<p>Recently I've been looking at colleges and narrowing my choices down to about 7 or 8 schools to apply to. But yesterday it suddenly hit me, how in the world am I going to pay for college?!?!?!? </p>
<p>I've been working really hard in school to get the best grades I can and make myself attractive to colleges. I have a 4.4 GPA (3.97 unweighted) and a 2080 SAT (only taken once without any studying- I'm taking a prep class now), I have great extracurriculars (varsity bball captain, ranked basketball player, lots of community service hours, key club vice pres., NHS), and I'm an underrepresented minority (African American female). And I want to go ahead and say that I have already considered playing basketball in college so no need to address that.</p>
<p>I know that there are a lot of schools that will give me a substantial amount of merit money but my dream would be to go to University of Alabama or UGA in their honors programs with as close to a full ride as I can get. If I raise my SAT up to my goal score of 2200-2250, I know I'll qualify for full tuition at Alabama automatically and with Hope scholarship I know I'll have full tuition at UGA. But that still leaves about $15,000 - $20,000 per year left to pay. (btw I'm not NMF)</p>
<p>I'm aware that there are full rides at both of these schools (UGA Fellows and Alabama University Scholars), but they seem REALLY competitive. I'm not sure if I have a good chance at getting them, so I know I can't count on that.</p>
<p>My parents make around $200,000/year and but they hardly have any money for me to go to college because I'm the youngest of 5 kids. I only have 1 sibling in college right now, though. My parents have a lot of debt because my dad had a failed business about 10 years ago and they're still suffering from paying all those loans. My dad also lost his job last November so he took out some of his retirement (I don't know if that's relevant but when I asked my mom to fill out the net price calc on alabama's website, she included that info?) He just got another job a few weeks ago however. (btw the net price calc for alabama said my EFC was like $30,000!!!! Yikes!)</p>
<p><strong><em>I know this is a ton of info but I'm just trying to give enough information so you guys can help!</em></strong>*</p>
<p>What can I do? Will I be stuck applying for a million outside scholarships? Will I just have to take out a bunch of loans? Please help! I'm getting worried because I feel like I've worked so hard in school to be able to go to my dream schools but I hate that it might not be possible just because of money ):</p>
<p>Forget about wasting time with outside schollies. Those are mostly for frosh year ONLY and have a need component.</p>
<p>You’ll get the most bang for your buck by studying and retaking the SAT and taking the ACT (take both!!!)</p>
<p>Yes…taking money out of retirement funds will affect your EFC.</p>
<p>With an EFC of $30,000 with TWO kids in college, that means that the family EFC is about $60k per year.</p>
<p>I realize that your parents have a lot of debt, but often when income is THAT high, they can still figure out how to contribute $5k or so per year. </p>
<p>Does your mom work?</p>
<p>Work this summer and save your money for college. And practice for the SAT and ACT.</p>
<p>you say that you’re not NMF, but is it possible that you may be NA? If so, that’s really good! great source of more scholarship money. What was your PSAT???</p>
<p>My PSAT was 190, so I don’t think it was good enough /:
Yes, my mom works. I’m sure that my parents can contribute about $5,000 and MAYBE up to $10,000 but that would be stretching it for them. And I’ve also been applying for jobs recently.</p>
<p>If you choose one of the cheaper housing options at Alabama, R+B will only be around $8400. (I didn’t look up UGA but I would think it is similar.) Add books and personal expenses, you are looking at $10,000-ish, which is a lot lower than $15-20,000.</p>
<p>With a Stafford, that would only leave around $5K to be covered from your summer job, on-campus job, or parental contribution. This seems pretty doable.</p>
<p>Have you talked to your parents about exactly how much they can/will contribute?</p>
<p>I’m trying to find a list of NA cutoffs. A Florida student I helped last year had a 188 and he made it. Don’t know if it’s by state or by region for the NA program.</p>
<p>Notrichenough is right…if you get free tuition, your remaining costs won’t be that high if you choose a standard double dorm.</p>
<p>If you choose a pricey dorm (super suite), that will be about $9k plus meal plan, book, etc…about $15k max.</p>
<p>My son is a junior as well…I’m 45 and I’m freaking out too so don’t feel bad!! LOL Do you have good college advisors at school? We were given alot of guidance about rounding out his college list to include a wide range of schools. My instinct was to urge him to apply to the less expensive state schools…but I’m learning that these schools don’t always have the large endowments that the private schools have…so you might well end up paying more for say, a $24K/year public state school than a $40K a year private school.</p>
<p>There was a post in the Alabama forum that said the COA there was around $40,000. I took into account some ways that I could cut costs and I came up with the cost being around $36,000. The full tuition is said to be worth about $20,000 for OOS so my estimate was that I’ll need $16,000 more or less. I want to have money for personal things and entertainment (I know this might not be possible)</p>
<p>I will definitely talk about that with them tonight, but from what it seems, $5-7,000 is the most they could contribute.</p>
<p>Actually, I think yall are right… the cost could be around $34,000 and I could still have a nice dorm. That doesn’t seem too bad.</p>
<p>Also, the guidance counselors at my school are pretty good. All they talk about is outside scholarships though, and mom2collegekids just said that those could be a waste of time. I had a meeting with my counselor earlier this semester but she never even mentioned anything about National Achievement scholarships…</p>
<p>Since you are AA, there may be some private scholarships worth looking into. BUT, don’t count on them to pay for college. Many private awards are just given to freshmen, so you’d be short for the other years.</p>
<p>My point is that if you need big bucks for ALL four years, then your test scores are going to get you that money. So, spend your time working on those. </p>
<p>If you had great need, then there’s other schools that would work, but since you have an unaffordable EFC, then you have to look for the huge merit.</p>
<p>What will your major be?</p>
<p>When looking at COAs, be aware of the details…look at direct costs. Look at what housing is being used (Bama includes its pricey dorm in COA), meal plan size, etc.</p>
<p>I’m not sure what major yet but I know I want to go on to med school. Biology seems like the obvious route, but I’m still looking at a lot of different majors.</p>
<p>Wow, this is really easing a lot of the worries! Using those costs on that semester budget, I can get a nice dorm, a small meal plan (I don’t eat that much lol and I know you can upgrade), and all the other necessities for about $9,000 per year! That’s great and VERY doable! </p>
<p>Is the NA scholarship yearly or a one-time thing?</p>
<p>Has anyone been able to find the cutoff for this year? And actually my psat score this year was 186, i just checked on college board. I got 190 my freshman year (ya, I know it went down, that’s pretty sad)</p>
What was your PSAT???</p>