Hello all, I have some questions about your experiences getting need aid. I have discovered that my EFC will most likely be 0 due to my parent’s sole income being Social Security Survivor’s benefits. Her tax return was about $3000 because of selling a house in 2015 that was counted as income. Knowing this, I was wondering how much to realistically expect from schools that will give need aid? I’m still shaky on the process of this, so I apologize in advance. I know that I have to create a CSS profile for private schools. Of course, I will still apply to cheap in state schools if in fact, the EFC is not 0. If any of you had a very low EFC and applied to schools with hefty need aid, please tell me where the schools were.
I live in Ohio, would prefer to stay in state but if out of state is affordable I will go.
I have about a 3.9 GPA, probably within the top 5% of my class. I got a 30 on this month’s ACT. Major will be Mechanical Engineering, entering Fall 2017. Thank you for any help you can provide. I am a first generation college student who is kind of lost and my mother is unable to provide guidance or advice.
“Meeting need” means that you have a way to go to college - but it usually still means work and debt. Some colleges will still stuff your aid package with subsidized federal loans plus Perkins loans and a work-study job responsibility as well.
The Debt-by-Degrees website will let you look up a college and see how much debt low-income students have at graduation.
https://projects.propublica.org/colleges/
Another place to get a read on financial aid is bigfuture.collegeboard.org
Look up a school, then in the left column click “paying” and in the pink menu across the top click “financial aid by the numbers”
There will be a pie chart at the top of the screen - the green is percentage of the average financial aid offer that is “free money” and blue is the percentage of loans and jobs. You want as much green in the pie chart as possible.
Then to the right of the pie chart is percentage of need met. You want the percentage to be as close to 100% as possible.
Have you looked at the public universities in Ohio other than Ohio State? I don’t know which schools offere mechanical engineering…but schools like Bowling Green, Cleveland State, or Kent, might offer you some merit aid.
If your EFC is $0, you will get a $5800 or so Pell Grant. You will also be able to take out a $5500 Direct Loan for freshman year.
Does Ohio have any grant aid for low income students? Check and find out.
Is there a four year university within commuting distance of your home? The Pell and Direct Loan would come close to paying full tuition at a public university if you can commute.
Questbridge might have been an option but I think it may be too late to apply.
Hmmm… I did a little searching and had a hard time with generous mechanical engineering schools in Ohio, so I tried nearby states.
The most promising one for aid seemed to be Lafayette in Pennsylvania. An ACT of 30 seems to be in the admissible range there as well.
Good luck!
@AroundHere
I suggested looking at some of the less popular instate public universities in Ohio…because they are less costly to begin with.
Lafayette is a terrific college…but the cost to attend is probably three times what instate costs are at Bowlong Green or Kent (if they offer mechanical engineering). I can’t imagine a 30 ACT score would net enough merit aid to get the costs down to equal to instate rates in OH.
This is not a merit aid student - this is a need-based student. Lafayette is a meets-full-need college. None of the OH public campuses meet full need.
According to Pro Publica: Low income students paid on average 9747 at Layfayette and 13089 at Wright State (which has Mechanical Engineering). Lafayette also has a much better graduation rate.
I searched on Mechanical Engineering. Kent and Bowling Green have “engineering technology” options instead so they didn’t come up. I just checked those and got numbers slightly worse than Wright state though.
Then yes…the OP should apply to Lafayette…and also retake the ACT. A higher score would be a lot better.
Thank you all for the replies, I will mull it over.