<p>I was wondering if I know my EFC, could I get a general estimate of the tuition cost I'd be paying for a University somehow. Because I'm currently working on my final year of CC and I'm looking at prospective colleges to transfer to, but I want to know what I'd be generally paying with financial aid before I go to that college.</p>
<p>Depending on the fin. aid. policy of the school, you could be paying a lot more than your EFC. You won’t know for sure until you have a financial aid award in hand from the school. That is why you should apply to several schools, if you need aid, to then be able to compare offers. One school might give you a lot of grants (which don’t need to be paid back), but another school may just give you a lot of loans, which of course, need to be paid back, and you don’t want a lot of debt after you get out of school. Research the school you are interested in to see what kind of aid they offer, but don’t count on anything until you have actual financial aid offers to compare.</p>
<p>BTW, first, you apply and see if you are accepted. Then, usually close to being accepted, you receive the financial aid offer. Then, you compare offers and choose to attend the school that will work for you financially.</p>
<p>Okay, got it thanks so much. I’m trying to apply to pre pharmacy schools around and I know a lot of them are pretty expensive.</p>
<p>Where are you applying?</p>
<p>What state are you in?</p>
<p>What is your EFC?</p>
<p>how much will your parents pay? </p>
<p>As a transfer student, you have to choose schools carefully, because most don’t give great aid to transfer students.</p>
<p>Most schools do not charge a “sliding scale” based on EFC.</p>
<p>Others can correct me if I’m wrong, but often transfer students don’t get their aid packages until late spring/early summer. that can make it very hard to know where you’ll be going…or to line up other choices if none are affordable.</p>
<p>-I’m going to be applying to VCU, Butler, UCSD, SDSU, University of Houston. (still looking for other options.)
-I live in Virginia
-My EFC is 00678
-I don’t know how much my parents are willing to pay but I’m working full time right now and saving up, but it’s not helping much considering I’m helping my family pay off debt/bills.</p>
<p>I appreciate the info, I’m just browsing right now to see what my options are. I know I still have a full year until I graduate from CC, but I want to get my future set so that’s one thing less to worry about. So what would you have me do as of right now?</p>
<p>Ok…</p>
<p>none of the California public schools are going to help you at all. They only give aid to Calif students. The only aid you’d get is a small federal grant…about $5,000…not enough for a UC that costs about $50k per year to attend…and SDSU costs about $30k…so neither would work for you.</p>
<p>If University of Houston is public, don’t apply there, either.</p>
<p>Do not apply to any out of state publics. </p>
<p>You need to find private schools that give transfer students a lot of aid. </p>
<p>Is VCU the only instate public with pre-pharm and pharm? </p>
<p>hopefully some others here can recommend schools that…</p>
<p>1) meet need for transfer students (since few schools do)</p>
<p>2) have pre-pharm and pharm schools.</p>
<p>Why would University of Houston be a bad choice to apply to? It’s actually fairly cheap for an out of state college. At least from what I’ve researched.</p>
<p>Some Pre-Pharmacy programs at VA state schools…</p>
<p>JMU – [Institute</a> for Innovation in Health and Human Services at JMU](<a href=“http://www.iihhs.jmu.edu/preprofessional/prepharm.html]Institute”>http://www.iihhs.jmu.edu/preprofessional/prepharm.html)
VTech – [Health</a> Professions Advising | Career Services | Virginia Tech](<a href=“http://www.career.vt.edu/HealthProfessionsAdvising/PreparationByField.html]Health”>http://www.career.vt.edu/HealthProfessionsAdvising/PreparationByField.html)
GMason – [Pharmacy</a> information: Health Professions Advising](<a href=“http://prehealth.gmu.edu/sidebar/pharmacy.html]Pharmacy”>http://prehealth.gmu.edu/sidebar/pharmacy.html)
Radford – [RU</a> Pharmacy](<a href=“http://www.radford.edu/~chem-web/Chemistry/Web/Pharmacy.htm]RU”>http://www.radford.edu/~chem-web/Chemistry/Web/Pharmacy.htm)</p>
<p>Many of these schools will have articulation agreements with your VA CC, that may make it easier to graduate quickly.</p>
<p>Why are you applying for pre-pharm tracks when you’re already in college? Can’t you just take your prerequisites at the CC, then take the PCAT and apply to pharmacy schools? Btw, many of the west coast PharmD programs require a BS prior of their PharmD applicants. This adds several years and thousands of dollars to the cost…and there is no longer a shortage of pharmacists in most of the country so it might be wise to hold your debt to a reasonable level.</p>
<p>Butler doesn’t give merit scholarships to pharmacy applicants, even as incoming freshmen and their COA is over $40K a year. I don’t know how many transfers they accept but my guess would be very few since they were, until recently, a 0-6 program. IIRC, there’s a table on aacp.org that gives some stats on accepted students and transfers. If not, you can probably glean a good amount of that info from the posts on the Student Doctor Network’s pre-pharmacy forum.</p>
<p>*Why would University of Houston be a bad choice to apply to? It’s actually fairly cheap for an out of state college. At least from what I’ve researched. *</p>
<p>Because you’re not an instate student, so the only aid you’ll get is your Pell Grant…about $5k per year.</p>
<p>The cost for UHouston for OOS is about $27k for tuition, room, board and books. </p>
<p>While that might be “cheap” compared to OOS for a UC, how would you pay for that? You’d get about $5k for Pell and about $7500 for a student loan. That’s only $12,500…that’s not even half of the cost.</p>
<p>Nothing is “cheap” if you don’t have the money to pay for it. </p>
<p>And, keep in mind, that once you’re in Pharm school, you won’t qualify for Pell anymore. At that point, you’ll be a “grad student”. you’ll be able to borrow larger amounts.</p>
<p>^That actually varies by the school…most schools would consider a pharmacy student as an undergrad for FA purposed for at least the first year or two (as long as they don’t already have a bachelor’s degree, of course!). Unlike most other grad programs, the PharmD is a first professional degree.</p>
<p>I may not have been clear in my post. I don’t think we’re in disagreement. </p>
<p>Someone on the board said that at some point in the 6/7 year PharmD program the student is “transitioned” from undergraduate status to grad status and the student no longer receives Pell. I don’t think that the student can get Pell for the whole 6/7 years while in a PharmD program. I think they only get Pell while they have their “undergrad” status, but lose it once they’ve been given grad school status.</p>
<p>Yes, pharmacy school is typically 4 years (there are a handful of 3 year programs). Although students may or may not be billed at grad rates for that entire time, they’re often considered undergrads for FA purposes for the first 2 years of the program during which time they’re still Pell eligible. IIRC one school extends it to the P3 year as well, or a portion thereof. It’s confusing since it varies by school…for no apparent reason!</p>
<p>^^^</p>
<p>So for a CC student who is tranferring to a school, how might it work for him? When he transfers, he’ll be a junior, therefore would he only receive Pell for up to 2 more years?</p>
<p>You need to talk to the financial aid officers at your choices as well as the department heads and find out what funding there is for your program. Few school meet need fully, and even fewer meet full need for transfer students. Also some special programs are money makers and very little in scholarships and aid are designated for them since they can easily fill those seats with qualified full pays. But some special programs have designated funds for them. To find out which ones fall in which categories, you have to research each school. You can also ask how PELL and other government money eligibility works in such programs.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Pre-pharmacy is not a degree program so most CC students are simply taking their pre-reqs (which are very similar to pre-med classes) there. They don’t transfer but instead take the PCAT exam and apply to pharmacy schools. So there is no junior year, but they start with the P1 year which is the 1st year of the PharmD professional program. If the school considers students undergrads for FA purposes, there is a question on the FAFSA that addresses that, and they remain Pell eligible until the school no longer considers them undergrads. Pharmacy students who follow this typical scenario never receive a bachelor’s degree of any kind…the PharmD is their degree. If the student decides to change drop out of the program at the end of the P2 year, he still wouldn’t have a bachelor’s degree and would probably still be Pell eligible, if he otherwise meets the criteria. Some pharmacy schools now require a bachelor’s prior to entry, so that is not the case for their students (or for career changers, etc.).</p>