<p>As for your question about double majoring. I would say, “yes”, it will depend on the difficulty of the school as to whether you can double major. For one thing, some of the top schools don’t let you use AP credits…and AP credits usually make it easier to double major.</p>
<p>The ease of changing majors depends…If you’re not in engineering and you change to engineering, then you could end up having to go for more than four years. Or if you change a major halfway thru college, you may have to go longer.</p>
<p>What kind of stats do you have? GPA? SAT or ACT scores? </p>
<p>How did you do on the PSAT??</p>
<p>What state are you in?</p>
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<p>My parents tell me that I shouldn’t worry about cost if I really want to go to a certain college. And if I couldn’t afford $50,000 a year, wouldn’t I get more financial aid so I would only pay what I could afford? Doesn’t it balance out so even the most hardshipped people can go to expensive schools?</p>
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<p>No, no, no. </p>
<p>You need to have a real “money talk” with your parents. </p>
<p>Are you low income? Or…middle income (up to about $75k)? Or…upper-middle income ($75k - 150k)? Or…upper income (more than 175k) ? (these aren’t official breakdowns, they’re just my own based on how I see schools expect “family contribution” to be.)</p>
<p>Does your family have a good amount of assets? lots of stocks? investments? second homes? rental property? savings accts? Do they own their own business? Self-employed?</p>
<p>You need to discuss the following with your parents…</p>
<p>1) how much will your parents actually pay out each year for college. $5k? $10k? $25k? $50k? more? less?</p>
<p>2) What your FAFSA EFC and your CSS Profie “family contribution” will likely be.</p>
<p>3) The schools that give the best aid are also the ones that are the hardest to get accepted to. These schools generally require high stats to be a good candidate for admission…yet, these schools will still reject many, many, many qualified candidates.</p>
<p>4) You need identify 2-3 financial safety schools…these are schools that you know that you’ll be accepted to, you like these schools, AND…most importantly…you know FOR SURE that you have all costs covered through ASSURED merit scholarships, small fed student loans, and/or family funds.</p>
<p>Many schools might expect your family to pay a lot more than they can pay. Most schools do NOT have a lot of aid to give away. Most schools have loans as their primary means of financial aid. </p>
<p>For instance…a modest income family could have a FAFSA EFC of $6,000. If the child chooses one of the many pricey privates that do not have a lot of aid to give, that family may be expected to pay the full $55,000 per year and may only be offered a $5,550 sstudent loan!</p>