Please help me out..

Paying for College
1

<p>Hi i’m currently a senior in socal.</p>

<p>I desperately want to get into Wharton (Early decision), and considering my situation, I thought (naively) that I would receive a great portion of fianancial aid if I did happen to get in. </p>

<p>However, a recent meeting with a fianancial advisor made me worrisome.</p>

<p>Here’s my situation: </p>

<p>My dad’s a clergy so he pays no taxes, and also he’s in Korea with the rest of all my other family members. He self-reported his income to be 49,000, has no investments or pensions, no legal house(lives in church), and basically most of our property are under the church’s name. </p>

<p>I am a permanant resident, albeit I lived a great portion of my life in Korea, and most recently stayed in the states for 3 years. </p>

<p>What my fianncial advisor told me is that our EFC would be only about 25k, covering about half of Wharton’s tuition, at best. The worst case, they would classify me as an international and won’t give me a dime. </p>

<p>This is really freaking me out because my parents are only willing to pay about 12k, and so if I don’t receive enough grants, I would be piling loans 30k a year. I tried calculating the amount and it was astronomical (sob…). </p>

<p>This was just a long list of nagging but I’ll get to my point:</p>

<li>Am I doomed? </li>
<li>Would I be classified as an international? </li>
<li>Is the fianacial advisor’s estimate of our EFC really 25k at best? </li>
<li>Advices? </li>
<li>Considering Wall Street’s melt down and its aftermath on Main Street, would private loans, even to students, have higher interest rates? </li>
</ol>

<p>Thank you.</p>

2

<p>Your parents can only pay 12k per year. So it doesn't matter much what any college or university thinks your EFC is. That is your real, personal, final figure that you have to work with.</p>

<p>You probably cannot afford to apply anywhere ED. You need to apply regular decision, and you need to apply for every possible outside scholarship you can find out about. Then in May when you have all of the offers on the table, you can see what is your best option.</p>

<p>And yes, if your parents have a fixed abode that is overseas, some colleges will consider you to be international for financial aid even though your immigration status is Permanent Resident. This often has to do with the in-state/out-of-state business.</p>

<p>No one knows yet what the affect of the Wall Street melt-down will be on financial aid or on access to federal and private student loans. This gives you even more reason to apply regular admission and wait for the aid offers in April.</p>

3

<p>If you are a permanent resident, you qualify for federal financial aid. It doesn't matter that your parents don't live in the states. Your residency is the issue. I don't know if schools might have their own rules about how to award their own aid ... but for purposes of federal aid (Pell, ACG, FSEOG, FWS, Stafford loans) you are an eligible citizen due to being a permanent resident (if that is your actual status - you can't just be residing here - you must be classified as a permanent resident by the government). However, if your parents are not eligible citizens, they won't be able to borrow a PLUS loan.</p>

<p>Your parents' income will be considered, as will the value of the housing the church provides (it's included on one of the FAFSA schedules - the instructions specifically point out that this kind of in-kind support must be included).</p>

<p>I agree that ED is not a good idea. There are too many what-ifs in your case. Happymomof1's advice is very good - please consider her recommendations.</p>

4

<p>Thank you for your inputs. </p>

<p>I guess I have to think about this more..</p>