You will be a HS senior, right? Have you looked at any public universities in your state. With 2 years of dual credit courses, it is possible you could graduate in three years instead of four from college. If that were the case, your 529 could pay $33,000 a year. Add to that the Direct Loan…$5500 for your freshman year, and it would seem that an instate public university would be affordable.
It is so hard to talk about money issues, and you add to that that parents get emotional about sending their children to college. Parents want the very best for their kids, and are willing to sacrifice everything to make it happen.
It is great that you have a realistic vision and desire to attend a college that is more affordable. It seems that you will have to take the lead on this. I would suggest you draft a letter to each of your parents. Add in several points of thanks for how they have raised you so far, and thanks for being willing to finance your college education.
I would suggest you word your letter with more “I” phrases than “you” phrases. When you say “I don’t want to deplete your retirement fund” then parents can come back and argue with you, saying it is what they want to do. If you were, instead, to say “it really stresses me out to have to think about funding $XX/year for my education. I am not comfortable even thinking about it, and I haven’t even graduated high school yet. Imagine how I might feel in college with that kind of price tag on my back for 4 years!”
If that strategy doesn’t work, then switch to “I really like XYZ college. It has a strong math department, it has active swing dance club that you know I will enjoy, and the campus setting is ideal for me. Ten minutes bus ride from great college town, and I can get home to visit in only 3 hours.” Personalize it to fit who you are and what you really want in a college. The more concrete (non-financial) reasons you can list for each college you are applying to, the less your parents can fuss.
I would include one reach college that your mom is pushing, and one for your dad as well. Again, don’t talk about not doing applications because of wasted money, but make it about the hassle for you to apply to so many colleges. It will interfere with time for you to study and keep up your grades, and any ECs, sports, or church activities you are involved in.
Good luck to you. You can always vent here, and ask for help with finalizing your college list here.
PM me if you want help drafting a letter to your parents.
There should be lots of colleges you can attend and get a math degree that cost $25,000 -$30,000 or less.
You can retake the SAT or ACT. Focus on English and Math on ACT, CR and M on SAT.
Do all colleges require the writing score?
Start with public and private colleges in your state, see what the tuition, fees, room and board costs are. See if you would qualify for merit.
I would choose safeties and matches that are affordable with your 529 balance divided by 4 and the direct loan of $5,500. So about $30,000.
It’s questionable how much more your parents are able and willing to contribute.
I agree since you already have lots of credits and Calc through 3, you might be able to graduate in 3 years.
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did take the ACT and got a 30 but a really bad writing score
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First of all, I don’t know of any school that cares about the essay score. Your 30 is very good. If you increase it, you will have more choices. What was the essay score?
I don’t think you should worry too much right now about having the money talk with your mom just yet since you do have $100k in a college fund and your dad must pay half. How does the college fund come into that? Is that considered to be part of dad’s half? Is the college fund considered $50k from mom and $50k from dad??
Since your mom is too emotional about the subject for a variety of reasons, just ALSO apply to a few schools where that $100k plus merit will cover costs…AND apply to a couple of schools that mom wants.
Don’t assume you won’t receive merit aid given your stats. Your stats are actually good. If you target the right kind of schools, you will be surprised. Look at the Common Data Sets to target schools where your stats are above the mid-50% range.
Regarding your ACT, if the writing score you refer to is your essay, don’t worry about it. A lot of posters here reported that the essay scores were very low compared to the MC sections. It is a known issue. You might want to pay to have it rescored (if the score goes up, they return the fee, and the score will NOT go down).
You have already received a lot of good suggestions. Another strategy you might consider is to tell your parents that you are thinking of applying to ten schools at most. Have them pick five that they think would be a good fit. Then you pick 5. Then generate a speadsheet about costs and selectivity and show how you compare. Then ask them if they’d like to revise their list.
It sounds like you need to educate them gently. Fortunately, you still have some time.
You might also want to check out this thread for ideas:
Also be advised that some schools weigh freshman grades less and some don’t consider them at all. I think that you are a stronger candidate than you think.
Finally, apply to at least one affordable in-state public option where your chances of admission are strong.
Good luck and keep us posted!
Well, your parents are going to have to deal with finances when they complete the FAFSA (your mom) and the CSS Profile (both your mom and your dad). What I’d do is tell both of them that it was recommended that you fill out these forms in advance, as a trial run, so that you’ll all be familiar with what’s required and it won’t be so difficult to do them next winter, when there’s a deadline. Make up any story you want (that you feel comfortable with) that will convince them to sit down now and fill these forms out with you.
I can understand that they don’t want to confront this, but maybe facing the reality of these forms (that will need to be filled out) will get them past that hurdle.
First, with 100K in a 529 plan, you have an excellent safety school option: Stay in your state system and transfer all your credits. You will be able to graduate from almost any state school with that kind of nest egg.
It sounds like you live with mom, but if I got that wrong, switch “mom” and “dad” around in the following:
A few financial aid basics:
- If you are applying to a FAFSA-only school, only the income of the household where you live most of the year (6 months and a day) counts. So, you will only need one parent's income info for that. The FAFSA will open for you in October. You and mom should should file it and get your FAFSA EFC. It will help you figure out which schools are in budget. If dad gives you money, you will have to file that as part of the student's resources on future FAFSAs, but if you really have no idea if he's giving you anything, don't predict he will for your first one.
- If you are applying to a Profile school, many (but not all) will require the non-custodial parent Profile. Be sure to read the financial aid information page for each school to figure out. These forms will also open in October. If dad won't file his, you may need to just apply to schools that request info from one parent.
- Private schools do not care if you are in-state or out-of-state. For out-of-state public schools, there are "regional tuition compacts" which can reduce your tuition costs. Many of these are available to all accepted students, and some are competitive or restricted to certain majors with enough openings. These may be a good option to go a bit further from home with a lower price tag. http://www.sheeo.org/regional-interstate-compacts-higher-education Again, your credits should transfer to these schools, helping your 529 plan go further.
- And, finally, there are merit aid schools. You really need test scores to figure that piece of the puzzle out, though. Did you just take the June SAT or planning on the June ACT? If not, you'll have to sign up for the fall testing and just build your list based on your scores on a practice test. (Both test publishers offer them.)
There is still the possibility that the parents do not have the money, so they cannot pay even under court order. There is also the possibility that the lawyer costs of enforcing such a court order could drain away much of the money that could be used to pay for college.
I get the impression that dad would have his 50%, but mom may not.
IF, the OP has $100 K in the 529 acct, she can afford to go to an instate U, and can probably graduate in 3 yrs.
That makes her instate U an affordable option and perhaps a safety.
OP what state are you in?
Dont worry about freshman grades and the writing portion of the ACT.
What were your scores on the other sections?
The states that can require a parent to pay half don’t have a completely unrestricted expectation. It’s often half the cost of the flagship or other state school. OP would need to check both for her state and how the decree reads.
If you plan a math major, those grades are all A, maybe you’ve also been strong in science, and the only real issue is freshman year, and if you’ve been in math-sci activities, you can’t just go on GPA. Or if the lower grades were in classes like gym or some misc hs required course. It may benefit you to rethink the picture you present. It’s not just GPA.
Many parents can’t face an open-ended question like, “How much can you pay?” Sometimes, it helps to do the leg work oldfort suggests, then ask, as an example, “if I did get into X, could you afford $10k/year?” And then, “What if this projection is low and it’s 15k?” Each parent may have a different answer to those questions.
First you say this:
Then you say this:
How can you know that you don’t qualify for any need-based aid if you don’t know anything about your parents’ financial situation?
“Somewhere”? What does that mean? Who owns the 529 and will make the decisions on when and how much money will be distributed?
You are asking for help in having a conversation about finances with your parents, but in order to provide that help, we need to know the basic facts, otherwise we are just shooting in the dark at a moving target.
If you really are the beneficiary of a 529 account that has a balance of $100k, and the account owner will actually take distributions from the account for your benefit as needed, you are in a very good position. Why do you keep mentioning OOS schools (meaning out-of-state public schools)? A degree in math should be available pretty much anywhere, and your in-state public schools may very well be your most affordable options.
I will try to answer everyones questions:
My in state is Oregon. The two respectable schools are University of Oregon (more liberal arts based) and Oregon State University. I’m definitely applying to both, I do believe it is likely I could get into both. The reason I’m hesitant is they are both known for huge class sizes, not strong academic advising, and I’ve heard horror stories about professors. I know all these people who thought they were getting a B.S. until senior year and I know people who the school overlooked a credit so they had to appeal to get their diploma. I may get into OSU honors program which of course could help, but its unlikely to get into U of Os honors program.
As for my gpa. I moved from California right before high school went to a very competitive catholic high school. it was a block schedule and I had all my honors classes at the same time. I was going through difficult stuff being so far away from the rest of my family and trying to get along with my mom. I also had no friends, it turned out that private middle schools feed into this high school and all the kids already knew each other. This resulted in two A’s, 9 B’s, and 2 c’s freshman year. The A’s were in theology, and the C’s in an accelerated honors math and honors bio. After that I switched to my local public high school. Got two B’s sophomore years but other than that I have gotten all A’s. I’ve gotten A’s from geometry to multivariable calculus. The reason the gpa is funky is i don’t get extra points for my honors classes and I’m dual enrolled not AP so I don’t get any extra credit that way. I’m hoping colleges will look at my 4.0 at the community college favorably because I’ve been handling college pretty well.
My parents;
No they do not talk to each other. Dad made buckets of money and honestly unless he was really stupid should have some saved up. Mom also has some saved up but since she is only 57 I worry about it sustaining her as long as it needs to. She is always stressed out about money.
The reason I do not believe I qualify for FAFSA was because my mom did some research on it. She said something about who she had to do the short form multiple years in a row? Whatever that means. But she was selling stocks and has never done the short form. We have money but I believe a lot of it is tied up in the house and I really want my mom to continue living here.
My 529 is in my name and was actually created by my grandparents. Both sides would put in some money every month, more on holidays and birthdays. And wow does it help!
In short, could my parents technically pay for my college? Yes. But I don’t know the condition they would be like after. Maybe they would still be well off. Maybe its just not possible with no income coming in.
If you have that 529, your two public universities are affordable for you. That is the good news.
In terms of other options…if you got a full tuition scholarship, you could afford to go elsewhere.
First, the part about not getting FAFSA money because you mom can’t file the short form - she was probably reading the requirements for getting an “automatic zero” EFC. People file the long 1040 and still get aid! Even if your EFC is not zero, it is likely to be low. Please get her to actually file the FAFSA in October. You may be surprised.
The FAFSA does not ask about the value of your mother’s house. However, money from your grandparents (presumably they own the 529 and you are the beneficiary) and your father will reduce your financial aid eligibility dollar for dollar as “money paid on your behalf.” Do not declare any money from your dad on your FAFSA until you actually have the cash in hand, though. Divorce and tuition can get ugly as others have noted.
Within the WUE tuition compact, take a look at Western Washington University. You may like the class sizes there better, it’s pretty (near the water in Bellingham), and is a bit smaller than the typical state flagship, with no Greek life. They have about 15,000 total students. They have a great school of education if you want to be a math teacher, and some applied math majors like Statistics are available as well. They are a liberal-arts oriented school, so there are a lot of general education requirements, but you may be able to knock some of those off with your transfer credits.
https://admissions.wwu.edu/scholarships/freshman-out-state-scholarships
You don’t “qualify” or not qualify for FAFSA. FAFSA is a form that you fill out to see if you are eligible for government educational assistance (grants and loans). Your mother’s reference to the “short form” probably means a 1040A or 1040EZ tax form. As mentioned above, filing these tax forms is not a requirement for receiving government educational assistance. If your mother is your custodial parent, than for FAFSA purposes it doesn’t matter how many “buckets of money” your dad made or still has; his financial information is not reported on FAFSA. And, as also mentioned above, the value of your mom’s home is not reported on FAFSA as an asset.
Up to two names are associated with every 529 account: the beneficiary and the owner (these can be the same person, but usually they are not). It sounds like you are the named beneficiary and one of your grandparents is the owner. Is this correct? If so, the grandparent/owner will have control of the account and determines when and how much money is distributed from the account to pay for your qualified education expenses.
@BelknapPoint my grandparents passed away. I think my dad may be handling it now, but I did have to sign some tax stuff this year because the account had matured.
You need to find out who the legal owner of the account is now, and verify that the funds are still there. This is important.
What was the “tax stuff” that you signed this year because the account had “matured”? This makes no sense. Typically, there are no tax consequences to a 529 account unless the money is spent on non-qualified expenses. Even then, you wouldn’t be signing any tax documents unless the non-qualified distributions were made in your name, and thus constituted taxable income to you.
You need to find out what’s going on with this 529 account, now.
Okay. It might be the other account that has some random college money in it and is not actually a 529. I had turned 18 and apparently I had to sign something.