Many schools offer FA because of the color of your skin. Exploit that.
Also, many PRIVATE schools offer great financial aid + exceptional education + outstanding networking. I think Colgate is a superb idea BUT if you’re not comfortable in a PWI, don’t apply. They want kids who are proud of their diversity & who are willing to share their perspective so that their differences build cultural bridges. If you aren’t that person - and your insistence on HBCU + the use of the term PWI makes me wonder - I’d recommend that you consider what is a good fit school looks like for you.
Don’t be shy about checking the accuracy of your FAFSA & CSS with a Financial Aid Office. You may have your #s wrong. It’s highly unusual for a low-income family to owe tens of thousands in tuition. Middle-class, yes. But not low-income.
And don’t forget to submit a Letter of Special Circumstance to ANY Financial Aid office so that human eyes review YOUR SITUATION & give you maximum award.
Lastly — since your parents are not able to support your pursuit of a college degree — check your see the guidelines & restrictions for applying as an “INDEPENDENT STUDENT”. This category is a special, less-known part of aid for kids who don’t get support from their parents. It cuts costs significantly.
These are the things to look for:
need blind vs need aware or need sensitive
meets full need
no loans in package
Since being a person of color at your current school does not distinguish in terms of being from an underrepresented group, you might do better at a school that is hoping for more diversity.
That said, my own local state U, UMass Boston, is heavily minority and there are other schools too.
For resources, look at “little Ivies” like Amherst, Williams, Tufts, Wesleyan…you can google the list. Also google “Colleges that Change Lives.” Maybe check out Tulane-? Vassar?
Harvard, Yale, Princeton and MIT are all reaches of course and offer top notch aid. You will have to research websites for financial aid policies. In the meantime you can take classes at CC and work.
The answer to your initial question (how can you afford an expensive university) when your parents can’t pay and you haven’t been given enough grants to cover the costs is that you can’t. Unfortunately, a lot of students are in a similar position. Most commute to their local public universities. Some work full-time and manage a full course load on top of it. Others work and take classes part-time as they can afford them. It’s not a race.
The payment plan people set up to pay past bills after withdrawing is different than a payment plan for the current semester that they pay while taking classes. Since your college is unaffordable you need to ask your financial aid office about the first type. If they’ll work with you on a payment plan you may be able to get your transcripts released so you can continue taking classes at a more affordable college.
What state are you in? If your state public colleges charge $20k+ just for tuition you may need to work and take a few classes at a time as you can afford them.
Students who are categorized as “independent” for financial aid before turning 24 have to meet one of a very specific set of criteria (miliary veteran, married, emancipated as a minor, etc.). OP is already Pell eligible based on their parents’ income, so even if they qualified as an independent student they wouldn’t get more need based aid.
This is not true. There are thousands of expensive colleges that don’t meet full financial need, and can leave students owing a TON of money if they matriculate with no sustainable way to continue to pay the ongoing four year bills.
Where did you get this inaccurate information. This is an undergrad student who is not estranged from the parents. They have not expressed any reason why they could be considered an independent student now.
It’s not a “special category” it’s a category for students who actually qualify.
Plus…being independent would give this student a Pell grant they already have, and the Direct Loan bump which they already have (because parent was declined for the Parent Plus Loan).
What other special aid do you think can be obtained for this student by simply being independent for financial aid purposes.
This student needs to start thinking out of the box. Work full time and take classes part time. Or something like that. Sure, it’s not part of their college dream, but it would get them a college degree. That is the end goal, right?
OP- hugs to you. You are going to get there… your path may look different than you had originally thought but that will not in any way diminish the value of the education you get. And forget comparing yourself to your parents (or cousins)… my spouse financed his ENTIRE education (undergrad and grad school) through loans. Government insured loans were charging 3% interest- he was taking the money, investing it a money market account which was paying 12% at the time, and through frugal living and a fantastic job was able to pay off the loans quickly. He was first Gen college so qualified for a couple of special programs as well.
Nothing about that scenario is true today… not the interest you’ll pay, not the interest you can get, nor the amounts that someone will let you borrow… so when you hear stories about “here’s how I did it” just smile and nod. Different time and place.
Agree that a payment plan DURING the semester is very different from the payment plan you are going to need to discharge your debt from the previous semester. You need to start dealing with people who are a little more senior at your college (not knocking the folks you’ve spoken with, but you need someone with clout, not someone who is following the rule book). Be honest- you are dropping out because you cannot afford to stay. You very much want to finish your degree… so the administration needs to help you come up with a reasonable plan for paying off what you owe so you can enroll somewhere else which is affordable. This scenario is NOT new to them… you aren’t the first kid whose dreams hit a buzz saw over finances.
Hugs. You sound terrific and you are going to be able to do this.
Not LAST year but she’s going into a new Financial Aid season. If she’s getting no support, it’s prudent to see if she qualifies. I know the rules change often, but this is how I ended up going to school when I was in a very, very similar situation. It is certainly worth investigating.
Blossom - you are 100% correct!!! What was true then (like for me, when dinosaurs roamed the earth!!) is a completely different deal TODAY. Your advice is excellent.
The independent rules do not change often, nor does it seem OP qualifies for independent status.
Here are the criteria for claiming independence on FAFSA: https://studentaid.gov/sites/default/files/fafsa-dependency.pdf Do you meet any of these OP?
Folks, OP will be unable to transfer until they settle their $10K debt with the current school. Some schools require payment in full to release a transcript, others will release the transcript if a payment plan is in place.
I love Howard. There are many amazing things going on there. However, there is a reality. My former students going there are paying over $150,000 more than if they had gone to one of the T50 or state flagships they were accepted to that would have been close to free for them. Their families and friends could only see the brand, and yes, the opportunities within the strong Howard community, but the Howard financial aid office should be providing realistic guidance to families making less that $100,000. The Howard development office should be raising funds to help their lowest income students leave them debt free. Alumni should be getting involved with the work VP Harris is doing around HBCUs. And yes, collectively, we should be doing more to make college affordable for all. There are systemic issues that have contributed to these costs.
These are the actual average ANNUAL amounts families are paying and taking out in loans after grants and scholarships from Howard:
Here is Georgetown:
Here is Johns Hopkins:
Here is American - I do not recommend American for lower to middle income families either. Their numbers are similar to Howard.
Huh.
Sorry to hear that investigating the restrictions for Independent Student status is INACCURATE.
My point is that if she is truly not being supported by her family, check it out as an option!
By ensuring she meets the guidelines, she may find a better path to finance her education.
It may take some time to be eligible but if she’s gonna have to leave school to get finances in order, understanding the advantages of INDEPENDENT STUDENT may give her a better path — especially in a family that doesn’t have the ability to SUPPORT HER ANYWAY.
Not ALL independent students are ESTRANGED FROM THEIR FAMILY. Sometimes families cannot afford to help so NOT claiming them on taxes & helping them qualify as Independent Students is the best they can do. That’s what happened with ME !!!
Yes, the guidelines are restrictive & they also change. But it’s not always negative.
Lastly, knowledge & understanding are never bad.
The existing debt lording over a transfer is a reality. It sucks but it is true.
I guess I should have looked at the net price calculator before suggesting Howard as affordable! Thank you for pointing that out.
I truly believe that the biggest challenge for low- and middle-income families is understanding cost. Colleges are now bundling their merit (aka really just tuition discount) over four years to make it look good, but when you dig in you really understand just how unaffordable it is. The problem is that the most affordable colleges are lottery chances for most every student.
This is not how Independency works. The rules are VERY clear. Active duty military? You qualify. Minor who is homeless? You qualify. Married? You qualify. Parents dead and you are or were a ward of the state? You qualify.
Having parents who cannot afford tuition and decide not to claim you on their taxes DOES NOT qualify. A simple google search brings up the rules. There are many aspects to financial aid and college which are murky, but a student knows if he/she is actively serving in the military (for example) and so there really are no gray areas here.
Even with abusive parents… you can’t just claim independence. There needs to be a court order, you need a judge to sign off on your emancipation, likely a social worker assigned to you and a guardian ad litem to represent your interests in legal proceedings. Again- if you have been emancipated, you’d know it… it’s a big deal and takes time.
OP- you can figure this out, and even if you end up waiting until you are 24 (when you legally WOULD be independent) it’s going to work out…
Agree with all of this. Adding, OP is presumably above the age of 18, so not eligible anymore for emancipation and/or to assign a legal guardian (because OP is an adult).
I appreciate that this path was available to you. It’s no longer an option for students. The criteria for being declared independent are very clear. Having low income parents doesn’t make a student independent for financial aid.
OP’s family is already Pell eligible which means their EFC is below $6k/year. Even if the EFC dropped to $0 it wouldn’t generate another $20k/year in need based aid. Unfortunately, this school just isn’t affordable for this family.
Yes! Understanding all the costs is so important. I have 2 of my own in college. I knew so much more with the second one.
Comparing financial aid packages is so hard and then add emotions and pride into the decision making and it becomes impossible to see clearly.
We tried to have a heart to heart with one mom last year and she just was sold on a certain HBCU that was $34000 a year and could not see that there were 4 other offers that were all under $3,500 a year - total for all 4 years would have been less than 1 year at the HBCU.
Here are the criteria for being “independent”:
- Will you be 24 years of age as of January 1?
- At the beginning of the school year, will you be working in a program of graduate study?
- As of today, are you married or do you have children or dependents (other than children or spouse) who receive more than half of their support from you now and through the end of the academic year?
- Are both of your parents deceased, or are you or were you (until age 18) a ward/dependent of the court?
- Are you a veteran of the U.S. Armed Forces?
Just to add, a person only needs to meet one of those criteria, not all of them!