<p>Hey, I am a junior in high school. My family and I just found out that we're going to pay a ton of college (money that we can't afford).</p>
<p>The problem that we have is a little rare: My parents make only around $15,000 from work and maybe $20,000 in other income (such as social security and worker's comp, because my father has a disability). Based on our income, I would be able to get full or at least lots of financial aid, but there's just one problem: After so many years of working (despite getting mostly only minimum wage, but still cashing in when banks had AMAZING interest), my parents have around $250,000+ in the bank. They planned to use this money for the retirement (but still do not want to put this in 401K?!?!) and NEVER planned this money to go towards my college tuition. So based on the fact that my parents have that much money in the bank, we're going to pay a lot for college, but we can't afford to pay a lot.</p>
<p>So what do my parents and I do? Are there any forms of investment that we can put this money in? </p>
<p>I don't have the grades, the test scores, and the ECs to get a full merit scholarship to any school, but the try-to-get-a-full scholarship option is not an option unless I improve my stats which I've lost faith in that. I would be happy to PM my stats to people who want to look at them to see what colleges would give some merit aid.</p>
<p>Have you used the efc calculator and figured out your efc? You are still a junior that means you still have time to raise your grades and you are not done taking your sat or act. You also have time to improve your ec. You should put alot of effort on all that. Another hope for you is that they do not use a high percentage on asset. They take it out more on income. Pell grant also count income mostly. Some college aso offers no loan FA if you are below a certain income.</p>
<p>Yeah, I have looked at the gov’t EFC calculator and since my Dad is on Social Security, my EFC is automatically 0. But many colleges do not look at gov’t EFC calculator and use their own in which for most colleges I will have to pay at least $20,000 which is too much for my family.</p>
<p>Actually, most colleges use only the FAFSA (all who participate in federal aid programs must use the FAFSA for that purpose) and I believe most states also have grant programs. Look at your instate publics - both 4 year and 2 year - and don’t discount the possibility of starting at a CC! This is how many lower income families make it work.</p>
<p>That’s my other problem: My parents won’t let me go to community college or state school (I’m from NY so our state schools aren’t amazing). Maybe my parents would be okay with SUNY Binghamton, SUNY Geneseo, or SUNY Buffalo, but again I still would probably have to pay in full at those schools, because they have not so great financial aid or sometimes merit aid.</p>
<p>I completely disagree with your assessment of the SUNYs - many of them have excellent programs, they simply aren’t as well known as some of the other state flagships (hmmm…maybe because we don’t actually have a flagship?!). From your initial post, it sounds as if Binghamton and Geneseo might be a stretch - what is your current gpa and are you taking honors and AP classes? Do you know what you might want to major in? </p>
<p>With a Pell grant of $5550, a TAP award of $5K, a $5500 student loan, and some smaller grants and work study, any SUNY would be within your reach. If you want to avoid the student loans, look to the SUNYs near you. If your folks are truly that opposed to SUNY schools, they may have to rethink their retirement savings plan!</p>
<p>Here are my stats:
WGPA: 96%
Class Rank: None.</p>
<p>APs/Honors/Advanced Courses Taken Up Until Junior Year:
AP World History (3-self-study, not available at my school)
AP US History</p>
<p>Honors World History I
Honors World History II
Honors French III
Honors French IV
Honors English 11</p>
<p>152 Cultural Anthropology at SUNY
101 Geology at private college</p>
<p>PSAT: 173 (58 CR, 61 M, 54 W)
SAT II: World History 680</p>
<p>Extracurriculars:
Volunteer Genealogical Researcher
Volunteer Genealogical Database Producer
Envirothon Team Member
Sports Broadcasting Member
National Honors Society Member</p>
<p>Awards:
High Honors
Won an international handwriting contest</p>
<p>I want to major in Geology and minor in a foreign language.</p>
<p>Your patents can’t pay much but they won’t let you go to a CC or state school? Unfortunately they need a reality check.</p>
<p>You don’t have the stats for schools that meet need, so you probably won’t get many low cost options other than CCs and state schools. Your best option is probably 2 years at a CC and then 2 at a SUNY.</p>
<p>They need to quickly put a chunk of that money in a retirement acct. If they wait til 2012 to do it, then that transaction will still prevent you from getting aid when you apply next year. I don’t know the exact amount, but they can keep about $40k in non-retirement savings and it won’t hurt your EFC.</p>
<p>They also should not be limiting your affordable college choices (SUNYs) when they don’t have the funds to pay for you to go elsewhere. That’s like a telling a kid, you can’t have a Toyota, you can only have a Lexus, but oh we can’t pay that high of a price. What the heck??? (Are your parents immigrants? They sound like it.)</p>
<p>Currently, you won’t qualify for Pell or TAP or any of that kind of free gov’t aid. </p>
<p>Study for both the ACT and SAT…that’s your best hope right now. Keep your grades high. </p>
<p>How much can your family put towards college?</p>
<p>With a Pell grant of $5550, a TAP award of $5K, a $5500 student loan, and some smaller grants and work study, any SUNY would be within your reach.</p>
<p>Unless his parents do something with that savings, he won’t be qualifying for Pell. Don’t know about TAP…is that only based on income?</p>
<p>Blair said they qualify for automatic 0, which would exclude assets. Not sure they will be auto 0 next year, since the income limit is going down to $23K but there’s still a good chance they would qualify for the simplified formula which still excludes assets.</p>
<p>TAP requires a taxable income under $80K but the application is actually fed from the FAFSA processing.</p>
<p>* I have looked at the gov’t EFC calculator and since my Dad is on Social Security, my EFC is automatically 0.*</p>
<p>Is that true? Does a student have an auto 0 if he has a parent collecting social security? Is that only if family income is under a certain amount or what? </p>
<p>Is this student including investment earnings when he’s discussing family income?</p>
<p>Then why is it that many out of state students are interested in your SUNY schools.</p>
<p>Seems to me that if you qualify for TAP, have an auto $0 which would qualify for you for the max Pell grant of $5400, and take the Stafford Loan of $5500…OH…and have some of your own earnings from working this summer and next…you could be well on your way to funding college someplace.</p>
<p>And, if the student gets some strong test scores and good grades, then there are SUNYs that will give some merit. </p>
<p>I remember a student posting that UB gave tuition scholarships for stats.</p>
<p>It really doesn’t matter what the parents are saying about SUNYs as long as the parents don’t prevent the kid from applying to some. Once all the FA packages are in, and the parents see that the CSS schools won’t ignore their savings, what are they going to do when SUNYs or similar are the only affordable schools? Are they going to say that he can’t go to college at all? I doubt it…especially when Pell, TAP, etc will be covering the costs. </p>
<p>This could work out in a way where the kid won’t need mom and dad’s blessing anyway…if aid pays for a SUNY, how can they stop him from going?</p>
<p>Is none of your parents’ investments in formally defined retirement funds?</p>
<p>Since your FAFSA will be based on what your parents have in the bank in January (or so) of your senior year, your parents have time to shift some of their savings into IRAs for 2011 and 2012. Anyone who has earned income can put up to 5k each year into an IRA (6k if that person is at least 50 years old). [2012</a> IRA Contribution and Deduction Limits](<a href=“http://www.irs.gov/retirement/participant/article/0,,id=188232,00.html]2012”>http://www.irs.gov/retirement/participant/article/0,,id=188232,00.html) If only one spouse works, the non-working spouse can contribute to his/her own IRA based on the fact that the other one has earned income. This means that your parents could safely shift 10k to 12k from their cash accounts in the bank into IRAs for 2011, and then repeat that in 2012. They don’t even have to decide about this this week, because the 2011 deposit can be made up until April 15, 2012. The IRA can be established anywhere - at a bank, a brokerage, you name it. Happydad has been managing his Roth IRA for years in an account at E*Trade. Your parents can set up IRAs at the same bank(s) where they currently have their cash accounts if they want to.</p>
<p>They also may want to sit down with an investment counselor and discuss annuities. Those are tricky investments and definitely not for everyone, but do have the advantage that a significant amount of money can be stashed away for retirement all at once.</p>
No, it’s not true at all. The auto 0 is based on the parents’ AGI. If the AGI is under the threshold (whatever that is now) and they meet one of the criteria then they are eligible for the auto 0. Being or not being on social security is not a factor except that untaxed social security does not have to be reported on FAFSA. Any that is taxable (as other income increases more and more of social security income becomes taxable) will be included in the AGI.</p>
<p>How far are you willing to travel, and how low down on the academic food chain are you willing to go in order to get merit-based aid? If you dig long and hard enough, yes you might find some money somewhere. Start with the threads on guaranteed merit-based aid in this forum. Scroll down, and you will find them.</p>
<p>I am willing to go far, but my parents aren’t letting me go far, because they don’t want to pay far so much transportation costs, because they can barely afford to pay tuition in the first place. Five hours by car is the maximum (I’m from Rochester, NY). </p>
<p>I am willing to go to a college that has an average SAT of 1500, but my parents might beg to differ and they think that I have enough potential to go somewhere better. When I tell them I don’t have the stats to go somewhere other than SUNY, they say I have little self-confidence. </p>
<p>I think I can do much better on the SAT considering that I just started taking Trig when I took the PSAT.</p>
<p>The other thing that you need to do, is sit down with your guidance counselor and talk about your college list. Your high school has some kind of records somewhere that indicate where students with various academic profiles have been admitted in recent years. Your counselor may have useful suggestions for you.</p>