My EFC = 0. Can I go Out-of-state?

Paying for College
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<p>One suggestion that has been batted around here is the suggestion to rob a bank. I think that would make a neat hook when you’re applying transfer and need a good essay topic.</p>

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<p>Ole Miss, like virtually every college in the country, will increase tuition and room and board costs every year. I’d be surprised if it was less that 5% per year.</p>

<p>I’m also not sure that it will be easy to get increased merit aid in your second year even with outstanding scores. My impression is that most schools give the largest merit aid awards to incoming freshmen. At many schools, the merit awards do not increase to match the increases in tuition and fees unless the merit award is either a full ride or a specified percentage (50%, say) of tuition and fees.</p>

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<p>No Jerzey Jon, you have an EFC of 0. If you had worked harder in high school you might have been admitted to schools that meet full demonstrated need and then you could have gotten your college education paid for.</p>

<p>Many private schools in this country are doing plenty to make an education at their institution available to people in you economic circumstances.</p>

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<p>I’m undeclared right now, but I’ve been thinking of majoring in "Computer Science or “Business” for quite a while. I may go with one of those.</p>

<p>I applied to Kean University, but I kind of don’t like it. If I do go to Kean, I would probably want to transfer out after my first year.</p>

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<p>Isn’t Miss St the Comp Sci school? </p>

<p>Before you take out big loans for lower division classes, you need to find out if you can handle the math classes req’d for a Comp Sci major. </p>

<p>Kean is an in-state public for you. Going there for at least the first 2 years would be financially better for you.</p>

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<p>ASU financial aid award summary:</p>

<p><a href=“http://i535.■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/albums/ee353/Jerzey_Jon/asuaid.jpg?t=1270583060[/url]”>http://i535.■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/albums/ee353/Jerzey_Jon/asuaid.jpg?t=1270583060&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>What do you think?</p>

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<p>I think the fact that your parents will most likely need to borrow $20,000 per year in PLUS loans for four years and yet you say you have a 0 EFC means they will say “no way.” Even if they were willing to give it a shot and if they get turned down and you even take on a few more thousand in loans on top of the Stafford you still won’t have enough. You need to let go of this idea of going somewhere far away and concentrate on your closest and least expensive college or CC for two years and try again.</p>

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<p>Jersey,</p>

<p>Your parents won’t likely qualify or agree to do those Parent Plus loans. Do you really think they would qualify to borrow $80k in loans? Their payments would be over 1000 per month!</p>

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<p>Jerzy –</p>

<p>That doesn’t seem even vaguely possible with an EFC of zero, unless you have a non-custodial parent or other relative who can help support you. ASU offers a lot of merit aid, even for out-of-state students, so it seems that your stats may not be strong enough for merit aid at many OOS publics.</p>

<p>It is probably time to turn your eyes to options available in-state that are more within your financial reach.</p>

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<p>OP might get into ASU with those stats, but will not get much aid, if he gets any aid at all. ASU has even cut down aid for National Merit Scholars ($11000 in-state, $17,000 OOS from $15000 and 25000 previously). What are the chances they will give an OOS student with those stats a full ride? In my opinion, none. ASU has about 50,000 undergraduates, and they admit 90% of the applicants. A lot of them have lower stats. If they gave aid to every student that needed it, then university would be totally broke (it is in a pretty bad shape as it is).</p>

<p>OP you are better of trying something locally rather than relocate to AZ or MS.</p>

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<p>Sorry, I did not see the offer letter. ASU is really not offering you anything other than $1000 in supplemental AAF grant and a work study of $2000. The Pell grant you can get any where as it is Federal and your EFC is zero. For the rest you have loans. Can your parents qualify for the loans? Remember you will have a total loan of $25838 for the first year. This is almost $100,000 over 4 years. Not worth it. Consider a CC in NJ and transfer to a state school in NJ. Cheaper over all</p>

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<p>That is a very poor FA package and you should remove this school from your list. The fact that you have a 0 EFC and were not offered any FSEOG or Perkins money is somewhat surprising. There is no guarantee you’ll even be able to find a work study job either.</p>

<p>Jerzey, you probably need to focus on instate schools that you can afford. Does NJ still have the TAG program? Do you qualify for a NJ Stars award?</p>

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<p>sk8rmom: You have to remember he is both out of state and does not have very good stats. Under the circumstances I think that the aid package is better than one could expect. But absolutely it is bad.</p>

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<p>The package is almost completely made up of loans. The OP can probably do better at a LAC somewhere, or even in-state.</p>

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<p>Jerzy…</p>

<p>What other schools have you been accepted to and what are their FA packages.</p>

<p>This is ridiculous. If I remember correctly, your parents are either separated/divorced and both are low income. There’s no way they’ll qualify for $80k in loans.</p>

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<p>maze, yes I know and wondered if that might be a factor. Most public U’s distribute these federal funds as they are intended to be used though…to help the most needy of their admitted students.</p>

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<p>I see that you’ve applied to Montclair State U. What does their aid package look like.</p>

<p>You’re in-state for them, right?</p>

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<p>Federal funds, yes, but many state grants (I know that some of my state of Virginia’s grants) are targeted towards students with higher grades. I don’t know the OP’s stats, but he might be able to qualify for some kind of state program or a private scholarship if he has good grades, is a member of some kind of tribe or church, does community service, has some sort of art, music, or athletic skill, or can pull off a good essay. It won’t be enough to handle an OOS bill, but it might help bridge the gap.</p>

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<p>OP did you follow through on some of the advice from January to research in-state schools and potential scholarships/monies for Hispanics? Do you have an in-state plan in place as a backup? Look at it this way, time goes fast…really fast. Worse case scenario is you make a move to a warm weather climate in four years.</p>

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<p>I got accepted to Kean University…</p>

<p>…which brings me to my next question. Kean is requesting copies of my parents’ 2009 U.S. 1040 income tax form. I asked my parents for these papers and they handed me a huge packet. Am I suppose the copy all these paper?! Or do they just watch the first couple of papers? I’m clueless. Help me out.</p>