<p>I'm so lost about all this financial aid stuff...i dont even know where to start or how to figure out how much help i can get...if anyone has ANY advice or help it would be much appreciated.</p>
<p>1) Most schools do not have much aid to give, so most cannot meet need.</p>
<p>2) Filling out a FAFSA will give you an EFC (estimated Family contribution). That determines your eligibility for small amounts of federal aid. EFC is a misleading term. It is not the most you have to pay. </p>
<p>3) Students with very low EFCs can get some federal grant money.</p>
<p>4) Students can borrow Stafford loans for up to the following low amounts…</p>
<p>frosh year $5500
soph year $6500
Jr year $7500
Sr year $7500 </p>
<p>5) Some schools also have their own FA forms or require CSS Profile. Some require the financial info of a non-custodial parent.</p>
<p>How much will your parents contribute each year towards college costs?</p>
<p>Where will you be applying?</p>
<p>To get an estimate of your EFC…use this…</p>
<p>Quick EFC
[FinAid</a> | Calculators | QuickEFC](<a href=“Your Guide for College Financial Aid - Finaid”>Quick EFC - Finaid)</p>
<p>im not sure where im applying yet…the money is kinda a big deal and is stopping me from really looking into schools (i dont want to get my hopes and then not be able to afford it…) and im not exactly sure how much a year my parents can help. and thank you for your help :)</p>
<p>The very first step you need to take is to ask your parents how much they can contribute each year for the next four years. Without that information, it’s not really possible to plan effectively for college. They might have substantial savings socked away to pay for college; if so, great! They might not have a lot; if so, then you have to start planning. Don’t just look at cost – look for guaranteed merit-based opportunities (free money for having good grades, good test scores, etc.) that can make college extremely affordable or even free. </p>
<p>Check out this link: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/291483-update-what-i-learned-about-free-ride-scholarships.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/291483-update-what-i-learned-about-free-ride-scholarships.html</a></p>
<p>The finaid calculator is a bit out of date as they have not updated it in 2 years. Shame as it used to be absolutely spot on back when we were first looking at FA. It will give you a ballpark figure but if you are very low income (below $30k) it is completely out of date for the automatic 0 EFC calculations and cut offs (still has $20,000 as the cut off). </p>
<p>The FAFSA website has a thing called FAFSA4caster that will give you an estimated EFC based on your parent and your income and assets.</p>
<p>the calculator is showing about $3000 a year for family contribution…</p>
<p>Remember… that is just an estimate. And, again, do not think that means that schools will only charge you that amount. That is just a number to determine federal aid (which is not much).</p>
<p>Anyway…talk to your family about what they can afford to give you each year.</p>
<p>What are your stats? GPA and ACT and/or SAT (include SAT breakdown)</p>
<p>What is your major?</p>
<p>What is your home state?</p>
<p>what about scholarships? i know another website that shows me some i can apply to but are they even real and worth my time applying to?</p>
<p>oh and i live inillinois. im not sure where i am applying… im not positive but i would say my GPA is about 3.5 (maybe lower) waiting for SAT score but from the practice tests i did i can guess the score will be around 1430(best score was a 1500 but im looking at my average scores) math is 430 reading 490 writing 490 :/</p>
<p>Scholarships that are listed on sites like fastweb are likely legit, but there is a lot of competition for them and just sifting through them all takes time. The best scholarships come from the colleges themselves so it’s definitely worth looking for schools that are likely to give you merit aid. After that, unless you have very high stats and are competitive for the big national awards, you’ll probably find that local/regional scholarships are easier to get and require a fairly minimal amount of effort. They’re generally small and often only for a year though.</p>
<p>how do i know which schools offer that?</p>
<p>Just look at the website for any school that interest you! Or you can search for one of the many threads on merit aid here or try meritaid dot com (I have no idea how reliable their listings are, but just that they do list a number of scholarships by school).</p>
<p>thanks!! :)</p>
<p>If your SAT is going to be around 1430 for all 3 sections and your GPA is 3.5 or lower, then getting scholarships is going to be very hard. Scholarships are given for stats that are high for the school.</p>
<p>What schools can you commute to? Is there a state school in your community?</p>
<p>Must have crossposted with the OP’s stats post. Merit aid might be tricky…depends on the schools you’re looking for. Definitely look at schools with lower averages but good programs. You might also look for other types of scholarships from colleges…diversity, income, etc. Many colleges offer incentives for local HS kids so don’t neglect checking the FA pages of any schools that are within your city/county.</p>
<p>it might be higher cuz i did score a 1500 but i havent got the offical results so i just used my lowest score. and are you telling me im to stupid to get in anywhere?</p>
<p>No of course not! But, as a practical matter, in order to find merit aid (which is based almost exclusively on GPA + test scores) you’ll want to start looking at schools that will offer scholarships at that level. After all, wasn’t that what you were asking about?</p>
<p>My D’s school won’t offer a penny in merit aid, even with a 4.0+ gpa, unless M+CR scores are above 1250 or if the kid was a graduate from an inner city school in that area. My son’s school would offer some merit money for scores above 1100 (M+CR…almost no schools care about or even look at the writing score).</p>
<p>of course my highest score is the one that will matter the least 
and yes i was asking that and just want an honest answer (which you gave me so thanks!) my problem is just finding those schools…</p>
<p>*are you telling me im to stupid to get in anywhere? *</p>
<p>There is a HUGE difference between getting accepted and getting merit scholarships. I school may accept 8,000 students, but only give merit scholarships to 200 of them. Obviously, those 200 are going to be kids with really high stats. Schools offer scholarships for a reason…to get high stats kids to enroll in their schools.</p>
<p>And sk8termom is right, your Math + CR score is the most important. If your highest SAT is a 1000 M+CR score, it will be hard to find merit.</p>
<p>of course my highest score is the one that will matter the least</p>
<p>What does that mean??? </p>
<p>The reason that I asked if there were any state schools that you could commute to is because it will be difficult for you to get enough aid to pay for tuition, books AND ALSO to pay for room and board.</p>
<p>i see what you mean. i guess in my mind ATM getting accepted and its payment are the same thing. is merit the only scholarships there are then? j/w. </p>
<p>of course my highest score is the one that will matter the least~ i was kidding…you said writing score really doesn’t matter and i was usually scoring highest in that. </p>
<p>there are maybe a few schools close but most of them would be a drive…couple hours away at least. and out of curiosity, staying in a dorm is cheaper then renting a place near the campus?</p>