What kind of aid can I expect?

Paying for College
1

<p>Applying to:
BU (RD)
BC (EA)
U. of Richmond (RD)
GW (RD)
American (RD)
Tufts (RD)
Brandeis (RD)
Wake Forest (RD) <em>Note: big on debate, meeting with head coach and admissions while competing at tournament there next month.</em>
Catholic U. of America (RD)</p>

<p>SAT: (EEK!)
1910
710 CR
600 M
600 W (9/12 Essay)</p>

<p>ACT:
30 Composite
26 English
28 Math
29 Science
35 Reading
26 English/Writing (9/12 Essay)</p>

<p>Note: Sending my ACT's to all schools as it is better than my SAT's, with the exception of Wake, who only takes SAT's.</p>

<p>Stats:</p>

<p>GPA: ~3.477 unweighted, ~4.02 weighted, these will hopefully be a bit higher by the end of first semester Senior year.
Rank: 65/592 (Top 10.9%)</p>

<p>Classes last year:
AP Psychology (A's)
AP US History (A's)
AP English Language & Comp. (A's)
Precalculus Honors (C's and B's)
Physics Honors (A's and B's)
Debate VI Honors (A's)
Government Honors (A's)</p>

<p>Note:
Brought Physics from a "B" to an "A" from 1st to 2nd semester, and brought Precalc from a "C" to a "B" from 1st to 2nd semester, so, rising GPA...</p>

<p>Extra-Curric:</p>

<p>Debate Team (~326 NFL Points, Varsity Letter, Distinction Member of NFL...for those who know what those are), this is my passion, I've competed in 5 different event categories as well(Student Congress, Oral Interpretation, Duo Interpretation, Public Forum, Policy), and placed in 3 of them (Congress, OI, and Duo)
President of Debate Team
VP of Law Club
Co-Captain of Mock Trial Team
Social Studies Honor Society
Treasurer of JETS</p>

<p>Community Service:
Camp Counselor at local summer camp: ~125+ Hours
helping with middle school debate team: ~15+ hours</p>

<p>Work: Public Library (20 Hours/Week), hope this looks good since it's for the state.
Previously was a Lead Graphic Artist and ran my own PC Repair Company.</p>

<p>Background: Single-Parent Home, Dad pays no child support, etc. Roman Catholic, Irish-Italian, Public School in Florida</p>

<p>Looking to major: Poli. Sci., Government, Political Media
Minor: Journalism, International Studies</p>

<p>Courses for this (Senior) year:
AP Euro
AP US Gov
AP Microeconomics
Independent Study (AP World History)
AP Lit
AP Stats
Debate VII Honors</p>

<p>I live with my mother in a small condo, our predicted EFC is ~$1,500. I was curious, if anyone with similar financial situation and stats had any insight into what sort of aid, etc I can expect from these schools, assuming I get in.</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

<p>Ben</p>

2

<p>I'm thinking that unless you apply into a scholarship program which, for example, covers tuition, you will receive need aid (based on EFC). I'm blindly guessing that you'll have 5-10% out of pocket.</p>

3

<p>So, even if I don't qualify for merit-aid, I should get a large majority covered because of my EFC? Any specifics on the schools I'm applying to?</p>

<p>Thanks,</p>

<p>Ben</p>

4

<p>I can't comment on all the schools you listed, but you may want to investigate the language requirements before you apply - some of the schools have a 4 year language requirement - which you don't seem to meet based on your stats. I personally know one instance where a student was rejected from BC with 1450 SAT's and staight A's - but only 3 years of language. That said - I think Tufts, Brandeis and Wake are reaches for you only because they are so selective. You have plenty of options left and by all means apply - do some poking around and look for schools promising to meet 100% of demonstrated need.</p>

5

<p>Um, debate programs do offer scholarships, so you're right to be planning meetings with the Wake Forest Debate coach. However, and this comes from a fellow debater, 300-ish NFL pts does not tend to impress very competitive debate team programs. In my school, most people hit 300 and went to 500 and up. The fact that you're president is super, but when you say you "placed" in some events, do you mean nationally or on a state level? There are only a few such scholarships, and Wake Forest is a policy debate school- you never placed in policy. You're IE record won't help you at a hardcore debate program. But with an EFC like that, you should get federal aid. Mine was similar, and besides scholarships i got some federal aid.</p>

6

<p>Tufts (RD)- only gives need based FA (no athletic or academic scholarships
<a href="http://finaid.tufts.edu/awarding.htm%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://finaid.tufts.edu/awarding.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Brandeis- Most aid is need based financial aid</p>

<p><a href="http://www.brandeis.edu/offices/sfs/finaid/understanding.shtml%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.brandeis.edu/offices/sfs/finaid/understanding.shtml&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Scholarships at Brandeis</p>

<p><a href="http://www.brandeis.edu/admissions/applying/scholarships.php%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.brandeis.edu/admissions/applying/scholarships.php&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>GWU & BU- the money is coming only if you are at the top of the academic pool. Otherwise both schools can be stingy with aid.</p>

<p>BC-All financial assistance, with the exception of the Presidential Scholars Program is awarded on the basis of need. Boston College is committed to providing funds to meet the full demonstrated need of every admitted student who has filed the required paperwork to apply for financial aid. </p>

<p><a href="http://www.bc.edu/admission/undergrad/costs/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.bc.edu/admission/undergrad/costs/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>BC Presidential Scholars
<a href="http://www.bc.edu/centers/psp/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.bc.edu/centers/psp/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>U of Richmond- Need based Financial aid </p>

<p><a href="http://www.richmond.edu/prospective/financial/need_based.htm#%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.richmond.edu/prospective/financial/need_based.htm#&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Merit money goes out to the top of the applicant pool
<a href="http://www.richmond.edu/prospective/financial/scholarships.htm%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.richmond.edu/prospective/financial/scholarships.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

7

<p>Thank you guys. Now, as for NFL points, I will easily surpass 500 this year and likely will get ~650 by the time I'm done. I've qualified for Nationals and State's, have done well at National tournaments, and will likely be doing all of that in Public Forum this year. Hopefully Wake feels that I am strong enough overall to get some sort of scholarship. </p>

<p>Anyway, it would appear that with most schools who look to get all of need-aid covered, which is most, I should be ok? I know BU and GW are the exceptions for this. Hopefully I will get a decent amount of need-aid.</p>

<p>Any more input?</p>

8

<p>I do not beleive that GWU offers any full ride scholarships. Of the scholarships that they do offer, you are only allowed one.</p>

<p><a href="http://gwired.gwu.edu/adm/financial/freshman.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://gwired.gwu.edu/adm/financial/freshman.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>BU is pretty straigh forward with their concept of Fa:</p>

<p>* Financial Aid </p>

<p>Because we believe in rewarding academic excellence, Boston University offers a wide variety of merit awards, some of which cover full tuition. For a complete list of scholarships offered at Boston University and selection criteria, please see the Types of Financial Aid at Boston University page.</p>

<p>Need-based grants are awarded based on a combination of calculated need and academic merit. *</p>

<p><a href="http://www.bu.edu/admissions/apply/finaid.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.bu.edu/admissions/apply/finaid.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Essentially, if you are not at the top of the applicant pool, then don't expect a lot of money from them</p>

9

<p>Yeah, I sort of expected that from them.</p>

<p>Can I expect a decent amount of need-aid from the smaller schools due to my low EFC?</p>

<p>~Ben</p>

10

<p>Hi Ben,</p>

<p>First the basics of FA.</p>

<p>Cost of attendance - EFC (EfC is calculated based on the income and assets of you and your parents. there is a parents contribution and a student contribution) = demonstrated need.</p>

<p>Demonstrated need has 2 components:</p>

<p>Self-help aid, which consists of </p>

<p>work study (either federal work study or employment)
Loans unsubsidized stafford loan (if eligible ) and Perkins loans (if you have an extreme amount of need)</p>

<p>The other part of your Package would be :</p>

<p>Federal grants -Pell (if eligible) or SEOG (if available)
Schools grants (which do not have to be repaid)
Scholarships (some may be based on merit where you must maintain a certain gpa, others are may be from dedicated endowed funds)</p>

<p>For example: You are admitted to Tufts (this is just a demonstration , your actual package could be different):</p>

<p>Cost of attendance is 43,500</p>

<p>Parents contribution 2000
Student Contribution 1500
Demonstrated need = 40,000</p>

<p>aid package:</p>

<p>tufts grant 35,000
work study 1500
Perkins loan 1000
subsidized stafford 2500</p>

<p>total need = 40,000</p>

<p>Other factors to keep in mind: If you have stepparents, at some schools their income will be considered to the extent that your parents benefit from the marriage.</p>

<p>If your parents are separated, divorced or never married, the colleges will also need the financial information from the non-custodial parent. AS far as colleges are concerned, they do not care about the parent's unwillingness to pay or what the divorce decree or pre-nup states Colleges believe that your parents have a social and moral obligation to pay for your education and first look to them in the financing of your education.</p>

<p>I beleive that there is a FA calculator on the college board. I would suggest that you research each school. Look to see what they ask for regarding FA. Some schools only ask for the FAFSA only. These schools most likely use the federal methodology for calculating aid. Other schools request the CSS profile (which is filed through the college board) or their own FA forms. These school most likely use their own institutional methodology or a combination of federal and institutional methodology to calculate aid.</p>

<p>So when you use the FA calculator, run your numbers once using the federal methodology and once using the combination of federal and insitutional. You will see that your EFC will vary. </p>

<p>If they have sample FA packages on their website , it will give you an idea of how they package aid. Do a search for the school's common data set. Now only will you get great admissions information regarding the last freshman class, keep going to the end, you will see. </p>

<p>the number of students that applied for aid
number of students who had financial need
number of students whose need was met
Percentage of need met
average grant aid</p>

<p>Als, look up your school on the US news college guide so that you could see the average amount of debt a student graduates with. The average amount of debt should be $20,000. Anything more may be burdensome for you to repay upon graduation especially if graduate or professional school is in your future.</p>

<p>Start applying for outside scholarships. Visit your GC's office regularly as they often post scholarship information.</p>

<p>If you work, start saving.</p>

<p>I hope that this helps.</p>

<p>From our experience at Tufts, they were extremely generous when it came to financial aid. Remember that FA is calculated differently at different schools. I would recommend that you first look at if the school meets 100% of your demonstrated need.</p>

11

<p>^ Well, thank you, that sounds good.</p>

<p>My EFC is $1,500, according to that calculator thing, any ideas on where that will put me..heh</p>

12

<p>Any more input?</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

13

<p>BUMP...Anyone else?</p>