<p>I used a number of calculators online and it seems that I will most certainly have an EFC of zero. I'm an Asian, permanent resident as of March 2010. So far I've applied to UMinn-Twin Cities, Rowan U, U of Rochester and Penn State(I live in PA right now) but I was wondering if there are financial safeties there that I could apply to. I'm planning to go for Chemical Engineering. My Stats</p>
<p>SAT: 690 M, 560 CR, 600 W ( I retook it this December and I'm hoping to get 1300/1900 +)</p>
<p>GPA: UW 3.75 junior W 4.5</p>
<p>ECs:
-Head of Student Government in 10th grade.
-Student's Quality Circle International Convention Participant (also got consolation prize 4th position)
-Some awards from Essay competitions, Oratory/Speech Competitions
-Member of Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) as a senior</p>
<p>AP classes in senior year: AP US History I, AP Calculus AB, AP Biology, AP English Lit. </p>
<p>I would be more than glad to go to any university that is willing to provide me enough scholarships/grants so that I could graduate without taking out a lot of private loans. Community colleges are not on my list. I'm not sure but I expect I might get $5500 Pell grant and $5500 from Federal loans. So are there colleges where scholarships/grants and work-study could cover the rest of the costs. Even if the college itself is not willing to arrange for work study couldn't I work on my own and cover the cost for housing ? I know Chem E is a difficult major but so far in high school I've had the best grades in Chemistry and Calculus (100 in both ) and I just love these subjects so I'm willing to go pretty far to study ChemE. I'm thinking about going to grad school for ChemE related subjects like nanotech, material science, polymers or petroleum but I'm definitely willing to wait 2-4 years after undergrad to go to grad school. As a last resort I can arrange for a co-signer to get private loans but that is my last resort.</p>
<p>Financial safeties can be the hardest to find for those who have a 0 EFC, live in a state that doesnt’ give generous state grants, and have good, but not top scores. </p>
<p>Your financial safeties could be…</p>
<p>a state school that you could commute to. Which state school is close to you?</p>
<p>a state school that has a low COA that gives merit to combine with your Pell and student loans.</p>
<p>a school that will give you merit. Right now, you have a 1250 M+CR SAT. Hopefully someone can suggest a school that would give you full tuition scholarship for that score (or will accept a later test score for merit). I’m thinking that if you could get your M+CR up to about 1360 or so, Miss St would give you free tuition. then you could use Pell, fed loans, and maybe some summer earnings to cover the rest.</p>
<p>Plus I am willing to take $20,000 in private/institutional loans with the help of a co-signer. I checked out Rowan U’s scholarships and I might be able to cover the tuition with federal grants, institutional grants and federal loans. I just might qualify for their merit scholarships but chances for merit based are very slim. I was thinking about Poly tech of NYU, heard they give good grants ? What about Bucknell (reach) or Gettysburg (reach) ? I could commute to Penn State Mont Alto which is 20 mins drive from my house.</p>
<p>Plus I am willing to take $20,000 in private/institutional loans with the help of a co-signer</p>
<p>Uhhh…do you mean $20k per YEAR? $80k total? That is such a BAD idea. NO SCHOOL is worth $80k in undergrad debt. </p>
<p>You should not have more than $30 - 35k in debt total when you graduate (and that includes federal loans).</p>
<p>Besides, your co-signer might qualify the first year or two, but then no longer be able to qualify for years 3 and 4. That is tooooooo much debt.</p>
<p>Well I actually meant $20,000 per co-signer, I have two so $40000 but $20000 in total ( $10000 from each co-signer) is 100% sure but the other 20k is something they will probably willing to do but I haven’t asked them yet.
Anyways I’m saying that I’ll only take out private loans to cover all other things that I won’t be able to with federal help. $5500 in pell grant and $5500 in loans so I can expect $10000-12000 per year. If that can cover my tuition costs then can’t other loans cover the rest ? I’m pretty sure it won’t require $40K. I’m willing to work so wouldn’t I be able to cover extra expenses to some extent ?</p>
<p>But will $11K cover your tuition costs at Penn State? I was under the impression that it was closer to $14-15K for instate students. Would it be possible for you to start your degree at Mont Alto and transfer to UP? It appears that you would be in the top 5% and might receive merit scholarships at Mont Alto so that would reduce your overall debt load considerably. At the least, it would be good to have a financial backup plan.</p>
<p>Achilles,
You are in PA right? Didn’t your guidance counselor tell you about PHEAA grants? You can check this chart for a guide on how much you may be eligible for in grants from the state of PA. I think you need to stay in state to use these grants but search further on the site. There may be other opportunities specific to your location/high school. The guidance department should have information for you. Good luck. </p>
<p>Ok so according to PHEAA I might be able to get around 3500 in grants. So that makes up 13500-15500 in total amount from federal grants, federal loans and state grants. I guess that would be enough for me to attend Penn State Main Campus. I’m definitely not very willing to go to Mont Alto (only if it’s the last resort) but I guess I could commute there for a year or so. The thing is, as arrogant as it may sound, I would consider myself better than average student. Most students who attend Mont Alto who are from my school are really dumb and I can’t tolerate that. However, I’ve already applied to both Mont Alto and Main Campus. But I want other financial safeties. One other thing is that since I’m going for an engineering major should I be comfortable in taking $40-50K total in loans(including federal loans) if I go to a college like Penn State or UMinn where engineering graduates are very likely to get good jobs?</p>
<p>First, most of the time, kids get merit scholarships at schools where their grades and test scores ARE above average. So the average kid from your high school who attends Mount Alto will probably have to pay more than you for the same class. </p>
<p>And no, it’s not a good idea for you to take out a bunch of private loans on the hopes that you will get a good-paying job. What if the economy tanks? (Oh wait, it already did.) What if you get sick senior year and can’t finish? What if you HATE the major? Try to minimize debt, really.</p>
<p>^^Good points but Mont Alto is one of those “I really hate to go” type financial safeties. I’ve heard that taking out $30K in student loans is very common so I thought taking out some private/institutional loans wouldn’t be bad.</p>
<p>Since many young adults are super struggling as they try to pay back their student loans, I wouldn’t be looking at what “most” students did as my guideline. That’s like following lemmings over a cliff.</p>
<p>Do you live close enough to commute to the main campus? If not, I don’t think $15K is going to cover tuition, fees, room, and board, is it?</p>
<p>Does Mont Alto offer an honors program? In our state, the so-called “lesser” SUNYs often accept a number of kids with lower stats but also have good honors programs (and scholarships) that they use to attract more serious students. In fact, since you’re in PA, you may want to research some of the SUNYs as tuition is a bit over $13K (plus fees, which can run 1-2K more) and they tend to award higher scholarships to OOS kids…just a thought. If interested, you can see all the campus info and search for academic programs at suny.edu. I’d llok at Brockport, Oswego, Cortland, and the other colleges for the best scholarships for your stats (as opposed to the universities).</p>
<p>Accumulating around $30K in loans over 4 years is fairly common…but those are usually federal loans and, with a low EFC, a high percentage of them will be subsidized so the interest won’t start accruing until after the student graduates or drops below half-time. If a student takes the maximum Stafford loans each year and graduates in 4 years (which is definitely not a given these days!), he will have $27K in federal loan debt. Federal loans have a variety of repayment options, unlike private loans, including income-based repayment. Private loan rates are often variable and interest starts accruing immediately. You’ll also want to be careful how much debt you’re taking on in the first few years as it’s possible to run out of funds and wind up with large debt and no degree at all! Finaid.org has a variety of loan calculators online.</p>
<p>Also doesn’t PA state have a program where you spend two years at your local Penn State campus and then you can transfer to main campus in your junior year? You might look into doing that; it will save you a lot of money.</p>
<p>I recommend also applying to U. Pittsburgh. They have strong engineering programs and often provide more merit and need based aid than Penn State.</p>
<p>The Penn State branch campuses are certainly good options. The classes are much smaller than main campus, and you can move to the main campus later with an established group of friends that you make at the branch campus.</p>
<p>I would not recommend paying out of state tuiton to another state school for engineering when you have two great in-state colleges for engineering (Penn State and Pitt).</p>
<p>Also consider IUP – Indiana University of PA. It has a joint program with Pitt – you do 2 years at IUP paying the lower tuition and then transfer to Pitt. I believe IUP also has an agreement with Drexel. You may want to apply for Robert E. Cook honors at IUP. Cook Honors stats seem to fluctuate a bit from year to year, so it is difficult to tell your chances of getting into the program.</p>
<p>Penn State is horrible with FA/merit. The COA at main campus is $25,000-$26,000/year. Commuting to a Penn State satellite for 2 years and then transferring is a very good option.</p>
<p>Rowan is difficult - the education cuts in NJ may not be done. Mr. Rowan is a very generous man! If you can get a scholarship GREAT! But anticipate the tuition costs to increase each year while the scholarship may not.</p>
<p>The IUP-Pitt transfer agreement, I believe, involves three years at IUP and two at Pitt (plus possibly an additional summer) for a total of 5 to 5.5 years depending on prerequisites taken. It may not be more economical to go to IUP vs just going to Pitt, considering the extra year. It is definitely something that should be checked on.</p>
<p>I think you mean unless the net cost for the OOS school is lower than his instate options, right? With tuition/fees in the neighborhood of $15K for instate, PA schools are not necessarily going to offer his lowest cost options! In addition to gaining acceptance at a better school than his local option, he may have actually have a much better chance at securing scholarships by going OOS and that, combined with low OOS rates, may more outweigh the loss of the relatively low PA state grants.</p>