Safety Schools?

[mom2collegekids]

<p>Your stats make you eligible for the full scholarship package at University of Georgia - I know you’re looking towards the Northeast, but you’re also looking at UNC so I’m assuming Georgia’s not too bad.</p>

<p>Are you talking about UGa’s competitive scholarships like the one below? I don’t think they are assured. I don’t think schools with competitive merit should be considered as “safeties” because you don’t know if you’ll get the scholarship.</p>

<p>Foundation Fellowship</p>

<pre><code>* Typically 18-22 new student awards

• Minimum academic GPA of 3.75 (unweighted)
• 1400 SAT ( on critical reading and math only; writing score required) or 31 ACT
• A record of strong academic achievement and a history of accomplishment and leadership in co-curricular activities
• Applications for the Foundation Fellowship and Bernard Ramsey Honors Scholarship must be submitted by the November 15th postmark deadline.
• Annual $9,000 stipend for in-state students (in addition to the HOPE scholarship) or annual $15,700 stipend for out-of-state students (in addition to a Regents Out-of-State Tuition Waiver)
  </code></pre>

<p>With the OPs stats, I would think he should apply to a few schools where big merit is assured. Assured big scholarships can make a school into a safety school.</p>

<p>Will your dad fill out the paperwork for financial aid? Will he contribute towards your education? if he won’t, then the schools that require his info will likely not give you the aid you need.</p>

[DunninLA]

<p>

@jasonleb1

I want to go to medical school eventually so I’d like a school with good biology and chemistry programs that will help get me into a good medical school

see, it doesn’t work like that. Med schools don’t care what your major was. As far as pure stats go, they look at 1) GPA in the pre-med prerequisites to med school – bio, chem, calculus), 2) overall GPA, and 3) your MCAT score.</p>

<p>Beyond stats, they put a lot of attention on specific research you participated in, and the letters of recommendation from the Professors with whom you conducted research.</p>

<p>To do all the above, you need to take science courses, but your major can have been Art History.</p>

[jasonleb1]

<p>

You state on another thread that your parents are divorced and your words suggest that your dad won’t be contributing.</p>

<p>That will be a problem at many schools that require the financial info from BOTH parents.</p>

<p>I know that your mom and family is pressuring you to go to elite schools. However, you need to tell them that those schools will expect your dad’s income info.

</p>

<p>

Will your dad fill out the paperwork for financial aid? Will he contribute towards your education? if he won’t, then the schools that require his info will likely not give you the aid you need.

</p>

<p>Can I explain to them I don’t even know where he is and that I have no way of contacting him? Last I heard he was somewhere in the Middle East but that was almost 7 years ago.</p>

<p>

see, it doesn’t work like that. Med schools don’t care what your major was. As far as pure stats go, they look at 1) GPA in the pre-med prerequisites to med school – bio, chem, calculus), 2) overall GPA, and 3) your MCAT score.</p>

<p>Beyond stats, they put a lot of attention on specific research you participated in, and the letters of recommendation from the Professors with whom you conducted research.</p>

<p>To do all the above, you need to take science courses, but your major can have been Art History.

</p>

<p>Oh yes, I’m well aware they don’t care about your major. Bio and Chem are just what interest me and I’d like to be as prepared as possilbe for when I go to medical school.</p>

<p>

2. go to collegedata.com, <a href=“http://www.collegedata.com/cs/search...rch_tmpl.jhtml[/url]”>http://www.collegedata.com/cs/search...rch_tmpl.jhtml&lt;/a&gt;,
   search for the school you have in mind (e.g. Holy Cross), and go to the section called “Money Matters”. There you will see whether HC is a 100% need school, or a 92% need school, etc. Then look a couple lines below that to see how much of the aid they DO give is in the form of loans. In the case of College of the Holy Cross, you will see from the above link that HC meets 100% of need, and that about $7,000 of that help (or about 22%) is in the form of loan+work study. By looking up each target schook you see how generous the school is.

</p>

<p>In the case of Amherst it says:
“Average Percent of Need Met 100%
Average Award $41,124
Need-Based Gift
Received by 989 (97.3%) of aid recipients, average amount $39,451
Need-Based Self-Help
Received by 867 (85.3%) of aid recipients, average amount $2,093”</p>

<p>So the Self-Help is what I have to contribute through loans and work study or other methods? And the Gift is just what’s put towards my Average Percent of Need Met 100%
Average Award $41,124
Need-Based Gift
Received by 989 (97.3%) of aid recipients, average amount $39,451
Need-Based Self-Help
Received by 867 (85.3%) of aid recipients, average amount $2,093?</p>

[DunninLA]

<p>^ wow, that’s a problem on so many levels… sorry to hear that. </p>

<p>I assume that in order to prevent Financial Aid fraud, the system is set up so thatsimply saying you have had no contact for 7 years will not cut it. You will need to supply his Social Security #, right? I don’t know anything about FA, but I assume they will pull his tax returns … or if that is invasion of privacy, they will simply not offer FA.</p>

[jasonleb1]

<p>We have his social security number so that might help. Even if they can track him down, do they take into consideration that he won’t be contributing? He hasn’t for the last 10 years and there’s legal proof of that if they need it.</p>

[jasonleb1]

<p>Edit: So the Self-Help is what I have to contribute through loans and work study or other methods? And the Gift is just what’s put towards my tuition?</p>

[leanid]

<p>Do not count Boston College as a safety, maybe a match, but not a safety.</p>

[DunninLA]

<p>

@jasonleb1

So the Self-Help is what I have to contribute through loans and work study or other methods? And the Gift is just what’s put towards my tuition?

</p>

<p>Sort of, yeah, Self Help is Loans and Work Study, and a Grant is a gift =f ree money.</p>

<p>Every college annually publishes its “Cost of Attendance”. That is composed of Tuition, Fees, Room, Board, Personal Incidentals, and Transportation to/from home to School. </p>

<p>Let’s say the COA is $55,000.</p>

<p>The Financial Aid office determines you (summer work) and your parents can afford $20,000 this year, based on your 1) FAFSA and your 2) CSS Profile. 100% Need colleges will then figure out how to divide the remaining $35,000 between Grant (free money), institutional loan (low %), and Work-Study while at college… like this:</p>

<p>Grant: $29,000
Loan: $4,000
Work-Study: $2,000</p>

<p>Total Financial Aid Package: $35,000</p>

<p>Or, for a school that is not 100% need, it could look like this (for a school that meets 87% of need)</p>

<p>Grant: $19,500
Loans (2): $9,500
Work Study: $2,000</p>

<p>Total Financial Package: $31,000</p>

<p>You see one school will actually GIVE you $10,000 more than the other. Personally I think it can be misleading to call Loans part of a Financial Aid “Package”, but so be it.</p>

<p>Every school will actually determine a different amount you and your family SHOULD pay, and a different amount they will pay. After you get the FA offers, you compare.</p>

[jasonleb1]

<p>This is confusing lol. So what is the Self-Help?</p>

[fallenchemist]

<p>Your situation is so complicated and, while not unique, it is not really common either. I would see if you can work directly with a financial aid officer at a school where you feel certain to get accepted. That can probably act as a guide to the other schools, although there will be some differences, potentially.</p>

[jasonleb1]

<p>Thanks everyone, I’m just gonna focus on trying to track down my dad (I swear to God I’ll be so ****ed if he makes enough money to render me aidless or near aidless and then won’t contribute).</p>

[DunninLA]

<p>

@jasonleb1

So what is the Self-Help?

You had it right the first time… self help means work study + loans.</p>

<p>You obviously want to find a school with the smallest amount of self-help… Amherst was a great example from your above post. Self Help is minimal there.</p>