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<p>It is spring and my office and CC is full of students with this same stupid mindset. THey have been accepted into schools that they cannot possibly afford to pay for. In september the conversation was “don’t worry, my parents will pay whatever it cost.” If I only had a $1 for everytime I read or heard this…</p>
<p>Your sister is in grad school which means she is able to borrow much more money through the stafford loan program and she is also in a postition to borrow her full cost of attendance through a direct lender in her own name.</p>
<p>However, you on the other hand are a fool if you think that you don’t have to worry about how to pay for college. The maximum amount that you can borrow through the stafford loan program as a freshman is 5500. No one is going to loan you any money outside of the stafford loan program. Howard’s cost of attendance is ~ $34,475.00</p>
<p>[Cost</a> of Attendance - Howard University](<a href=“http://www.howard.edu/studentfinancialservices/accounts/tutionandfee.htm]Cost”>http://www.howard.edu/studentfinancialservices/accounts/tutionandfee.htm)</p>
<p>Even if you were in a postition to obtain a full tuition scholarship of $15,270.00 (because not every one who is eligible receives a scholarship), you will still have to come up with ~ 20,000 a year to make this happen (ok, $14,500 if you borrow the stafford max).</p>
<p>I think we told you before to sit with your mom and run your numbers through a financial aid calculator. Use can use the fafsa4caster</p>
<p>[FAFSA4caster</a> - Federal Student Aid](<a href=“http://www.fafsa4caster.ed.gov/F4CApp/index/index.jsf]FAFSA4caster”>http://www.fafsa4caster.ed.gov/F4CApp/index/index.jsf)</p>
<p>and it will tell you how much your EFC is going to be. When you get your EFC use this calculation :</p>
<p>Cost of attendance- EFC = demonstrated need.</p>
<p>Let’s say your mom is 45 years old, makes ~ 60k with no other assets, according to the college board your EFC would be $7678 (you would not be pell grant eligible)</p>
<p>$34,475.00 -7678 = $26,797</p>
<p>If you were to receive a full tuition scholarship (don’t count this chicken before it hatches) there is 11,527 remaining.</p>
<p>lets say you take out the maximum stafford loan 5500. that leaves $6027. How are you going to pay this.</p>
<p>Will your mother be able to pay the EFC (7678)?<br>
Is your mother amenable to borrowing $ to pay for your education.</p>
<p>On the off chance that you do not get a tuition scholarship, and your demonstrated need is $26,797. If you borrow $5500 in stafford loans, where is the other $21,297 coming from? Will your mother be comfortable borrowing this money if she cannot pay it.</p>
<p>Howard is a FAFSA only school, so they do not give institutional aid. As Northstar mom stated, they reserve their scholarship aid for the top of the applicant pool. I know for a fact from having students attend Howard, that there is no phase in with their merit $$. IF you do not meet the gpa requirement, the $$ is gone.</p>
<p>Have a realistic money talk with your mom now! Find out how much she is willing to borrow or pay for Howard given the best and worse case scenarios. Do away with the wishful thinking, there are not any college fairies that will magically bring $$.</p>