<p>it just isn’t the same as going to an Ivy League if you know what I mean.</p>
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<p>If you decide to pass up a financially sound offer from a school, you will be responsible for the ramifications of your choice. In this particular scenario, I would rewrite the above statement as: It just doesn’t cost as much as an Ivy League if you know what I mean.</p>
<p>We all want stuff … we just can’t all have it. If the college deems your family situation as warranting a certain amount of aid, that is all they will offer. Should you choose to attend, anyway, that is a choice that carries financial consequences. You will encounter many such situations throughout your life. Live in a house you can comfortably afford or take on a huge interest-only mortgage so you can live in that house that is “better than” the one that would be more affordable. Go camping instead of taking that Mediterranean cruise your best friend raved about. Etc, etc, etc.</p>
<p>OP, what is this “we” stuff? Your parents lost a load of money in the stock market. Your parents purchased a house and two cars. Their money is not your money. </p>
<p>While I admire your parents’ motives in wanting you to understand hardship, they may not understand that colleges and universities here in the US will not award money to a student just because the student’s parents won’t support them. Otherwise, every single parent would be unwilling to support their child. You won’t be able to massage the Profile in order to show that you need money; between your parents’ income and real estate you will already be at a level of assets where few, if any schools will offer you need-based aid. Ivies do not offer merit aid. See if your parents are willing to contribute some amount, be it $10k a year, $20k, $5k, whatever.</p>
<p>If your parents are unwilling to pay anything towards your college education, then your best option is to take a generous merit package like Northeastern’s. If you’re National Merit, then there are several other full rides that would still be available, even at this late date. You’re fortunate that you didn’t get accepted to Penn ED, since it would be unaffordable. (By the way, a helpful hint for a would-be business student: establish your budget first. Then see what fits. Applying to a need-based only school ED without even filing for financial aid isn’t good business.)</p>
<p>Northeastern might not have the Ivy League imprimateur, but they have an excellent co-op program that will give you a full resume and great contacts when you graduate. You’ll have no or little debt, making it easy for you to apply to Wharton or Harvard Business School etc etc for your MBA, or for a loan to start some great new entrepenurial venture.</p>
<p>Thank you for that insightful post. I am rethinking my strategies. I guess what’s really important is not the undergrad, but the MBA grad school.</p>
<p>OP, did you share your college application LIST with your parents…and the costs of attendance at those schools? If not, you might want to do so now. Perhaps they don’t realize that you applied to a bunch of schools that cost over $50K per year (hopefully you applied to some less expensive ones too…). Perhaps your parents don’t even know what college costs are NOW. They have gone up considerably since many of us parents went to college back when the dinos roamed. In the olden days, it WAS possible to work your way through college, even an Ivy…but at over $50K per year, that is simply unrealistic now.</p>
<p>Northeastern is a great option…can your parents help you with whatever costs NEU is NOT covering? Have you received acceptances and aid offers from any other schools? Did you complete the FAFSA for your schools…if not you might want to do so…for the Stafford loan which you CAN receive regardless of financial need.</p>
<p>I plan to go to schools only in the northeast, somewhere closer to home. I also received a merit based full tuition package to UMASS state college. But I don’t qualify because I live outside of state…■■■. The rest of my 12 schools are EXPENSIVE, the cheapest is around 38k. I’m sure I will find a way to afford it though. Just so long as I don’t end up like that girl who owed $200,000 in debt.</p>
<p>On a side note, most colleges always say that if one can’t pay for college, they will make it happen. That is good for those with low income because they will get the help they need. Super high income like (500k+) don’t even have to worry about this. But where does it leave the people in between?? It doesn’t seem right that a kid coming from a low income family gets to go to Harvard and a high income kid with the same resume will have problems affording it.</p>
<p>And anyone who can be open-minded enough to look at other paths to success will do well in life and school. We’ll all be rooting for you.</p>
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<p>You also have to get into Harvard to take advantage of that. It is much, much harder for the lower income kid, who had mediocre schools, a house without books, no SAT prep classes or music lessons or baseball league or family vacations or camp, to have the credentials to be accepted to a school like Harvard. And keep in mind that if they don’t get into a college with generous financial aid, they have an even tougher time paying for tuition etc. </p>
<p>The rest of my 12 schools are EXPENSIVE, the cheapest is around 38k. **I’m sure I will find a way to afford it though. **Just so long as I don’t end up like that girl who owed $200,000 in debt.</p>
<p>Unless your parents are going to cover that, what could YOU possibly do???</p>
<p>Are you a NMSF? </p>
<p>What state are you in? Did you apply to your flagship?</p>
<p>I got the national merit commendation letter and nominated for presidential scholar. But since we just moved to a new state right when school started, I don’t qualify for state tuition.</p>
<p>What is Expected Family Contribution (EFC)? It says mine is 60542 on FAFSA. Does this mean I only have to pay 60k for all four years of college?</p>
<p>But you will have lived in your NEW state for a year before school starts so you SHOULD qualify for instate tuition in your new state when school begins. Contact them and ask.</p>
<p><a href=“EFC”>quote</a>? It says mine is 60542 on FAFSA. Does this mean I only have to pay 60k for all four years of college?
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<p>Your EFC is your Expected Family Contribution for ONE YEAR…the upcoming one. So that is $60K family contribution for this one school year only. That exceeds the cost of attendance at every college I can think of. You would not likely receive any need based aid…but you already knew that with a family income of $200,000 a year.</p>
<p>You are very fortunate to have Northeastern and their offer. The question is…can you and your family cover the costs that the merit scholarship NEU offered you does NOT cover? </p>
<p>Please do check for the instate tuition requirements in your new state. If you moved there in August 2010, you should be eligible for instate tuition once school starts for the 2011-2012 school year.</p>
Talk to your parents. Confirm if they are going to pay anything for your college tuition.
Read carefully the residency requirements for public schools in your new state. if you are a senior and graduate from a high school in your state you may very well qualify. But read your public university requirements.
You need to have a college application submitted with a college that you afford either based on what your parents will pay plus what you can save and take out in loans… maybe Northeastern.
Or you need to plan on two years at your local CC and then transfer to a four year college. Your degree will be from the college you graduate not the college you start.</p>
<p>Well, if the UMass scholarship was for tuition only, don’t worry about it. Tuition in-State is only a couple thousand anyway. The fees are over $10K! Then, there is room and board, etc. My D received the Adams Scholarship, which gives free tuition at any Mass. State University. Just free tuition. Big deal. It’s the fees that are ridiculously high!</p>
<p>There have been numerous threads on CC on the unfairness of the college financing system in the US, how the middle or upper middle class have been forced out of HYP etc.</p>
<p>Unfortunately that lament is not going to get the OP (or the other threads anywhere). </p>
<p>Yes there may be restaurant owners and others who game the system and get aid they do not deserve. OK, you can use all the four letter words to describe them, but it really does not get the OP anywhere. OP has make a decision today based on the hand she has been dealt with. IMHO it is a very good hand. Northwestern is as a great school. Many would kill to get in there. If you believe USNWR, Northwestern is ranked higher than some of the Ivy’s. </p>
<p>If OP’s parents are not willing/able to contribute OP needs to go to her next option. Time to forget about the slimy restaurant owners and make the best of what you have.</p>
<p>I know this is how it seems to you right now. I have been down this same train of thought. What you need is a “readjustment” in your thinking. Once you come to realize that if your family were willing to live like the low income family lives for the next X years, you would have no problems affording Harvard, it should all be a little clearer (and less “unfair”).</p>
<p>I hate the way colleges like to advertise that “they will make it happen” in terms of getting money to pay the costs. How they make it happen could be with loans. Parent loans and student loans are often the only available “aid” for those families who do not qualify for need based aid. </p>
<p>Think of college as an extension of high school. You don’t expect private high schools to give you tuition wavers except for those that give specifically give out merit awards. Those high schools that give out financial aid only give it to those with need. You go to the high school in the area where your parents have chosen to live and pay taxes unless your parents dig into their pockets and pay tuition. So it is is with college. You can find a local college, most likely, that will give you scholarship money /loans and if you commute from home as you did for high school and get a part time job,you can make a go of it. If you go away to school, of course your parents are expected to pay for your room and board. as well as tuition unless you get a merit award. And the most selective schools do not tend to give merit money. Everyone accepted to those schools is deemed equally worthy of any scholarship, so only those with the need get the funds.</p>
<p>“For future career options in business I really need the title of a brand name college.”</p>
<p>If Northeastern is not going to cost you much then do what you have to do and go there! Do well at Northeastern and then go to an Ivy for graduate school. If you go to Northeastern with an open mind and make the most of it then you will be positioned to do well in life. Top brand names are not always “all that”! My dad put himself through college on a full athletic scholarship. It was not his first choice school but he did well and went on to get a Wharton MBA. Things always work out! Winners always win!</p>