Starting Financial Aid Conversation

Paying for College
21

With a 1400 SAT and good grades you should be able to get merit at Duquesne, Allegheny, UScranton, Juniata and more LACs. Need based aid would depend on parent income.

For merit at Pitt you would need very high stats and class rank, but there is the Nordenberg leadership scholarship you can apply to as an instate student, also the Stamps Leadership scholarship.

PSU might give some merit if you get into Schreyer Honors. Your URM status could help with that.

Temple has discontinued their automatic merit, it is competitive now. Might be worth a try, especially if your SAT goes up > 1400.

For PASSHE schools, some offer a few board of governor scholarships to high stats and URM students I believe.
IUP has Cook Honors College, they have a summer program you can look into as well.

You can also look at a few Ohio schools that give merit, like OSU, Ohio University, Miami University, U Toledo, U Cincinnati.

22

With Pitt, apply early! OSU has a deadline of Nov 1 I think. Some PASSHE schools I think you have to apply by Oct for scholarship consideration.

23

@alooknac I know some of my friends just got back from visiting schools in that area, so I will look into those and ask about what it was like there.
@“aunt bea” I don’t believe my school has that. In my school, the majority of kids do not go to college so it’s sort of difficult to access information like that.

24

@Gatormama thank you for the link!
@mommdc thank you for the suggestions–will look into some of those schools and see if I may qualify for any merit aid. I am already planning on getting my applications in early.

25

Maybe write out a few bullets of what you want to say to your parents - and practice it, before approaching them

But if they are secretive, and they say they trust you to figure this out, start out by thanking them for putting you in a position where you’re able to think about your future. You appreciate everything they’ve done for you so far. Then tell them because you know college is a freaking ton of money, you’re trying to figure out the best way to put your list together. Tell them you don’t want to waste application fees on schools where you won’t be able to afford it if you get in.

Tell them that being a first gen college student may help you get in to some of these schools. But getting in and being able to pay for it are not the same thing.

So you want to leave them with a couple of things you’re going to need from them.

If they don’t want to show you their tax forms and tell you how much their savings are, you understand, but the schools have to know.

They have these things called the Net Price Calculator - each school has a different formula on how they figure how much aid they can give.

Then, tell them if it helps, you’d like to give them a couple days to think about this and get this info together. You understand you have to do the work yourself, but the reality is that you still need more help, or at least information from them.

Tell them you don’t think its’ fair for them to have to pay every cent of your college, and you are willing to work over the summers and get a work-study job during the school year to help out.

You want to take whatever loans you can get, but you are only allowed a certain amount each year. And you don’t expect them to take Parent Loans - PLUS, as you don’t want them to jeopardize their own future for you - they have done a lot for you already.

You also don’t expect them to re-mortgage their house to try to pay for your college - it’s up to them to think about whether re-financing at a lower interest rate might make sense or not - you have heard/read that some families do things like this, to lower their payment, and free up some cash to pay for college…

But not having any idea at this point whether they’ve squirreled away a quarter-million for you to attend almost any 4 year college you like, or if you’re going to have to try community college for a couple years and transfer later, makes it difficult for you to start getting your list together.

It doesn’t cost anything to run the Net Price Calculator estimates, but it does often cost $75-150 for each school’s application. You don’t want to apply to a couple hundred schools in hope that you’ll magically get in and win a scholarship, but at this point you think it’s probably in your interest to apply to a few that may be within your family budget, so you may be able to compare offers and make the right decision.

Best of luck to you.

26

FYI - all applicants to Penn State Schreyer Honors College get a $4,500 scholarship.

Academic Excellence Scholarship
A $4,500 Academic Excellence Scholarship is available for all Schreyer Scholars entering directly from high school. This is a merit-based scholarship and is awarded regardless of the student’s financial need. It is renewable for a total of eight semesters*, pending good academic standing and the fulfillment of all requirements of the Schreyer Honors College.

27

@carmen00

Then of course, depending on your relationship with your parents and their sense of humor, you could ask if they don’t want to share their finances with you because they have been involved in nefarious activity, they used to run drugs, or they made off with the mob’s money, and they’ve been hiding in the witness protection progam for most of your life…

Or maybe your dad was a male prostitute, and your mom was his pimp.

Or tell them you need their bank account numbers because your college funding will be a snap - you got an email from your very new good friend, a Nigerian Prince who wants your help to be sending you $20 million in golden bullion finances previously hidden from the terrorists now in controls of his country’s banks accounts, and he will has promises you ten percents as payments for your efforts in transferring said funds to United States

Adding humor to an awkward situation with your parents might relieve some of the tension. And it might help show them you are closer to being ready to be treated as the adult you are becoming

28

The college finances process is incredibly invasive. That said–your father can go through ot without sharing any of it with you. The real question is: will he be willing to go through the process at all?

My husband HATED it, but he did it. Also don’t forget the CSS form. That one is even more intrusive.

29

@3puppies my parents have already stated that they do not want to cosign any loans. They even got me a credit card a few months ago because they absolutely do not want their names on any loans, which is understandable considering my father has been looking towards retirement. My dad wanted to get me a newer car (not real new, just better than what I have now) but I said I would rather have that money put towards college, so I may be getting a few thousand. I do not expect any more from them, though. I hope to have them run just a few NPCs to just get an idea of how much college will be. I may just need to ask my mom alone so then we can both go to my dad with the real prices of my college education. And yes, my parents are definitely the type to lighten up with some humor added to it, so that may help ease the tension about asking about financial information.

30

@adlgel Yes, I did read about the $4500 scholarship for Schreyers. Unfortunately, I do not believe I will get any other aid to cover the rest of the cost for Penn State, which is a shame because it is a school I really like.

@Sicklemoon My dad is willing to go through that when I fill out the fafsa and css profile, but he does not want me to know any information before then. I actually got sent to my room when my parents filed their taxes this year because my dad did not want me to know how much they made. My mom, however, did not seem to mind as much because she is beginning to realize that I will know this information eventually, but she can still be secretive at times.

31

So long as your dad is willing to participate in the process… Do you really need to know his financial details?
I think the advice you’ve been given here generally looks good. Trying to get some sense of the number your parents are comfortable contributing–totally understandable. Making sure your parents understand the potential costs of the colleges you want to apply to–also a good idea.
Good luck!