<p>My parents make a bit over $200k annually, but my they just finished putting my sister through a UC and having to pay for all of it. The thing is, a lot of their income goes into maintaining their small business, which employees about 10 other people. We also live in an area of southern California with a higher cost of living than the majority of the nation, so there's that to consider too. We live fairly modestly in a pretty standard neighborhood and they have 10 year old cars, but the cost of living is just really high here. They've also been paying for my high school tuition at a private school, which they've struggled to do. I know a lot of you will jump to say that we can't qualify, but I want to really know if there's any chance for me? And if it makes a difference, 3.1 UW, 2050 SAT, few EC's, 3 AP's and 2 honors, and I want to do mechanical eng. And it probably means nothing but I'm Sri Lankan. Auburn is the dream.</p>
<p>You will be paying full price at Auburn as an out if state student. Auburn will NOT give your family a penny of need based aid, it’s just not going to happen. So don’t get your hopes up. $200,000 is almost four times the average annual salary in this country, </p>
<p>As you know, it’s a choice to send you to private school. A college like Auburn won’t consider that AT ALL. PLUS, your parents won’t have that expense when you enroll in college.</p>
<p>You should already be aware of your chances for need based aid. Your sister went to college already…did she apply for need based aid? If so, her outcome will likely be similar to yours…no need based aid…right?</p>
<p>What is your CR and Math breakdown? That could help you get a merit scholarship, although many require a higher GPA than what you have.</p>
<p>One more thing…you say you are Sri Lankan. Are you a U.S. Citizen?</p>
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<p>The above is from another one of the threads you started today. You have a bunch of OOS publics and some expensive privates. If money is an issue, you might want to modify that list to meet the price point your parents set…what IS that price point? </p>
<p>ETA…none of these schools is going to give you NEED based aid with a $200,000 family income.</p>
<p>You might qualify for a guaranteed merit award at Mississippi. </p>
<p>tl;dr no, not likely</p>
<p>You are a CA student with OOS public ambitions–so, you are worried about affordability yet looking at forgoing your instate price break and paying OOS public rate–not a great scenario. You have to pay 17,000 extra per year bringing the total COA of 46,000 a year. A CSU will be half that.</p>
<p>First, you will not be eligible for federal Pell grant based on income. Assuming you are a US Citizen or permanent resident you are eligible for a student loan of 5,500 freshman year and a bit more each year after.</p>
<p>It is difficult to tell ‘need’ when a family owns a business–I don’t know if you mean that 200k is AGI or what. But just based on FAFSA for FAFSA only schools like cal state schools (and UC) your parents should have an idea from filing for your sister. </p>
<p>If you were eligible for any need based aid instate, then you would have got something for your sister’s education, like a Cal Grant and/or University grant. UCs are generous when the student has ‘need’ as far as FAFSA EFC goes. So just guessing from that it seems unlikely you will get any need based aid anywhere. Also OOS public schools may not even give any aid beyond federal pell and loans to OOS students, they often don’t even meet need for instate students. Usually the price is just the price and if you are short you borrow it if you want to go there. So it is possible you would just get a 5,500 loan from Auburn. You could check the Net Price Calculator on the website.</p>
<p>So choices, like what they pay for sibling college and choosing private school for you doesn’t figure into aid. and those aren’t even current expenses!! It seems like they will have that money freed up if your sister is no longer in college and they no longer have the expense of your private school, right? Also cost of living isn’t really part of calculations. </p>
<p>Be sure to apply to a wide range of Cal States so you have some choices. Also you can look at the thread pinned at the top of the forum and see if you qualify for some of the free tuition full or half scholarships at some of the OOS colleges. Maybe you do for at least one if not a couple. What is your M+CR score only?</p>
<p>FYI…with business owners, the net price calculators are NOT accurate.</p>
<p>Auburn won’t give you ONE CENT of aid besides a student loan. Not only because of the income, which gives you an EFC that is too high, but also because you are OOS. So even with a lower EFC you wouldn’t get any aid besides a loan.</p>
<p>If you don’t believe us, run the NPC on the school’s website. Your GPA isn’t even high enough for some merit awards. </p>
<p>FYI…your EFC is going to be at least $60,000 per year. Auburn costs about $43k for an OOS student. You won’t even qualify for a subsidized loan. All you would get is a $5,500 unsub loan.</p>
<p>If your parents struggle to pay for your private high school tuition, how much would they be willing to pay for college?? How much is your high school??</p>
<p>Are you saying that your parents’ business grosses $200k+ per year, but out of THAT income they are paying 10 employees? That doesn’t sound right. If they were, they wouldn’t have been able to pay for your sis’ UC and your private HS tuition…and all of your family’s living expenses. </p>
<p>If that $200k+ income is not paying for those employees, then mentioning that is completely irrelevant.</p>
<p>You said that your parents paid all of your sis’ UC costs. Well, if they didnt’ get aid from an instate UC, why the heck would you think an OOS public would give you aid???</p>
<p>The net price calculator is NOT going to be accurate for this student. Parents own a business and are self employed.</p>
<p>^^^</p>
<p>auburn is a FAFSA only school, so if he puts his parents’ AGI in there, that should be accurate. Even if the parents have lots of deductions that bring down the AGI and resulting EFC, Auburn isn’t going to care. It doesn’t give need-based grants (other than Pell to low income) to OOS students. </p>
<p>Broaden your search. You are in CA which hosts many affordable public schools with good mechanical engineering programs. With your current GPA and eyes on a difficult to get into major, I’d make sure to add some to your application list. Cal Poly, San Diego State both have good mechanical engineering programs. Both might be tricky with the GPA but there are other CSU’s with low tuition. The UC’s will be tricky too but you might look at UC Riverside.</p>
<p>Things may not be as bad as you think. Have you talked to your parents? I mean really talked to them about what your college budget is? When your sister was in college they were paying her tuition AND your HS tuition correct? At least the sister is done and whatever they are paying for private school for you can switch to your college payments. That should be some relief particularly if the funds were coming out of savings or paychecks (as opposed to loans.) </p>
<p>I think you will have trouble getting any financial aid in your bracket. The merit opportunities we saw all had a minimum of 3.5uw (that doesn’t mean there isn’t any merit for a 3.1… only that we didn’t come across any personally.) Finding less expensive schools really does seem the best option.</p>
<p>I don’t think they can afford more than 35k a year, and that’s really pushing it. We didn’t really know much about applying for aid when she went to school, so she later got an unsub loan. And their gross personal income is 200 but even after that, a good chunk of it goes towards keeping the business going.</p>
<p>And I was born in the US</p>
<p>If your parents can pay $35,000 a year for your college, you have a number of instate public universities that you can consider IN California.</p>
<p>Also, look at the pinned thread above for colleges that cost <$25,000. </p>
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<p>that means that your sister had NO NEED. If she had had any need, she would have gotten a sub loan, too.</p>
<p>You need to apply to your UCs and CSUs (including the Cal Polys). However, your GPA will be an issue.</p>
<p>It’s tough being an upper-middle class kid looking at colleges. Until now, probably very little has been refused to you as being too expensive. </p>
<p>As Thumper pointed out, there are plenty of colleges that ARE affordable; you will have to lower your expectations. Especially since your GPA isn’t going to earn you much merit money, and even admissions to the higher tier schools will be tough with that GPA.</p>
<p>There are many, many students who have to struggle to afford those schools, so consider yourself fortunate, go to a CA school or cheaper private or OOS school, and work as hard as you can.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>My husband and I together make just over $200K and both my son’s were not offered any type of FA for California schools. We are full pay for 1 UC and 1 CalState. As mom2collegekids pointed out you really need to stay in-state and apply to the UC’s and CSU’s. You need to calculate your UC/CSU GPA: <a href=“Cal State Apply | CSU”>Cal State Apply | CSU;
and then figure out what schools are a match based on your GPA/Test Scores. You should consider UCSC/UCR, CSULB, CSUF and maybe SJSU. Your GPA will be a problem since you are below average for the majority of UC’s and competitive Cal States.
Good Luck.</p>
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<p>A student with this situation could run a “worst case” NPC test by adding back all business or self-employment related deductions to the income.</p>
<p>However, there is no point worrying about Auburn’s NPC results, since Auburn gives $0 need-based financial aid (other than passing along federal Pell grants for those who qualify) even for the poorest Alabama residents. The only aid given would be merit scholarships, which seem unlikely with the stats given.</p>
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<p>All UCs at in-state list price fall under that price. All CSUs at in-state list price comfortably fall under that price.</p>
<p>Auburn at out-of-state list price is about $41,000, while its cross-state rival Alabama is about $38,000; these could be (barely) in reach if your parents do pay $35,000 per year and you then take a federal direct loan.</p>
<p>Lower cost out-of-state schools with engineering include South Dakota Mines, New Mexico Mines, Minnesota, North Carolina State, Stony Brook.</p>
<p>You may get an automatic (but first come first served) full tuition scholarship at Howard with your stats. If your SAT CR+M >= 1400 or ACT >= 32, you can get a full ride from Louisiana Tech. See <a href=“http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/”>http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/</a> .</p>
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It’s still not clear what their Adjusted Gross Income is on their 1040, however, if all your sister got was an unsub loan, then it must be pretty significant.</p>
<p>Our limit for our kids in terms of our contribution was $35K a year, and they had some nice choices at that range, even without sterling apps. Most of the OOS schools are doable at that range especially if the student has some money saved, worked summers, is willing to work a bit during the school year, take out some Direct Loan. With a little merit sugar, some privates are possible too. My college son had choices from all types of schools. There were some that were full price $60K+ that offered not a dime in scholarship which he just took off the table. With $5K a year from his savings, $5K work commit merit, $5K loan, that put him still $10K short which we might have been able to work out something if there was truly an outstanding reason to do so, but he did not feel there was, and there were too many other good choices for a lot less. A lower sticker price with a little sweetness in merit money and just a touch of outside scholarship, made him feel wonderful with his choice and it was well within affordablilty. Didn’t even have to go into savings–bought a car with it. Even with some things that came up, opportunities as well as set backs, the school he picked was affordable, as it should be without hitting us up for more.</p>