Upper class parents won't pay for college?!

<p><<<
A generation ago, working one’s way through college was more doable without parental support than it is now. S
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<p>but even a generation ago, those working their way thru college often were living at home for free. When I was in college, many/most of my friends were commuting from home and paying their “fees” with a job. So, those parents were also making a contribution, yet the students still considered themselves as “paying their own way.”</p>

<p>Even the non-trads that worked their way thru college usually did so with a spouse helping cover the bills or with a well-paid job (going to school at night). </p>

<p>Just to clarify, my mom got her BA and MA in the 90s. She is an immigrant and took out loans to pay her way through and is now successful. I assume she expects the same from me. I said she is considering graduate school. Not, that she is currently applying and/or enrolled. And besides, graduate school is very different than public. Harvards teachers college gives 3 years of free attendance when trying to get a PhD, which as you can tell is very different than what I am experiencing. </p>

<p>As for a list of schools, here is my list in order:</p>

<ol>
<li>University of Florida</li>
<li>University of Central Florida</li>
<li>Syracuse University</li>
<li>USC</li>
<li>Northwestern </li>
<li>UT- Austin</li>
<li>Ithaca College</li>
</ol>

<p>The order is subject to change, but this is what Im pretty sure it will be in September. </p>

<p>I’m looking mainly for Division 1 Suburban or Urban schools anywhere in the country with around 30% minority involvement. I would prefer something larger than 10,000 students, but I would go smaller depending on the school. I want somewhere that has a very strong communications program. With regards to selectivity, I would prefer if the school accepted less than 55% of its applicants. </p>

<p>I think this gives me a lot of flexibility in choosing. I would go as far as California and Arizona as well.</p>

<p>Graduate school is different than undergrad**</p>

<p>""@JCCsMom‌ I feel like so many people of told me to go to the University of Alabama. They don’t have the academic program I need.</p>

<p>I want somewhere that has a very strong communications program. ‘’’</p>

<p>and how does Alabama not have this program (and Bama has less than a 50% acceptance rate)?</p>

<p>what do you want to do with Communications? what career? broadcasting? TV? public relations? </p>

<p>Add more safeties that you will be ok with. No point worrying about paying for college if you do not get into one first.</p>

<p>@mom2collegekids‌ Alabama isn’t known for its prestige in journalism. Most of my schools, are within the top 10 for journalism. </p>

<p>Journalism is a rapidly changing field. I would be very careful having to pay back loans etc in a field that may be hard to get a job and may have trouble getting a high enough paying job.</p>

<p>I don’t think much of what we are telling you has sunk into your brains. Why is Northwestern still on that list? You’ve been told repeated that it gives NO merit money. Also, UTAustin is not only a huge reach, but the merit possiblities are about zip. I doubt you’ve done your research on the rest of the schools either.</p>

<p>Do you have specific merit scholarships in mind which will allow you to afford the colleges on your list?</p>

<p>Ok…Journalism. What is your career plan? what do you want to do with a major in J?</p>

<p>and…more importantly…which schools on your list would you have a good chance of getting a Half Ride?? Are you now realizing that NU isnt one of them? I dont think you can get a half ride at Mizzou either. </p>

<p>SOS is right…do NOT borrow much for a J degree. you will likely have low pay for awhile…maybe for a very long time. </p>

<p>Do you realize that your financial safety schools will not be ranked??? </p>

<p>are you so stubborn that you wont apply to financial safeties just because they dont have a “prestigious program???” </p>

<p>Do you realize what the risk is? you could end up with no acceptances or no affordable acceptances…then what???</p>

<p>If you can’t pay for the colleges on your current list, you will not be able to attend. With your current stats, NONE of them will likely award you half of your cost of attendance in merit money.</p>

<p>Certainly, go ahead and apply. Do whatever…but remember that if the bills are not paid, you cannot attend.</p>

<p>You need to have that serious talk with your parents, and soon. You need to work within their financial guidelines.</p>

<p>I’m not sure there is any more to say.</p>

<p>^^^
yes, feel free to apply to your top choices just to see what happens, but be reasonable. </p>

<p>However… Be sure to apply to 2-3 financial safeties…these are schools that you know for sure will give you that needed merit…even if they dont have a ranked/prestigious J major…otherwise you may end up with either no acceptances…or acceptances where you didn’t get 50% funding.</p>

<p>Kiara, I know you don’t want to hear this, but there’s really no way to reconcile “I want a prestigious program” with “I need a scholarship covering 50% of the total cost of attendance”. Even if you raise your SAT/ACT, the bottom line is that the schools that give large amounts of merit scholarships are not the prestigious schools. They are the schools a step down from there hoping to rise in prestige, and hoping in part to do that by attracting the top minds in the country, using merit money. The top schools don’t need to use merit to attract top talent, they use their reputation and prestige. Those schools do not give out merit scholarships – you must pay full price if you don’t qualify for need-based aid. </p>

<p>Your parents have 2 choices. </p>

<p>If they want you to go to a prestigious school, they have to accept that they will likely have to pay all but about $10K of the total net cost, with you covering the remaining 10K via loans, a summer job, and work during the school year. If they want to only pay half of the cost of attendance, then they need to accept that you can’t go to a school like Northwestern where they apparently want you to go. </p>

<p>If they will only pay half of the cost, then both you and they will need to lower your standards as to what schools are good enough. In this case, you will either need to go to a school where the total cost is about $20K, or a school that will give you a huge scholarship. Those are most likely going to be schools you may not have heard of, or don’t think are “good enough” for you. But it doesn’t mean you can’t get an outstanding education there. There are opportunities that come with being a bigger fish in a smaller pond – being a top (scholarship) student means you may have more opportunities to work directly with professors, get recommended for the best internships, etc. Don’t rule out the “second tier” schools that might be very interested in having you, and would woo you with lots of money.</p>

<p>If you can’t bring your parents to CC to help soften their stance, you need to start learning about some “second tier” schools that would give you the scholarships you need, and finding things to love about what they offer.</p>

<p>As I said last night, an HBCU is too good for her. She won’t admit it though. Which is fine. She would be shocked to how many rich kids fill those campuses. I was just at a relatives house for dinner. The relative has a very dear friend whose dd will be attending NC A&T in the fall. Both parents are doctors. She only applied to HBCUs. One sister is at Smith, the other at Spelman and a son at Morehouse. He is an orthopedic surgeon and she is an oncologist. Their kids can afford to go anywhere. But they chose HBCUs. They told my friend that the dd who isn’t at an HBCU gets odd looks from their friends. Why? Because they are all HBCU graduates and incredibly successful and feel that Smith was a bad move. I’m sure the career placement is great, especially for journalism. I am finding that more media outlets are seeking out and employing a more diverse population. </p>

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<p>I am going to guess that you might get accepted at U of Florida, U of CF, Syracuse, and Ithaca. The others seem out of reach even for admissions with your scores. Even if you get up to 2000, they aren’t very likely for you. Then the question of cost kicks in. </p>

<p>UF - About $38,000/year OOS
UCF - About $32,000/year OOS
Syracuse - $59,320/year
Ithaca - About $54,000/year</p>

<p>These are the costs without merit aid at the four schools you are likely to get admitted to. Odds of merit as an OOS student at the Florida schools are probably low. Even if you wrangle some merit at the other two, odds of it covering half the cost is quite low. Example:</p>

<ul>
<li><p>For 2012-13, Syracuse offered 10% of their incoming class who did not qualify for need based aid a merit scholarship. Average amount was $9,010. Your stats are not on the high end for them, so you may not even get a scholarship, and the average amount would still leave you with $20K per year you would have to pay for under your parent’s appraoch. Unaffordable.</p></li>
<li><p>For 2012-13, Ithaca offered 21% of their incoming class who did not quality for need based aid a merit scholarship. Average amount was $12,691. Again… your stats are not on the high end. You may get a scholarship, but the average amount would leave you with $15K/year you have to pay for somehow. </p></li>
</ul>

<p>So possible cost of attendance for you to pay (your half):
UF - $19,000/year
UCF - $16,000/year
Syracuse - $20K/ year IF you get a merit scholarship that matches their average
Ithaca - $15K/year IF you get a merit scholarship that matches their average</p>

<p>You can only borrow a limited amount on your own ($5,500 first year, goes up slightly in jr. and senior years). So where are you going to come up with the rest?</p>

<p>Your list is not appropriate given your financial situation and scores, IMHO. You need to add in-state SUNYs, I think. Otherwise you could end up with no option except community college because no place that accepts you will be affordable.</p>

<p>What I meant to say in my last post is this…she is too good for an HBCU. </p>

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<p>Kiarain,
I would send my kids to Community College with your scores because they had sheltered suburban childhood with decent public schools, had educated parents, books at home, access to museums and performing arts venues, played sports, were made bilingual without any efforts on their part, traveled abroad and never had to work to support their family. Their one and only major responsibility was to go to school, learn and get good grades. And pass this dreadful SAT/ACT test. So we gave them a lot and expected them to do their job well. Forget about averages as they had above average opportunities in life. Same as you probably.</p>

<p>In May of my daughter’s sophomore year I took her for SAT pre-test to one of the well known cram schools and she scored below 1500. As I expected her A in honors math was not worth much. You were right in a way when you said that " The SAT is made so that the students who excel in school cannot do well on the exam" - the regular US school does not prepare well for this kind of test. Until that point my daughter always refused afterschool math enrichment but this was a major blow to her self-esteem and she was ready to do whatever it takes. So she spent 2.5 summer months doing parts of SAT tests from Blue Book every day for a few hours. Language she could really handle herself and I would help her with any math problem that she could not understand. By September she was scoring over 2000 on timed pre-tests. In the Fall she took 6 full-length timed tests in the cram school and in January she officially scored 2050 and then switched to ACT and got better scores. Believe me, she has no math talent whatsoever and still does not have any math culture. It was all hard work. I should probably mention that she is an athlete who practices 6 days a week and competes on most weekends.</p>

<p>So if you take this SAT score of 1700 as a personal challenge and put in real work now and in the summer, if necessary, you can greatly improve your scores. There are a lot money and quality of your college experience on the line. You know you have a major hook for college admissions - just improve your scores and GPA and you will not have to go to CC, SUNY/CUNY or HBCU. Out of state publics may still be a stretch. </p>

<p>@NewHavenCTmom‌ you clearly missed my entire point. I’m don’t care about the wealth of students at a campus or how selective they are. I never said campus wealth meant anything. I’m talking about academic prestige. Why should I choose a HBCU just because I am black? Pretend I’m not black and then analyze my situation. I do not want to go to an HBCU because they have insanely poor racial and ethnic diversity. I would not thrive in that environment. In fact, id probably so upset at an HBCU that my grades would slip. It is NOT an option. When I say diversity, I mean like 10% black, 15% Hispanic, 5% Asian, 10% international and 60% white. I couldn’t care less about how much they make.</p>

<p>You guys are so weird lol. When you thoroughly examine my list, all my public schools are midrange matches to high matched. UF is actually the hardest on that list to get into, so it is weird that you would find that the most likely acceptance. </p>

<p>@cptofthehouse‌ I am applying because 1. My parents want me to go there. 2. I would enjoy it there if I got accepted. 3. There are other factors that go into aid besides income so I could get something. I have siblings in university currently. 4. There are tons of other scholarships out there and I’m not one to just give up on something. 5. I’m not gonna lose my passion for a school because you don’t think I can get in. No offense, but at the end of the day, what you say with regards to admission doesn’t actually impact my actual admission chances.</p>

<p><< UF is actually the hardest on that list to get into>>
Lololol. Why don’t you take a dose of reality and go research some acceptance rates and the average GPA/SAT/ACT?</p>

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<p>My answer is the same: look for schools you can afford. As it happens, your stats may gather some automatic large merit scholarships at some schools, including some HBUs. I would tell any student with your stats in your financial situation to consider them, whether the student is black or non-black.</p>

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<p>Your cost constraints are such that you cannot afford to be that picky about that (or some other college characteristics like prestige).</p>