<p>Have you visited any schools within a days drive of home? Even if you arent in yet, it would be a good idea to go see Flagler and GCSU, with the understanding that you need to bolster your application to the latter. Poster after poster is trying to warn you that the schools you have, even with the current aid, may not be financially affordable for you. In fairness, I think Clark is a big reach for you, and also may be financially unaffordable (at around $45k/yr). You have not visited a single school (and no your brother’s 4 years ago doesn’t count). Time to take a short road trip. You dont want to be fiddling while Rome burns, as they say.</p>
<p><strong><em>Cross posted with GA2012mom</em></strong></p>
<p>You need some schools you can afford- for example-Wooster doesn’t attempt to meet 100% of need. According to the College Board
461 freshmen applied for aid.
380 received aid.
250 had need met.
Average debt at graduation ( again not counting parental debt) $25,252</p>
<p>And I never submitted my ACT scores to any of the schools. I talked to a Flagler admission rep and she told me my writing/reading scores were fine, but my math score was a little low. However, given my courses taken and my GPA, she said I should be fine. And I don’t think Clark is that much of a reach. Yes, my SAT scores are low for them, but they are going SAT Optional next year so obviously the SAT won’t be taken that much into consideration. I talked to a Clark admission rep as well and they told me the same thing. My GPA is about average for Clark anyways and I’ve taken AP/honors classes all throughout high school. </p>
<p>I plan on seeing GCSU/Lenior/maybe Flagler in January, probably on a Saturday. Flagler is 6 and a half hours away, so it isn’t exactly close. And I’ve already been accepted to 4 colleges, so I already know I’m going somewhere. </p>
<p>Hiram costs $38,410 per year, but I’ve received $10,000 in academic scholarships and I’ll receive a $3,000 scholarship for being out of state, so with financial aid it should be reasonable. </p>
<p>Wooster has been known to give excellent financial aid. 90% of applicants get merit scholarships. I have looked at the Southern Regional Education Board and there were no programs which interested me.</p>
<p>You do know there are alot more expenses than Flagler lists? You have books, travel, clothing, laundry, pizza and beer, etc. Trust me, no way are you going there for 22k per year. </p>
<p>Also, other posters have warned you that adcoms will tell you whatever. Just because they say you’ll be okay doesn’t mean you are in. Look at the numbers, please!</p>
<p>You aren’t going anywhere if you can’t afford it. Plan a trip to GCSU (Millegeville) and then its a few more hours to St Augustine. When you go to Flagler, be sure to go to the library and look at the ceiling. Spectacular! It used to be a fancy hotel in a former life, and it is beautiful. If you take a Friday off you can see GCSU on Friday and then drive down to St. Augustine afterwards, stay at the beach (nice) and see Flagler on Sat. Traffic will be lighter to come back on a Sat., and depending on how fast your dad drives, the drive back is about 5 1/2 -6 hrs. Will be good practice for your longer roadtrip.</p>
<p>As for Clark, your SAT and ACT are below the 25th %ile for their first year students</p>
<p>With my D we did not do any visits before acceptance. We are trying to get some of the visits in as we hear back from the schools. There is no way to reasonably look at so many schools in such a short time period if we waited till spring break.Even with two trips planned you are trying to see way too many places. Those driving distances are long. Your trip sounds like a hamster on a wheel. You can’t slow down to see anything because you need to get into the car and get driving to the next location. Plus when do you plan to eat and sleep. Also you need to take into account that spring break for you might also overlap with the spring breaks at many of the colleges. In that case the campuses will be empty.
You could try to visit some of the schools as they come in if they will pay for part of the visit. You don’t need to be able to rent a car. Every airport has some sort of shuttle service. You could do an overnight in the dorm so no need for a hotel. Sounds like you are near a major airport so start searching for low fares.
Regarding debt- think about what the loan payment will be on 30,000 of debt. My S graduated with about 21,000 in loans. 6 months out you need to start repayment. His payment is around 250 a month. That is on top of his living expenses. I think somewhere you mentioned journalism as a career. Those jobs are hard to get and you probably won’t be paid much. Also grad school will add much more debt.</p>
<p>average indebtedness at graduation is a pretty meaningless statistic – it doesn’t say anything about what kind of debt families in your financial situation end up with, and it can depend a lot on the affluence of students attending – those stats may represent averages of families contributing a lot more than yours can, and as others have pointed out, that doesn’t include debt that the parents take on, or private loans the students take. By the way, how are you planning on borrowing $30K? Most students are not eligible to borrow that much without co-signers.</p>
<p>That’s another good point. OP, a college visit during that college’s spring break is not going to tell you anything about the school except what the exterior of the buildings look like. Although even if they’re in session, you’re not going to learn much more than that during your lightning-fast visits. </p>
<p>So you might as well be honest with yourself – your decision is going to made primarily on surface appearances.</p>
<p>I was never planning on borrowing 30k, but I said that was as much in debt I would go for four years. I’m also taking about for four years not every single year. Also, 30k was the biggest average out of the school. But I understand what your saying about the average may not be relevant to my family. </p>
<p>A college visit during spring break will tell me if I like the area and the school. One may like it online, but not in person. Where it’s located and how I like the area may also come into play.</p>
<p>"… they are going SAT Optional next year so obviously the SAT won’t be taken that much into consideration."</p>
<p>Um, no. Colleges go SAT Optional so they can admit good students without having low SAT scores negatively affect their admission stats. Submitting a low SAT score to an SAT-optional school is MUCH worse than submitting no SAT score.</p>
<p>Clark is a wonderful school. Best wishes with your application there.</p>
<p>I understand. Does the 5500 include private loans or just overall college loans per year? How much would you guys say is TOO much to take out per year? My father doesn’t have the best credit, but he said he would cosign and my mother already told me she wouldn’t. I could always ask my grandparents though. Also, I’m not going into a big paying job so I don’t want to take out too many loans.</p>
<p>I already submitted my application to Clark. They require the SAT for THIS year. I had to submit my SAT score. My point was that a low SAT score may not hurt as much this year since they will be going SAT Optional starting next year. The year after I applied. They told me it wouldn’t as well, but like you guys said you can’t always trust a rep.</p>
<p>The 5500 is Stafford loans (government). Those are the ONLY loans you can get in your own name. If you want more (private) loans, you need a co-signer with good credit willing to take responsibility for them. The only way (I believe) that you can get more credit in your own name is that you are eligible for more Stafford loans if your parents apply for Parent Plus loans and are rejected due to poor credit (if your parents are divorced, I don’t know if they both have to apply and be rejected before you qualify for additional loans in your own name). Occasionally the school itself will offer additional loans directly to the student. Unless your grandparents are VERY comfortable financially, they should not cosign any loans for you.</p>
<p>My mom has good credit and my parents aren’t divorced. Juniata’s early estimator said they would give me $6,500 in loans per year. Is this without any Stafford loans? If the government does offer me stafford loans, is it better to take the colleges loans or the government?</p>
I think Juniata and Allegheny are probably very similar but Ursinus, just because of it’s location, is more preppy and liberal. Juniata and Allegheny are isolated, rural colleges. Ursinus is less then an hour from Philadelphia and fairly well known in Southeastern PA.</p>
<p>Almost certainly they are including the government 5500 in there. They may offer you the other $1k privately freshman year, or they may just be averaging, and expecting you to take 5500 freshman year and make it up with higher loans later.</p>
<p>Thanks kathiep! I’m just worried Ursinus may be a little too athletic/fratty for my taste. I’m more artsy and I’m more interested in the humanities and social sciences. Would you say Allegheny or Juniata is more rural?</p>
<p>Hopefully you did not apply to schools you do not want to attend. You said you didnt want to be “in the middle of nowhere” but several of your schools are rural campuses.</p>
<p>Be careful about statistics. For example, the statement that “90% of students receive aid” could mean that 10% of students get grants/scholarships and 80% get loans only. Or, “Students receive an average of $5K in merit aid” could mean that most students receive around $5K. But it could also mean that some receive a lot more than $5K, and some receive little or nothing.</p>
<p>Another thing to be aware of: When a school says that it “meets demonstrated need” that may mean offering you and your parents a whole bunch of federal loans, and not much more. My D’s financial aid package from UC included: $500 grant, $5500 Stafford loans, $4000 Work Study (meaning she would have had to work 15-20 hrs/week), and a great big fat Parent Plus Loan. That got us down to our EFC, for which we would have had to borrow more from a bank, a family member, or our home equity. Did they meet our demonstrated need? They sure did. Was it a good deal? Far, far from it.</p>
<p>BTW, colleges do not make loans. They distribute the federal loans (Stafford loans for you, Plus loans for your parents). Anything beyond that, you have to get a private student loan from a bank, and you’ll need a co-signer.</p>