I’ve posted a few other times regarding our situation. My daughter is studying in the UK and has nearly completed the first year of IB. Due to a number of circumstances, we are returning to Oregon and she will finish her final year there. She will resume with the AP Capstone Diploma program. At the moment, she is a straight “A” student. She also got a 41 on her mock IB exams at the end of her 1st year
She has taken her ACT and SAT, and will take subject SAT tests early in the fall. She is in the 99% for both ACT (33) and SAT (1540) and is interested in applying to some of the Ivy League, with Brown at the top of the list and she is thinking about applying by November 1 as an ED. As an Oregonian, she is interested in Reed and Lewis and Clark. Not sure what other colleges she is interested in at this time. Major at this point is undecided but she loves Art History/Conservation.
I’m starting to look at some discussions on the EFC and while I haven’t done it yet (we’ve filed an extension on our taxes and I need to get access to my daughter’s College Board account), based on what I’m reading, I’m already thinking that it may come out higher than what we will be able to afford. What I’d like to find out about are general merit scholarships, not necessarily tied to any particular university that my daughter could apply to, based on ACT, SAT scores.
I know I’ve got to do the EFC and that’s high on my priority list. In the meantime, we’re looking for advice on where our daughter can start looking for scholarship opportunities.
I suggest that you run the NPCs first to see where you stand. Individual colleges are the best source of merit money. Although your daughter has a great gpa and test scores, unfortunately there are no outside scholarships based on ACT/SAT scores. National scholarships are fiercely competitive and a student really needs an “it” factor beyond good grades and scores–those are simply too common. Outside scholarships should be considered a supplement, not a means to pay as they are too competitive and too unpredictable. Often decisions aren’t even made on awards until after May 1st.
Why do you need College Board access to get a handle on your family net cost?
Even though you have filed an extension…don’t you KNOW your income from 2017? The year ended six months ago.
The net price calculators are currently set for this fall freshmen, and will be reset near the end of the summer for the 2019-2020 school year. But you could use them to get a rough estimate of your net costs.
The colleges on her list are pretty pricey. Will you have instate residency in Oregon by the time she enrolls? Check the policies on that…she needs one sure thing financially.
The best scholarships are ones awarded by the colleges to which your kiddo gets accepted. If you are not going to be receiving need based aid, and younneed significant aid…cast a broad net that includes colleges within your price point, colleges with guaranteed merit aid, and some others where merit is possible.
The Ivy League Schools give not one dime of merit aid…it’s all need based aid. They can be more generous to higher income families…but the first hurdle is acceptance. 90% or more of we’ll qualified applicants, like your daughter, are rejected from these schools every year. They are not a slam dunk for admissions and should be on the reach list only.
If you have a drop dead budget number…please, please convey that to your daughter now. She can apply anywhere so long as she understands that if the money isn’t forthcoming to meet the budget, she will have to decline the admission.
Find one or two colleges with rolling admissions that are affordable. Find some early action colleges (not early decision…early action) and have her apply to those rolling and EA schools by mid October. It would be nice to have an early, affordable acceptance.
IIRC, family is currently renting out their home in Oregon (that will be additional income) as the house is an asset. Family currently lives in the UK. If they move back to Oregon, the house in the UK becomes an asset that will skew the the numbers on the net process calculator
the net price calculator will not be accurate for Op’s situation
The net price calculator won’t be totally accurate… it will give a rough (ok…very rough) ballpark.
Is the family going to sell their UK house? If it is a rental and they live elsewhere…that will totally botch up net price calculator results.
Colleges don’t give need based aid so that families can own second homes or rental property.
This kid needs a couple of colleges that have guaranteed merit aid,and come in at a price point the family can afford. She has good stats…but her current college list doesn’t have guaranteed awards at those pricey schools…and neither do the Ivies.
She needs to look at the schools, and affordability VERY carefully.
The family needs to speak with the financial aid offices at each of the places on her list. Because of this significant change in the family financial situation, the time to verify specific processes required to get the professional overrides needed to use current income, rather than previous tax years, is Now.
We don’t own in the UK. We rent. We are moving back into our home in Oregon. We’ve maintained the utilities and have kept it as our primary address/residence. So, we have no UK assets.
However, when you file for financial aid in the fall you will use finances from 2017, where your home in oregon will be an asset (because your primary residence was in the UK) and any rent collected for your house in oregon will be income.
Just to be clear, if OP is living in the Oregon house at the time that the 2019-2020 FAFSA is completed, that house will not be reported on FAFSA as an asset, but any rent generated by that house in 2017 will need to be reported as parent income.
FAFSA uses tax filing from the previous filing year, or 2017 taxes filed in 2018 to attend college in the 2019-20 year. However, assets will be as owned on the date of filing the FAFSA. If the house in Oregon is a rental while they’re in England, that can be an issue, but it will not be an asset other than as the primary home when they file FAFSA
We’ll be filing late, as we had some issues with our taxes this past year. I’m well aware of declaring rental income. I retired in August 2017 and began receiving my pension in October. 2017 filing will be 8 months of my wages, about 3 months of my pension (roughly 1/3 of my wage), rental income and some other incidental income. 2018 will be strictly my pension, some farm/rental income, some limited Airbnb income. Overall will be significantly less than 2017 filing (potential less than 1/2). Our 2016 AGI was $77,879. I expect our 2017 AGI to be approximately 75% of that and 2018 AGI to be <50% of that.
Thanks. At this point, she’s wanting to apply to some of the Ivy League colleges and while I don’t want to dissuade her, yes, I think that the NPC is showing something that will not be sustainable/affordable. She really wants to go to a top-notch college/university. It’s a really vast ocean out there.
“She really wants to go to a top-notch college/university. It’s a really vast ocean out there.”
Don’t forget the good UK schools she is probably already familiar with. If you’re even close to full pay, the UK schools are a bargain in comparison to US private unis. Not only is the tuition (even at international rates) lower in the UK but she’d get her bachelor’s in three years instead of the four it will take in a US uni.
Top notch programs matter, as well. My D had similar or better stats to your daughter and wanted art conservation. Of course, everything chemistry related (art conservation is a chemistry major) is done very well in Delaware thanks to DuPont, and the UD art conservation program is the only undergraduate program in the country. The UD honors program students are as top notch as anywhere. Merit money can be generous for a small group of applicants.