<p>My older sibling went to a state school and notably did not receive a lot of financial aid despite my parents being unable to pay for our college educations.</p>
<p>Is it possible that is because it was a state school, whereas at a private institution I would receive more? Or would the types of financial aid (excluding merit scholarship) be relatively the same (loans, grants, etc.). Thanks!</p>
<p>It all depends on the college. Some private colleges do not award merit aid at all, and it’s not guaranteed at most private colleges that do. Most colleges do not meet full need for all accepted students, so again, a huge amount of need based aid might not be coming your way regardless.</p>
<p>Also, for need based aid purposes, your family income and assets are used to calculate your need for aid. If your income/assets are sufficiently high, you might not qualify regardless of where you apply.</p>
<p>You say your parents are unable to pay. Is this because their income is low, or because they have other financial obligations?</p>
<p>If you are eligible for a Pell Grant (federal grant), it will be in the same amount regardless of where you attend college. All students are eligible for $5500 in Direct Loans once they complete the FAFSA.</p>
<p>As Thumper states, it depends upon the college. University of Michigan, University of North Carolina CH, Univesity of VA all guarantee to meet full need as they define need for in staters (and some), and they are public schools. NYU, Carnegie Mellon, Fordham, do not, though they are private schools. The vast majority of school, public and private DO NOT guarantee to meet full need, and I don’t know a single one that guarantees to meet need as defined by the FAFSA EFC, not even the most generous schools of all.</p>
<p>If you can get some idea of what your parents’ income is, and their assets, you can run the FAFSA EFC estimator and then the NPCs for each school that you are considering and get some idea as to what you can expect from the school. An important part of college affordability is what your parents are able and willing to pay, however, regardless of what the estimators say they should be paying. </p>
<p>Yes, it’s possible you would get more aid at a private than your brother got at a public. But then privates have a higher, often much higher, sticker price than publics in most cases. It doesn’t matter how much aid you get. What matters is what the leftover cost is after any aid and can you and your family afford it.</p>
<p>As stated above, ultimately it’s not what you are awarded it’s the check that must be written at the end. </p>
<p>You havent given us enough info.</p>
<p>Is your family low income?</p>
<p>If not, does your family have a good income, but just can’t pay?</p>
<p>Did your brother go to an instate public or an OOS public</p>
<p>How did your brother pay for his school if your parents couldnt pay?</p>
<p>what is your home state?</p>
<p>What are your stats?</p>
<p>What privates are you thinking of applying to?</p>
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<p>I would rather go out-of-state, but also to another good school that I could possibly qualify for merit aid/it already being a cheap school.</p>
<p>I have a 2060 SAT score, 4.5 GPA Weighted, (not sure unweighted, as my school has not provided it - however I am guessing somewhere around 3.7?) and some pretty solid extracurriculars.</p>
<p>Overall, I am looking for a school not too far from the Tri-State Area, whether that means north or south of it; as well as a school that is fairly-liberal/gay-friendly.</p>
<p>I am still unsure of my major so that definitely hurts when narrowing down choices, but I can’t seem to find an affordable school that I would like and that is of some prestige.</p>
<p>710 Reading and 630 Math, however I plan on retesting one more time in the Fall to improve my math score.</p>
<p>And from what I understand, my family will be paying for my housing/personal expenses, but not the tuition of the school.</p>
<p>Thanks to all those who have provided suggestions.</p>
<p>And after speaking with my mom, I was told my sister did not receive financial aid but only large loans that still have to be payed back.</p>
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<p>Is all of this still true? will your parents pay the 15k per year for room, board, etc?</p>
<p>Financial aid is based on family income…it isnt based on what your family is willing to pay. You say that you dont qualify for much/any financial aid. That will be the case at both private and public.</p>
<p>You need to apply where your stats will get you large merit…and test again for better scores.</p>
<p>Still holds true - and I was told my sibling has to pay back the loans and that my father might help contribute some money if he can at the time.</p>
<p>what is your home state?</p>
<p>What is your M + CR…and are you retesting?</p>
<p>What privates are you thinking of applying to?</p>
<p>“I don’t know a single one that guarantees to meet need as defined by the FAFSA EFC”</p>
<p>UC’s do, for certain income levels.</p>
<p>^^
They do seem to try, but I haven’t seen any written guarantee. And, from what I’ve seen, the UCs do a good job of covering most of the COA for very low EFC students, but unless there is a merit award in there, there still seems to be a small gap.</p>