Unrealistic expectations from parents - full ride scholarships

Paying for College
1

Hi, I’m a junior at a school in San Diego, CA and I want to go to school in Michigan or NY, New York

My family is low-income and qualifies for FAFSA and a handfull of grants from colleges, but I would still need to pay quite a sum of money annually if I want to go to any of the schools I’m looking at out of state ($1000-$5000 range)

My parents are telling me the only way they would accept me going to schools out of state, is if I get a full ride scholarship, or have scholarships that add up to the tuition I would idealistically pay. Of course, there’s more than just financial reasoning behind their ultimatum, but that’s the other way that guarantees my admission to schools out of state.

Some of the colleges I’m looking at (to get an idea)

MI: MSU, U of M Flint, GVSU, Davenport University, Aquinas College
NY: Any of the CUNY schools (perhaps through Maucalay) Manhattan College, Fordham University, Barnard College, Pace University, St Johns University, and Wagner College

(Obviously I will narrow my options down as collegeapp season comes closer)

2

So how should I maximize my chances of going to school in any of those locations? I would prefer not to go to the state school I’m guaranteed admission in with full ride (It would be an extension of high school in a nutshell, and my sister’s school)

3

It’s a good thing you are a Jr because you have some time to learn a bit more. Your parents have the right idea and their requirements are good ones that don’t put you or your family too much in the hole.

When you need a lot of aid, you don’t pick the school first, you look for ones that give the aid, then you pick among those. Because some schools will simply be unaffordable. Not all schools will ‘meet need’. So you will get your federal aid, which is a little and that’s it. The rest your parents will have to pay, and they cannot if you are low income. Don’t maximize your chance of going to these schools but rather find schools that will cover your costs. Well you can apply for Gates Millenium and see if you get it and use it where you want. You should not be narrowing down options, you should broaden them to schools you can afford

Your first assignment is to read the posts pinned to the top, in there will be a Financial Aid FAQ which will familiarize you with some concepts.

Every US citizen and permanent resident qualifies to fill out FAFSA. Are you saying you are Pell Grant eligible? What is approx family income?

Do not neglect to apply widely for instate where you will get aid. If you are UC eligible, they give the best aid for low income. At least if you have full tuition somewhere that can be one of your safeties. College is not an extension of high school, that is simply immature hogwash. Only immature students treat college like HS. You don’t need to copy anyone else who does.

The CUNY – like Calgrant instate, CUNY students get TAP from NY. You don’t get that, so likely you are full payer.

Fordham, Pace, St John - don’t meet need. It is possible you could get enough at Fordham if you are a top student.

Barnard - meets 100% need, so if youf family can pay the portion they deem you should, then you are good

MI - don’t expect anything from the state ones you mention. I don’t know the others

I suggest you keep exploring colleges and run the Net Price Calculator for the ones on your list. When I help kids I usually make a spreadsheet that shows extra costs that aren’t in the COA, like extra travel and other expenses will be more in NYC to CA or MI to CA. Also CA colleges include health insurance in the COA and most other ones don’t, so if you have to buy health insurance that can add 1,500 to 3,000 per year depending on the college, you can find that info on the website.

Did you visit USD to see what a college similar to Fordham would be like?

4

I can understand your parents’ requirement because ours was similar. While we are not considered low income exactly, we can just barely afford the cost of room and board, books, travel and supplies. So in order to afford the school we needed our daughter to get a full tuition scholarship. The school she likes happens to be instate and offers such a scholarship to top students, but it was not guaranteed so she knew she would have to have other options of schools who either offer guaranteed full tuition or are local schools she can commute to.

You have great schools in CA and if you’re low income you might get Calgrant in addition to Pell.

If you want to go further away and find an affordable school, ok, but don’t forget to figure in travel costs which can be quite high around the holidays. And the weather will be quite different in NY.

5

Great advice from Brownparent.

If you think about what you have written, it makes no sense for your parents to say otherwise. How do you expect to be able to pay for any school, instate or other, without getting enough money to leave the remaining cost doable? You say right out that your parents are low income. Where do you think they will come up with the money to pay for college for you? If you can come up with the money yourself whether it’s from winning the lottery, striking it rich on an investment or job, or getting a big inheritance, then it wouldn’t matter a bit whether you get a big enough scholarship or not and what your parents might have to say, if you can pay it yourself. But you likely cannot. So where do you think you will be getting the money to pay for college? Parents don’t have it, aren’t making enough to pay it out of income, and should not be taking out loans in their situation.

You’ll likely be 18 or close to it by the time college rolls around, so if you have the funds, you can do and go as you please. But if you don’t, you are bound by the restrictions of your family finances and what aid you can get from the government, the schools and outside scholarships.

6

What was your PSAT score?

7

My opinion…you are an instate resident of CA who, if low income, will qualify for the Calgrant. There are a bunch of instate UCs and Cal States from which to choose.

I know you would like to go to college out of state…but that may not be affordable for your parents.

BrownParent wrote a good post.

And by the way…you have to get accepted and without knowing your GPA and SAT or ACT scores its a guess whether you will even get accepted to the school’s you have listed. And it would be an even bigger guess about your potential for merit aid at any school.

Barnard is the ONLY school on your list that meets full need for all accepted students. The others don’t.

ETA…your other thread shows an interest in attending law school. If you go that route, it would,be very wise to keep your undergrad debt to a bare minimum…as law schools don’t offer much in free money financial aid…and you will have big loans for that.

8

<<<
Of course, there’s more than just financial reasoning behind their ultimatum, but that’s the other way that guarantees my admission to schools out of state.
<<<

What does THAT mean???

You need a new list. That list sucks.

What are your stats?

What is your major and career goal.

Going to a UC would NOT be a continuation of high school…that is crazy.

9

Have you run the Net Price Calculators for those schools? NYS families who qualify for Pell generally count on the state’s TAP program to help pay costs. You won’t qualify for that. Unless your stats are high enough for you to qualify for merit aid, it seems like it would be cheaper to find a school in your own state.

10

I am not discouraging you from giving it a go with schools you want, but I am saying that you need some good solid financially viable options as well, and you should go into the process with your eyes open. You are fortunate to be living in a state where your chances are better than most any of getting a state school to meet close to full need. In my state, getting more than the tuition covered is a tough deal for the state schools.

11

I think the unrealistic expectations are hardly parental. To live in a state with terrific public schools is not a terrible problem, have you got the stats to back your plans? If you are a shoo in to a great cali school on a full scholarship I assume you must be competitive? Or are you talking about CC?

12

If you have great grades and competitive scores, you have a chance for excellent aid at some LACs that are below the first tier, and generally away from the coasts. But the above posters are right–your list really needs work. And you’ll need to factor in the expense of travel back and forth.

13

Low income families in California tend to get good financial aid from UCs and CSUs, and have the option of starting at low cost community college and then transferring to a UC or CSU. So you are likely to have affordable choices in California. A student contribution of federal direct loans and/or some work earnings will be expected, though.

But it is hardly unrealistic for low income parents to tell you that you need a lot of financial aid or scholarships to attend any college.

14

Honestly, your best bet is to stay instate and go to one of the UC’s or CSU’s. You don’t have to go to the same one that you said is like an extension of high school. There are plenty. If you do want to go out of state, you should go to a place that is basically a safety. Your test scores or projected future test scores would be in the 75th percentile or beyond it for the school’s class profile. They would give you a top merit scholarship because of your scores.

The CUNY/SUNY schools are public and will charge you OOS tuition and a majority of the people there are from NY. What is your score on the PSAT? What would you like to major in? In NY, Columbia is a possibility.

Don’t expect miracles from Michigan schools. http://www.annarbor.com/news/university-of-michigan-has-highest-out-of-state-tuition-of-us-public-colleges/

If you want to be on the East Coast riding on scholarships as an OOS, try all the little schools in Pennsylvania. There are literally tons that, if you get your scores up, could offer you some decent money.

15

I am puzzled that you would want to attend UM-Flint, rather than UM-Ann Arbor. Do you have relatives in Flint?

16

Just to make some sense out of your post:

Your parents want you to go to CSUSM I am guessing. The cost there is basically $5,500 for a loan + $2,500 for college work-study for your first year. Anything out-of-state would need to be comparable.

There are options:

Community college (Both Grossmont and MiraCosta are GREAT, for example), followed by UC, CSU, or private.
You could go to a different CSU for similar cost.
You could go to a UC for similar cost.

You could get scholarships (at need-based places it would be similar cost) to bring the cost down to similar amounts for you to pay in loans and work-study.

I see you say your parents are asking you to either:

A.) get a “full ride” scholarship, or
B.) have scholarships that would add up to the tuition that you would ideally pay- presumably scholarships that bring the COA to what is covered by student loans and work-study.

So, you could start to look at LEDA Scholars and Questbridge. If you are an under-represented minority, look into the Gates Millennium. There are other scholarships on these college confidential threads, as well.

In choosing a college, you need to look for one of two things:
Colleges that meet full demonstrated need of the student, or
Colleges that have merit scholarships that you could win.

Between applying for outside scholarships, and looking for schools in these two categories, you can compile a list of likely schools. In order to have people help you with that last category, you will need to tell a little about your classes: AP classes, weighted and unweighted GPA by grade and cumulative, and PSAT score. Also desired college major.

17

I would revise that to be:

  • Colleges whose **net price calculators** show a low enough net price after financial aid grants (including federal, state, and school grants, but not including loans or work study). Realistically, this means a net price of $10,000 or less, which can be covered by a federal direct loan and some work earnings (but lower is better, obviously). Note that colleges claiming to "meet full need" can have very different net prices.
  • Colleges where you can earn **sufficiently large** merit scholarships. Again, a similar residual net price limit applies, except that if you can also stack a Pell grant on top of the merit scholarship, you can increase the limit by the amount of the Pell grant. http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1678964-links-to-popular-threads-on-scholarships-and-lower-cost-colleges.html links to lists that may be of interest.
18

Oh, spend tons of time perusing these threads. You will see that your situation is not at all unique, and that there are paths through this maze that all end very well. Some require that you apply early (Early October) and “show interest” in the school, so map out a strategy NOW!

Stay optimistic, but also keep an open mind.

If I were you, I would shy away from any school that is subsidized by a state legislature (except California- think of it as a tax rebate you should cash!). Many people the world over lust after UCLA and UC Berkeley; and you could attend there with a “full ride” (if loans and work-study are included- slight deviation from the accepted definition, but let’s go with it).

Look to private schools that are looking to burnish their image- if your GPA and SAT scores are in the top percent (10 - 25%) of the admitted class, and the schools are not super-well-known, you are a good candidate for scholarship money + preferential treatment when you arrive.

I would spring the $300 for an online SAT study course. Your SAT score does matter when scholarship-hunting, and you will be competing against others who have studied-up for that test. Commit to put 40 - 60 hours of serious time into the study course, and take the March SAT.

I have a general question for the CC community- I never see the New School listed as an option- they are building a physical presence near Washington Square Park and have consolidated a number of SUPERB boutique schools (Parsons School of Design, for one) under one administration. Why are they not more popular as an alternative to NYU?

19

Another vote saying that there are options besides the one college your parents seem to be pushing, BUT most of your list is going to be unaffordable. What is your PSAT score and your GPA? What do you want to major in?

20

Regarding SAT and ACT, try to take both in junior year. Some students do much better on one compared to the other. Knowing your scores can also help you build your application list. If desired, you can then retake the initially higher one in senior year after additional preparation.

If your GPA and SAT or ACT are high enough, and UCR is affordable based on its net price calculator, you can lock it down as a safety by signing up in June or July at http://admissions.ucr.edu/whyucr/ourguarantee . You would still need to include it in your regular UC application.