Partially loans, partially working.
I’ll look into MassGrant!
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Once more…the freshman direct Loan for you is $5500. Who will be taking out the rest of those loans, or cosigning them.
I think you need to educate your parents (gently) about the realities of paying for college. They may not realize that you cannot just go out and borrow $25k in your own name; they may not realize that you cannot apply for any need-based aid without sharing their finances. If they do not want to contribute to your education that is one thing, but they should at least not hinder you as you seek for ways to finance an education for yourself.
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I remain hopeful that once the FAFSA is complete, you will qualify for the aid you need at some of the 4-year schools on your list.
But I am concerned that if that falls through, you need to have a guaranteed route to an education that you can afford. Even the most hardworking student will find it difficult to earn more than $15,000/year while juggling classes full-time. College calendars and low-wage work schedules are generally not conducive to that (assuming you are not a well-paid “influencer” or something).
So. I am wondering if it is possible for you to move to Boston after graduation, if necessary, and take advantage of the free community college program I linked to above. Boston is expensive and you would have to pay for your own room and board, but maybe with a job, roommates, etc., you could do it.
That gives you a path to direct admission to a 4-year school in a few years. Paying for that will still be a challenge. As long as you are under 24 and unmarried with no children of your own, the government believes your parents should contribute to your college education and will normally include their income in FAFSA for determining how much aid you are eligible for; it is very difficult to get an override even if you are IN FACT self-supporting.
So that means if you are able to make more than the minimum needed for room and board, you will need to be siphoning it away for future tuition.
Other alternatives: enlisting in the armed forces or getting a job at an employer who will pay your tuition, like Target or Starbucks or Amazon (recognizing it means attending a fully online accredited program in many cases).
I realize none of these options are the most attractive to you. As a said, I hope you get the aid you seek. I just think it is important to have a back-up plan.
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Have you worked any jobs yet? If not, I would get one now and save all your earnings, as that money may be really essential for your college goals.
In looking at your Massachusetts options, this is what the costs look like.
| School | Tuition | Room & Board | Sticker |
|---|---|---|---|
| Worcester State | $10,786 | $13,245 | $24,031 |
| Westfield State | $11,500 | $12,894 | $24,394 |
| Fitchburg State | $10,921 | $13,516 | $24,437 |
| Framingham State | $11,380 | $13,160 | $24,540 |
| Bridgewater State | $11,051 | $14,162 | $25,213 |
| Mass. Coll. of Liberal Arts | $11,590 | $13,632 | $25,222 |
| Salem State | $11,978 | $14,954 | $26,932 |
| UMass-Lowell | $16,182 | $13,930 | $30,112 |
| UMass-Amherst | $16,952 | $14,123 | $31,075 |
| UMass-Dartmouth | $14,854 | $16,493 | $31,347 |
| UMass-Boston | $15,132 | $16,896 | $32,028 |
Unless the UMass schools give significantly larger merit aid packages than the other state schools, they may not be your best bets. I’d take a really good look at Bridgewater State, and then also Worcester and Westfield.
Is your 3.8 GPA weighted or unweighted? At Bridgewater, you may be eligible for the Crimson Merit scholarship of $5k/year which is for students with a 3.7 or above. If you have a weighted GPA of 4.0 or above, there are several $11k/year scholarships available there, which would be great in terms of financial feasibility, as that would cover nearly all of your tuition.
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The financial issue is a big one for many families.
One daughter had a friend who was one of the top students in the school (middle school and high school). This friend had divorced parents, and the father had a small business that was struggling. The mother was not capable of holding a job (for reasons that I will not get into). From an academic perspective this friend was capable of getting accepted to very good universities. For financial reasons she started off with two years at community college, while living with the father (who is a great guy, I got to know him at one point). Then she got a full tuition scholarship to U.Mass Lowell for her last two years of university. I just happened to run into her (and a boyfriend) in a store a month or so before she graduated university. She was able to graduate from U.Mass Lowell with very little debt, a very marketable degree, and nearly straight A’s for the entire four years of university (which was following nearly straight A’s for all of middle and high school). I can only imagine how proud her father must have been of what she had accomplished.
Given your strong academics up to this point a very good merit scholarship might be possible at U.Mass Lowell, or at one of the other in-state public universities in Massachusetts such as one of the universities suggested by @AustenNut.
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Hey wait a minute I didn’t think about that Boston plan… I’m going to bring this up to my guidance counselor! Thank you.
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My daughter is at BU for grad school, her share of rent in a 4 bedroom is $1000 a month, about a 20 minute ride to campus on the T from Allston. She bartends know weekends to pay her rent, and sublet her room over the summer
You have a very good academic record.
Make sure to get your November SAT sent to your safeties.
In your practice SAT tests, what score do you consistently hit?
Your estimated family income would qualify you for a lot of need-based aid at “meet need” colleges. However, colleges that offer need-based near-full rides for families making 65-90K are the most selective in the country.
In addition to Brandeis, run the NPC on Dickinson, Connecticut College, St Lawrence. (Each is likely to return a different number but all “meet need”). Same for RPI and WPI (very different colleges though - RPI is very nerdy/geeky, WPI is very collaborative&hands-on but intense. Neither “meets need”. They’d be more likely to try and entice you with scholarships if you’re a girl, since they want to balance their gender ratio.)
What’s your net price at each of these?
What net price do you get from the UMass Lowell and UMass Amherst NPCs? These 2 don’t meet need.
Apply by the Nov 5 deadline to UMass Lowell and if (likely, so “when”) you’re invited to the Honors College, opt-in. You can apply with your new test scores to be sent directly (their average is 1280) or Test Optional and submit the 500 word essay instead.
Apply to Umass Amherst test optional and perhaps by Nov5; for CS you must have completed the math sequence through precalculus with straight As (by the end of junior year preferably). CS is nationally known there, but also highly selective. Depending on what STEM courses you’ve taken and whether you got straight A’s in them or not, it may be a safer option to apply to Informatics:
https://catalog.umass.edu/undergradguide/2023-2024/Page21866.html
Will you have taken Calculus and all 3 of bio, chem, and physics (honors) by the time you graduate?
I would take a serious look at the honors program at UMASS Lowell. Our friend’s daughter is in the honors college, and she basically only pays room and board plus a small extra amount. I want to say that her all in total is less than 20k.
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