<p>Well, they’re right…just as the SUNY admissions run from lower stats on up, so do private schools. I’m sure there are many private schools that would accept you and perhaps give you merit money (unpredictable at this point, without test scores). But it’s likely that most would gap you since most colleges do not guarantee to meet need and the original question was how to afford college without draining your folks’ retirement fund.</p>
<p>I think you should find your financial safeties first and those are likely to be SUNYs. Brockport, Fredonia, Oswego and UB are close and all have honors and scholarship programs. I think your parents should visit a few of the SUNYs and gain some understanding of the great programs and research taking place there…it seems incredible that they are finding 60+ very diverse schools lacking simply because they are public! Do they understand that almost all of them were private schools in the not so distant past and many of them have a long history of contributions? (NYS has the youngest, and largest, public university system and it was built by acquiring private colleges.)</p>
<p>Then, start building a list of private schools if that makes your parents happy. If you need to stay in NYS (and you can only use TAP in NY anyway), you might look at schools like LeMoyne, Niagara, etc. which tend to give decent scholarships. I know that SU has special scholarships for low-income grad in the Syracuse HS districts, as UB does for Buffalo, so perhaps RIT or one of the other Rochester-area schools has a similar program that your GC could give you some info on.</p>
<p>Okay I talked to my parents and here’s the real deal: </p>
<p>They can afford $10,000 total a year for tuition, room and board, and books.</p>
<p>If we don’t have to report social security, then our nontaxable income is only $10,000. Our taxable income was only $7,000 last year, but that could go up. </p>
<p>I probably will get a job in order to start saving money for college so there will be my income included as well (whatever that my be). </p>
<p>My parents DID visit SUNY Oswego and actually liked it until they visited SU and thought that SU “had” smarter and richer students (how shallow right?) and that I should go to SU instead. (But I don’t think we can afford SU).</p>
<p>Unfortunately I go to a private school and many of those tuition aid programs for certain students in certain school districts won’t pertain to me (I am at private school on scholarship).</p>
<p>For FAFSA, social security is not reported if it’s untaxed. If any of your dad’s SS benefits are taxed that portion must be reported. I don’t know whether SS income is reported for Profile but you should be aware that there may be a different standard with those schools. Your own income, up to $6,000, will not affect your FAFSA EFC though any savings you have will be assessed at 20%.</p>
<p>Did you like Oswego? I know several students who love it there, including my salutatorian neice who is a freshman and chose Oswego over several more “prestigous” (and pricey) schools. She decided it would be smarter to save her money for grad school. </p>
<p>Syracuse has increased their aid for low income students substantially in recent years but they don’t guarantee to meet need. I thought of SU as well but didn’t mention it because, for institutional aid, they will require the CSS Profile which means that your parent’s savings will be a factor. If you liked Syracuse as well, why not apply there with a target budget in mind?</p>
<p>It just sounds like you need to proceed with a thought-out strategy…</p>
<p>1) Keep grades up and study for the SAT and ACT…take both soon, and then again later.</p>
<p>2) Apply to some good SUNYs and some SUNYs with merit (safeties). </p>
<p>3) Apply to some regional privates that you like that give good aid and/or merit. These can be a mix of CSS and FAFSA-only schools. Keeping in mind that the CSS schools are going to look at your parents’ savings of $250k+ and the calculators have indicated a family contribution of $20k per year.</p>
<p>4) Apply to some further away schools that will likely give you huge merit (full tuition?) so that your parents funds can cover most of the rest, and you can use Pell & earnings for travel costs and misc expenses.</p>
<p>@sk8ermom
Yes, I did like Oswego, but unfortunately it doesn’t have my preferred major which happens to be Industrial Engineering. Unfortunately, most schools (even many eng. schools) don’t offer Industrial Eng. so I forced to look a little harder. I tell most people that I am applying as a Geology Major, because I do like Geology and don’t think my math curriculum is not suitable enough for engineering (yet).</p>
<p>The only schools w/Industrial Engineering that I know of that is of travel distance of my parent’s liking are possibily:
RIT
SUNY Buffalo
SUNY Binghamton
SUNYIT in Utica
NJIT
RPI (? don’t remember if this school was listed on the ABET accreditation list for Industrial Eng, but probably was).</p>
<p>^^^^^makes my life a little harder because I have less choices.</p>
<p>I suggest taking a look at Alfred University (NY) established in 1836. Merit Aid, need-based aid, 2,300 undergrads, small classes-know your professors, Division III athletics, No Greek Life, housing guaranteed for all 4 years, many clubs & organizations, located in small friendly village of Alfred, NY. </p>
<p>An excellent value and still under 40k/year, and not too far from Rochester, no industrial engineering, however. </p>
<p>School of Art & Design
College of Liberal Arts
School of Business
School of Engineering </p>
<p>USNWR’s Great Schools Great Prices
Princeton Review’s Best 376
Fiske Guide 2012
Fiske Best Value
Fiske Small Schools Strong in Art & Design
Fiske Small Schools Strong in Engineering
Princeton Review’s Best 297 Business Schools </p>
<p>Agree with others about your parents’ money. If they want to protect that from the colleges, it should go into a retirement account before you fill out a FAFSA, or CSS PROFILE or a private school’s own financial aid application. Otherwise, once their “Asset Protection Allowance” is deducted that 250K will be assessed at 5.6% every year you are in college. </p>
<p>I suggest your parents purchase the book, “Paying For College without Going Broke” Princeton Review, by Kalman Chany. This will explain to them that it would be foolish to keep that 250K in the bank. It should be protected by being in a retirement account, and that will lower your EFC. (Expected Family Contribution).</p>
<p>^^^ That book was very helpful to me, your library may have it.</p>
<p>My S has stats NOT as good as yours, test scores similar, GPA lower, and has already received some good merit $ from both public and private schools.</p>
<p>This is from the perspective of a student: The college admissions process is tough enough without financial aid! With financial aid it becomes X10 harder! From what I’ve seen, you’ll be bored at CC, and you should be going to a four year college! I am also from NY and not a fan of the SUNY system, but there are Honors College options! Since you are only a junior you have a chance to get your standardized test scores up and no one can tell you where you will and will not get Merit Aid! I would look into options that offer merit scholarships to high achieving students and look at the state schools and try and find one you want! If you can get your SAT scores above a 2100, you can look at Ivy’s which will offer great Financial Need! You should also look into Questbridge! Good luck and I hope it works out!</p>
Blair, it is impossible to “transfer” $250,000 into a retirement account in one year. there are strict limits about how much can be put into a retirement account in any year. For an IRA I believe it is around $5,000 to $6,000 a year (or the amount of your taxable compensation for the year if that is less). For a 401k it is higher, but nowhere near $250,000.</p>
<p>You need to stop looking at “avg SAT” at state schools. State schools are big, have a ton of majors, and will have lower avg SAT scores.</p>
<p>THAT means NOTHING for the more serious majors at those schools.</p>
<p>You need to get your parents to visit some of these SUNYs with you. You need to contact dept heads to set up appts to speak to them about what their school has to offer.</p>
<p>sk8rmom knows which SUNYs give good merit. I think Buffalo does but that may be too far. However, if merit is big, then transportation costs are mitigated.</p>
<p>Also…moving that money THIS year won’t help your EFC for your frosh year.</p>
<p>Have parents buy a whole life policy and put the money in that. It would increase the cash value, after school is done cash out the policy. This might not get past profile schools but it might for fafsa only.</p>