<p>Bear with me people, I really need your help </p>
<p>Ok so this is what's happening, my father makes 170k and my mother 30k for a combined salary of 200k. Now nearly 80k goes to taxes for my father, including house and salary. In addition, I tried to force him to do the FAFSA and CSS Profile, but he stopped in the middle of it for a very good reason: my older brother or sister never got any aid. Now with 80k gulped down by the government, colleges look at my father's income and they see a "rich man." Unfortunately he pays full tuition for my older brothre who goes to Harvard and my sister who goes to an instate college (16k). In addition to paying for $6.5k for my private school. </p>
<pre><code> In addition to all this, my cousins parents have both died and my father pays for his living costs (not college, things like cell phone, and car bills). In addition to this all my father also sends money to his poor relatives to help educate some girls and help his family run a business in Pakistan, about $600 a month! When it comes down to it, I would probably live the same if my parents earned 50k together, all the clothes I have have been passed down to me from my brother, I don't have the nice ipods kids who run around my school (who claim they are 'poor) have as they go partying every weekend.
Now I want to go to Williams or Chicago, but 45k is too much. It seems I may have to work over the summer 8 hours a day for 5 to 6 days a week, and part time during the school year. To top this hell all off, I'm Muslim, meaning no interest loan. Is there any way I can get my parents' bank to approve say a 10k loan, that would have no interest until after I graduated? So I guess I will have to work and apply for scholarships, but can anyone think of any viable solutions. For instance, what jobs can I search for that offer a lot of money for a high school grad (I am highly trained in secreterial duties, computers, and know 5 language at a native level).
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<p>The fafsa does not just see the $200000 your family makes. It asks if others in the family go to college, it asks how much is income and factors taxes into the result. Didn't you ever use one of the finaid calculators? It explains tht percentages of what you are expected to contribute from parents income, parents assets, your income, and your assets. It is all factored in. That said, it is still an estimate and many people are not thrilled with the package they get compared to their efc. It depend on the methodology each school uses too. Nothing is guaranteed.
However, if you don't complete the fafsa, most schools do not even consider you for financial aid of any type, including merit aid.
Always do the fafsa if you want any sort of fina aid consideration. Even if all you get is loans you do not have to take them.</p>
<p>IF your brother and sister are still in college this fall unless your EFC is over $100,000 (which would cover the cost of 2, your brother and your sister all in college at the same time), you will be eligible for aid at colleges that give aid based on need unless your parents also have considerable assets from their business, real esate,investments money in the bank, etc.</p>
<p>yes I agree
my daughter works full time summers- earns about $3,000 or so to put towards tuition
( she has subsidizes stafford and perkins loans- if the interest is subsidized is that allowed?)
also works about 10+ hours a week during the school year.
I think working during school is fine- there are 24 hours in a day
and most kids only have to work a couple of them- a campus job gives you a way to meet more people- and helps you structure your time- not to mention contacts for other work.</p>
<p>my stafford loan was subsidized freshman year (my brother was a senior in college); the decision is made by each colleges financial aid office and is often paired with work study or expected summer earnings to cover your efc. so no, theres no problem with working when recieving subsidized loans. in most cases its expected.</p>
<p>no no no
I meant the OP religion has a ban on borrowing money if interest is charged.
I realize that Stafford loans have interest- but the govt pays the interest on the subsidized loans while you are in school, and if it isn't subsidized the payments and the interest is deferred while you are in school.
I just wondered if the interest was subsidized- then you weren't really being charged it- and perhaps another arrangement could be made to take over the loans by the time the student graduated</p>
<p>Be aware, also, that some financial aid offices will make a PJ or Professional Judgement if they hear that you have extraordinary expenses. They are supposed to be assessing the overall financial strength of the family, and the family's ability to pay.</p>
<p>I am somewhat concerned that you will be quite late getting the forms in, and that might cause the financial aid people to close off all possibilities, but I say, if you don't try, you will never know.</p>
<p>umm, manimgoindown, im sorry to break it to you but working 8 hours a day 5 days a week and during the school year is nothing... During the summers I work both a full time job and a part time job (totalling over 60 hours a week) and all through high school I've worked at least 24 hours a week... so working a little bit to keep you from taking out thousands of dollars a year in debt will help. considering you dont file fafsa it wont matter if you are making more money because your efc means nothing.</p>
<p>thx everyone who contributed, i was also thinking about sitting down with the financial officers to discuss the whole story during my overnight previews. also megara, no offense, but please don't say anything stupid. I also work 63 hours a week in the hospital full time during the summer to pay off as much of my private school tuition as I can, don't change this thread into "oh that's nothing compared to what another kid does" The question is my financial burden for college, not my effort which you presumed was nothing</p>