<p>My D wants to apply to a private college, but we are starting to think that a private college is just out of reach for those of us that are lower-middle income.</p>
<p>If the Net Price Calculators are on the mark, the private colleges estimate we should come up with $30K of a $50K total cost. Our EFC is probably around 10-13K max.</p>
<p>There is no way that we will take out loans of $20K a year to put our children through college. We have been very clear what our financial situation is, so D knows it might be a long shot. (Of course we know that even the CSUs might be out of reach for us because they do not generally give out financial aid, except for loans.)</p>
<p>So, should we just rule out private colleges since we know that we won't get much merit aid (D is a 3.5 GPA), and focus on the state schools? </p>
<p>It seems that the only way to afford a private is to either be full pay, be at poverty level, or have a 4.0 GPA. </p>
<p>Should she just go ahead and apply and see what happens? Are there instances where a school might give out more than what is estimated on the Net Price Calculator?</p>
<p>How are you coming up with a cost of $30K when your EFC is $13K? Are you sure you are running them correctly? What is her ACT/SAT score? Are you only running them for merit? In our experiences the private schools net out WAY less for most people because they just have more aid to give, financial and merit. In the 19 schools our kids applied to, 3 of them were state schools. Those state schools all came in WAY higher than most of the private schools they applied to (all but 2 of them).</p>
<p>A 3.5 does not preclude your D from getting merit aid. Example: my D1 went to an LAC ranked around #50. She had a 3.6, SAT M + CR of 1370. Good ECs (captain of a sports team at a small school, Girl Scout Gold Award, an interesting study abroad experience). But she had not cured cancer or invented the wheel… She got merit aid that totalled about 1/3 of the cost of tuition/room/board. She was “geographically diverse” for the school (we live about 4 states away).</p>
<p>I think a lot of schools don’t include merit aid on the financial calculator… now, I think at some schools they cut grants if they give you merit aid. But they don’t all do that.</p>
<p>Do you mean to say that your EFC is $30,000 but you can only afford to pay $10,000-$13,000, or that your EFC is $10,000-$13,000 but you happened to be looking at private colleges that do not meet full need?</p>
<p>If your EFC is $30,000 (I tried income of $90,000 in the CSU NPC), then you’ll be paying full in-state list price at CSUs (whose in-state list prices are between $20,000 and $30,000). If your EFC is $10,000-$13,000 (I tried income of $40,000), then you should get a combination of Pell Grants and Cal Grants at CSUs to bring the net price down.</p>
<p>With a 3.5 GPA and sufficiently high test scores, there could be some pretty good merit scholarships, including automatic ones based on stats that may be usable for safeties.</p>
<p>My experience with net price calculators has been that even after student loans and work study are factored in, I’m still left with a cost that’s at least double (often more) what my efc was calculated to be.</p>
<p>One of the NPCs showed our parent contribution as $10-13K, but the total aid package required a parent loan of over 20K. </p>
<p>So, our EFC is in the 10-13K range, but it looks like one of the schools does not meet full need. Even with grants/scholarships of 1/3 of total cost, that is only $15K, leaving about $35K to cover.</p>
<p>We don’t think we will qualify for Cal Grants because we had put some money away for our kids in a 529 and an UGMA. Our assets put us over eligibility, even though our income is well within Cal Grant limits.</p>
<p>I guess we should look at privates that might meet full need?</p>
<p>There are a number of threads on the subject of good aid and/or merit-based aid. Scroll down in the Financial Aid Forum and in this forum and you will start to find them.</p>
<p>If your child has good grades and exam scores and doesn’t particularly care what part of the country she ends up in, there may well be some LACs that are affordable for your family. But she does need to make certain that she has good options in case that doesn’t work out.</p>
<p>Note that it is mainly the wealthiest (and most selective) of the privates that meet full need. You may have to look for merit scholarships (automatic-for-stats or otherwise), or very low cost schools (e.g. South Dakota State at $16,000 per year out-of-state list price).</p>