I believe these include estimates for personal expenses. Thanks for the BSC co-op information. I’ll look into that.
There is low cost co-op housing at UCD as well: http://schadavis.org/
I would change this quote to “especially if you don’t go to med school…”. The question is how certain you are about med school vs other possible career paths. If you are already going to be in debt after undergrad (albeit less at Berkeley than your other choices) then you might decide a huge med school debt is not the optimal choice.
Neither Smith nor UCB offer an associated medical school, at least within their own towns, and Smith’s focus on undergraduates may make it the better choice for faculty-mentored research. Actually, if Smith can justify its greater cost, it would be for reasons related to this latter aspect, in my opinion.
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I wouldn’t compare research opportunities at an undergraduate-focused institution with those at one of the the leading research universities. They’re very different.
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WOAH, that changes things.
What’s your EFC? Is it close to 40K?
Did you check that you input all correct data, didn’t add a 0 here and there, or didn’t put something on the wrong line?
Did you know before you applied that your parents would only pay 10K?
Would your parents be able to afford 22 or 24K, in which case you’d have a choice between UCD, UCB, and, adding the federal loans and a part time job over the summer, Smith would be reachable?
Or don’t your parents want you to go to Smith or any of the east coast colleges that admitted you, so they set the bar so low that you can’t really afford to go anywhere since nothing is commutable for you?
10K won’t even pay for room&board at a UC - do they understand that and just don’t have the money, is it impossible for them to pay their EFC so they just say “whatever”, or is there a specific reason why they came up with that 10K number?
Do they know you can only borrow 5.5K and they have to borrow the rest for you (ie., if they have the money, it’s much better financially for them to “loan you” the money and ask you to pay them back within 20 years of graduation, than borrowing from the bank?)
YOU can borrow 5.5K for freshman year then a bit more for sophomore and jr/sr year, making it all 27K borrowed, 31K with interest. That’s how much a typical college graduate can reasonably pay back over 10 years.
However, a molecular biology major would probably need more time than that, due to fewer jobs/lower pay after graduation.
Your parents borrowing for you (ie., loans that are way more than the federal loans) would be on the hock on your behalf for at least 15 years, or if you had to pay these extra loans back after college it would make med school very difficult to achieve.
You will clearly have more opportunities for research at Smith, but it’s not the be-all/end-all. You could try to leverage your Smith award so that Bryn Mawr lowers their offer but at best it’d be 30K. Is there a way for you&your parents to fund that?
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Whichever college you choose, you probably do not need to take any more math courses for pre-med purposes. But you may have to take a calculus-based statistics course for scientists if the statistics course was a non-calculus introductory statistics course for general education (like AP statistics).
The recommended math courses at UCB for pre-meds and MCB majors, Math 10A and 10B, cover single variable calculus, statistics, and a few other topics. If you attend UCB, you want to find out what alternative courses, if any, you should take, since Math 10A and 10B would probably repeat a lot of what you already have taken (a waste of schedule space, and could look bad on medical school applications).
I would say I’m pretty certain about going to med school since it’s been my dream for like over 10 years. I’m going to shadow a doctor this week to see if I should pursue medicine.
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My EFC is actually way lower than what those private schools calculated since the FAFSA only required info from my custodial parent. My mom actually said that the choice is up to me, but my dad really wants me to go to Berkeley since it’s basically his dream school. Honestly the 10k is optimistic since my mom was basically saying that there’s no way for her to pay for my tuition and I have to pay for everything. My dad doesn’t live with us but it is very likely that he won’t contribute any either.
Did you build your list without financial considerations?
I’m guessing you didn’t run any NPC on any college and didn’t discuss the results with your parents.
Did your parents tell you they’d contribute to your college costs then change their minds, or did you know from the start your budget would be 10K or less?
Does your dad’s income far exceed that of your mom, thus making the FAFSA EFC false for institutional aid purpose?
First thing first:
you need to get a definite budget from each of your parents.
What will your dad definitely contribute regardless of college? Will he contribute more if you attend UCB?
Your mom should qualify for AOC (a tax credit) that’s supposed to help her pay for your college, can that be used toward that goal (ie., she’d pass it on to you - typically it’d be used to pay for 2nd semester in college).
Can she provide you with $100 a month? $300 a month? $500 at the beginning of the year and $100 after that?
Could she be using part of the $2,800 check she’ll be getting from the government as part of the “pandemic rescue” plan or does she owe rent/utilities?
Do you have a job currently? If not, have you been looking? Your goal should be to hold a part-time job right now then move to full time over the summer.
If what you say about neither parent contributing is correct, then… your situation isn’t good.
The real topic is not attending the LAC of your dreams v. the top ranked public university of your father’s dreams, but finding a way to pay for any college.
You cannot afford to pay for college on your own.
None of the colleges are affordable if your parents don’t contribute.
BTW, your dad doesn’t really have a say if he’s not paying 
Parents shouldn’t try to live vicariously through their children and the fact it’s HIS dream school shouldn’t make it the school for YOU, but at least that might entice him wrt paying for it.
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In fact, throughout the entire process, I’ve been really conscious about the financial situations and had run npc multiple times. I have discussed the results with my mom and she believed that the results were manageable. The only thing is that I wasn’t entirely sure of my Dad’s financial situations when I used npc, which was probably the reason why the results were way off. My mom actually owns 2 properties, and that also causes a higher net price than we can afford.
In terms of my dad’s income, he actually makes a little bit less than my mom and lives abroad. However, my mom is the only person working in our household and has to sustain both her kids and her parents. I believe we are not low income since my brother and I don’t qualify for free lunch or anything like that, but it would be really hard for them to pay for my tuition.
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Any other owned property other than your primary residence can muddy the waters of financial aid. I’m sorry you find yourself in this situation. This is knowledge that was probably available to you but you needed to take a deeper dive than the NPC at the various colleges. Are there any colleges local to you that you could commute to from home? It’s hard to think of the financially viable alternatives with such shiny bright acceptances on the table but with med school on the horizon, your future financial health is as important (or more important) than the shiny undergrad colleges. I understand that looking so far into the future must also be overwhelming. Again, I empathize with you, and my 18 year old self would never consider the advice I’m about to give you, but I would take a year to work (preferably in a health care setting) and reapply with a clear eye for the financial situation you find yourself in. Alternately, I’d go to either Berkeley or Davis, with Davis being the front runner due to lower housing costs than Berkeley. Berkeley housing is problematic for many people. Davis is a great school as is Berkeley, and I would stay away from prestige perceptions as they tend to harm rather than help. Good luck OP.
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The LACs on your list all claim that they will meet 100% of demonstrated financial need. It seems that a heart-to-heart conversation with a financial aid officer and/or admissions counselor is in order to revise the information you gave them and appeal your award. Perhaps your high school guidance counselor can help you with this appeal. If you had an interview with a local alumna, she might also be a source of assistance. An improved award from one of these well endowed colleges might ultimately be your cheapest option.
Find out how badly they want you to come. Let them know that you absolutely can’t come if the costs exceed your bottom line.
A friend of my daughter found herself in your position - exactly the same - and it was “crazy expensive” Kenyon which came through for her and met her need. Don’t rule anyone out. It seems that they didn’t truly understand your situation.
Were you accepted at any other schools? Maybe something a notch below the schools you’ve listed? Perhaps you can qualify for a scholarship.
Colleges want the applicants they’ve accepted to come. It’s always hard for them to know how many students from their “accepted” list will actually enroll. This year is particularly unpredictable because applications at top colleges like those on your list are way up. That gives you leverage in working to negotiate a better financial aid package.
Colleges that “meet need” will meet what they define as “need”. The college’s definition of “need” may be different from the student’s definition of “need”.
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This is exactly right.
@LittleeeChuuu , we CC veterans see your situation all the time. Students and parents think/hope the numbers will work but neither are particularly knowledgeable about the process or how they will actually raise the required funds.
While we hope you can attend your dream college, look into backup plans in case you can’t make the numbers work for these two. One low cost option is transferring after two years at a community college. A third of University of California students are transfers, so it’s a well-defined path.
Note that in this case, the OP also ran into problems because:
- Parents are divorced, and the OP probably did not have correct information about the non-custodial parent’s finances to put in the NPCs of colleges that want both parents’ finances.
- Parent assets and income include rental real estate, which some colleges treat unfavorably.
Ok some good news. I talked to my mom and it seems like she and my dad had made an agreement that each of them will be responsible for half of my tuition. Although my mom said she won’t pay for anything, it actually meant that she won’t pay it from her pocket but she will actually take out loans for me. And apparently my dad was preparing to support me for med school, which I didn’t think was possible. I also figured out from my mom that we had some changes in our financial situations that might lead to more aid (she no longer has a rental property anymore). THE IMPORTANCE OF COMMUNICATION! I will fill out the appeal document and work with the office at Smith asap.
Now the problem comes down to how to convince my dad that Smith is the better option for me. I talked to a few current students, and almost all of them believe that Smith is the better fit especially when I got into STRIDE. However, my dad gave me some random reasons which includes negative opinions about HWC. He believes that Berkeley would be a better fit for me (now he’s paying for it he does have a say).
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Yes, I’m well aware of that. As you say “MAY be different.” I’ve also seen parents successfully negotiate with colleges to increase the financial aid award.
With regard to LACs, members of NESCAC made a commitment about 15 years or so ago to diversify their campuses. To achieve that, they also made a commitment to meet student need with their financial aid packages. A number of other Ivies and LACs did the same. A walk around these campuses demonstrates that what were once bastions of privilege for rich, white kids are now open to students from a wide range of backgrounds and financial circumstances.
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Will your mother have the borrowing capacity, and will she be able to pay back the loans (since you probably will not be able to help for a long time, medical school or not)?
Does your father know how much US medical school costs?
Some of the NESCAC and Ivy League schools may have more visible diversity (racial/ethnic diversity) than before, but most of them still have about half of the students there without financial aid (probably means top 5% or so family income) and under 20% with Pell grants (approximates bottom 40-50% family income). So SES diversity there still skews much higher there than for all college students or the general population.
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