<p>I'm a first generation student, and my parents know nothing about financial aid, so I have a few questions.</p>
<p>They've said that they won't give me any money because I haven't "lived" up to my potential, (of course, coming from a strict Indian family).</p>
<p>So can I still afford college off just government loans?</p>
<p>I know there are two types of aid, need and non-need, and that's about it.</p>
<p>For need aid, is that soley based on family income? If so is the amount different from college to college? What is the average "cut-off" for need? So basically if my family earns over the "line for need" I would be able to get money from the need-aid?</p>
<p>For non-need, that's based on academic and sports right? Does that mean you have to be like top 1% in your class or be a star stud athlete to get money?</p>
<p>Because I think my family makes too much to be counted as "need" and I'm not in the top of my class, and I'm defently not a star studed athlete.....does that mean I have to pay everything?</p>
<p>If that's the case, can I take out as much money as I want from government loans? Is there a limit? Because if there is, there is no way I will be able to afford 40k+ a year.</p>
<p>You need to start researching merit based awards. There are a couple of threads about this at the top of the financial aid forum. Basically you will need to find a college or university where your score are near the top of their student body. They may give you a lot of scholarships in an effort to attract you to their schools.</p>
<p>I’m assuming you mean 1700 on all three of the SAT tests (CR/Math/writing). You will need to look for colleges offering merit aid to students in your GPA and SAT score range. To do so…look for schools where you would be at the top of their accepted student population in terms of these stats. I would suggest doing a search here for threads by Momfromtexas who found great merit aid awards for her kiddos. That would be a good start from you (info is now a couple of years old but will give you a start). If your screenname is an indication and you really ARE from CA…I will say…I don’t think the stats you are posting will put you in line for any merit aid from the UCs. Someone from CA can pipe in regarding the CA financial aid situation.</p>
<p>Re: need based awards…your parents will be required to fill out the financial aid forms (I think you already know that). Typically, the FAFSA EFC (expected family contribution) is between 1/4 and 1/3 of your familys gross income. So if your parents’ combined incomes was $100,000 a year…your EFC would likely be between $25,000 and $33,000 per year…or very close to that.</p>
<p>No, yo are not likely to get significant merit aid with a 1700 SAT and not stellar grades.</p>
<p>Bottom line, if you don’t qualify for need and your parents are serious about not contributing, you should not be looking at $40K schools. There are indeed loan limits unless you can get private loans using a cosigner.</p>
<p>What you can afford is likely to be a cc or state school you can commute to from home.</p>
<p>mr. california…how do you KNOW you aren’t getting merit? did you read the threads by momfromtexas whose kids DID get favorable merit aid with stats similar to yours? Did you??</p>
<p>Loans in your own name are limited to the Stafford and Perkins (if you are eligible for that loan…which is for students with high demonstrated need). I don’t know the total limit…but I’m sure someone else here does.</p>
<p>BUT I will give you my opinion…try to find an option for college that will not put you into significant debt.</p>
<p>Stafford loan limits are $5500 freshman year, $6500 sophomore, $7500 for juniors and seniors. Undergrad max is $27K, I believe. Student loans above that (unless you’re offered Perkins loans) are likely to be in the form of private loans, which may require a cosigner, or Parent Plus loans.</p>
<p>Is that 89 gpa an unweighted average? Do you have a copy of your unofficial transcript yet? Is so, does your HS weight grades and provide class rank? If you don’t know, call and ask your GC to send you a transcript. </p>
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[quote]
If that’s the case, can I take out as much money as I want from government loans? Is there a limit? Because if there is, there is no way I will be able to afford 40k+ a year.{/quote]</p>
<p>No, you can’t take an unlimited amount and would be nuts to consider borrowing $160K for an undergrad degree. Look to stay within your Stafford loan limits, if possible. I would suggest having a serious talk with your parents. Perhaps they will reconsider if you meet certain standards in your senior year. If not, perhaps after a year or two of community college you can transfer to a state university. It’s not the end of the world - lots of very bright and successful people have done this.</p>
<p>If there is any chance you can raise that SAT score, start studying now and sign up for the October test. The higher your M & CR scores the more opportunities you can find. Look at the SAT/ACT section of this website. Click on SAT Prep and read the Xiggi method. You might also want to try the ACT.</p>
<p>1) argue with your parents or make them think you’re gonna be doing low paying jobs for life
or
2) go get a job and wait until you’ve saved enough
or
3) see if you can get your enrollment deferred or enroll part time, and get a job
or
4) raise your scores and grades
or
5) get a private loan and go to an in-state college (CSU, perhaps?)</p>
<p>attend a csu besides a UC or private ou will save yourself a lot of money and loans will cover. Likely a low tier csu. The only uc that gives good cash is merced I got 17,000 free but not going there though efc was 0</p>
<p>Wait, I think somebody already said it, but if I’m not getting merit, money from my parents, and very little from loans, that means I can’t go to a 40k+ year school?</p>
<p>Not even a 30k?</p>
<p>What are the chances of someone winning a scholorship?</p>
<p>If your parents are holding back because you have not done as well as you might have, perhaps you can start to build up their confidence in you, and your own confidence in yourself. Can you begin in a Community College? Take a couple of years’ worth of courses at the local CC, then transfer to a four-year school, and perhaps with hard work, and good results for the first two years, you will be able to get scholarships and parental help to continue for the remaining two years. You need to earn back their trust in you by showing them that you are capable of doing the work. Their view is understandable; they don’t want to “waste” their money on a very expensive school at which you might not do well, or even flunk out.</p>
<p>Because according to my family, if I went to a CC, they would be so ashamed they wouldn’t be able to be in public, they wouldn’t be able to tell anybody, so it’s either private, public, or nothing.</p>
<p>What, the freakkkkk this is stupid.</p>
<p>How many kids actually don’t have to have their parents pay and still go to a private school?</p>
<p>Quite a few, but they are generally the kids that took the time to carefully research their colleges and target those that were likely to give them alot of merit aid. Or they have a very low EFC and applied to schools they knew they could afford to attend, which doesn’t seem to apply to your situation, although you should get a projected EFC so you know what you’re looking at.</p>
<p>Look, there is no magical way to find money for college and there are no shortcuts. It takes alot of time, research, and effort. You don’t have horrible stats, just average ones (not CC average, but real world average). I suggest you find out what your FAFSA EFC will likely be by using an online calculator at collegeboard.com or fafsa4caster. Research your own state aid programs to see if you qualify for anything. Retake your SAT/ACT and really concentrate on boosting your score - even 50 points will help. Make sure you keep your grades as high as possible.</p>
<p>When you’re researching colleges, look for their merit scholarhsip page and also check for scholarships for first generation students. Google merit scholarships + 3.4 gpa + xxxx SAT. Check the other scholarship threads that have been mentioned and look for scottaa’s recent posts - he seems to have found some schools with good merit aid for his clients. Call your GC and see if they have suggestions. You get the idea…leave no stone unturned! </p>
<p>You can enter your stats at collegeboard.com and keep a tracker going there. Check their average percentage of need met (without parent loans) - you need a very high number here, at least 80%. Get a job if you don’t already have one, and save money like crazy. Go to finaid.org and research loans, scholarships, and other forms of aid as they come up. These are the things that are going to help you, although it’s unlikely you’ll be able to completely close the gap if you have a high EFC. They may impress your parents enough that they will relent a bit.</p>
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<p>I’m sure this is a cultural thing, but your parents do not have the right to dictate your college choice if they refuse to help pay for college when they have the means to do so. You will be an adult soon and need to make rational choices about your own future. Many kids do significantly better in college than in high school as they’ve had time to mature, both physically and emotionally, and are able to study subjects that are interesting to them. I would not put myself in a deep hole of debt that would haunt me for decades just to allow my parents some bragging rights…that’s ridiculous! Your parents need to be looking out for YOUR best interests - and if they aren’t, make sure you are!</p>
<p>You’re actually fortunate to be dealing with this now, although I’m sure it doesn’t feel that way. But, if you look back a few months, you’ll see plenty of posts from kids who didn’t have financially realistic choices and didn’t find out until after the decisions were made. That’s a very tough thing, so take advantage of this time to make sure you do have realistic choices (and, hopefully, to mend some fences with your parents).</p>
<p>You need to sit down with the parents and discuss what they DO expect you to be doing after high school. If they don’t want you to go to a community college because they will be “ashamed”, I seriously doubt they will want you decorating hamburgers at McDonalds or pumping gas down the road. My guess is that they are EXPECTING you to go to college. You need to have a conversation (polite) with them…about this.</p>