Transfer student, need serious help

Paying for College
1

I am a California community college student and I need some serious help and advice.
My stats are:
GPA: 3.7x when I apply for transfer
Major: Math and Astrophysics double major
EC: Lots. Student Government senator for 1 year, currently Vice President. I’m involved with another student government organization which I don’t want to name here. I played waterpolo for 1 year and swim for 3 years. I will be getting an on campus job in this upcoming year. Various clubs on campus. It seems like I am always doing an EC activity.

Okay so I am on track to transfer after this year. However, things at my house have seriously gone downhill and I have no idea how I will pay for a university. It’s kind of a long story.

Anyways, my mom and I, for the first time today, ran the EFC from the fafsa website. It says the EFC is 25000. However, this is 1/4 of what we bring home. Only my dad works. On paper it looks like he makes a lot more than he does. The gross income is 209,000 but my mom says he only gets half of that to actually use. I don’t know what it goes to, but she told me that it goes to his 401k which currently has ~700,000-~800,000 in it. We live in a house in San Diego that isn’t paid off yet. Our household has 4 cars. 2 are paid off, 2 aren’t. Do these numbers add up?

She told me today that I will most likely not be able to attend any UCs (my top 3 are: UCB, UCLA, UCSC). If any, I would go to UCSD and commute from home, even though I live about an hour away from the campus. This seems like a lot of driving to be doing, but she said there is not really a way to pay for room and board as well. She said SDSU is pretty much my only affordable option at this point. I would also be communing from home for there, as well. I’m not a fan of their campus, and I haven’t been since I first went when I was 14 (now 20). I need to get out of this town, and my house. I am severely depressed being here and constantly being surrounded and harassed by family members.

Back to the long story. I will probably be moving out, or they will be kicking me out since there is currently so much fighting and tension at home. I don’t have anywhere to go, but I might be able to stay on my community college campus in my vice president office. I will find out tomorrow. I’m really lost/upset/confused, because I need to transfer this year because I am really losing my mind.

So… where would I go to find merit aid, scholarships, etc? Everything I can seem to find is for “low income families” or those who have financial need. On paper I don’t have financial need, but I obviously do. If I don’t figure this out soon I will be homeless and no longer working on my education. My parents are also against me taking out any loans what so ever. I said I don’t mind taking some out if it means getting out of here, but this just started yet another argument.

2

The numbers, as you have given them, don’t add up. $200K in earned income is ~33% tax rate, & IRA limits are $5-6K, so take home should be more than 50% of earnings.

There are a bunch of regular posters here who are much better at this than I am, but at the end of the day, the core question is: how much are your parents willing to contribute to your education? How much can you contribute? What are you housing options (relatives? shared housing?).

3

Basically you will be full pay for UC or CSU at your family income, no matter what the EFC says. It doesn’t really matter what goes to what. They don’t give anything for your income level. Any 401k contribution is counted as available income during the college years, although the balance in the account isn’t counted. House payments, car payments are not used in the formula. Just income and savings and size of household.

Basically your parents seems not to be willing to give up any of their lifestyle to put aside funds for you to go away to college. Putting yourself in the position of getting kicked out or leaving is very foolish since you only have 2 years to go. There is no point in participating in arguments since you need their help. Finish your schooling, then you are free to live your own life. Or you will likely have to go out and work and maybe you will have to finish school after you are 24 and independent for aid. The fact is you will not likely find any merit that will give enough. Merit is mainly given to attract freshmen. I don’t even think CSU and UC give any except maybe UC small dept awards.

You can take out your federal student loan without your parents of 7,500 for jr and sr year if you file FAFSA. They don’t have to know about it. So you can take it and stash it away. Or wait till they pay Sr year, then take it and move out and crash on someone’s couch. I think after you are enrolled at SDSU or UCSD you will find friends to stay over with.

4

BrownParent is right. Do NOT put yourself in a situation where you must move out. Keep your mouth shut and don’t argue.

You’re cutting off your nose to spite your face. If you move out, then you’'ll likely NEVER finish your degree. I’ve seen this happen many times. Kids on their own can’t earn enough to pay for their living expenses and school, so school gets dropped.

Don’t say anything about loans to your parents. They do NOT have to know. Just submit FAFSA, and accept the loans. Your parents will NEVER know.

It sounds like you still have soph year to go at your CC. Submit FAFSA for this soph year, take the loan and bank it. Do NOT tell your parents. Do not think that this money can help you move out sooner. You’re going to need it for your last two years of college.

If you get kicked out then you won’t be able to afford anything. Commuting to a UC will still cost you at least $16k per year. You need your parents for that.

The amount you can borrow is limited to the following amounts:

Frosh 5500
soph 6500
jr 7500
sr 7500

The above is what you can borrow if you file FAFSA and do NOT tell your parents that you’re taking out the loans.

However, you can’t borrow more than that, so get that idea out of your head. You would need your parents to borrow more and they won’t do it.

BTW…I think when your mom says that they don’t see half of the income is that they may have a bunch of stuff automatically deducted from dad’s paycheck…401k, health insurance, car payments, etc, If your dad has a work-related credit union, then likely car payments, etc, are being deducted from his paycheck.

5

Anyway…back to your Q about scholarships.

Unfortunately, transfers rarely ever get enough money in scholarships to pay for college. Transfer awards are typically too small to make much of a dent. Yes, you may find a school that will award $10k or so, but the school will cost $40k or more, and you can’t cover the rest.

The reason that incoming frosh are awarded the big bucks is because a school’s ranking is affected by the quality of the incoming frosh class. So, schools will “buy” the best students.

You complain about SDSU but it has to be better than the CC you’re attending, so look at it that way.

Now, stop arguing and stay in school. Get a job and be away from the house as much as possible. Study at school. College students have lots of reasons to be away from home. Just use the home as a place to sleep.

If you mess this up, you’ll regret it later.

6

Re post #1 and numbers not adding up: it’s a 401k, not an IRA and max 401k could be 18,000 or 24,000 depending on age.

7

Advice? Fewer ECs, more working.

Do you have a full time summer job? What did you do every summer since age 15-16?

Are you an only child?

Can your mom get a job?

8

To be honest, with an income of $209,000 a year, I’m surprised your EFC per fafsa wasn’t more in the $50,000 a year range. Do you have another sibling in college now as well? Very often, the FAFSA EFC is 1/4 to 1/3 of the GROSS income families earn. Everyone has taxes and FICA taken out of their pay. Any amount your dad contributes to his pretax retirement accounts annually is added back in as income for the tax year used for your FAFSA.

How did this FAFSA EFC only end up being $25,000 a year with a family income of $209,000 a year? That seems low to me…by about half.

The FAFSA EFC calculator gives you a FAFSA EFC. It does not give you an estimate of your net costs to attend any college. I’ll guess that your actual net cost, with a family income of $209,000 a year, will be more than $25,000 a year.

You are planning to live in the “office” of a community college VP? Please explain this one.

Advice?

  1. If there is a counseling center at your community college, go there now. I mean the kind that offers psychological counseling. If you are depressed, you need to solve that issue FIRST. It's hard to make good decisions when your mental health isn't sound.
  2. Talk to the transfer advisor at your CC. Every CC has one.
  3. Who is paying for your CC many how much are they paying?
  4. Get a job...that should have happened long before now. Your ECs won't help pay the bills.
  5. What WILL your parents contribute for your college education annually?
  6. You are not low income. You do not have financial need, because financial need is based primarily on parent income and assets. An income of $209,000 a year is never going to place you in the position of having financial need. It wouldn't give you need based aid at the most generous colleges in the country.

Most important…run the net price calculator on the college websites…that will give you a more accurate net price estimate than the FAFSA estimators. The net price calculator will be your best net cost estimate. BUT it will not be accurate if your parents are self employed, own a business, are divorced, or own real estate other than your primary residence. Do any of these things apply.

9

Is this still your list?

How will you pay the OOS costs at UMass, UW, AS?

NYU is about $70,000 a year. They don’t guarantee to meet full need.

Cornell, Boston College, and Barnard give need based aid only for which you have too high an income.

I think you need to talk to the transfer advisor at your CC to come up with a more affordable list.

10

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Anyways, my mom and I, for the first time today, ran the EFC from the fafsa website. It says the EFC is 25000. However, this is 1/4 of what we bring home.


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That is NOT right unless you have a sibling in college. Maybe your parent put in net income? Maybe your parent forgot to “add back in” 401k contribution.

With an income of $210, if one is in college, then EFC will be $70k

11

Anyway, it doesn’t matter that the numbers aren’t adding up. Parents have made it clear that they will only pay for tuition…either at UCSD or SDSU…commuting.

He can’t bite the hand that feeds him, because doing so will mean the loss of tuition money to the tune of $6k-14k per year, plus a place to sleep, car, car insurance, cell phone, etc.

It’s easy for a young person to think he “can do it on his own,” but he’s not yet paying for all those things (car, insurance, cell phone, etc).

If he gets a job to spend as much time as he can at THAT and his club office, he can avoid all kinds of conflict. When he does start at UCSD or SDSU, he can study in the library to avoid being at home.

12

When I lived in California, I brought home about 55% of my gross pay so I think your mother’s numbers are close. I maxed out my 401k, had a few insurance premiums, FICA, state taxes, federal taxes - eats it up pretty quickly. Your father may also be contributing to an IRA for your mother if she’s not working. Anyway, it is what it is and your financial situation is not unique in any way, except that your father makes more than average.

You are right to consider your options now. Go to the guidance office of the CC and ask for suggestions. They may know how to make it work at a San Diego school or an Orange County one (sounds like you live north of SD). An hour is not that far to commute in So. California. Even if you lived in SD it could take you 30-45 minutes to get to any school. You could plan to commute and then find something near campus if commuting didn’t work out. Sometimes there are jobs with lodging near schools - taking care of elderly people or doing yard work in exchange for room, nanny, house girl/boy in a sorority/frat, night watchman at a church, RA in a dorm. You need to think creatively.

Don’t spend your time wishing things were different. You have several choices of UC’s or CSU’s. UCSD may not be your dream school, but it is a good school and gets you where you need to be. Another option is to wait until you are 24 and independent from your parents for financial aid. At that point there might be more need based aid you’d be eligible for. Your choice to wait if you want a different school.

How about a job for yourself? You said only your father works. Do you?