<p>I was thinking of adding UMass Amherst in my list of schools.as a safety. Looks like a good place. Any experience? I plan to major in CS. Still debating my minor. I might minor in math, or double major buisness. For a safety, i have to be able to afford it. So.... how generous would UMass be? Have a 750M, 680W, 550CR (long story about CR, i can get that up to a 550, if u wanna know look for a thread called "collegeboard screwed me") decent GPA. My family income is low. Like 15k ish yearly. We live outside the US but i am a citizen</p>
<p>U can get the CR up to a <em>650</em></p>
<p>UMass probably won’t work too well. It’s not hard to get a grant for tuition but they have some very high “fees” that aren’t covered.</p>
<p>You’re out of the country, so your expenses (travel) will really cost you. You’ll also have to buy health insurance. </p>
<p>UMass won’t likely be affordable. I doubt you’d get anywhere close to enough merit/FA to become affordable. </p>
<p>UMass charges ridiculous fees…somewhere about $9k per year on top of tuition. </p>
<p>There’s a dad looking at UMass for his D…she has higher stats. He’s estimating that with merit, he’s going to have to pay about $25k-30k, not counting travel, etc.</p>
<p>Can your family contribute anything each year? What’s your major?</p>
<p>what’s your GPA?</p>
<p>Even with a full tuition scholarship, I don’t see how you’d cover your costs. You are a citizen, so you can work part time for spending money, but you’re going to be gapped.</p>
<p>Even if i get full tuition, i wont be able to afford it?? How? And what costs am i unaware of?</p>
<p>Tuition for in-state students is somewhere around $1500 a year. Fees are almost $10k a year.</p>
<p>And that’s just for in-state students.</p>
<p>It’s the fees that screw everyone over - “academic support and fees” is what it’s called I believe. It’s one of the reasons why I ignored UMasses and MA state schools (the pricing is similar) because there really isn’t much merit aid available.</p>
<p>Even if i get full tuition, i wont be able to afford it?? How? And what costs am i unaware of?</p>
<p>UMass is a rare school that charges ridiculous fees. At UMass, a full tuition scholarship just isn’t what it seems.</p>
<p>You’d still have about $25k-30k of costs to cover…if you got full tuition, which isn’t likely unless your stats increased by about 200. </p>
<p>A Pell grant is only 5500. a Stafford loan is only 5500. You wouldn’t be able to cover the rest of your costs.</p>
<p>UMass costs $40k per year for an OOS student. If you got all of your tuition covered with a scholarship (unlikely), that’s about $15k per year of merit.</p>
<p>What is your major? </p>
<p>How much can your family pay each year? </p>
<p>How much would your travel cost to the US each year?</p>
<p>I think health insurance is about 2000 additional.</p>
<p>
That would be me. Yeah, when I looked closely at it, OOS COE at UMass-Amherst was about $36k/year (tuition, room, board fees - not books, travel, misc). UMass offers highly qualified OOS students grants of $8k to $12k per year. You won’t find this on the web site, but there is evidence in the 2012-2013 UMass admissions thread and was confirmed by the admissions office. My DD has stats (3.9uw, 2080 SAT, 30 ACT) which we hope will get her an offer of $10-12k per yr, which would bring down the COE to around $24-26k, making it competitive with UC/CSU’s as an IS CA student (CSU’s $20-23k, UC’s $27-29k).</p>
<p>Wow. Time to find a new safety :(</p>
<p>My major is computer science btw, if u have any suggestions, then please do</p>
<p>I am a bit puzzled by why you are considering it as a safety school if your family’s annual income is 15K and you are from out of state. I think it is likely you would be admitted but it is likely they will not be able to provide you with enough aid to make it an affordable option. Often strong low income candidates win MA residency do not get aid offers from UMass Amherst that make it truly affordable. If you are a candidate who could get good financial support as an out of state student at UMass, there are other options available to you in Massachusetts and the US that would meet your financial need more completely.</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1348012-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1348012-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships.html</a></p>
<p>Muhammed…can you please tell us how much your family can contribute each year?? That important info for several reasons:</p>
<p>Even though you’re a citizen, you’re going to have int’l travel at least twice a year…I’m guessing one way tix each time, which would be even more expensive, right? Plus shuttles. Who is going to pay for those travel costs?</p>
<p>You’re going to likely have to purchase health insurance, which is running about $2k per year. Who is going to pay for that?</p>
<p>Then you’ll have the regular COA to deal with. You can “cut back” in areas, but some costs are unavoidable.</p>
<p>Look at this example…</p>
<p>As a CS major, at Alabama you’d get FREE tuition plus 2500 per year.</p>
<p>You’d also likely get a 5500 pell grant and a 5500 student loan. You’re not instate, so you may not get SEOG, which publics often reserve for their own instate low income students. </p>
<p>The $12,500 (not tuition) that you’d get would cover standard double dorm, meal plan, fees, books, but not much else. You’d have to likely work part-time to pay for “pocket money” and other incidentals. But how would you pay for travel, insurance, and other costs?</p>
<p>My family could do 4k-5k. Im not gonna travel back home twice a year. Probably once a year or once every two years. My true safety is UMD as im instate, but im looking for something out of state as well. As for the stuff mom2collegekids mentioned, im going to try for a student work program. I realize my income is low and my parents will have to cosign student loans</p>
<p>No, I don’t mean travel back home twice a year.</p>
<p>You’ll fly out in the fall (one way) and fly home in the spring (one way). that’s two trips per year…plus shuttles. Each of those trips can be $1000.</p>
<p>What country are you in? How much is a one way trip? </p>
<p>How are you instate for UMaryland? Your parents don’t live there. Owning property there isn’t enough to claim residency.</p>
<p>Are your parents US citzens? Your parents’ income is likely too low to qualify to cosign loans.</p>
<p>You mean i cant live on campus during the summer? I could find apartment? Go live with my uncle? We’re in pakistan. Thats $1000 for a ticket. So im not looking too far in flying out every year. Ive lived here for 3 years now. Ive lived maryland for 15 yrs. Im pretty sure im still in state. I will double check though since u just put that thought in my head</p>
<p>Most colleges will charge you to live on campus if they even allow it…it would be cheaper to just fly home.</p>
<p>Also, just because YOU live somewhere doesn’t mean anything. Your state residency is dependent on your parents unless you’re a ward of the state or emancipated.</p>
<p>Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but Maryland IS status looks doubtful for you. Since you don’t presently live in Maryland, there would be a presumption that you are OOS, not IS. You can overcome the presumption, but you would have to show a number of things, including that during the 12 months immediately preceding matriculation you: </p>
<p>“Owns or possesses, and has continuously occupied, including during weekends, breaks and vacations, living quarters in Maryland. The student must provide evidence of a genuine deed or lease and documentation of rent payments made. In lieu of a deed or lease, a notarized affidavit from a landlord showing the address, name of the student as occupant, term of residence, and history of rent payments made will be considered. As an alternative, a student may demonstrate that he or she shares living quarters in Maryland which are owned or rented and occupied by a parent, legal guardian or spouse.”</p>
<p>That’s not all. Suggest you read the policy yourself:</p>
<p>[VIII270</a> - USM](<a href=“http://www.usmh.usmd.edu/regents/bylaws/SectionVIII/VIII270.html]VIII270”>http://www.usmh.usmd.edu/regents/bylaws/SectionVIII/VIII270.html)</p>
<p>I lived in Calif for over 40 years…born and raised there. I still own property there. But, I’m NOT instate for Calif since I moved out of Calif. </p>
<p>You don’t likely have instate status for UMaryland because your parents don’t live there NOW. It doesn’t matter that they used to live there. They don’t live there now. </p>
<p>If you don’t want to fly home over the summer, then you could live with your uncle (where is he?) and work over the summer.</p>
<p>You can’t just stay in your dorm, unless you pay for it AND often you have to take classes to do this. The dorms are used over the summer for summer camps or that’s when they’re refurb’d.</p>
<p>Are your parents US citizens? If not, then they can’t cosign loans. But even if they are, I can’t imagine a bank qualifying them at their income.</p>
<p>Its very easy to find an apartment in Amherst for the summer so if you choose to stay at school for the summer its an option with UMass. Lots of people do this. I am figuring similar to DGDzDad on cost for UMass. 38k with no help and scholarship help yielding 25-30k for OOS. The way UMass shows tuition is misleading since its the weird fees that bring the cost to 38k. I don’t know how financial aid works for internationals but if its based on FAFSA then you’d get very generous need-based aid too.</p>