<p>Well my dad is currently living at Salvation Army and making a minimum wage job. My parents aren’t fully divorced yet but my dad has been paying 100 dollars a month in support and I added that to the calculator. That still puts our household income at around 21000 and he’s probably not expected to contribute much at this point.</p>
<p>Be careful in that many colleges which consider the non-custodial parent want to include all of the non-custodial parent’s income and assets to determine the expected family contribution. So include his entire income*, not just what he is giving you and your mother in support, when running the net price calculators, unless the school explicitly says that it does not consider non-custodial parent information or uses only the FAFSA form.</p>
<p>Most private schools with good financial aid do use non-custodial parent information.</p>
<p>*Probably about $14,500 if he works full time at the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour.</p>
<p>Okay I’ll make sure to put that thanks for the help! I’m still stuck on if I should do ED. I feel like Vassar is most likely affordable and I’d love to go there it’s just I haven’t seen anyone get in with such a low GPA. Macalester feels like my most realistic shot to get accepted but I just don’t know if I could afford it still. I’m really going to try to work on outside scholarships and get a full time job soon this spring. Also I’ll be making money as a peer tutor through the district out that’s part time. I’m hoping I can save up enough.</p>
<p>I think you should apply ED to Vassar - it’s not 100% binding - if the financial aid isn’t sufficient you don’t have to commit.</p>
<p>Yeah I think you’re right. I did check on naviance and a girl from my school was accepted regular decision with an 1880 SAT score. She probably had some really outstanding ECs or something. I just haven’t heard of anyone with such a low GPA getting in but it is a great school and the best bet money wise. Do you think geographical diversity is considered? Just trying to be optimistic haha</p>
<p>Geographic Location is considered at Vassar so it’s a tip factor. <a href=“Institutional Research – Vassar College”>Institutional Research – Vassar College;
<p>Thanks for the info! I guess I’ll just sign up for those SAT 2s and go for it. I’ll get a final opinion from out schools college counselor too.</p>
<p>Holy Cross is run by the Jesuits-fairly liberal Catholic order.HC recruits kids from all faiths and is very open to all religious backgrounds.</p>
<p>There are other “full need” LACs that are less selective than Vassar. I looked up the average net cost in the IPEDS database for low-income ($0-$30K) students attending Vassar and 7 other LACs (Bates, Colby, Holy Cross, Grinnell, Macalester, Oberlin, Trinity). Among these schools, Vassar does indeed have the lowest average net cost for that income range ($6595). The two others that have averages below $10K are Grinnell ($8370) and Bates ($9095).</p>
<p>$0-$30K is a wide income range, so your mileage may vary. Try running the online NPC for Bates.</p>
<p>I do think some of these schools will cut you a little slack on your GPA, especially if your courses are rigorous and the trend is up. They probably don’t see too many applications from low-income Texans with your scores. </p>
<p>For schools that consider the non-custodial parent, the OP’s family income is over $30,000 (about $34,500). There is also the possibility of the unwilling-to-contribute non-custodial parent being less than fully cooperative on the financial aid forms, or getting a higher paying job, in the future, that can adversely affect financial aid in later years of college. So the OP should consider these issues carefully at schools where non-custodial parent information is used for need-based financial aid.</p>
<p>I’ll definitely apply to holy cross regular decision. It does seen like a great school. Yeah I ran the bates calculator and it said 5000 a year! That would be great but I know they are need aware and my chances there aren’t much better than vassar if any. Also on the NPC I say my parents are separated my parent gross income is 34000 and my main parents income is 20000 and these are the stats it’s giving me. My dad making more money is an important thing to consider though. He’s been trying to get his life together. I don’t think there’s any chance of my parents getting back together though and if my dad’s income does improve a bit he would probably be willing to help. I guess that money should got to my mom though.</p>
<p>Whether your family income is less than $20K as far as the college is concerned, or as much as $34,500, it is possible that one of the “full need” colleges will offer a lower net price than the alternatives (as you discovered with the UT-Austin net price comparison … although that apparently was estimated based on the lower end of that income range).
You may want to apply to a variety of schools in this situation to see what shakes out. </p>
<p>Here’s a comparison of the Vassar v. Bates average stats:
<a href=“http://www.collegedata.com/cs/data/college/college_pg01_tmpl.jhtml?schoolId=175”>http://www.collegedata.com/cs/data/college/college_pg01_tmpl.jhtml?schoolId=175</a>
<a href=“http://www.collegedata.com/cs/data/college/college_pg01_tmpl.jhtml?schoolId=175”>http://www.collegedata.com/cs/data/college/college_pg01_tmpl.jhtml?schoolId=175</a></p>
<p>The admit rates are the same. However, Vassar has a higher average GPA and scores.</p>
<p>Yeah I’m planning to apply to a bunch regular decision but the ED acceptance rates are a big difference. I figured it would be worth. With the Bates vs Vassar comparison Vassar has a higher ED rate and a higher male acceptance rate. Plus they are need blind where Bates is need aware. </p>