If something changed because you turned 18, you are likely dealing with a custodial or UGMA/UTMA account. This means that the money in such an account, which was always legally yours but was being managed by a custodian while you were a minor, is now technically under your control and supervision. The account statements should be coming to you. It is your money to control, manage and spend as you see fit. I will reiterate: it is important that you find out what is going on, immediately.
Okay I’ll look into it.
Yes…you don’t want someone else to spend that money, you need to immediately find out who is getting those statements and at least ask for copies of the most recent ones and any going forward if this an account in your name. But the flip side is that if it is now YOUR money, it has to go on the FAFSA and the CSS Profile as an asset, and will definitely hurt your odds of getting need based aid.
Yes, I already know that. hence why a thread was made on how to talk to my parents about money…
A student-owned 529 account is reported on FAFSA as a parent asset. How it is treated by Profile schools is institution dependent. If the money is in a straight UGMA/UTMA account or a Trust, it would have to be reported as a student asset anyway, as it has always been the student’s money regardless of how old the student was.
Well… you keep revealing little pieces as you go along that make a significant difference in your choices. (I know you are a HS student and are not well versed in this, but money in an account with your name & SSN on it is treated quite differently than money in a parent’s account, and a grandparent’s account would be yet a different situation).
I am going to assume worst case scenario in terms of getting aid – you have $100K in a bank account in your name, your mom can’t really afford to pitch in, and your dad won’t – but makes/has enough that any CSS Profile school isn’t going to give you aid.
Your actual goal is to figure out how much money there is for college from the three sources:
- That account
- Your mom
- Your dad (and this 50% thing – it could fall out a lot of different ways. 50% of just tuition? Is there no cap, or no limitation on what kind of school? What good does it do you if your mom can’t pay 50% – I assume she was supposed to as well)
No one here can tell you how to ask them, really – you just have to make it clear that you can’t make decisions on where to apply without information on how much they can pay – let them know you will be looking at aid options, but need to understand the bottom line for them. I would ask them independently, of course.
I would apply to your in-state publics in case the money doesn’t work out anywhere else. (And if you end up there, be very careful to track your credit status yourself against the requirements for the degree, don’t just rely on your advisor or even the computer system to do it, you are correct that you can get tripped up that way!). Then I would look for some schools where you might get good merit, reducing the cost down significantly. This is NOT schools like CMU. (But if it gets your mom off your case to apply to one school like that, do it, assuming she pays the application fee).
It is hard to say where you should apply without any test scores in hand, can’t tell without that where you might get merit. Study really hard for them, the higher your scores, the more choices you will have. You may get merit at WPI, or a LAC in the tier of Williamette.
You can also take out your federal loans, as long as your mom will fill out FAFSA when the time comes - $5,500 for freshman, $6,500 for sophomores, $7,500 jr & sr year. So you could consider that in your calculations as well. Few people would advise loans larger than that, though, and those federal loans have some pretty good consumer protections vs. other kinds of loans.
First step…find out exactly what the college money account is as @BelknapPoint and others have mentioned.
Until you know this information, really nothing further can be done.
Who asked you to sign whatever you signed? A parent…a lawyer? Who? Are you receiving statements for this account?
What did you sign, and do YOU have a copy of it.
For the future…never sign anything you don’t fully understand even under duress. And always get a copy for your own records.
Anecdote…I was asked to “sign” something when I was younger. It wasn’t a lot of money but back in the Stone Age, it would have paid for me to go to college. What I was doing was signing on matured savings bonds. One of my parents used the money to buy a car.
Somebody mentioned Western Washington as a WUE school. You should check it out, if your academic record makes you eligible for the WUE discount, it could be a very attractive option. There are LOTS of WUE schools that might give you some choice outside of your in state publics (although U of O is very good). Here is more information about schools in the consortium.
http://wue.wiche.edu/search_results.jsp?searchType=all
Agree with other posters that you need to ensure that you have access to monies that are in your name. Are your grandparents still alive? Can they help? Is there any adult relative, an aunt or uncle, etc. who can run interference for you?
I am impressed with the maturity you are showing as you deal with all of this.
I may have missed this already and if so, feel free to ignore but if not it is important.
To receive any aid at all, you will be required to fill out the FAFSA at a minimum, CSS profile for some other schools (LAC’s) that ask for different/additional info.
FAFSA only schools (state schools) will only need financial information from ONE of your parents, whomever it is that you spend more than 50% of your nights with. Who pays more is irrelevant, and who claims you as a tax deduction is irrelevant. In your case this sounds like your mom. The IRS data retrieval tool will pull over her information into the FAFSA so it should not be that hard, unless she hasn’t filed at all. However, there are provisions for those scenario as well.
What this means is for FAFSA only, you only need your mom’s info to run the Net Price Calculators. Although it is not easy the reality is you cannot go to school without knowing what you may or may not qualify for and she will have to give you the information at some point. Yes, she can fill out the FAFSA, her portion, without you, but that will hamper your ability now to come up with a reasonably priced list. This scenario helps your likelihood of qualifying for some aid by quite a bit.
I would encourage you NOT to get your AA or AS degree as part of your dual enrollment. Some schools will then view you as a transfer and the availability of aid and scholarships changes quite a bit.
If you apply to Profile schools then your dad may have to provide information as well. He may not. It will vary. there are several different forms of the CSS Profile, one which asks for Non Custodial Parent info (your dad) and one that does not. This will be more work on the paperwork side and agreed, more difficult for you to get all the info however…I would say this well may be worth the effort for you. Schools that use the CSS profile are in general, more likely to meet demonstrated need and they calculate need differently than a state school will. I will also say…don’t sell your GPA and stats short. At many mid level LAC’s you will qualify for merit aid. Schools that are likely to be on the generous side that could be a very good fit for you are: University of Portland, Gonzaga, Seattle University, University of Puget Sound, Pacific Lutheran University, Seattle Pacific University, Linfield, maybe Chapman. Historically Lewis & Clark (reach) and Willamette are not quite as generous. Target ones where you are at the upper range of stats when possible to increase your chances of aid. There are other LAC’s in other parts of the country that can be considerably more generous (in general, the coasts, give less). Reed is very generous on the need side of things but would be a reach for you.
On the WUE side I would absolutely look at Western and look at their honors program. Look also at University of Wyoming (random but a hidden gem in a lot of ways) and Colorado State. All have good honours programs and you may be on the bubble for them. Honors will make it seem smaller and give you a closer connection to your professors.
You definitely need to find out what is the situation with monies in your own name that you signed some tax paperwork for. That concerns me. Are you old for your grade? I wouldn’t expect seniors to be turning 18 until August at the earliest.
So i got an answer. The answer is that my mom mom could put in 30-35k. Dad will match what mom pays, its non negotiable (like literally my dad made more than a CEO for 30 years I have no idea why he couldn’t afford it.) We can take him to court. That put 60-70 to my undergrad making the total about 160 -170 for 3-4 years.
She was upset when I told her we should re look at out list. We have some school on there that never give that much merit aid to bring it down that low.
I’m going to stay positive though. I still have time to retake standardized tests. I still wish my gpa was higher but I went through really rough circumstances. I think that my local in state options could still get me where I want to go if I make the most out of it. Then theres some WUE schools that I know I could look into.
With your GPA, and a 30 ACT, most or all of the schools I mentioned in my previous post may offer enough merit to hit the updated price point of 160-175 total. They aren’t full ride stats but I think there may be a lot more $ out there than you realize
And I wouldn’t worry about the writing unless it’s a school that specifically requires the writing portion. Most do not.
You are wise not to shoot for schools that are unaffordable. You know you have at least 2 you can afford that you should have no issue getting into. For the rest of your list think about what you want in a school and then target ones known for good merit. If you could go anywhere, where would it be? Folks here can help direct you to schools that may have similar qualities but offer good merit at your stats. If your HS has naviance that will help you know your chances based on current stats but I think there is money out there for you and depending on your flexibility maybe more than you think.
Your state schools are solid but I understand the concern with a big state school.
Your mom still does need to give you her financials so you can come up with a list. Maybe have her run the net price calculator with you once, it sounds worse than it is. Maybe if she can do it once it will help her get past her fears. She will have to at application time anyway, most schools will require it for merit. Not all, but a lot.
Am I reading this correctly? You have between $150,000 and $180,000 to spend on college? And that doesn’t include the $27,000 you can take in direct loans for four years?
Sounds to me like you have PLENTY to pay for college assuming both parents actually pony up the money.
If your father has significant savings from his time as CEO then the chances of getting any financial aid from a CSS Profile school are very low. I think you are smart to be relooking at your list. This list will show you which Profile colleges will not consider your father’s income: https://profileonline.collegeboard.org/prf/PXRemotePartInstitutionServlet/PXRemotePartInstitutionServlet.srv
But if this student really has $150,000 plus the direct loans…doesn’t she have $50,000 a year for three years? I mean really…that will pay for a LOT of colleges!
And with two years of college credits dual enrollment…it is very possible that this student will only need three years to complete her bachelors degree.
Thank you all!
The question of what is my dream school is hard to answer. The two schools I’ve officially toured are Cal Poly SLO and University of Washington. I loved Cal poly, the students were very happy, tons of research opportunities, the class sizes were small, the community felt great. My dad also lives in California and its close enough to pop down for thanksgiving so thats a plus. UW I don’t know if I got an accurate representation. It was international student day and there were students from mostly asian countries and so many different languages. It felt more stuffy and competitive.
I just want a school that friendly, got a intellectual maybe slightly nerdy student body, has stuff to do around it, has a good reputations with employers and grad schools, puts effort on undergraduate teaching, and hopefully more on the west side of the country.
So yeah. I think everything will be good. Mom’s disappointed in the fact that we can’t pay for every school in the country. But she’ll get over it. I’m sure I’ll get a good education if I put solid work in.
I would look at your Naviance if your school has it. Cal Poly is a reach/high match at your stats but overall admission rate is on the lower end. However math is not as competitive there as say, engineering and that will help. You would need to declare you major at application so you’d want to be really sure if it.
It is a great school and for OOS one of the best $$ deals around. SD14 is there and absolutely loves it. She applied ED and feels that made a big difference for her, hers is not a super competitive major compared too others. She did get a small amount of merit money which was a surprise.
UW would be a match at your stats but with OOS by no means a sure thing. I am not sure how impacted math is there. It is big, really big and yes, competitive. As with any of the state schools (including cal poly) you’d want to find a way to may them small. Clubs, IM sports, EC’s, Greek if that is of interest are all ways to make it small.
Given your concerns with OU and OSU I would say that UW is all that but arguably more competitive. As a proud alumn it pains me a bit to say this but not one of our 4 kids wants/wanted to go there. Just too big for them. I loved it. But I also didn’t talk to a professor directly…once. That isn’t for everyone and again depends on the major. It will be pricey OOS. It is an amazing school but you may find better fits elsewhere. Make sure to have departmental meetings when you tour, it will help quite a bit.
Given your desire for smaller class and professor contact I really would suggest checking out some of the LAC’s or the Jesuit schools, there are so many good ones on the west coast.
Add Reed to your list- It has all the things you want.
And USC- where I think you’ll have a great chance at getting at least a 1/2 tuition scholarship[ IF you apply by Dec 1]
DS was looking for all that 10 years ago and found it at USC- there is a large # [ approx 1000] of really smart kids at USC each year who were awarded big merit scholarships.
USC offers Honors housing, honors Humanities and Science classes and incredible research opportunities- all you have to do is ask and you can do paid research from your freshman year on.
Remember that costs of schools go up about 4% at most schools per year (it varies from school to school and year to year, but that is what we generally seen).
Reed is going to be $64K/year next year – and that is still out of reach for the OP’s budget. Assuming they get no need based aid, and Reed does not give merit. So the OP will have choices, but still not the highest cost choices. Even if the OP takes out their federal loans ($27K total), they will be around $187K-$197K. So max with loans and summer work is a bit over $50K/year. Certainly there are going to be choices in that range, though.
Reed would also be a reach admission wise. As for USC even at half tuition it may be out of budget and I am not sure the stats are competitive for those scholarships. The kids I know who have recently received them are very very high stats kids with extremely strong EC’s.
I personally think OP will fare much better merit wise where her stats are on the higher side of admitted students and they offer merit. Reed will want the fathers finances which sounds likely to remove any possibility of aid. Not to mention the fact that Reed is fairly intense and competitive in its own way which doesn’t sound like what OP is looking for. Definitely fits the slightly nerdy though! Not sure that USC would at all. In that bucket is probably add Lewis and Clark back on. Maybe Whitman. Though not super generous with merit it might be enough.
Everyone is talking bout four years of college costs for,this poster. She needs to also research whether she can graduate in THREE years given her dual enrollment college credits. It might be possible, and would increase her annual budget to $60,000 or more per year.