What should I write for how much my parents think they can pay?????

Paying for College
1

<p>The css/ profile asks what u think ur parents can contribute to ur college education.</p>

<p>My mom says put 0 bc I have full rides to some safeties already and want similar money at other schools,</p>

<p>Im not sure that i want to put this bc colleges might see 0$ and say, oh she cant pay we dont want her! </p>

<p>I know my EFC, which is not zero (its around 30K), but im not sure how much of that my parents are willing to pay, it depends on where I get into (they would pay what ever the college wants for an ivy or really good school, but not as much for one of my matches), how much they want (with merit scholarships factored in), and outside scholarships I get, I know non of this yet!!</p>

<p>Wont colleges be able to tell how much I can pay by our income (>120k)?</p>

<p>Will putting $0 bc I dont know hurt admissions chances??? How do they use this question?</p>

<p>Im applying to harvard, stanford, cornell, duke, brown, yale, princeton, and more</p>

<p>thanx in advance</p>

2

<p>I put 0$ even though my parents will of course be expected to pay some $.</p>

<p>All of those schools you listed are need-blind in admissions which means that they will not look at any of fin aid info while reviewing your app. You could need all the money in the world to go to college or have a family that can pay for everything and the admissions people will not know (this is ONLY for need-blind schools, it changes for need-aware)</p>

3

<p>oh good, thanks!!</p>

4

<p>oh darn… I put 1000!! lol</p>

5

<p>As far as financial aid is concerned what you put won’t make a difference. They will use you income and asset information (from FAFSA, and CSS where required) to determine what you are expected to pay. If they determine you can pay $30k and you say you can pay $0 - they will still expect you to pay $30k.</p>

<p>Most of the schools you listed do not give merit aid - only need based aid based on your family income and assets.</p>

6

<p>Agree that it doesn’t seem to make any difference. But, does anyone have a good explanation as to why the question is in the profile at all? Someone must use it, no?</p>

7

<p>yea thats what i expected,
why do they even have this question</p>

8

<p>bump 10 char</p>

9

<p>

It’s just a cruel joke to make you think you can choose what to pay.</p>

<p>or they don’t think you are stressed enough with college apps so they want to give you something else to worry about.</p>

10

<p>^^^ha thats good</p>

11

<p>

Pfffft, I put $16,000 against the will of my mom and dad, which is a realistic amount that they can contribute between the two of them, and that’s when I realized that my honesty will screw me over one day…I was supposed to buy a nice car with that money if I got a full ride at the school I attended…</p>