What can I do?

Paying for College
1

<p>Somewhat of a preliminary disclaimer, I have read a few of the threads on these forums, and some posters have said what people should have done and how their decisions were not thought through. I am sure there are instances in my case, where that happened, and I cannot fix them, so please just give me some help.</p>

<p>I want to make this a good thread for kids like me who, not only want to help their parents pay for college, but get into the best college they can.</p>

<p>So, what’s my situation? Well, to begin I am a high school senior that applied to:
University of Pennsylvania ED- Denied
University of Illinois- Deferred until February
University of Michigan- Accepted in LSA
University of Indiana- Accepted in the business school, the Hutton Honors program, and $9,000, 4 year renewable scholarship.
University of Chicago- Hear back on Monday
Villanova University- Also hear back on Monday
Northwestern University- RD, don’t hear back for a while.
I will keep that section updated as I hear back.</p>

<p>I live in Illinois right near Chicago, so obviously the best financial option is U of I. But, I might actually not get in...
So, over the past few years the real-estate market has been non-existent. My dad was a self-employed broker and now, he is having an extremely difficult time finding any deals (as I have seen on this forum many times). I don’t need to explain to you guys how hard it has been for us, we live in an upper-class area and I am sure our mortgage is expensive. My mom has gone back to work, doing part time jobs here and there. This is pretty much all I can tell you because I am sure, as most of you parents know, it is not easy telling your children about this stuff. So, I will have to sit down with them and hear what is actually going on, but I will tell you, it is really not good.</p>

<p>If you are still reading, I am not well versed in tax returns, forms and such. I am in stuff like equity markets, because that is usually what I like to look at in my free time, so if you could write out those acronyms so I can look them up, it would be appreciated.</p>

<p>Ok, so I guess different people have different ways of coping with this. I have been more and more focused in my school work. I usually work for 5 hours on homework and extra work every night. Then when I finish, I usually do difficult physics problems for fun. So, this all seems fine and dandy, but it is a little late. My good grades in higher level classes and genuine interest will not get me into schools like Penn or University of Chicago (still hoping that maybe I get in…) where they demonstrate 100% of need. So, I am trying to have a realistic view of my situation, and it looks like I am going to need another way to pay for colleges. </p>

<p>The one thing I want to try and do is get the best education possible (duh). But, honestly, I really do not want to settle for less IF I can. Hopefully, with one of these school's education I can get a good job and help my parents pay for their debts, but also my sister and my brother's education (sister is a sophomore in highschool, and brother in 4th grade).</p>

<p>Where do I start? Merit-scholarships are going to be more difficult than if I tried in school earlier, so if there are scholarships based on current work that would be beneficial.</p>

<p>Note: I go to a very good public school, so merit-scholarships are definitely not out the question, but if I am compared to fellow classmates at my school, it will be difficult to get the scholarship.</p>

<p>My GPA is 4.4 weighted, which means that I have an A- to an A in Honors classes. This year I am taking High Honors classes and I think I have around a 4.7-4.9.
What classes I take/ what I am good at:
Economics
Calculus
Chinese (4 years)
I am also really good at Physics
And interviews
ACT:
35 Science
33 Reading
33 Math
28 English (This killed me, I bet you can tell from my writing above).
Any other information you need just ask, also if you have a scholarship websites, it would be appreciated.
Thanks for the help, I will be constantly checking this throughout the day and updating this first post as needed.</p>

2

<p>What is your ACT composite? a 32?</p>

<p>Well, you’ve missed many scholarship deadlines that were mid Nov thru mid Dec. :(</p>

<p>So, are you a business major? What area?</p>

<p>How much can your parents pay? nothing? Little? If your parents can’t pay much, then your choices will be limited. If you get a full tuition scholarship, your remaining costs will be about $10k-15k per year (depending on the school).</p>

<p>Have you run any NPC calculators? If not, try the ones at Indiana and Michigan and tell us what these schools are expecting your parents to pay.</p>

3

<p>Thanks for a reply. My composite is a 32. I have applied as slightly different majors to different schools.
Indiana- Business
Illinois- Business
Villanova- Business/Economics
Michigan- Cannot apply to Ross until after freshman year, so just the LSA.
University of Chicago- Physics/ Economics, dual major
Northwestern- Physics/ Economics, dual major</p>

<p>I have no idea what my parents can pay currently, I will sit down with them tonight or tomorrow and sort this out. Thanks again for the response.</p>

4

<p>I think your parents need to get involved and figure out where you’re likely to stand on FA. Since it’s near the end of the year, they should be able to make very close estimates. In addition to running numbers through the net price calculators on each school’s website, I would recommend they get an approximate EFC here:
[EFC</a> Calculator: How Much Money for College Will You Be Expected to Contribute?](<a href=“College Board - SAT, AP, College Search and Admission Tools”>Expected Family Contribution (EFC) – BigFuture)</p>

<p>Your FAFSA EFC will determine your eligibility for federal, and possibly state, aid so let them know that they will need to sit down and help you file it as early as possible after January 1st (it can be filed with estimates and updated later when taxes are complete). You can request FAFSA pins now - you’ll need one and one of your parents will too. Make sure you use the fafsa.ed.gov site, not fafsa.com.</p>

<p>Finaid.org presents student aid and loan information in a very straightforward way and has loan calculators that you can use.</p>

5

<p>There is still time to add some less competitive schools that meet 100% of need. You should get into many and you can go almost anywhere for a career in business.</p>

<p>HOWEVER- and this is a big however- you and your parents need to figure out what need based aid you qualify for NOW!!</p>

<p>If they don’t want to share their info with you, they need to do the numbers. But applying blind will nit result in your best options.</p>

<p>Many families are struggling now but have expensive homes and assets from years past that prevent them from getting aid. Others have no such
assets and can qualify for lots of aid while looking affluent.</p>

<p>You need to know where you stand before deadlines pass. OOS publics may be a very bad idea.</p>

6

<p>You do know you’d be full pay at UMich, right?</p>

7

<p>Yes I do know</p>

8

<p>Then I have to wonder why you would even bother applying there since you need extensive FA.</p>

9

<p>Your parents may be terrified about college costs. This can show up as anger or dismissal. So you can say “Man, I am terrified here about what this is going to cost. Will you please sit down with me and lets talk through some of this?”</p>

<p>Get a copy of “How to pay for college without going broke” (Khany or Chany is the author). And ask parent to work through it with you .</p>

<p>Print off a copy of the FAFSA and start penciling in the answers. Ask parents to help with the ones you can’t answer. (This is all more “dialogue”). </p>

<p>You aren’t going to have concrete answers on where you will be accepted and YOUR cost until late March or early April. This is a nervous time for everyone (and a stupid time to pick an argument with parents or counselors because there’s not enough to have answers). </p>

<p>I second the notion that you need a couple more smaller colleges on your list to apply to. Reason this out: currently you are not in the top candidate field at U of I. That deferrment tells you so. So extend that out four years. You can be a “middle to bottom of the pack” U of I graduate looking for a job – or you could be “Our top graduate that we highly recommend” from Smaller College. Trust me, you want to be someone’s “top student” – </p>

<p>Colleges, like cars, are wayyy overrated. Sure we’d all love to drive a Lexus. But, hey, a Ford Focus gets great mileage and can take you a long, long way. In this economy, at least consider saying “So long” to the heated leather seats and be happy (very, very happy) with an affordable path forward that ends with you educated, not broke and highly recommended.</p>