolerance for loans to finance their childrens’ education. This sort of information is extremely private and it wouldnt surprise me if they weren’t providing you with complete information. I would hate for you to advise this young woman to take schools off the list based on financial considerations when you may well may not have an accurate or complete picture of the family’s finances or financial values.</p>
<p>Southern Oregon University in Ashland, Western Washington University in Bellingham–I believe both participate in WUE.</p>
<p>nottelling,</p>
<p>I am bringing a friend who worked in a well known university’s financial aid office. She’ll charge this family very little to have a consultation with them and go over their finances and financial aid ins and outs. They’re very grateful.</p>
<p>momsings, I’ll check those schools out. Thanks!</p>
<p>Update on this thread for anyone who cares. :-)</p>
<p>My young friend was accepted into UCLA’s art department! They are soooo happy! And, due to the loss of income and fire debt, they did, at least for this year, qualify for Cal Grant A and may even qualify for the Blue and Gold. Their oldest got into UCSD as a transfer student.</p>
<p>Final stats:</p>
<p>SAT I- 1720
No SAT IIs
GPA - 3.9 uw
Two AP exams
Fantastic photography portfolio supplement
Other strong ECs and photography internship</p>
<p>I really see that GPA matters to UCs and state schools.</p>
<p>Great news!!!</p>