<p>I don’t think money is going to be what changes her parents’ minds. Probable cost of this school isn’t very high (under $20K/year). Not that the OP can pay that herself… OP, do you have the stats for any automatic scholarships at other schools? Full merit scholarships may be the only way to get out of this situation.</p>
<p>The cost is about $22k. </p>
<p>I do think money will change the parents’ minds once they hear from the school that they aren’t going to be providing most of the money. The parents are likely naive about aid and assume that the school is going to provide…or they are naive about student loans and think their D can borrow all the costs. </p>
<p>If the student doesn’t at least try to get her parents to the school and FA office, and instead she just applies, submits FA paperwork, then come spring when the aid isn’t adequate, the parents will likely just mumble something like, “well, we thought you’d get more…uh, sorry.” what then? I think the time to act is now…run the NPC, print out the results, and discuss those results with FA office. I think once these parents hear that THEY would have to take out loans or co-sign loans, they will cross that school off their list.</p>
<p>This school only meets need for 16% of its students. Those are likely students who have high EFCs and so a $5500 loan met their need. </p>
<p>The automatic scholarship with the least residual CoA for 27 act would be University of Arkansas-Monticello</p>
<p>Award: Full Tuition+Room
Residual COA: $7,120/year
Requirements: 3.0 GPA, 27 ACT</p>
<p>7.1k would have to be made up per year. </p>
<p>OP can you retake ACT?</p>
<p>I went to the SS office this past summer to get a replacement card for my S. I had to bring two forms of ID, one of which was his school ID card. The other was a birth certificate, but a baptismal certificate or another ID that has name, DOB, and birthplace would work. If you have a passport, that would work, too. The SS office will NOT give you the card on the spot. It gets mailed to your home address within 2 weeks. </p>
<p>Also, public schools stopped using SSN’s 12 or 13 years ago. You may be right on the cusp of that change and the school may have your SSN, but not it’s unlikely unless you are attending a private school. They nay have it. Maybe where you live your SSN is still in your file, but where I’m from, they were removed and blacked out on all documents. SSN’s used to be the student ID numbers years ago. </p>
<p>I agree that you should play along and possibly even go to the college your parents are willing to pay for. Would they expect you to get a degree in Elementary Education? Once you graduate, you can apply for law school on your own without their help. Otherwise you would have to work for a few years after graduating from HS until you have money saved and can take out student loans on your own.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>You may want to take the SAT and retry the ACT for more scholarship opportunities.</p>
<p>There are a few full rides listed at <a href=“http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/”>http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/</a> that you can get now (Prairie View A&M, Alabama State), but higher test scores will open up more possibilities. See also <a href=“Competitive Full Tuition / Full Ride Scholarships - #50 by BobWallace - Financial Aid and Scholarships - College Confidential Forums”>Competitive Full Tuition / Full Ride Scholarships - #50 by BobWallace - Financial Aid and Scholarships - College Confidential Forums; for competitive full ride scholarships to apply for.</p>
<p>Law school admission does not require any specific major. High college GPA and LSAT score are most important.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.lutherancolleges.org/”>http://www.lutherancolleges.org/</a> lists Lutheran colleges. Would any Lutheran college be acceptable to your parents? Would majoring in history or philosophy be acceptable to them? (Note that history leaves open the possibility of getting a teaching credential to teach high school history.)</p>
<p>Are your parents saying that they will pay the full cost of attendance for you to attend MLC, but will not pay anything for any other school? </p>
<p>Is the expected full cost of attendance significantly less at MLC than it would be at other schools, or do they simply feel strongly that they only want to contribute for you to study at MLC (or maybe another similar school)?</p>
<p>Martin Luther College has a limited selection of majors listed at <a href=“Majors – Admissions”>http://www.mlc-wels.edu/admissions/admissions/majors</a> . Its net price calculator at <a href=“http://www.mlc-wels.edu/financial-aid/net-price-calculator”>http://www.mlc-wels.edu/financial-aid/net-price-calculator</a> indicates a list price of $21,560. For $60,000 to $69,999 parental income, the estimated grant aid (including government aid) is $3,354, for a net price of $18,206.</p>
<br>
<br>
<p>Those are the same figures I got as well.</p>
<p>@KatMT
I don’t think the parents are paying much/anything towards their “parent pick”. I think that they know that since they are NOT paying, that their ONLY leverage to get her to go to school there is by withholding SSNs and other FAFSA info. Other parents use PAYMENT to control. These parents aren’t paying, so they are using INFO to control. </p>
<p>Again, it sounds to me that the parents are naive about the FA that she would get at MLC. That is why that thinking needs to be exposed as being wrong=headed while the D has time to apply elsewhere. Otherwise, spring is going to roll around, and she will not have any affordable schools. </p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Withholding a social security number strikes me as terribly controlling and unhealthy. In a whole different ballpark from parents who are refusing to pay for a certain school. I mean, if it’s their money it’s their right to spend as they see fit, but the social security number belongs to the OP. If I were the OP, I’d start developing a long term plan that included moving far away from these control freaks.</p>
<p>mom2collegekids has a good suggestion for OP. Right now get an estimate, tour, and even interview with the school the parents want and show them that you won’t be able to attend it without them paying.
I suggest doing it as if you are just meekly trying to follow their path and try to act as if you want to go there.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>You have not looked at the website for this college. If it were me, I would delay starting college for several years until I qualified for aid before I would attend that school with majors I wasn’t interested in for a career I didn’t want.</p>
<p>OP, I honestly think you have very narrow choices:</p>
<ul>
<li>Go someplace where your stats get you close to full tuition (see post above). If you can re-take the ACT again and get your scores up, do it. Forget all these name brand schools on your list. Your parents have a religious fervor for this career and school for you that is not likely to change regardless of pesky things like financial details.</li>
<li>You do need to get your SSN. You can call the social security office and see what you need to do to get the number.</li>
<li>Other option is simply to tell your parents you aren’t going to college. Move out, get a job, and work for a while. See if they come around (they may not). Maybe take classes at the local community college for your AA, and figure out a way to pay for your final 2 years in-state. To me, that would beat attending the school your parents are trying to force you into.</li>
</ul>
<p>^^^I agree with your choices, although I would include your parents’ college among them. </p>
<p>I might also refine the moving out plan. Move to a college town and live like a student and work at the college of your choice. You should be able to take a class or two each semester for free at most schools. If you do that around the year, you should be able to get your degree in 6 years or less. And if not, at 24, you’ll be eligible for independent FA status and can finish up more quickly. </p>
<p>Good luck. It’s hard to know if your parents are merely having a tantrum before they let you out into the world or if they really are bent on controlling your life choices. You may find they’ll come around without any major upheavals to your plan. </p>
<br>
<br>
<p>I agree…but this kid needs MORE than just her SSN. She needs her parents info to file FAFSA. Controlling parents who can’t control with money will choose other ways…these parents have decided that the SSN and FAFSA are their power.</p>
<p>@intparent </p>
<br>
<br>
<p>I don’t have to look at the website. The school is unaffordable and she will never go there. BUT, the parents have to have the facts of inadequate aid shoved into their faces by the SCHOOL (not the girl), so they will accept that this school isn’t happening and then other schools can be possibilities. This person isn’t going to want to delay college for 6 years. </p>
<p>She should retest (take both the ACT and SAT) to get higher scores and find some school that will give her mega-merit.</p>
<p>We’ve all met people like this girl’s parents. Stubborn and in denial, believing what they want to believe until they get knocked upside the head with the facts (like a FA pkg that is empty). My FIL was this way. Never believed anyone in his family when they would say something. He would be the type to insist on a school believing that a fab pkg was forthcoming…and then do an “oh well,” when it didn’t happen. However, if he had heard the truth from the entity itself (aid will be small), then he would have believed it. </p>
<p>I’m with intparent. This school only offers elementary/2ndary ed. as majors. Nothing else except seminary training. It isn’t a real college at all, just a trade school for future pastors and other religious workers. How did they settle on this school? It isn’t even in-state. Do they know of someone who sent a child there and got good aid?</p>
<p>If parent’s income is in the range OP says it is, parents likely don’t have much money to contribute to college even if they want to. Not likely the $15K+/yr that their favored school would run. Or are they living so frugally that they have a nest egg squirreled away? Any sibs younger or older?</p>
<p>If you could get ACT up to 30, there are schools like LATech that would be completely free. You just missed regular deadline to sign up for 10/25 test. Late fee is $24 extra. Do you have access to money to pay for a retest? Would you need some special rationale to give parents as to why you want to retake it?</p>
<p>If you are able to get ACT score up and get accepted to a school that gives a free ride or close to it (you have a way to pay app fee for other schools?) what do you think might happen? Would parents allow you to live at home the summer after senior year? Allow you to take things from home that you need for college? Help with transportation the initial trip with all your stuff? They can’t prevent you going, but they could throw a lot of obstacles in your way to make things difficult. You’ll need money for transportation and personal items, etc. You need to have a job at least during the summer, even for a free ride school. Once you are at school you can get a part-time job there, but need some money for initial costs.</p>
<p>If worst comes to worst, move out and work for a year, put off college but gain independence. Need a good ACT score before end of senior year to still be eligible for big scholarships at some schools a year after graduation. Check policies at individual schools as to when tests need to be take to count for scholarship eligibility. If you take college classes during that year after graduation, you lose eligilbility for most of those scholarships.</p>
<p>See, I think the parents WILL pony up some money in the end, but ONLY for this school they are so set on. </p>
<p>MLC is owned and operated by the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod, the most conservative Synod in the Lutheran church. It’s very conservative religiously. I have a feeling the parents won’t find any other Lutheran or other religiously affiliated school acceptable from what the OP has posted. This seems to be about controlling the ideas the OP will be exposed to in college and determining for the OP what constitutes a good Christian life. I too expect the parents would pay for this school, there may even be some aid from the local church for students who attend this school. I don’t think any “financial realities” are going to alter the parents view and get them to help pay for any other school. </p>
<p>I agree if the OP wants to “break free” from this controlling atmosphere, it’s going to have to involve moving out after graduation, working full-time, starting school part-time at a CC or local public 4 year and seeing where things go from there. It seems likely there will be no aid for any other school until the OP turns 24, gets married etc.</p>
<p>Lots of talk about just moving out - does the OP have a job? Any savings for security deposit and first month’s rent? I don’t think it will be easy to move out and get a likely minimum wage job and become self supporting. What about transportation? Health insurance? Food? She probably needs her SSN for the credit check before signing an apartment lease. Often even 18-year-olds need parents to co-sign an apartment lease. Does she live in a rural area? A high cost-of-living area? </p>
<p>^All good points. It won’t be easy, especially if she lives in a rural area and needs to move to a city to find work. But most anything would be preferable to attending that school her parents are pushing her to. There must be a way it is possible. OP are you in public high school? In a city with buses? Have you had a paying job, have any money?</p>
<p>OP, have you or your parents considered the other WELS affiliated college, Wisconsin Lutheran College? It has a broader array of typical LAC academic offerings. List price is more expensive than MLC but a quick run of the NPC using the info you have given and guessing at other entries indicates more aid may be possible and bring the net price down to around MLC’s cost. We still aren’t clear how much your parents would contribute if you attend an “approved” school.</p>
<p>Madison85, no one has said it would be easy. It would be very difficult yet there are lot of young people in this country who are forced out or out of choice strike out on there own right after high school graduation and manage and some manage to start slowly picking up more education after a while. She will be able to get her SSN by then. Given the restrictions placed by the parents it doesn’t seem there is much in the way of alternatives.</p>