<p>It is possible for you to go to a school such as U of Alabama and not have to take out any loans at all. You should be able to get merit (if you apply early enough) plus FA from various schools if merit would not cover all. It is very possible for you to go to a number of schools for FREE or close to it! Please look at threads linked above.</p>
<p>Most colleges do NOT meet need.</p>
<p>The amount of loans that a school can give a student is very limited. Stafford Federal loans are limited to the following amounts:</p>
<p>5500 frosh
6500 soph
7500 jr
7500 sr</p>
<p>If you do get admitted to a school that meets need (very iffy with your GPA), then your need would be met with grants and loans.</p>
<p>However, if your family has a lot of savings, that may affect your EFC. It would seem that your family must have a lot of savings if it can live on savings from year to year. How long have your parents been unemployed? Are they still looking for work? Is your family receiving gov’t aid (disability or anything) that will count as income?</p>
<p>His GPA is not so bad. He is top 10%. OP should be in very good shape between scores, top 10% and FA. You just need to do your research and get apps in early.</p>
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<p>I will definitely take some of those schools into consideration, thanks!</p>
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<p>Most of it is child support, which (oops) means that we don’t actually have 0 income. It’s still not very much though. My mother has been unemployed for 6 years, is in fact searching for a job, and we do not receive any government aid.</p>
<p>UNC has good need based FA for NC residents. Both UNC and NCSU are excellent for computer science, math and physics. Your stats may be good for some merit aid at some of the other North Carolina state schools- Charlotte has good computer sciences as well. You are fortunate that you have great in-state options. I am not sure it is worth trading these out for an out of state public school if finances are a factor. I agree with looking at other schools with good merit aid as suggested- like Alabama.</p>
<p>Make sure to apply early to your state schools! Some state schools offer best merit if apply before Dec. 1 or so. You may even want to call each school’s admissions office to check on scholarship date.</p>
<p>Find a small LAC where you are at the high end of the stats range and you might be able to get merit aid covering most (if not all) of your costs.</p>
<p>Here is another good thread. There may be some redundancy compared to other linked threads, but it’s very concise.</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1348012-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1348012-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships.html</a></p>
<p>Your NC public universities such as UNC-CH and NCSU are good choices to put on your application list. Financial aid should be decent as an in-state student – try the net price calculators on their web sites (your parents will need to give some financial information).</p>
<p>They do have some competitive full-ride scholarships (Morehead-Cain and Robertson at UNC-CH and Park at NCSU), but a 3.5 GPA probably won’t get them (doesn’t hurt to try for them, though).</p>
<p>UNC Charlotte has the Levine scholarship. I think there are other merit scholarships at the other schools as well- maybe not as large as this, but worth checking into. ECU has the Scholars program.</p>
<p>Some places that use the CSS Profile or their own financial aid forms will require financial information from the Non-Custodial Parent (NCP). Do ask your father (if he’s the one paying that child support) if he is willing to file those papers, and find out how much he us ready, willing, and able to pay each year for your education. If he can’t or won’t pay much/anything, then don’t apply anywhere that requires information from the NCP.</p>
<p>Your situation is challenging but not impossible. Spend some time in the Financial Aid Forum and at [FinAid</a>! Financial Aid, College Scholarships and Student Loans](<a href=“http://www.finaid.org%5DFinAid”>http://www.finaid.org) to learn more about the money side of things.</p>
<p>Definitely apply to UNC-Chapel Hill. They have a program called The Carolina Covenant where low income students can graduate debt free. I don’t know if you will qualify. I’m guessing they will look at your dad’s income, not just the child support. It’s worth investigating. Carolina also meets 100% need with their regular financial aid.
[About</a> the Covenant| The Carolina Covenant ~ The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill](<a href=“http://www.unc.edu/carolinacovenant/about.php]About”>http://www.unc.edu/carolinacovenant/about.php)</p>
<p>Keep in mind OP’s weighted GPA is 4.37 and unweighted GPA is 3.5. Top 10%. SAT: 2330 ACT: 35. I think OP has a great chance of getting very good merit aid. UNC-Chapel Hill is a very good school!</p>
<p>I would be looking at schools ranked in the 20-40 range for National Universities. </p>
<p>Apply to your flagship public for safety.</p>
<p>The obvious choice for an asian STEM major is to apply to science and engineering powerhouses.
The counterintuitive decision is to include a few LACs where a smart asian interested in stem majors adds diversity. </p>
<p>Davidson also commits to no loans in their aid package.
Your GPA may be 3.5, because your high school may be very competitive.</p>
<p>UNC and other NC publics are the obvious choices.
Don’t apply to OOS publics, except for Alabama or other schools with great scholarships.</p>
<p>I didn’t see whether you are male of female. If you are male, a LAC with 60% female enrollment would find you attractive for diversity.
If you are female, a school like Smith, might be another option.</p>
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<p>But be careful. Some LACs and other small schools do not have many STEM majors because those departments are small or limited. For example, a computer science major may find Davidson’s computer science offerings to be too limited (math and physics appear to be ok for core major courses, though elective offerings are less than at some other schools).</p>
<p>Davidson doesn’t HAVE a computer science major.</p>
<p>How about Vassar? If you’re an Asian guy, that’s a plus. I have a good friend who is premed there (now a junior doing an incredible semester abroad during which she will work in medical settings in India, China and South Africa) and it has served her well.</p>
<p>Look at this program:
<a href=“http://questbridge.com%5B/url%5D”>http://questbridge.com</a>
My friend has a free ride at Vassar. One parent works, with low-paying job, other parent mostly unemployed for 5 years.</p>
<p>Also look at Posse Foundation. Great colleges participating in their program. I have another friend who was a Posse finalist but didn’t make the final cut. Posse offered to submit her application to all their schools, and she is a very happy sophomore at Grinnell, also got a free ride at Macalester. Single parent, many siblings. She was born in China and found much better deals in the middle of the country than on the coasts. It’s a liberal-arts college but she wants to be a dietitian and found the courses she needs.</p>
<p>The other thing to check carefully at smaller schools is the frequency of offering of junior and senior level courses. In some cases, a course may be offered only once every two years, so you may have only one chance in your college career to take it (first four semesters completing prerequisites, then one chance in the last four semesters – if you happen to be studying abroad, doing a co-op job, or otherwise are not on campus during the semester it is offered, too bad).</p>
<p>I don’t see you come to California, all public schools in CA will not give much FA to OOS students. You might consider Uva, in addition to whats suggested above, however, its a long shot. Uva is one of the public that gives generous FA to OOS.</p>