<p>I wanted to apply to cornell ED, but the only issue is paying for college. Based on my family's current financial situation, I will receive no financial aid at all from cornell, and will not be able to get a student loan from FAFSA (this is what my dad told me). My family is not rich enough to pay the costs of cornell ($63k/year) comfortably, and I won't receive any help in paying for it. I will be able to get some scholarships (National Merit, scholarships from my dad's company), but those are not enough to put a significant dent in the cost. Is there any way at all to get some kind of financial aid? </p>
<p>You certainly should be able to get federal loans, but that is only a total of $27,000 for the whole four years. Your parents would have to fill out FAFSA for you to be eligible, too. I wonder if your dad has actually run the net price calculator for Cornell (as I feel like he is not giving you correct information on the FAFSA component). You might get some aid. Although if by your “dad’s company” you mean he owns a company, that can make those calculators off… but if you mean he works for a large corporation, that is an option. However, those scholarship aren’t usually very big, and often aren’t for all four years.</p>
<p>Has your dad said how much he will pay? You need to understand that from him to know what options are affordable, setting Cornell aside for the moment. A kid whose parents refuse to pay, but make enough that the college thinks they should isn’t going to find a way to earn or borrow (heaven forbid) enough to attend Cornell, honestly. You need to regroup and figure out what is affordable. Get a number from him, and come back with stats and that number to get suggestions. If they will pay close to the Cornell costs, there might be some choices. If he won’t pay at all or a much lower number, you need to rethink your college list.</p>
<p>My dad did use the financial aid calculator for Cornell, and my family’s estimated contribution exceeded the costs, so the projected financial aid from Cornell was 0. By my dad’s company, I meant the company he works at; the scholarship from the company will be rather minimal (~$2k). My dad is certainly willing and (I think) able to pay, it will just put a financial strain on my family, which is where the problem arises. I was wondering if there was any way in which my parents could pay for a portion of my costs, and I could get a student loan on the other portion? Or am I not able to get a large student loan at all because my families estimated contribution is high?</p>
<p>Students are limited in loan possibilities. You can look at <a href=“Need-Based and Non-Need-Based Loans | Financial Aid”>http://www.finaid.cornell.edu/types-aid/loans/federal-and-university-loans</a>, and see what you can get. Basically, without your parents getting involved, you can only take out $5500 in loans freshman year, with a little more each subsequent year on your own without financial need.</p>
<p>Your parents can borrow from PLUS. One parent applies, and if rejected you can borrow $5K more in student loans. </p>
<p>But that’s it. You can borrow the money from your parents, note and all, if you feel you want to be responsible for loan repayment. But the schools, banks, lenders aren’t going to take your signature and promise on its own. Maybe your parents will. If you are so willing to borrow, so sure you can repay and your parents can pay it, just with difficult, why don’t you just sign a note to pay back THEIR loan? If you or the parent dies, the PLUS is forgiven. Generous repayment terms, but interest rate is not good. Maybe your parents have better loan options, as they cannot be that hard up if they do not qualify for aid and you say they are able to pay your education, that it puts a financial strain on the family. It does for most of us to pay for college.</p>
<p>Otherwise, you need to start looking for colleges with merit money or low sticker prices. Maybe go to a local state school and commute. </p>
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Plain and simple: you can’t afford this school.</p>
<p>For you to borrow more than the $5500, you would need your parents to CO-SIGN those loans, which many parents will NOT do.</p>
<p>How much are you thinking of borrowing EACH year? $25k? more? less?</p>
<p>Do you realize that no undergrad should graduate with more than about $40k in debt (and even that is too much for many career goals).</p>
<p>There is NO major or career goal at Cornell that is worth a bunch of debt. NONE. </p>
<p>You can’t afford this school unless your parents pay for nearly ALL of it.</p>
<p>What is your major and career goal???</p>
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<p>Essays/Recs - I’m not the best writer but hopefully the essays will turn out ok. My recs will be good, not fantastic/amazing though.
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<p>You are a NMSF, you can get good merit elsewhere.</p>
<p>Ask your dad how much he can comfortably pay w/o too much pain.</p>
<p>Are you applying to schools like URoch?</p>
<p>Your dad ran the Cornell NPC with your family’s numbers, and it indicated full pay?</p>
<p>And then you say he would pay, but it would put a financial strain on the family?</p>
<p>Does that mean that he has to cut down to 2 expensive family vacations per year instead of 5? Do you really think the “financial strain” would be enough that you should not try to get in even?</p>
<p>Apply where you can, and then look at if they give you any packages. Then decide.</p>
<p>Note that if your dad is well-off enough to have an EFC above $60,000 per year, it is likely that he has a substantial 401k and equity on his house, and could take loans from each of those.</p>
<p>Find out what your parents are willing to pay. If you really want to ease the burden financially, apply where you will get merit aid.</p>
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<p>Because he can doesn’t mean he should. </p>
<p>OP, if your parents can’t, or won’t, pay for school you’re better off looking for schools that give merit. Look at the thread pinned to the top of the financial aid forum.</p>
<p>well I’m certainly not as rich as rhandco thought… lol. My dad did say that our EFC was higher than it should have been because of bad timing (I’m not exactly sure what he meant, but it was something related to having an abnormal W2 last year or something like that) and the fact that we have no debt (mortgage paid off last year, no college debt, etc.) and a lot of assets like a relatively high priced house. I talked to my dad, and he said that every year, we probably have around $20-30k left over. I don’t really know if that is a good amount to have left over ever year to pay for cornell but from my point of view I didn’t want to put that kind of strain on my family financially. My dad did say that it would be possible to take a home equity loan or take money out of life insurance, but I don’t really know what all that means. If it is bad for my parents financially to do that, I would certainly not apply to Cornell anymore, especially because my brother will be going to college in four years, right after I finish college. I certainly plan on applying to schools like UIUC, GT, etc., I was just concerned because I planned on applying ED to cornell, which would not leave me any chance to consider schools like those if I am accepted. </p>
<p>After I spoke to my dad, he said that if I truly wanted to go to Cornell, there would be a way to make it work. I am not completely aware of how much of a strain paying $63k/year will put on my family, I just wanted to find out ways that I could help out my parents or make them bear less of a burden in paying for college, I’m sorry if I’m being confusing or clueless because neither my parents nor I am well educated in this.That being said, I really appreciate all the comments and help. Thanks :)</p>
<p>Here’s what I would do…pick another college. Truly, that simple. You’re a smart kid…you’re going to do well no matter where you land…pick a decently ranked school…with majors / professors that appeal to you and apply to those schools. They will love you. You will love them. And your family (and you) will not have a terrible burden hanging over you. </p>
<p>UIUC and GT? Um…which one are you instate for…because your out of state costs to attend either will not be cheap.</p>
<p>Well I live in NJ…so neither. I will be applying to Rutgers, and I will most likely get the full scholarship there. I looked up the costs to attend at UIUC and GT and they are schools that my parents would likely be able to pay for relatively comfortably, at least in comparison to Cornell, plus I can get merit based scholarships hopefully. But yeah, even those schools are pretty expensive… it’s pretty depressing how costly it is to go to college.</p>
<p>If your family’s income was abnormal in 2014, what does your dad expect for income in each of the next three years? Financial aid is determined one year at a time. If he re-runs the calculator with what he expects his income to be next year, he’ll see if that changes the projected financial aid enough. </p>
<p>But either way, you need a list that includes some strong schools with good merit aid for someone with your stats.</p>
<p>If you have the stats to get into Cornell you can get at least a modest amount of merit aid at many other excellent colleges. Start by looking at schools that offer good aid to NM Scholars – for example U.S.C. (California) offers a 50% tuition scholarship worth about $21K a year – I’m sure there must be a thread on this board somewhere that list all the colleges with strong merit aid. I think Vandy is also known for strong merit aid. These are god schools and your parents are financially strong enough that they are going to be able to pay, but obviously if you can shave $20K a year off the costs with a merit award, that will ease their burden. </p>
<p>In any case, don’t apply ED to Cornell. If it really is a top choice for you, then keep it on your list for RD–but make the decision in the spring when you also have merit offers in hand. </p>
<p>What do you expect from private schools and room/board? If you had gone away to a private boarding school instead of going to a local public high school, it would have been expensive too. Cornell, along with the rest of the Ivy league schools are PRIVATE Schools (though Cornell has some state components for NYers). So you can go to a state school for just about free or very little, just like you went to your public high school. </p>
<p>There are some highly selective schools with merit awards that you might want to check out. <a href=“Colleges and Universities That Award Merit Aid - Graphic - NYTimes.com”>Colleges and Universities That Award Merit Aid - Graphic - NYTimes.com; gives you a start. Look and see what is available and how difficult to get at various schools, and what the amounts might be. </p>
<p>A friend of my son got into UMich as well as Brown. Brown costs about $63K+, U Mich, his second choice school cost $55K , but also offered a $10K merit scholarship. Now we are cooking here. With some belt tightening, working summers, taking out some student loans, this kid is happily at UMich and costing his parents $35K a year which is a load off their budgets. </p>
<p>Get a load of this: <a href=“Colleges and Universities - Education and Schools - Admissions and Testing - SAT - The New York Times”>Colleges and Universities - Education and Schools - Admissions and Testing - SAT - The New York Times; You don’t hear Maria Devlin crying about not getting to go to the top priced schools. She worked for merit money even as a top notch student who could say she deserved HPY with her hard work and accomplishments, but she knew what the situation was for her and dealt with it. By the way, she did end up at Harvard with some honorarium for graduate studies after graduating from UNC-CH as Morehead Scholar. Look her up. Her brother went to Emory for just about free. You did not hear them complaining about their lots in life. </p>