Do your parents have a car that you can learn to drive? Are you in an area with public transportation? If you’re eligible for the Pell Grant could you afford to commute to a college near home?
Sorry EFC is 30,000
If your EFC is 30,000 and your parents can only offer 1,000 you need to find a job right now and start saving money.
Can you calculate your net cost at each university, using
(Tuition fees room board) - (grants scholarships)=
From each award letter you’ve received?
Net cost cheapest is 22k
If your parents can only pay $1000 you have to work with your budget. If you don’t have the money it doesn’t matter how much the least expensive college is.
If your EFC is $30,000 you won’t qualify for a Pell Grant. You can take the $5500/year federal student loan and if you work summers you can probably earn $3k. With your parents’ $1,000 that gives you a budget of ~$10k/year. How do you plan to pay for other $12k/year at the cheapest option? The federal student loans will be ~$27k over 4 years. That’s enough debt for a teacher.
What are your options close to home? Is there a cc or 4-year college you can commute to? If your stats are high enough to get merit somewhere you may need to take a gap year and reapply to a different list.
It’s difficult to offer reasonable guidance because when people ask about finances you seem to leave the thread or answer some questions but skip the financial ones. You don’t have to answer those questions, but you’re not going to get meaningful advice if posters don’t have some idea about your situation. If your parents can’t pay the $12k/year gap the only way to get it is for them to cosign loans for you. Starting a teaching career with the ~$27k federal loan + ~$50k in private loans isn’t a good plan. I don’t really have a sense of how you intend to finance these schools, but I hope it’s not through debt.
@bubblytaco Please give the details of the financial award letters that @MYOS1634 has asked you for. If posters can see net cost (which equals total costs less grants/scholarships) for each school, that will allow everyone to help you compare offers and strategize how best to fill the gap you are working with, which seems like $21K right now. ($22K cheapest offer, less the $1K your parents will contribute)
“About 4 schools”? What other colleges did you apply to?
If your parents are only giving you $1000 a year, NONE of these options is affordable. Where would you get even $14,000 for Marquette?
You plan to be a teacher. Entry level teachers don’t earn particularly high salaries. You also mention possible law school…which will require loans.
I am confused about your instate status. I believe it’s Illinois. If so, why did you apply to a bunch of private and out of state public universities with high price tags?
Did you apply to many of the good education programs in Illinois…Southern, Western? If not, why?
Is there public transportation near where you live? I would suggest starting at a community college…and taking your general education requirements there. Your $5500 Direct Loan, and $1000 parent contribution plus job earnings…should pay for this. This money is not sufficient for a residential college…even with a full tuition scholarship…and you don’t have one of those.
Who helped you craft this college list for applications? Didn’t anyone consider the costs to attend…
Yeah sorry about the financial responses. I truly don’t know. And you guys are right, but I decided that if I can’t afford it I will go to community college. I am new to the whole college application process.
I would prefer for this forum to be based solely on the institutions, rather than my personal finances. 
To answer some of your questions
- I live in Illinois
-I did apply to some financial safeties but they are my last resort
-I’m in the process of appealing for financial aid because my income changed
Overall, if I will not be able to afford it. I will go to community college and will commute during the 3 years if I choose to remain instate.
Also to update you guys. I received an offer from Illinois State. Which included a 1,000 per year scholarship and a 5,500 loan option. They closed the financial aid portal due to the site being over whelmed, so I can’t go into the nitty gritty.
I also heard back from Marquette. They did not give me the half ride scholarship, so it is off my list because without the scholarship it would be 28k a year.
I’m really sorry about Marquette. So, now, Illinois State is your best choice. Since you’re instate, it should be relatively affordable with scholarship+federal loans, is it within budget?
Also guys feel free to comment anything relate to these universities or your experiences!!! Anything helps. Would like to restate my choices again.
-Purdue
-IL State
-North Central
-Ohio State
-UW Madison(pending)
Yes, Illinois State is more in reach financially.
So unfortunately I finances do come into play and Madison, Purdue and Ohio State won’t give you enough to go there.
I had 2 patients today and one of my employee’s go to North Central. They really like it. It’s in a great town. All said the rigor is tougher then most thought going in which I found interesting.
I think we all understand that you don’t want finances to be considered.
Unfortunately, if you can’t pay the bills to attend, you can’t…attend.
Yes, I agree with what you are saying and finances are for sure a concern to me. And I will evaluate the financial situation with my family and the school. But for it is a consideration. In this forum, I’m looking more so advice about the schools itself.
North Central v. ISU
ISU - 18,000 students
average ACT: 23
average GPA: 3.37
24% with GPA 3.75 and higher, 11% with ACT 30 and higher
North Central - 2,700 students
average ACT: 25
average GPA: 3.6
38% with GPA 3.75 and higher, 11% with ACT 30 and higher
so it looks like ISU has a larger group of high-achieving students (4,500 v. 1,200) but ISU has a broader range of students. Did you get into the Honors College at ISU (if not, apply). North Central has an innovative curriculum and small classes but it seems very expensive.
No, I did not get into the honors college at ISU and it is too late to apply. Thank you for the information as always. Looking at the final cost Illinois State is a thousand dollars cheaper