My daughter is currently a college freshman at UW Madison. We are paying full tuition. We didn’t get one scholarship, and I’m finding out through conversations with other parents, that we are idiots for that! Also, although we are struggling, and withdrawing from our retirement savings, the government has decided we do not qualify for any financial aid. I am overwhelmed. Is there somewhere, one single place, that lists what scholarships are available for my daughter, based on merit, that she may apply for, going forward?
Can your D apply to be a RA for next year, or is off campus housing cheaper?
She can check for departmental scholarships that might be available.
Also is she working on campus and during summers to help pay for college?
The best scholarships usually go to freshmen students based on their stats.
Also is she taking out the maximum direct loans before you are withdrawing retirement funds?
If she has not taken out a loan for this year, she can still get that I think and save it for next year.
There are many scholarships on Fastweb.org. However, I got the most scholarships form the college itself.
Are you from Wisconsin or OOS? Unfortunately students already in college have few options for scholarships. Perhaps ask about a dept scholarship if she’s already declared a major.
We are not Wisconsin residents. I do believe we/she checked into scholarships from UW during our meeting with the financial aid office at orientation, and either none were available or she didn’t qualify for them. I will make a call myself to ask about this. The maximum loan she could receive was $5000 (insert eyeroll here), which we took She will be in an apartment next year with 5 other roommates, and actually we got a decent price there.
Is there a way to find private scholarships - from organizations or companies, etc.? She is an excellent student, and had enough AP credits to basically equal a second semester sophomore when she started.
Also, she does have a part-time job, but its not very many hours each week, and I hesitate to push for more, as her classes are so difficult. Basically, the money she is earning amounts to some spending money for her, and not much more.
Wisconsin doesn’t give very many merit scholarships to freshmen (or at least they didn’t when my D applied a few years ago). IIRC, they tend to give more merit scholarships to upperclassmen - departmental scholarships and the like. If she’s doing well, definitely have her look into that and apply for anything available.
You need to look at the finances and see if you can afford another three years. Her student loans will max out at $7500 as a junior and senior.
The idea of paying OOS costs for UWisc by withdrawing from retirement funds is scary, unwise, and unnecessary.
OOS for UWisc is probably about $45k per year. There isn’t a major at UWisc that is worth $200k…not even close. It’s a great school, but it doesn’t offer anything that is worth that much money…particularly if it’s coming out of your retirement acct.
Your DD should transfer to an instate public and finish her degree. Do you realize that her future employer will not pay her more simply because she went to UWisc rather than an affordable school??? If it’s too late for her to apply to transfer to a public univ in your state, then she could go to a CC for her second year, and then transfer.
Sad, though. She probably had the stats to get decent merit at other schools, if that was desired. Unfortunately, that ship has sailed since those are for incoming freshman.
What is her major and career goal?
No need to eyeroll the max student loan amount. That is a sensible restriction to prevent students from taking on ridiculous amounts of debt just to go to schools that they can’t afford.
Do you realize that most new graduates can’t afford to pay back the debt from those max numbers? THAT is why those limits are smartly in place.
She is most likely beyond any CC offerings, but I agree that she should transfer. Your financial situation is only going to grow more difficult. Start checking now about transfer deadlines.
There is a link in this thread about lower cost schools. http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1678964-links-to-popular-threads-on-scholarships-and-lower-cost-colleges.html#latest
Only you know the full affect of these withdrawals on your overall financial position. It seems that you have three none too pleasant options. First, continue to draw down savings or perhaps home equity. Second, look into loans that you would be a co signer for and hope your child is successful enough to pay them back. There are significant dangers to this as if you reach a point that they will no longer lend to you then your child will have to drop out with significant debt and no degree. Finally, the hardest and most financially pragmatic would be to have your child transfer to an instate public. There maybe transfer scholarships if she has done well thus far. There are a couple of ways to take a bit of the bite away such as having your child work while in school and over the summer. If they are an engineering major they might be able to consider co-oping. I doubt that there would be school or outside scholarships of enough significants to change your situation.
To parents of HS students I would say that there are two considerations to college admittance. Acceptance and affordability. Until you determine what your family is willing to contribute it is difficult to determine whether or not you can afford to attend a college you’ve been accepted to. It is best to know what that figure is in advance of applications. If after you receive the financial aid and scholarships if the cost of the school is more than you can contribute then it should not be an option.
At UW Madison she can’t become an Housefellow until completing 3 semesters. Practically speaking that means her third year.
What is her major?
■■■■■■■■■ is a pretty versatile engine too. There are hundreds of scholarships there, and you can tailor them by activities or interests.
What is your home state and what is she studying?
We live in Illinois, and she is majoring in Chinese and Math. I spent some time on the fastweb site, and it was very helpful! Thanks to all of you for taking the time to answer.
http://scholarships.ls.wisc.edu/application.html
Be sure to apply between 9/1/16 and 10/15/16 for continuing student scholarships at UW-Madison for L&S.