<p>we have very low income only $3000 above EOP limit. I don't have the means to save up or anything for college. Between loans/grants etc can my daughter get her tuition and Room and Board in loans.<br>
I don't even know anyone that can co-sign a loan for her. I will help pay any loan I can once our situation is a little better.
Her grades are not fantastic but ok about a B average. Has severe dyslexia and discalculia.<br>
thanks for any info.</p>
<p>Is your daughter a senior?
Do you live in New York?
Have you tried the Net Price Calculators on the financial aid websites for those two colleges?</p>
<p>Buffalo NPC <a href=“http://financialaid.buffalo.edu/costs/netpricecalculator/index.php”>http://financialaid.buffalo.edu/costs/netpricecalculator/index.php</a>
Potsdam NPC <a href=“http://www.potsdam.edu/admissions/financial/npc.cfm”>http://www.potsdam.edu/admissions/financial/npc.cfm</a></p>
<p>You need to find out an estimate of what you will qualify for in Pell and NYS TAP. As a freshman, she will be able to borrow $5500. If you qualify for the max on both grants, you could be just a few thousand shy of making it. But you won’t know until you plug some numbers in! Keep in mind, a bunch of the 2 year colleges have housing. They seem to be priced so that some Pell, TAP, and a loan will cover it. I’m assuming you live in NY and are eligible for instate tuition.</p>
<p>The tuition and room and board for those SUNY is about $20,000 per year. </p>
<p>Run the net price calculator and find out to see how much you qualify for. </p>
<p>The maximum pell is $5500 (maybe a few hundred dollars more) and the maximum tap is $5000. Add in a loan of $5500 loan and the gap is only a few thousand dollars. SUNY also had (not sure if they still do) an additional tuition credit. It might amount to a few hundred dollars which helps. </p>
<p>Remember TAP and Pell grants are given on a sliding scale. One needs a 0 EFC in order to receive full tap and full Pell. If OP is above the threshold for EOP, she may not have a 0 EFC. EOP looks very extensively at other factors beside family income: they also look at non-custodial income, home equity, alimony, child support, etc. One of the good things that they will take a very small percentage of students whose income is ~5-10% above the guidelines (so she may have a chance).</p>
<p>what do her regents grades look like?</p>
<p>While Potsdam does not require SAT scores for EOP (they do require them for merit money), they do look closely at the regents scores. A disconnect between regents score and grades could knock her out of the box. If she is not EOP eligible and her grades are not competitive for her to be admitted through regular admissions, perhaps she can be admitted to Potsdam through their bridge program.</p>
<p><a href=“https://www.suny.edu/student/downloads/pdf/eop_profile.pdf”>https://www.suny.edu/student/downloads/pdf/eop_profile.pdf</a></p>
<p>Since the university centers, Potsdam, Plattsburgh, Albany, Geneseo, New Paltz tend to to be most competitive, I would also recommend that she go “off the grid” and also look at schools like oswego, fredonia, oneonta. </p>
<p>Since you can only apply to 4 schools through the SUNY website for EOP, I am also going to recommend that she apply to a couple of EOP programs through the community colleges (where she can apply directly through the school website for free. School submits a copy of her transcript and she will have a response in approx 3 weeks- it will be 2015 before she finds out if she was admitted EOP.</p>
<p>I am also going to recommend that you toss an application to some of the HEOP programs.</p>
<p>If you don’t meet the financial eligibility for EOP, do you have a financial safety?</p>
<p>wow this was quick. We live in NY, she is only a sophmore, but we are looking into everything starting now. I din’t realize Potsdam was competitive. Regents not great. I’ll find out about the Bridges program. I’ll go try calculator. Thanks everyone. </p>
<p>I see a gap of $8,000 are there other loans she can take out? </p>
<p>Will she have at least an 80 on a math regents & 75 on the ELA regents (this what CUNY considers college ready and the 4 year SUNY schools also entertain these guidelines).</p>
<p>Are you in NYC, Upstate, Westchester, Long Island?</p>
<p>Is seek/college discovery at CUNY an option? </p>
<p>Do you have an 8k gap after she has been given $5500 in direct loans? If you apply and are denied a PLUS loan, she will be able to borrow an additional 4k as an unsubsidized loan leaving you with a 4k gap. </p>
<p>You do realize that if you go this path you D will have over 40k in non-dischargeable debt when she graduates. A person should not start out their adult life carrying on this kind of debt unless she is ok living in her bedroom after college (it will be hard for her to get an apartment, car, go on vacation and do things that she will not be able to do because she is paying big loans).</p>
<p>Actually she has a severe math disability, but does well in english, arts, social studies. I’m thinking that after two years she can move off campus. If things are better at that time for myself I can help pay for for her living expenses rather than taking out a loan for prepay on campus.</p>
<p>I would not be looking for more loans. You dont want your D to be swimming in debt, do you? new grads dont earn a lot. Besides she would need a cosigner. I know that you said that you would help pay when your situation improves, but look at it this way…the estimate you got was based on a low income. as soon as you start earning more, much\all of that aid will go away…but you will unlikely immediately be in a situation to help pay the tuition…so that would mean even a bigger gap than $8k per year…the gap could become 15k per year.</p>
<p>You say that your D wants these schools, so put the situation in her lap. Tell her that she needs to have top grades and strong test scores to help get scholarships to pay for those schools. There are SUNYs that give nice merit scholarships…Buffalo is one. She can also start working during the summers to save to put towards college (have her put the savings in a separate acct under a parents name to be used for future college only)</p>
<p>Even with the basic Stafford Direct loans that you are already seeing in the calculators, your D will end up with $27k of debt PLUS accumulated interest while she is in college. THAT is already a LOT of debt for a young person. To add MORE debt on top of that is just too risky (you are asking about an additional 32k in debt on top!). You have just declared bankruptcy so you know how debt can affect one’s life. You dont want your D (or you again) to end up in that situation, right? having her graduate with $60k in debt (even if you help pay it) is just too dangerous. </p>
<p>how much do you think she’ll be earning once she graduates? what kind of job do you think she would have? </p>
<p>Your D is only a soph in high school so you all have time to come up with a plan that doesnt entail taking on more than the stafford direct student loans.</p>
<p>Re-do the calculators with an estimate of what you think you’ll be earning when she is a senior. That will give you a better idea of what to expect. Then show your D the results. you may have an EFC of several thousand that you may find hard to pay if your family is just recovering from an economic crisis. This frequently happens…a family may have a job loss or some other issue and even when a good income resumes (and EFC rises), the family is not yet prepared to pay it because they have to play catch-up with other stuff (car repairs, dental work, etc).</p>
<p>
See <a href=“http://www.potsdam.edu/admissions/apply/special/bridges/”>http://www.potsdam.edu/admissions/apply/special/bridges/</a></p>
<p>Has she considered buffalo state college? In general, the classes are a lot smaller and more personal.</p>
<p>Yes Buffalo is the other choice. Are there two Buffalo State schools? One of the SUNY Buffalo seemed large, although it was recommended by her counslor as a choice.
Also some have mentioned 2 year colleges with dorms, tried doing a quick search but couldn’t really find any.
This is such a fantastic source. Thank you everyone.</p>
<p>I know Genesee Community College (SUNY GCC) has on-campus housing, and there are others. Try a google search for “SUNY community colleges with on-campus housing”.</p>
<p>here is the SUNY CC listing</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.suny.edu/media/suny/content-assets/documents/summary-sheets/Admissions_qf_cc.pdf”>http://www.suny.edu/media/suny/content-assets/documents/summary-sheets/Admissions_qf_cc.pdf</a></p>
<p>I just found Broome and Adirondak, thank you for the Community colleges list with dorms this is a great alternative. Thank you.</p>
<p>The University of Buffalo is a large research university with about 26K undergrads. They have lots of majors and are somewhat more competitive for acceptance. Buffalo State College is about 10K undergrads. They accept students with lower stats. They also have many different majors than UB, such as Fashion Merchandising and Criminal Justice.</p>
<p>
UB see <a href=“http://admissions.buffalo.edu/”>http://admissions.buffalo.edu/</a>
Buffalo State see <a href=“Apply | SUNY Buffalo State University”>http://suny.buffalostate.edu/applying</a></p>
<p>I cant see the wisdom of borrowing money to pay for a CC with dorms. That would just cause a very large annoyance when it comes to paying those loans…knowing that she could have commuted to a local CC without those loans.</p>