<p>If someone makes 100-150k, can they get any kind of aid at any school, especially a cheap one? What if parents don't want to pay?</p>
<p>
No, it’s unlikely for someone who has high incomes to get aid.
No, as a dependent student, you won’t get more aid simply because parents don’t want to pay for your college expenses. Otherwise, every parent would stop paying for colleges.</p>
<p>Run the NPC at the schools you are interested in. With an income in the middle of that range, and fair amount of assets(relative to our income) the highest priced schools (like Vanderbilt) offered us grant aid packages that dropped the yearly bill to mid/high 30’s (not counting loans which we disregarded.) But our local state school offered nothing as the cost is below $30k. It is likely that schools that are already ‘cheap’ without aid will not offer much, if anything, other than possibly loans. But you have to try the NPC to be sure since individual circumstances vary so much.</p>
<p>If your EFC exceeds the cost of attendance, you will NOT get need based aid. SO…if you are applying to an inexpensive school, and your parent income is what you stated, it is highly unlikely you will get any need based aid.</p>
<p>It is really going to depend on the school and the formula they use for aid. I have seen some very expensive schools that still give aid above 150K and others that give none. Based on your questions, I’d say it is going to be a good idea to go ahead and apply, even if your parents think they make too much.</p>
<p>“If someone makes 100-150k, can they get any kind of aid at any school, especially a cheap one?”</p>
<p>You can get need based aid, depending. If you have a few other brothers and sisters in college, you can get need based aid.</p>
<p>Your parents can make $1 million, and you can get still merit aid.</p>
<p>4.2 GPA</p>
<p>Prestigious Prep School</p>
<p>SAT Total: 1770
SAT Math: 500
SAT CW: 620
SAT W: 650 (essay=7)</p>
<p>It does seem unusual that you attend a prestigious prep school, you have high grades, but your math score is only a 500. </p>
<p>Your test scores are an issue. You won’t get the merit you want.</p>
<p>What are your parents saying? How do they expect you to pay for college? How much will they pay?</p>
<p>I think the key words in the OP are “cheap school”. Those colleges with very generous merit aid const upward of $50,000 a year. That is NOT cheap.</p>
<p>If the OP is talking about getting need based financial aid…with an income over $100k, their family contribution will be in the $30,000 a year range (unless they have another college student enrolled at the same time). So if the cost of attendance is $30,000 or less, it is highly unlikely the student will get need based aid with a family income upward of $100k per year.</p>
<p>Those very generous colleges with the $50k plus price tags are also highly competitive for admissions. The first hurdle this student would need to scales admissions.</p>
<p>But having said all that, there is no harm in applying. The school might award you money…and they might not.</p>
<p>Just have a couple of affordable options on your list as well.</p>
<p>I always do poorly in math on standardized tests because I would need more time to figure out the problems, so I end up guessing on most of them.</p>