<p>My parents have literally screwed me to the max. We just bought a new house (old neighborhood was becoming unsafe) and that took a good amount of saved money away. Also, my parents have just come to some situations in which they spent money on funeral arrangements and other things. My mom keeps blaming me, and says I should have been a better student........Now, I know I am not a great student, but I know I can get into some good schools. I was really looking at The University of Miami in Ohio, The University of Indiana Bloomington, The Ohio State university, Clemson, Penn State, Marquette, Loyola of Chicago, The University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign, amongst many others. Our income is over 100k and our EFC comes out to about 33k on every application. BUT THEY CANNOT PAY EVEN CLOSE TO THAT. My dad was telling me that he could pay about 15k max per year. I am expected to get one scholarship for about 4k from my job, but other than that I don't expect anything else. I need help. Where do I apply? I want a good education but don't have the money to get it. I don't want to stay in-state and go to any school besides the University of Illinois, but even that cost about 35k. I was thinking of schools like the University of Arizona, the University of Iowa? Any recommendations on what to do? Please list some schools that I should now apply to.</p>
<p>Of first importance - quit blaming your parents. You have not given us all the details, just the ones that make you look good. If you want to succeed, own your own situation and work to make it better - blame helps you not at all - in fact, it makes you look small and petty.</p>
<p>Having sad that, pretty much any college will help you succeed. You can get a god education anywhere IF you work hard at classwork and networking. You may have to do what you do not want - stay in-stae and maybe goto a CC. Perhaps you need to look at a less expensive state school, like UWyoming. What is in your comfort zone will dictate that decision. All of it, however, is meanings if you continue to blame others. It is Thanksgiving - count your blessings and see how you can use them to get ahead and overcome any limitations that you see.</p>
<p>Your parents have not screwed you. It is THEIR money and they have to decide where to spend it. Spending it on OOS publics is often a total waste of money. The education isn’t any better than what you can get in your own state.</p>
<p>I don’t agree with one of the posts above that suggests that your post makes you look good. I think your parents look reasonable, and you look like a naive kid who doesn’t know that OOS kids are often over-paying in order to attend a school that is no better than what they have in their home state…it’s only in a “different state”. That doesn’t make it better.</p>
<p>Your parents needed to move to put the family in a safer area. Funerals have to get paid for. </p>
<p>They are willing to pay $15k per year. That amount plus a student loan is about $20k. </p>
<p>RE: your work scholarship (is that for one year or for FOUR years? You need to find out. Sounds like you’re going to have to quit your job if you go OOS so, will that scholarship be for ONLY freshman year? If so, then that money won’t be there after frosh year.</p>
<p>Your stats are ok, but not great. You could have done better. You had control of your grades, but chose not to excel. Better stats would have gotten you good sized merit at some of the schools that interest you. Likely many of the OOS students who will be attending those schools earned that privilege by having merit-worthy stats. </p>
<p>Merit is usually based on test scores that are NOT superscored. </p>
<p>You can look at some OOS publics that have low costs, such as the ones in South Dakota, and I think New Mexico. University of Maine Ft Kent has a low cost. </p>
<p>Look at this thread for low cost OOS colleges. </p>
<p>BTW…your parents earn over $100k, but you didn’t say how much over $100k they earn. Maybe they only earn $125k or so (which your EFC suggests). You live in IL which has some pricey high property tax areas. Plus your parents have other taxes to pay and other living expenses. They probably couldn’t have paid $40k per year for Indiana, OSU, PSU and others. Those prices might have been 1/3 of their gross income! So even w/o the new home purchase, they probably would have said no to those schools anyway without you winning some merit awards by having better stats.</p>
<p>I think you’re wrongly thinking that your EFC would have been affordable if your parents hadn’t bought a new home. Likely it may still not have been affordable. </p>
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<p>Clemson Univ
Univ of Georgia
U of IL Urbana-Champaign
Indiana U Bloomington
Marquette Univ
Miami Univ, Oxford
U of Michigan
U of Minnesota Twin Cities
U of Missouri Columbia
Ohio Univ
Syracuse Univ
U of Texas Austin
The Ohio State University
U of Wisconsin Madison ED</p>
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<p>For the past few months you have been spending time coming up with expensive schools and asking random posters where you can get in. Instead of that, you should have been asking your parents where you can afford to attend. You got yourself all excited and so now the big let down. Yes, that hurts.</p>
<p>Now that you know your budget, work within that. In addition to the $20k you have from parents and a student loan, HOW MUCH can you earn/save to put towards college? How much can YOU contribute each year from YOUR earnings. (and again, that award from your job may only be for one year, especially if you have to quit or can only work over summers while in college.)</p>
<p>Your parents did not doom you…not at all. At this point, you are dooming yourself by looking at financially unaffordable colleges. Out of state costs of attendance at the school’s you listed are in the $50,000 range.</p>
<p>You need to understand, the vast majority of parents do NOT have significant college savings for their students. Your parents have given you a budget…$15,000 a year. If you get that $4000 from work, that would be $19,000 (is that for all four years? Check that!). Then you can take a direct loan for $5500 which brings you to $24,500. If you add even $2000 of savings from work…that would be $26,500. </p>
<p>NO, that won’t pay for those exoensive out of state schools. But there are schools where the cost to attend is in that ballpark.</p>
<p>What about Truman State? It’s OOS, and it could end up being affordable.</p>
<p>Did you retake the ACT or did you take the SAT? As you know, your current ACT score is on the low side for merit aid at many places…and likely the places on your list.</p>
<p>Re: your parents purchase of a house…living in a safe neighborhood is a worthwhile reason to move. </p>
<p>Re: funeral expenses, it was nice of them to do this…but really, it’s a one time cost.</p>
<p>you have college options…you do. They just aren’t what you THOUGHT they were. Start embracing affordable Plan B. </p>
<p>How much can YOU pay of your college costs each year? You are allowed a Direct Loan ($5500 freshman year, increasing slightly each year). How much can you earn summers and school year? How much do you have saved? Is the scholarship for one year or two? Add that to the $15K your parents can pay, and that’s the budget. </p>
<p>There are incredibly high performing kids that aren’t even offered $15,000/yr by their parents (I know b/c our kids are amg them.) Our kids apply where they can afford to go. They are high-achievers, bright, and independent. We didn’t ruin their lives. We work hard for what we have. We expect them to work hard for themselves. That is their reality. They succeed and excel regardless of the monetary restrictions. FWIW, people from lower ranked universities can and do lead highly successful lives. </p>
<p>You have some good in-state public choices that will be affordable with what your family can contribute, plus federal loans, plus your summer job income. </p>
<p>Not everyone needs to go out of state.</p>
<p>Also, it sounds like your family would also qualify for a $2500 federal tax credit for college expenses. That is a direct reduction of federal income taxes, and your family could commit that to paying college expenses. It is good for each of 4 years, but is scheduled to expire in 2017. My guess is that Congress will continue to renew it, because it is so popular among the types of people who actually show up to vote each year.</p>
<p>This is the thing. You focused on names rather than yourself. Look closely at yourself. My daughter’s stats are not that different from yours. Her ACT score junior year was 27 and her weighted GPA was the same, 3.7. We looked for schools that reflected these stats and compiled a list of good schools. Are they anyway near top 50? Of course not.</p>
<p>Then she really studied for the ACT last winter and took it last June. She got 31. It wa a big jump but she kept the same list of good but not that impressive list of schools. She applied EA to six schools. So far, she’s been admitted to two schools with substantial merit aid. One school now costs less than $20,000.</p>
<p>You don’t need to be a 4.0, 33+ superstar student to receive merit aid but you do have to target schools that will give you aid. Good luck.</p>
<p>P.S. Truman State and U.Minnesota, Morris are both good, low cost options for you.</p>
<p>Clemson Univ
Univ of Georgia
U of IL Urbana-Champaign
Indiana U Bloomington
Marquette Univ
Miami Univ, Oxford
U of Michigan
U of Minnesota Twin Cities
U of Missouri Columbia
Ohio Univ
Syracuse Univ
U of Texas Austin
The Ohio State University
University of Wisconsin ED</p>
<p>Oh my…just noticed the UW ED! Did you do that? I hope not. </p>
<p>Nearly all or all of your schools are big Div I sports schools. Somehow I don’t think that is just an accident. I’m guessing that you want the “spirited campus” “full college experience.” </p>
<p>And that may explain why you’re not considering your instate schools other than UIUC. </p>
<p>If so, then consider schools like the New Mexico or South Dakota schools. </p>
<p>Again, merit rarely is based on superscores, and there aren’t many big Div I schools that give much merit for an ACT 26 and your GPA (and some won’t use weighted for GPA either). Even Alabama, which is probably the most generous big Div I school, doesn’t give anything for an ACT 26. </p>
<p>Are you going to private school? To boarding school? If so, those costs, your parents have covered and would have greatly affected what they can afford to pay for your college. That was our situation.</p>
<p>If not, if you are going to the public school in your district, probably a pretty good one since it appears that your parents did put some planning and money in where the family lives, you might want to take advantage of that nice house and live there, commuting to a local school. That’s about $10K of overhead right there. I’m sure you can find a local school, certainly a state school,community college for what your parents are willing to pay, and with your scholarship, work and loan, your other expenses can be covered. My son, whose stats were like yours, did get a free tuition offer even from a private school and he could have commuted there. A lot of his peers who got that same offer took it, and are doing very well. Many were from well to do families. The parents did not want to pay to send their kids to private colleges or sleepaway school when they had a very nice home and set up already that was available to them. </p>
<p>Most college students do NOT go away to school. Many of them go part time and work part or full time to meet the expenses. You have $15K a year from your parents to work with. Start looking at schools that fit your price range.</p>
<p>I just checked the University of Wisconsin website. They have first notification, second notification, and third notification deadlines. Doesn’t look like any of these are ED, but it’s hard to tell. Dates are for 2014-2015, oddly…but that is THIS year!</p>
<p>Maine is definitely a great option since it’s out of state as you wanted and it seems to be very affordable even for non-Maine residents. Based on the numbers provided by @mom2collegekids you might not even need to draw any federal direct loans which will save you money later on. Your parents have blessed with you many options since they can pay $15,000 (a not insignifcant amount of money!) each year for college. You can control how much you spend on books and supplies and if your parents have health insurance on you you can keep it up to age 26 I believe so that will save you money as well. Additional spending money could also be earned working part time. Really, “doomed” is an overexaggeration here; you are better off than most students who either have parents who can’t pay or parents who won’t pay.</p>
<p>FYI - in state tuition at Illinois is not that much less than many out of state schools, and a large number of IL residents find with aid and scholarships, private schools are often less. That said - some of the IL state schools are significantly less than UIUC, so keep that in mind. It is probably worth having a range of schools on your list. </p>