<p>Apps are done -- decisions in a month! I also just realized how am I going to pay for college?</p>
<p>The universities I want to go to all cost around $30,000 to $50,000 with room/board counted. My father makes about $175,000 a year, but my family is not going to pay for college.</p>
<p>What kind of aid could I possibly receive? Merit? I know there are others out there with a similar situation. Speak out!</p>
<p>I'm applying to colleges including American, Yale, Boston U, NYU and GWU. Even with a high $20,000 scholarship (if I'm lucky) costs would probably be around $30,000 a year. </p>
<p>How do most people do it...with loans? Thanks!</p>
<p>“Most people” do not attend a school that costs as much as the schools you are considering. There are many more, less expensive schools from which to choose. That said, students who attend these schools have parents who don’t earn enough money to help them(so the school might give them aid to help them), have parents who help them, or borrow money to attend.</p>
<p>I am going to be blunt. Your parents make a lot of money. They are within their rights not to help you with school, but schools EXPECT that they will help you. This is reality. So … you will need to find a school you can afford without your parents. None of the schools you mention are likely to be affordable for you. Merit is hard to come by on this list, and you are correct … $20k is not going to cut it. YOU cannot borrow the rest. You would need a cosigner to borrow that much. DO NOT BORROW THAT MUCH!!!</p>
<p>You need to find a school that costs far less.</p>
<p>A student can’t borrow much.
For frosh year, you can borrow 5500.</p>
<p>your parents’ income will prevent you from getting much/any aid. Are you saying that your parents won’t give you a dime for college? Why not?</p>
<p>Frankly, you’ve been poorly advised. If your parents weren’t going to pay, then you should have applied to schools that would give you HUGE merit for your stats. It is very sad that the concern about how to pay for college is only coming up now.</p>
<p>most people do not pay for college with loans since they can’t borrow that much and most parents won’t borrow themselves. Most people commute to a local school.</p>
<p>What are your stats? GPA and ACT/SAT…are you a NMF?</p>
<hr>
<p>Edited to add…</p>
<p>I see that your SAT’s are not very high, so you won’t be getting much/any merit from those schools. you took the Feb ACT…how did you do on that?</p>
<p>You say in another thread that Seton Hall is your safety. How can that be a safety when no one is paying for you to go there? Do you understand that a school cannot be a safety if you have no means to pay for it?</p>
<p>You also list Rutgers as a safety. I don’t see how you’d pay for that school either.</p>
<p>At this point, I don’t see how any of your schools are affordable. Did you apply to a state school that you can commute to?</p>
<p>Do you know what your EFC is? At what point in the process did your parents say they weren’t going to contribute? Did they give a reason?
Stafford loans for freshman year are capped at $5,500. So no, students don’t pay the bulk of their expenses with loans. Not if they want to have a chance of getting out from college debt before they are 50.
Are you national merit scholar? Have you applied anywhere that might give you a big merit award? Have you applied to instate schools that might give you merit aid ?</p>
<p>Do your parents and you understand that these HUGE loans will belong to all of you? Your parents will have to cosign them.</p>
<p>With your family income, and the stats posted elsewhere, I would guess that you are not going to see $20,000 a year in scholarship or grant money from any of the schools on your list…but you will just have to wait and see. I hope you have a financial safety school that you haven’t posted here.</p>
<p>I’m asking worst case scenario; my parents will probably contribute a little. I am applying to these schools because I have made decisions where I want to go. Nothing is going to change that, especially not now.</p>
<p>If you have advice, please tell me in reference to financial aid for these schools – and don’t bash me. I’m just looking for more information. </p>
<p>There’s a possibility I may receive a $10,000 entrepreneurial scholarship, as I am a finalist. However, even that is not enough.</p>
<p>By the way, in the absolute worst case I do have a safety that I can afford and already got into! Don’t worry about it, I just want information as to how I can get the most money in a situation where parents would possibly not pay for the listed colleges. Thank you -</p>
<p>How do you get the most money? You don’t. Your EFC is going to be too high for need based aid. You will have to find out how to pay for the part not covered by merit, $5500 in Stafford loans, and whatever your parents will pay. You will not get financial aid to meet the gap.</p>
<p>Sorry, I am out of ideas. I am not aware of any tips or tricks, and private scholarships are not easy to get (and are generally for a single year).</p>
<p>I’m sorry, but there is no advice. You can’t afford any of those pricey universities without a major financial contribution from your family. Nobody on an internet message board can say anything to change that.</p>
<p>And if the stats you have posted elsewhere are indeed accurate, I am afraid thumper is right about your prospects for big merit aid at the universities you’ve named. At some of them, just getting in looks…less than certain. The big merit awards aren’t for applicants in the bottom half of the class; they’re for the top few percent of the applicant pool. They are the bait that colleges use to lure students whom they really want, but who they fear will go somewhere “better”/more selective/more “prestigious” without the enticement of large piles of dollars.</p>
<p>It really sounds as if you have planned your college search and applications considering only what you want and like, and completely ignoring what’s realistic. I’m sorry. I think you’re going to be unhappy with the outcome.</p>
<p>; my parents will probably contribute a little. I am applying to these schools because I have made decisions where I want to go. Nothing is going to change that, especially not now.</p>
<p>===============</p>
<p>You may have firmly decided where you want to go…and nothing is going to change where you WANT to go…but there’s no Money Fairy out there. If your parents won’t pay, you won’t be going to those schools no matter how much you may want to go.</p>
<p>You seem to think that there’s some secret treasure chest of money out there and someone is going to post where to dig. The money isn’t there. You’re in the same boat as many kids who don’t have the financial means to pay for college. Mere wishes won’t pay for tuition…it takes real money and there’s no hidden source.</p>
<p>What is your safety…how much will it cost (total) each year…and who is paying for that?</p>
<p>My parents contributing $0 or very little is HYPOTHETICAL. I am trying to assess a worst-case scenario.</p>
<p>The pessimism on this board is ridiculous.</p>
<p>My safety would result in costing a little less than $8000 a year (total expenses including room and board). They gave me a scholarship for four years.</p>
<p>Maybe I worded the post wrong. Sorry I forgot to mention worst-case scenario (hypothetical) in the initial thread. It does look like I was clueless!</p>
<p>I realize the costs and amounts, just wanted to gear this thread towards any scholarship recommendations, or even fellowships. I want to apply to as many as possible.</p>
<p>Is our merit aid at your safety dependent on grades or is it assured? I see your safeties are Rutgers & Seton hall? Do you have any others?
End of February not best time to be looking for scholarship.
Try your parents business affiliations. Our credit union has a scholarship tha is due march 1st. That is the latest of any that I know about.</p>
<p>Dreamoftravel, there are very few private scholarships that are worth more than a few thousand dollars. If you look at the subforums at the top of the Financial Aid forum, you’ll see many of the Big Kahunas–Coca Cola, Toyota, and so forth. These are all highly competitive, and the application deadlines for these are long past. </p>
<p>You can go on websites like fastweb and search for options for other scholarships. And you can look in your local community for local scholarship opportunities. These are going to be of the $500-$2000 or so variety, and they’re one-shot deals. They’re not as competitive, but people are still looking for money so they are not sure deals. Again, deadlines have often passed. If you are very lucky you might score a few, but if Lady Luck especially smiles on you and gets you $10k, that’s only for one year. </p>
<p>The best source for merit scholarships are those awarded by colleges. But as you say in your first post, that’s maybe $20k. </p>
<p>Sorry, but there really are no other tips or tricks at this point. An extreme option for students who don’t have an affordable safety that they like is to take a gap year, look for colleges that might offer them financial aid, and apply again in the next cycle. Since you’ve got a good safety in your pocket, you’re already set.</p>
<p>Need-based aid only depends on the last year’s salary. They don’t look at previous years, unfortunately.</p>
<p>Most of the schools on your list do not meet the full need of all accepted students. That being the case, your EFC per Fafsa would be the minimum you would be expected to pay. Having less income with a school that doesn’t meet full need really doesn’t matter much.</p>
<p>At this point all you can do is wait and see what happens. Do apply for some local scholarships, but also remember that your college costs at these schools will need to happen for four years, not just his one.</p>
<p>It sounds like you do have an affordable option if the finances for these others don’t work out.</p>
<p>Just FYI, one of my kiddos is a graduate of one of your schools. He got a very good merit award that was
FAR less than $20k per year. We knew it was a good award for this school. WE paid the rest of his costs to attend. There were no tricks or tips to do otherwise.</p>
<p>Thank you, SlitheyTove! Very informative post. In December and January I applied to a few big scholarships, only waiting for one finalist right now. I’ll look around Fastweb and hopefully pick up a few thousand with dozens of applications.</p>
<p>We’re not negative, but we are realists. Why? Every year in April, this board is innundated with posters who have acceptances to schools they want to attend but can’t afford. There’s no money fairy for them either. We’re not a group that will say, “Oh, honey, it’ll be all right” but we are a group that will tell you to have a plan B and a plan C and whatever you do, don’t hamstring your future with debt.</p>