So basically, I’m upper middle class and will not qualify for any financial aid. My parents don’t want to pay for me to go to college though, and I don’t want to take out a lot of loans. I’m a really good student and I don’t know what to do! Even state schools cost 30K! Unless I get a full merit scholarship somewhere, what else could I do?
Any combination of one or more: don’t go to college, delay college, live at home & commute, go to a community college, work part-time & attend school part-time, fill out FAFSA for an unsubsidized federal loan, earn top stats and get large merit aid, work full time in summer and during school breaks.
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will not qualify for any financial aid. My parents don’t want to pay for me to go to college though,
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What exactly are your parents saying? Are they saying that they won’t pay ONE DIME? or are they saying that they won’t pay $25k or $50k per year for you to go away to college? Are they saying that you can live at home and commute to the local college?
Do your parents have college educations?
What do they expect you to do after high school?
Do they want you to have a professional career?
What are your stats and career goal?
Did your parents JUST tell you this? Up until now, you’ve been making quite a list.
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STATS:
3.88 GPA, UW
2190 SAT (690 math, 710 reading, 790 writing)
Subject tests: 800 US history, probably 700 in literature
AP tests: Language and composition (5), us history (5)
Senior course load: AB calc, AP bio, AP gov, AP spanish, journalism III honors, writing
EC’s: managing editor of school newspaper, junior leader, captain of varsity basketball, a lot of community service.
Major: International relations (from Israel with mostly Brazilian family)
White and hispanic female with no legacy or other hooks
Applying to top tier schools (ivy, top liberal arts)
COLLEGE LIST:
Reach: (8)
Brown
Harvard
Tufts
Bowdoin
Wesleyan
Middlebury
Williams- 2 hrs 45 mins
Cornell- 5 hrs
Match: (7)
Northeastern
Brandeis
BU
BC
Babson
Colby College
Skidmore-
Safety: (2)
Simmons-
Bentley
What schools will I probably get into on this list?
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You have a 1400 M+CR. The W score really doesn’t mean much.
Why are you telling me about my W score? A little off topic…
I have fee waivers and want to apply to all of these schools to see where I would get in and if any give me full merit. I do not think I will be able to afford them.
Because it appears that you’re going to be needing huge merit. Most schools base that on the M+CR. A 1400 i about equivalent to an ACT 32.
Can you please answer the other questions so we can help you?
A number of your schools don’t give ANY merit at all.
Hopefully someone can help you.
How do upper-middle class students get fee waivers?
http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/ indicates that your 3.88GPA and 1400/2190 SAT scores will get you full rides at:
Troy
Tuskegee
Alabama State
Arkansas - Monticello
Howard
Florida A&M
Louisiana Tech
North Carolina Central
Prairie View A&M
You say you won’t qualify for need based aid? Why is this? Because income is too high? If so, you have some issues with this list.
Are you an international student? I’m asking because that does have an impact on need based as well as merit aid at some schools. You say you are Israeli and Brazilian or something like that. Does this mean you are a citizen of either of these countries? Are you a U.S. citizen?
None of your reach schools give merit aid. They all cost more than $50,000 a year.
Some of these schools do give limited merit aid…but it is to the very top applicants. BC does not give merit aid at all.
You might get merit aid at these two schools, but it’s not going to be a full ride.
I’ll stick my neck out…with 1400 CR/math on the SAT, I don’t think any of these schools,will give you “full merit”. And as I said…your reach schools and BC don’t give merit aid…at…all.
How much can your parents pay annually? That is your budget.
Re: fee waivers…unless you are low income…how did you get these? In addition, I thought they were limited in number. I don’t think you can get 18 fee waivers.
And lastly…if you are counting on the Brazilian to be your Hispanic…don’t. My understanding is brazilians are not Hispanic.
Nobody can tell you if you can get full merit without your stats. If your family is “upper middle class” you can’t afford colleges that only give need based aid because they don’t care that your parents won’t pay their EFC, so the first thing you need to do is remove every school that doesn’t give merit aid from your list.
What you have to do if your parents won’t pay is settle for a school you can afford. YOU can get a federal student loan (~$5500/year). The rest would have to be paid for with work earnings and/or merit. Your CR + M scores (many colleges don’t count W) are high enough to qualify for merit at several schools not on your current list (see post #10). I don’t know how an upper middle class family qualifies for fee waivers, but I wouldn’t waste them at schools you can’t afford. Run the Net Price Calculators for each school you’re interested in and only apply to schools you can reasonably afford. Make sure to have a couple of safeties on your list (schools that will admit you, that you can afford, and would be happy to attend). I suggest looking through the schools on post #10 and finding things about them that you like.
We are not trying to be nosy or play detective, but rather trying to understand the situation because what steps are recommended can change depending on the answers. It can be as drastic as looking into all the rules that can separate you from your parents financially, and that might mean taking a year off and working and living elsewhere, as well as engaging a lawyer that is willing to do this pro bono or cheaply. If you can find a friendly voice within one of the FA offices of a school in which you are especially interested, they might have some great insight as well.
My own guess? It would depend on the judge of course, but in this day and age and given that you will be 18, I would think a court might be able to intervene and help you create that separation from your parents (again, I mean financially, where they don’t claim you as a dependent). Now of course this most likely would have personal consequences. But it all starts with why your parents are suddenly (we assume suddenly) telling you they will not pay for college at all. Everything else is getting too far ahead. Why are they saying this to you? What’s some background?
The [FAFSA website](https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/fafsa/filling-out/dependency) is pretty clear about who can be considered independent from their parents for financial aid purposes. @Kelsmom will have a better idea about exceptions because she works (or used to work) in financial aid, but I believe they have to have been emacipated before they turned 18, have spent time in foster care, be homeless or in danger of being so, be married, have children they provide most of the support for, or be a US veteran. I don’t believe parents can just decide that they aren’t going to pay and expect the government/Pell grant and/or schools to pick up the cost. If they could, many, many people would do it.
@fallenchemist is right. We’re not trying to “play detective.” We’re trying to figure out the situation so as to give the best answers.
For awhile now, you’ve been looking at top schools. Presumably, during these several months, they’ve known that you’ve been looking at elite and other top schools. So, maybe it sounds like something has happened and suddenly they’re telling you, “we’re not paying for college”…or maybe they’re saying, “we’re not paying for a $60k college, but you can commute to the local UMass and we’ll pay for that.”??
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Safety: (2)
Simmons-
Bentley
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A school can only be a safety if:
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You know that you’ll be admitted
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You know FOR SURE that you have ALL costs covered thru: ASSURED merit, assured grants, and family funds…and maybe a small 5500 student loan.
If you don’t have all of the costs covered for those two schools, then they aren’t safeties.
Also even if the student lived separate from her parents, how would she support herself?
Can you live at home and start with an Associates Degree while working and saving for college?
how many credits have you accumulated in HS that can trim time off the AA?
With this student’s stats, she needs to be looking at schools that will give her near-free rides. If she starts at a CC, she may find herself stuck having no way to fund jr and sr years. The big merit offers are for incoming frosh.
I had a friend learn that the hard way when she encouraged her kids to go to a CC first “to save money”. Turns out they would have saved more money if they had used their stats to get “big money” for all 4 years.
I think this student is “on the wrong track” because she doesn’t understand how merit works and that many top schools either don’t give merit, or wouldn’t give it to her.
I wish she’d come back with more info. Are her parents saying, “no money” to any and all choices? Or are they really just saying, “no” to paying for pricey privates?
“So basically, I’m upper middle class and will not qualify for any financial aid. My parents don’t want to pay for me to go to college though, and I don’t want to take out a lot of loans.”
Here’s the issue= your parents don’t want to, and unfortunately for you, they don’t have to pay for your college expenses. There is no law that obligates them to pay for anything so you are stuck having to figure out something.
If they won’t be paying anything, those loans are going to come into play.
You need to look at a community college and working for your living expenses and books.
Lower your expectations, and apply to schools that “like” your stats enough to give you merit money
The financial discussion should have been an ongoing issue during your high school years. Your parents may be upper middle class but, may be over-extended on their expenses. (A lot of my neighbors are in this position). They are not obligated in any way to pay for anything. If they didn’t save for your college expenses, all of you are stuck.