Please read:
In terms of specific colleges:
Vanderbilt usually does not require non-custodial parent information. Chicago does not either. Princeton does not if your custodial parent is remarried. But most other good-financial-aid private colleges do require both parents’ financial information for need-based financial aid.
Vanderbilt is probably the best college for you to apply ED if your parents are divorced due to its policy regarding ncpls finznxed’
Alabama, UF, Penn state…will only use FAFSA so will not use your non custodial parent’s information.
Wake and other top privates will require each parent and each step-parent’s financial information.
Thanks!
You’ve gotten a lot of excellent advice here, so I’m just going to give it to you straight.
If you can’t live with the idea of never having applied to Vanderbilt, then apply ED and do whatever you can to raise your ACT score. I think it’s likely a wasted application, but nothing ventured, nothing gained.
Re Florida, Georgia, Penn State, and Texas, unless cost is irrelevant to your folks (and I mean TRULY irrelevant), given you’re essentially guaranteed admission to Alabama with merit money, I would remove these other schools and replace them with schools that might offer a similar package to Alabama. Not sure about Auburn or Clemson, but I believe there’s more merit money there than any of these other schools for out-of-state students. Penn State is going to cost $50k a year, minimum, and the odds of any serious merit money are virtually nonexistent. (I say this as a PA resident whose kid turned down Penn State in state for Alabama out-of-state, saving our family about $80k over four years.) Florida, Georgia, and Texas are very competitive for admissions, so even if you gain admission, the odds of merit are virtually nil.
You clearly love Vanderbilt, so focus on schools that give you that feel and will cost less than your in-state options. (I’ve never seen Wake Forest, but it sounds worth considering.) I’d add Ole Miss if you haven’t considered that (they offer nice merit money) and perhaps University of South Carolina if you really want additional options.
https://admissions.olemiss.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2017/12/FreshmanNonResident18-19.pdf
https://sc.edu/about/offices_and_divisions/undergraduate_admissions/tuition_scholarships/scholarships/nonresidents/index.php
Check each of these schools for changes in merit scholarships for the coming application cycle, as well, as it’s likely there will be changes to some of them.
Good luck!
Thanks!
I’m going to retake the ACT this summer, and I’m hoping that I’ll improve my score and that that’ll either help my chances for merit scholarships or for Vanderbilt. I didn’t realize that Penn State and those other schools that expensive, and money isn’t entirely irrelevant for my family, but I don’t really know if I like the idea of applying only to schools that will give me merit scholarships like Alabama. I will look at Ole Miss and South Carolina though.
Please run the NPC on ALL YOUR SCHOOLS and bring the results to your parents. Talk with them about what colleges are affordable. You may have to entirely switch your list if they tell you they’re all unaffordable. All the public universities will be expensive.
(UIUC INSTATE in 32-36K. So obviously OOS schools will be more expensive)
@extra21, I think now would be a good time to sit down with your folks and find out what they can afford to spend over four years. The reality is that, unless you qualify for need-based aid (and the schools with the most generous need-based aid just happen to be the most competitive for admission, with many accepting < 30% of students), unless you qualify for merit money, you will be paying list price. That could range from $30k for an in-state public to $70k for a school like Vanderbilt. That’s a HUGE difference over four years.
Run the net price calculators for the schools you’re interested in applying to in order to find out if they fit within your family’s budget. Most schools charge an application fee that can range from $30 for some publics to $90 for an elite private. Applying to schools that your family has no realistic ability to pay for is just a waste of time and money and can lead to great heartache if you end up accepted somewhere that you cannot afford to attend.
And, yes, for the most part, out-of-state public universities are expensive - their mission is to educate their own students and they count on out-of-state students to help subsidize in-state students UNLESS they’re getting something in return - a high-stats kid who adds to their school’s bragging rights, for example. (Google “cost of attendance [name of school]” and you’ll get an idea of the list price for out-of-state students.)
https://www.collegedata.com/cs/data/college/college_pg03_tmpl.jhtml?schoolId=59
https://www.collegedata.com/cs/data/college/college_pg03_tmpl.jhtml?schoolId=943
https://www.collegedata.com/cs/data/college/college_pg03_tmpl.jhtml?schoolId=943
Keep in mind, every year, the cost of tuition is almost guaranteed to increase, so $50k as a freshman may be close to $60k by senior year. And factor in things like costs to travel, if you’re planning to join a sorority, etc.
It sounds like you hope to become a teacher, so consider salaries for starting teachers as you factor in what’s a reasonable amount to pay each year for your degree. I’m not suggesting you need to go the cheapest route possible (although there’s nothing wrong with that), but is it necessary or even wise to pay top dollar? Unless your family’s funds are unlimited, how else could that money be spent?
If I were you, I’d focus on schools where the net cost of attendance is affordable for your family, either because the cost of attendance is affordable without aid, through need-based aid (based on a school’s net price calculator determination), or through merit you are competitive for (focusing on schools where your stats are in the top 25%).
Very few people can afford to go anywhere they want and, even if they can, they may not want to spend more than they need to when there are more affordable options that tick off all the proverbial boxes.
I can’t do the net price calculators without my parents tax information and they have been too busy these past few days to ask for it, when I’ve asked them before they’ve said that they don’t have it.
You need the 2016 return, not the 2017 return.
It’s really really important for you to do that now as it’s going to frame your list.
Thanks. I’ll ask them today if they have the 2016 one and try to do the net price calculators.
Great. We can’t overemphasize how important this is.
Keep in mind that in your field (education) a lot of big public universities are going to have bigger and more prestigious departments doing more research than some higher-ranked private universities.
If you get too exotic with your school list, you either get a long list of rejections or a list of acceptances to schools you can’t afford. Narrow the list down based on affordability/scholarship money.
This is an example of the type of tuition increases you need to be prepared for every year, wherever you attend university.
https://www.al.com/news/index.ssf/2018/06/tuition_goes_up_at_university.html
Thanks everyone! So I talked to my mom today and she told me she didn’t want me to see the tax records needed for the npcs but that she’d do it later.
She also told me that she didn’t think we’d qualify for a lot of need based aid, so I should try to find schools with merit scholarships, but honestly I don’t know if her opinion might change after I start applying and getting acceptances because I think right now she thinks it’s still too early for me to be thinking about college.
My parents won’t tell me exactly what is and isn’t affordable for college no matter how many times I ask them though, they really just want me to go wherever I want to go.
Except that’s not how it works at the end. The way it works in the scenario you describe is 1) parents say “don’t worry about it, just go wherever you want” 2) student gets admitted to costly colleges, parents freak out but hope for a magic money tree to provide scholarship money 3) the money doesn’t materialize and now the child has his/her heart set on a college and gets the rug pulled from under them 4) it’s too late to apply to affordable colleges and the child is stuck, everybody’s stressed out and bitter; either the parents borrow money for the dream college or the child takes a gap year or goes to a community college.
We’re advising to run the NPCs in order for you to avoid this scenario.
Show your mother Vanderbilt’s costs if you’re full pay. Ask whether you’
Since your parents want merit scholarships, include a few universities where you’re likely to get some.
Your current list:
Vanderbilt = ED
Alabama, Illinois = apply in July
Florida, Georgia, Penn State, Texas, and Wake Forest => apply to Wake and replace two universities from the first four, with two where your stats lead to merit.
Thanks! My parents don’t really like talking about college at all for some reason and especially don’t like when I bring up the prices. They won’t give me an answer about what we can afford. Maybe they’ll tell me once school starts and it seems more realistic but right now I think they’re annoyed by me asking.
For my list, would Vanderbilt, Alabama, Illinois, Florida, Clemson, Baylor, Texas, and Wake Forest be good?
Have they 100% assured you that Alabama with the scholarship you will get is affordable?
Seems like it is possible that the amount they can contribute is close to $0, but they do not want to tell you.
Also, divorced parents often fund their lawyers’ kids’ college funds better than their own kids’ college funds.