UT Dallas is a very good suggestion, particularly for a premed who needs large merit with strong stats.
@tina77, the student can borrow $5500 on her own. Any more than that is on the family.
You are responsible for, at minimum, the EFC.
This student said that her family will only pay $20K total over 4 years because that’s what was saved by her parents. So she has to find a school that will cost her $5000 per year, because that is her budget, which won’t be easy.
Sorry still on page 2, but this is just wrong. People CERTAINLY tell low income kids that.
I agree with @romanigypsyeyes. ^^^^ We were told, all of the time, that we shouldn’t aspire to the elite schools because our low income standards wouldn’t mesh at an elite school.
This student needs to find an affordable school and get the real story on what her parents can afford to pay.
This kid is NOT a low income kid.
Yes, I understand but that was something someone wrote and I wanted to correct that incorrect assumption/observation.
If you are oos, cal schools will not offer scholarship $
This OP was NOT talking UCs. The student, I believe, is from Massachusetts.
She has been accepted to UMass Amherst which is $30,000 a year. That is not affordable, apparently.
Someone else upstream mentioned the other less expensive public universities in MA. Those should be looked at, as well as any public university within commuting distance of their home.
Someone else just asked about UCs (post #59)
@thumper1 it is not affordable, actually… my family is already going to be paying for my sister to go to college, and she’s only looking at private schools. We can’t afford to pay 30k a year on top of that- so it actually isn’t affordable, which I think is ridiculous
@ACT2017 @mom2collegekids thank you guys!! I have looked into it, will be applying 
I’m just wondering, do any of you guys think that there is something about our income that I don’t know?? Any huge expenses that we’ve had in the past seem like they should be paid off by now, and it sounds like my family SHOULD be able to pay our EFC based on what I’m learning from this thread… so why do I only have 20k in my college fund? They’ve been saving for me since I was born. And why are they telling me that they can’t pay our EFC?
@“aunt bea” do you think they could have saved more? Even with both me and my sister? I’m not trying to sound condescending, I really need to know if they had the financial capacity to save more
Most families have NO college fund…not a penny. Count my family on that group. Our financial advisor recommended we put the max into our retirement accounts…which we did. We did NOT save money for college costs.
BUT…both parents were working parents. We were able to live on the income of one parent…and used the second income to pay all college costs (at two expensive private universities).
I want to check for clarity…your twin is being allowed to look ONLY at private expensive universities…and your parents won’t pay for you to attend UMass honors college?
I can’t speculate why, or even if your parents can or can’t afford to pay your college bills. People have expenses…and different families have different expenses.
But I will say…I would love to know the reasoning behind one twin being allowed to apply to pricey privates, while the second twin can’t get support for the state flagship.
Anyway,.look at UAB…your cost to attend there would be room/board and personal expenses. Between a job, the direct loan, and the $5000 a year in your college savings…that could be affordable.
@thumper1 I know it isn’t fair. But my sister has a lot of severe emotional difficulties and has a hard time functioning executively, and her applying to these colleges is a miracle in and of itself, because it was the only way my parents would get her to apply at all. They don’t understand that while she is a good student, she doesn’t have the stats to get into most of them, let alone get merit scholarships. My family is really protective of her and won’t let me “crush her spirit” by laying down the hard facts about her acceptance changes and the cost of attendance. As much as it pains me to say it, part of me hopes that she will realize through her rejections that she has to think realistically (the only safety that she is applying to is umass amherst) and attend there. I have no idea why my parents haven’t tried to steer her towards more affordable options; but at the end of the day, I can’t control what they do. It’s not that they won’t help me pay, but we need to save all the money for my sister who has no idea what is going on.
Thank you for,the response.
I understand your parent POV…that being the case…leave your sister out of the discussion about YOUR college plans.
Look at the lists of places on this thread where you could get full tuition. Make this list, and use it as a springboard to discuss college with your parents. You have the potential,to save them, and yourself, some significant money.
Good luck to you!
@thumper1 thank you so much- you’ve been a tremendous help. Merry Christmas and happy Hanukkah!
Not to beat a dead horse, but in general (both reading here and talking to friends) it seems people are universally surprised by how high their EFC is the first time they see it. You have plenty of company wondering how you’re supposed to support it. I think it comes down to few people are willing or able to save for college from a really early age, which the EFC seems to encourage/assume. The compounding effect can be very helpful if you start early on. But it’s tough to do that, save for retirement, and have a life. Playing catch up when the reality hits is too late for most. Some are able to do it by having 2 decent incomes and living on only 1, leaving the other to cash flow the college years. There’s also this general notion out there that if you’re a good student (like high A’s) you’ll get some money in merit if nothing else. We fell into that mode of thinking. While that may have been true at one time, it’s not so much any more. So fwiw you have a lot of company, and once you adjust to looking to schools that you have a chance for solid merit aid I think you’ll find a fit that gives you an opportunity at a good education and employment opportunities. Good luck!
Just Graduate- to add to your post- it’s not that high A’s won’t garner merit (if they are supported by equally high scores, then there IS merit to be had). It’s that parents and students are very naive about WHERE that merit comes from. They assume that BC, Duke, Wash U, U Chicago, JHS, Northwestern (in their minds, a step down from HYP) are going to pay big bucks for the valedictorian from their HS who got 720 on each section of the SAT.
You explain to them that the big dollars will be at Alabama and a bunch of LAC’s which they claim they’ve never heard of, and they get downright hostile.
College financing is predicated on three elements- past income, which for many people is in the form of savings now available for college, current income, and future income which is in the form of loans (borrowing against your future). If you are a family with high income but no savings, and are unwilling or unable to borrow (already up to your eyeballs in consumer debt or took out a HELOC and have no home equity) you are going to find your EFC very tight, if not impossible. However-- you are not going to find most colleges sympathetic to the fact that you’ve borrowed against your house to put in a new kitchen or take the family to Europe. And think about it- if the shoe were on the other foot, and you were the family who had scrimped and saved, would YOU want the folks with the income higher than yours getting need based aid just because their spending levels are higher than yours???
OP- this is a tough pill to swallow and I applaud you for your generosity to your sister AND for being proactive. If you are dying to get away (and I was in your shoes many years ago) agree that UT Dallas could be an excellent choice.
@elizajanebh please apply to both UTD and UAB they are both great schools! UTD with an AES Distinction would be a better deal financially but keep in mind that AES awards, unlike UAB’s scholarships are not automatic and they have been getting more competitive every year.