<p>My parent's combined income is around $400,000 a year, but they aren't going to pay for my college because they both put themselves through and they think I should too. Is there anyway that I could be able to get any aid from any schools with their income?</p>
<p>Unless there's at least 3 siblings going to college at one time, you won't get any need-based aid. You could get merit-based scholarships, however.</p>
<p>well, if you emancipated and become dependent on yourself you will get a lot of financial aid. Just an idea.</p>
<p>It's pretty hard to emancipate yourself. Basically, the answer is no.</p>
<p>Focus on schools which give merit based aid such as full tuition scholarships and where you are well qualified, above average for the admission profile.</p>
<p>" but they aren't going to pay for my college because they both put themselves through and they think I should too."</p>
<p>No disrespect to your parents, but that's an unrealistic expectation. When your parents attended college, annual tuition could be realistically paid off with a part-time job plus a few decent federal-aid grants. In this day and age where a post-secondary education is quickly approaching the $200,000 mark, parents expecting their child to carry the FULL weight because "they paid their off," is down right greedy and ignorant. </p>
<p>Your life after graduation will be determined by the demand to pay off your loans; you will be forced to enter a money-making job that you might hate just to pay off what you owe. Whatever low-income-save-the-world interest you have after graduation will never materialized. Money will be your God.</p>
<p>What your parents doing now will definitely affect you negatively in the long run. So talk it over with them and come to a more beneficial concensus. Ask them to help with at least 1/3 the bill.</p>
<p>
[quote]
well, if you emancipated and become dependent on yourself you will get a lot of financial aid. Just an idea.
[/quote]
This is simply not true. It is extremely difficult to be independant for financial aid purposes. You have to meet very strict guidelines (be 24, married, have a child you support, be in the armed services). Otherwise every parent would say they are not going to pay so their kids could qualify for financial aid.</p>
<p>Have to agree with previous posters--look for schools that might offer merit aid. By any chance are you a National Merit Finalist? Many state schools offer full scholarships to its finalists. Are you in a state with a lottery tied to education? It is my understanding that if you have maintained a certain GPA in high school and are in a lottery state that funds education, you will probably qualify for free tuition at your state institutions. Can we assume that you have not begun to apply to colleges yet? I hope that this is the case and that your parents have not sprung this on you after having gone thru admissions apps. Keep these things in mind when applying to colleges if that is the case. Good Luck!</p>
<p>I've already talked to them and explained that college tuition is different know but they still aren't budging. They both came from very poor child hoods and worked their way up a lot so they are huge into this whole work hard and advance thing. Oh well, I'll just apply to merit based aid schools. Unfortunatley my stats are only slightly above average and psat score was no where near the NMSQT cut off. But I think I'll look into those merit aid schools.</p>
<p>400k PLUS!??!?!?!</p>
<p>Dude. No offence at all, honestly, but your parents are the biggest scrooges ever.</p>
<p>If they had trouble paying for school, their ABILITY now should allow you to go to school scot-free. Why should you suffer their sufferings? Sigh. Some parents lack basic foresight and responsibility.</p>
<p>You don't have to have extraordinary stats to get a merit scholarship. The trick is to find schools where your stats are above the average. That increases your chances. For example, don't expect to get a merit scholarship at Duke if you're not top-notch in terms of stats. But you could conceivably get a merit scholarship at a private or public school that is still good, just not "Duke" good. There are lots of great schools! Start going through threads on cc & also looking at college websites.</p>
<p>Following up on Reddune's post, with detail,</p>
<p>Please let your parents read this. From one hardworking family to another, I think you are in serious need of a reality check.</p>
<p>The fact that you put yourselves through back in your day must also be weighed against a ten-fold increase in college costs nationwide. No other cost has risen like this -- not wages, not housing. </p>
<p>You are not even giving your child the starting-gate from which to "work hard." Work hard means: help so he can help himself. Unless you want your life's hard-earned gains made in one generation go down the tube one generation later. </p>
<p>When my spouse and I went to college between 1965-72, our elite LAC cost $3,600 annually (tuition, room and board). Our parents had NOTHING and took loans because the financial aid provided, plus my brothers and I working jobs all through college and summers, still required parental participation. My first full-time professional job post-college at a major national art museum in 1972 paid $5,800 gross but from there I began to repay my own student loan. </p>
<p>When we began to put our first through college 6 years ago, the cost of the same college was $38,000 (tuition, room and board). Now that our youngest is about to begin, these costs are north of $45,000 where he looked, and in one place $50,000.</p>
<p>The least expensive opportunity he found was at our State University (SUNY at Purchase, 4 years) which offered tuition, room, board as follows: $4,350 tuition (instate), $200 fees, $710 fees, $660 health insurance, $5,162 for a triple shared room (others cost more or less), $3,550 mealplan.
That doesn't start to cover: books, transpo to and from college, computer,
pens, pencils and stamps to write you all about it.</p>
<pre><code> Total: $14,632. per year x 4 = $58,528.
</code></pre>
<p>So let's round up to $60,000. for the LEAST expensive education. I did not try to go into some cost-savers like Community Colleges for some of the courses.</p>
<p>Can you please tell me, dear paents, what 18 year old in America can work hard enough to earn $60,000 between age 18 and 22, on minimum wage b/c he has only a h.s. diploma, while also attending classes 9 months of the year? How much summertime and afterschool work can he do to scare up $60,000 even before he has a college degree? </p>
<p>Your other choice is to feed and house him at home until he's 22 so he can work minimum wage until he "saves up" $60,000...or make it $64,000 because these costs will keep rising while he lives with you.</p>
<p>Get real.</p>
<p>You now make $400,000 because you worked hard AND you went to college when it cost less AND your degrees enabled you to continue to advance and get promotions throughout your working life. </p>
<p>You did your part in your day, but then the rest of the country kicked in and
responded to your hard work.</p>
<p>Now, you have everything this country can offer, including a child. </p>
<p>Why would you deny your kid the chance to even begin?</p>
<p>how would your parents feel if you joined the military? That may be one of your only options if you parents won't pay and you don't have the stats to earn a full scholarship.</p>
<p>um, WHAT DO YOUR PARENTS DO? hahaha</p>
<p>**Yeah im with Getouttabuffalo i thought my parents were wealthy</p>
<p>Yeah, I'd ask the to read the stats. No kid can put themselves through a private college. Do they realize this is the most important thing they can give you. With average stats you wil most probably end up at a third tier school to get merit aid. With parents paying, you would go to a much better college and have many more job opportunities. It's not spoiling you to give you a good education.</p>
<p>paying3 tuitions- Well said. Bravo! </p>
<p>Jlime18- Try for the merit aid. Declaring yourself independent is not an option. Worst case, go to a good community college and do well. You can prove to them your abilities, and perhaps they then make take their heads out of the sand. Good luck to you.</p>
<p>I'd try to get your parents to a financial aid night. Tell them that you'd like thier advice because there are lots of loan deals out there for students and you WILL be looking at years of loans if you do this all on your own. My husband was shocked when a financial aid officer said "to having the buying power today that minimum wage had 25 years ago, your burger flipper would have to earn $22 an hour". There are charts that show how much you will pay for your loans. Show them to your parents and have a respectful conversation on what that means for your years after college.</p>
<p>When your parents are sitting in a room full of parents who are looking at second mortgages, deferring retirement or asking about second jobs to help their kids through college, they might come to see how rare their viewpoint is. </p>
<p>Money is only one part of the equation. If you are a responsible young person, you will be looking at a variety of schools and asking your parents advice on location, major, jobs and how to manage loans. In contrast, if your actions and language make your parents worried that you are seeking four years of partying at their expense, then their mindset is more understandable. </p>
<p>Communication, constant and respectful, is the key for them to understand you, your world and your tradeoffs -- and for you to understand what they want for you and for themselves. You don't want to resent one another. Good luck.</p>
<p>I attended a top public university in the70s and paid a total of $5000 in tuition for a BA and MBA ( directly from undergrad). I was able to earn almost 4x that much in starting salary. To achieve the same ratio today attending that same university a student would need a job paying about $250,000 in starting salary. </p>
<p>Times have changed and working your way through college is just not realistic as it was in my and your parents era. Your parents need to take a close look at the implications for your life in what they are saying.</p>
<p>cad, there are many people out there that don't realize this. I have some older relatives (my own mother included) that believe that college "was always expensive" and that it is no more expensive now, than it was 35 years ago. Some posters on cc apparently believe this too.</p>