<p>My 2013 daughter is an average student - Bs, some As, she'll have average SATs, a few AP classes. She is not engaged in school activities other than one team sport which she'd like to play DIII, she does have a p/t job.</p>
<p>I am a single parent of this one child, earning a good good salary (150K) I live in an expensive metro area and I supported my disabled brother and his daughter for many years (he passed away 2 years ago and she is now 23 yrs. old) I haven't saved much for my daughter's education and I am very worried about how I pay for her education. </p>
<p>She would like to attend a smaller private college for nursing - $40-50K COA. Do colleges offer aid to students in our situation? We're far from poor, but I don't think I can swing more than $25K a year - CHOKE. </p>
<p>$100,000 is so much money, anything beyond that is out of our reach. Will she be offered any institutional aid? Thanks in advance for any advice you can offer, this is keeping me up at night.</p>
<p>If you choose carefully, even an average student can receive a merit scholarship at certain colleges. Some colleges post their SAT/GPA requirements for scholarships on their websites, so you would know even before applying what aid she is likely to receive. Some of the schools in the “Colleges That Change Lives” book fall in that category.</p>
<p>Don’t discount the possibility of loans either. The federal PLUS program is available to all comers, regardless of income. A loan of say, $5,000 per year, doesn’t seems too onerous for either you or your daughter to repay.</p>
<p>You need to get a feeling for what your D’s EFC is to start with. In general income is weighted more heavily than assets, and as far as I know colleges don’t really cut you any slack for living in an expensive part of the country. But it gives you an idea of what colleges will think you can afford. Recently colleges were also required to put a calculator on their website to help figure out the cost of attendance at the school. </p>
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<li><p>Note that many private schools also expect your D’s other parent (if living) to contribute to her education. And if the other parent has remarried, the spouse’s income and asset are also considered. I am a single mom as well, and realize that the other parent often won’t contribute, but the reality is that most private schools expect that they will… only if that other parent has been genuinely out of the kid’s life/no child support/not reachable will they consider waiving this. So… FAFSA-only schools might be a better choice to consider.</p></li>
<li><p>Some students are able to garner some merit money or other non-need based scholarships. For college based merit money, your D would need to look for a college that (1) offers merit money, and (2) where her statistics are near the top of the pool for that college. It can help if the school is not close to where you live (some schools want to boast of a geographically diverse population). Of course, then her travel expenses are higher, so something to consider.</p></li>
<li><p>She should seriously look at your state university system, and also any states where your state has reciprocity (so you would pay in state tuition at that state’s university as well). That would typically be within your price range, and you might be surprised at some of the options she would have. Spend more time looking at colleges you can afford and less time on reach/dream schools. She CAN find colleges she would like at a lower price, but it may take some searching.</p></li>
<li><p>Most parents out here would strongly advise AGAINST taking out more in loans than she would expect to make in her first year of working out of college. Be very careful if she takes out private loans (government loans generally have more protections). Avoiding loans is, of course, best. But difficult to accomplish if you don’t have any savings.</p></li>
<li><p>Don’t mortgage your house or use your house equity, or dip into your own retirement funds to cover this. If you can’t pay for a more expensive college without doing this or without going too deeply into debt, then don’t do it.</p></li>
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<p>Look into Hiram College in Ohio. It is a small liberal arts college in Ohio. It is one of the Colleges That Change Lives. There’s a chart on their website that shows the GPA and SAT/ACT for which there is merit aid available. Note that it states a GPA of xx OR a SAT/ACT score of xx, so a student does not need to meet both requirements. Also, they have a Tuition Guarantee, meaning that tuition will not increase for your student for the 4 years they attend.</p>
<p>It’s hard to say what financial grants she might receive, if any, and remember, a lot of colleges will award ‘financial aid’ but in the form of loans that need to be repaid. It’ll vary a lot with the particular college and even then the impact will vary since the college costs vary - i.e. a $10k award at one college might be 33% of the cost but at another college only 20% of the cost.</p>
<p>Go ahead and try but don’t pin everything on it and don’t forget about the possibility of grad school and how that would be paid for if she decides on grad school.</p>
<p>To be safe, make sure you investigate less expensive options as well including your state university options. She should apply to multiple and then choose the best option based on lots of criteria of which cost is one of them.</p>
<p>I agree that it is important to look at less expensive state options. With a field like nursing, often the state schools will have affiliations with hospitals. Look closely at the state schools, since many times the non-flagship schools will have stellar nursing programs.</p>
<p>If you live in an area with a strong community college, there might be a 2-year RN program. She could then transfer to a 4 year school to finish the BSN, and have the traditional UG experience more affordably (also while being sure she loves nursing, and maybe working an occasional per diem shift as an RN, at pay most college students can only dream of. And being eminently employable at the end of the BSN, more so than the classmates who came through the BSN as traditional 4 year UGs with no real nursing experience.)</p>
<p>Some people note that a good scholarship can save you more money than the two years of community college, and you can’t count on great financial aid as a transfer. If a scholarship like that is offered, with assurance that it will persist for 4 years, great. Two years at very low cost also beats many scholarships.</p>
<p>From the stories I’ve seen on these boards and among my own friends, it seems important to temper kids’ expectations with clear and early discussions about financial reality, certainly before deciding where to visit or where to apply. Some people say “don’t apply anywhere you can’t afford”. Others say “take a chance; your aid package may surprise you.” I think the best of both worlds is usually to permit the kid to take a chance on an application to a pricey school, but with the clear caveat that admission by itself means nothing, loans are not really aid, and if the merit money doesn’t bring the COA down to the budgeted level, the school will not be an option. This approach also leaves open the possibility of getting a nice award at one school and then going back to talk to other schools.</p>
<p>The cardinal rule is LOVE YOUR SAFETY. If it isn’t both an admissions safety and a financial safety, it’s not your safety. For many of us, the safety plan is to start with community college.</p>
<p>While scholarships can be found in surprising places (for example, our local community college has multiple full-tuition scholarships some of which go to students with grades like your daughter’s), there is no guarantee that your kid will find one that will bring the cost of any given college/university into your affordable range. It is fine to let her apply wherever she see’s fit, but she needs to have it clear in her head that you personally will only chip in up to $X each year. She does need to love her safety. </p>
<p>On her own, she can borrow up to the maximum Stafford loan ($5,500 Freshman, $6,500 Sophomore, $7,500 Junior, $7,500 Senior years). Anything over that will require a co-signer or that you take out a Parent Plus (or other personal loan). </p>
<p>Will the $25,000 that you estimate you can pay cover the cost of an in-state public university for you? What if the Stafford loan and/or her summer job earnings are added in?</p>
<p>If you’re a one parent/one child household with that income, I highly doubt you’re going to qualify for any need-based aid. That’s a lot of income for only 2 people to support. The calculators aren’t generous in that situation.</p>
<p>I would encourage my child to get the best GPA and test scores…and then look at 2nd/3rd tier schools for merit scholarships. Since these privates are costing $50k+ per year and you are gasping at the thought of paying $25k, then that means your D would need HUGE merit (at least $25k per year) in order to get the cost down.</p>
<p>Many privates (that aren’t highly ranked) throw out $10k per year in merit, but that’s not going to get the cost down to your $25k per year…you need HUGE merit for that. </p>
<p>For nursing, there isn’t a need to go to a small private…are there any publics with nursing in your state? What state are you in? Nursing programs can be rather small/intimate depts even at big schools.</p>
<p>Make sure that your D has some loved financial safety schools on her list…these are schools that you know FOR SURE that you can afford out of paying outright or ASSURED merit scholarships.</p>
<p>You should be getting your daughter prepared for ACT or SAT now. In order to get merit, that is one of the more flexible aspects you can control by investing in a good prep class. </p>
<p>Also try to get her to focus this semester on grades. This is really the last semester before you start spplying in the Fall. </p>
<p>We are in a similar situation by not able to afford college. My junior DD has taken the ACT multiple times with an increasing score. She will probably take it two more times before senior year in order to increase her merit likelihood.</p>
<p>Anyone who needs or would like to have good sized merit scholarships in order to make college more affordable should look at the below posted link. Be sure to check websites as some of the offered scholarships may have changed, but these are ASSURED merit scholarships. Along with applying to some schools where merit is questionable and competitive, applying to a couple of schools where awards are ASSURED can make the whole app process less stressful.</p>
<p>As a RN, I would advise against ever going into debt for a nursing degree. The salaries we make do not justify a huge loan. State schools are often attached to large research/teaching hospitals and are the best places to study nursing. There are certainly some good private schools, but if money isn’t plentiful, there is no reason whatsoever to go that direction.</p>
<p>A friend of mine has a daughter who was a terrible student (he taught at her high-school). After high-school, she went to the local community college to take a few courses. She then found a training program at a local hospital which would cover her educational costs towards becoming a nurse. She went through the program and is making $50K/year; more with overtime.</p>
<p>Our daughter’s community college also has a full-ride nursing scholarship program though students have to have good math and science grades in high-school to get in. There can be more than one way to get into healthcare without breaking the bank.</p>