If you happen to be Jewish, UAB is fine, and UA Huntsville is ok, but you might be less comfortable at UA Birmingham.
@elizajanebh I know this is a frustrating situation, and you’re finding out that you have a cost of attendance issue late in the game. You have strong stats, and as others have mentioned, you could garner very generous aid at a number of colleges, but the issue is that it is late in the game. Most deadlines for merit aid fell on or around December 1.
My advice for you, and possibly (ideally) also your sister, if your current crop of acceptances, etc. are simply untenable: take a gap year and reapply in the fall. If you start the process in August/September hyper-targeting schools where you will get generous aid (based on stats, not financial need), a year from now you’d be in a very different boat. From what you’ve written, a gap year may also benefit your sister. Gap years are not always the first option, but they are a good one, so I just wanted to throw that out there. You could also use your gap year to get a job and save some money.
Otherwise, what I would do in the next 6 days is look for any privates where your stats are competitive (it will be a lot of the mid-and-low tier schools, where you might still qualify for merit aid. (many schools have a Jan 1-ish deadline now) You may be too late for the highest awards but may regardless do well. In MA, I would look at Simmons (their big merit deadline is gone but you never know). It might be worth still trying for Temple and Alabama (as others suggested), though they may be out of funds. You may have some luck with some of the “Colleges That Change Lives” (CTCL) whose deadlines haven’t passed–you’d be a competitive applicant at some of them, and they do have merit aid/preferential packaging at some. (these colleges may be good places for your sister, potentially, too).
Or, have a frank discussion about attending UMass Amherst. You can take out $5,500 in federal loans yourself as a freshman. You have 5K per year from savings (20K college fund). That leaves a 15K gap per year, yes? Talk to your parents–how much of “current” yearly income can they put towards it? 5K? Seems reasonable at their income. Then ask them to take out the rest in Parent Plus loans. 40K (+20K federal) is not a great amount of debt–I wouldn’t do so much honestly–but if your parents have the income they do and can pay back the 40K from future income, you would only be responsible for 20K federal on your own (reasonable). That might be your compromise.
But at the least, apply to some more schools before their deadlines, where you are competitive, and hope you get acceptances/a better financial package in April! Good luck.
Typo above. UA Tuscaloosa is fine. UAB not so much.
@jym626 no I’m not Jewish haha I think I’ll be okay in that aspect- how much money would it be? Full, half tuition?
Someone posted upthread the scholarships for the various Alabama schools. I have spotty internet where I am currently so will have to defer to you to check their websites for this info.
If your twin needs schools with good support services, there are several that are not high priced and have good supports- like U Denver. She doesn’t have to be limited to expensive privates. Sorry this is so unfair to you.
OP, also make sure your parents are aware of the American opportunity tax credit. They may or may not qualify depending on their exact MAGI next year. I agree with those advising you to explore scholarships but please don’t get so caught up exploring far away schools that you ignore schools close to home. The ability to live at home during school would reduce costs significantly. At the very least, check deadlines and get apps in to preserve those local options.
@politeperson what is the MAGI? I don’t know if that sounds dumb at all, but I can’t seem to find it anywhere. Also, I agree, moving to Texas or Alabama would be hard for me, especially if they didn’t give me as big a scholarship as I need.
Modified Adjusted Gross Income - it’s a line on your tax return.
@elizajanebh I don’t have anything to add to what the expert posters have suggested, but as a mom of 2 teenagers I want to let you know that you are a kind sister and very mature, and you are handling this challenge beautifully. Your parents are lucky to have a daughter like you.
Please keep us posted. Merry Christmas.
@politeperson Oh yes. I believe it was $161,000
@elizajanebh , the FAFSA is simply a form that collects income, asset, and family information in order to assess a student’s eligibility for federal aid. For the lowest income students, this aid comes in the form of a Pell grant and perhaps a Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant; for all students, it comes in the form of eligibility for federal guaranteed loans. The EFC is simply a number generated from a formula that is applied in the same manner to all students who file a FAFSA. Apples are compared to apples … and those with the fewest apples get the most money … but the “most” money is not generally even close to providing enough for students to pay for school with just that aid. While I realize it doesn’t seem fair that your family is expected to pay so much, try to put yourself in the place of a student whose family makes one-fourth of what your family earns. Just imagine how those families feel when their hard-working child gets offered aid that doesn’t come close to what the school costs … trust me, it doesn’t feel any better to them than you feel with what you have been offered. And why is it this way? Because college is expensive, and someone has to pay for it. Those who have managed to save, or those who are willing to borrow, or those who will tighten their belts & figure out a way to pay out of current income … those are the families who will find a way to pay for a school. Not everyone can do this. You are fortunate to have stats that will allow you to be competitive for automatic scholarships - apply for all of these schools you can, and I am sure things will work out well for you. And remember when you have kids: Set up a college fund and save, save, save.
The AGI is a line on the Form 1040 but Modified AGI is not.
http://www.du.edu/financialaid/resources/coa.html
Is this the wrong University of Denver? The cost of attendance is $60,000 a year.
Missed UA Tuscaloosa scholarship deadline. May not have missed UABirmingham or UAHuntsville. Don’t know why @jym626 doesn’t like UAB - maybe can explain. UA-T is the state flagship, so that may have influenced. However UAB offers a very good place for UG. I have one DD at UA-T, and one DD that graduated UA-B, and I have worked for UA-H; both schools were the right fit for each of our two DDs. They each had merit scholarships at their school. First graduated on time and second looks to graduate on time as will.
At this point OP is looking for viable merit options that will assist in attending for 4 year UG degree.
DD at UAB had friends that could also find jobs close to campus - B’ham being the largest city in the state has corporate offices/banking center in downtown in addition to large medical center, and some decent PT work for students looking.
Unfortunately you are going to run into the issue that @proudterrier pointed out–most of the automatic scholarships that you could have qualified for have deadlines that have already passed.
I would not recommend applying to Temple; they cut their scholarships significantly this yr, and kids with higher stats have only been getting $9000-18000 this yr.
UA’s deadline was Dec 15. UA-B’s was Dec 1. I think UA-H is still a possibility. Read their website more carefully or call.
You need to start looking immediately to see what options have due dates that haven’t already passed. It looks like UTD and Rhodes have Jan 15th deadlines, but skimming those sites it looks like they are competitive, not automatic, and I think it was Rhodes that emphasized that everything must be submitted by then (including the CSS profile.) Apply for some competitive ones, but automatic ones should be your top priority. (I just glanced over the sites, so I might be wrong about the competitive part. But digging into websites is what you need to start doing.) Even “late” deadlines are going to be here around Jan 15th, so you really dont have anyntime to waste. Your test scores need to be ordered immediately.
Maybe a gap year is in order to make sure to complete 4 year UG within budget.
Agree with @Mom2aphysicsgeek.
If not willing to do a gap year, I would suggest getting info in to UTD, Rhodes, and UAH.
AOTC info:
https://www.irs.gov/individuals/aotc
@elizajanebh,
Each parent has to be willing to save from an early age for each child’s college.
A lot of parents think that since the timeline is 18 years away, they will have time.
But the best time to save is when you are a very young child.
I don’t know your parents financial theories; would it have been possible to save for you and your twin for your expenses now, yes and no. Depends on your parents discipline in spending.
Did we save?, yes, because we had to pay our own expenses for college and my graduate loans were expensive so everything was fresh in our minds.
@elizajanebh if you are in Massachusetts, take a look at Framingham State U and Westfield State U, I have have nieces who attended and did well. They are solid schools which might offer you merit for your stats and they cost a lot less (around $20k per year without any merit aid) than UMASS Amherst
Also look at Rowan University in NJ. My OOS 32 ACT D was offered enough merit last year to bring the cost down to around 17K.