Hello. I’m only a sophomore in high school right now, but I would like to have this question answered. So I live in California and my father is in the military, so I get free tuition to any California public universities, including Cal States and UCs. My parents never give me a straight answer, but I’m guessing we make $100,000-$130,000 a year, and there are 7 people in the household. One is currently in college but she isn’t sure about what she is doing so I don’t know if she’ll still be in college when I go.
So I’m wondering, once I actually apply to colleges, would it make sense to apply to privates as well even though I already have a great deal at the publics? I know the really elite schools give good financial aid, but I’m not planning on getting into any of those. I think I’ll graduate with a 3.8 or higher unweighted (I’ve gotten one B so far) and I got a 217 on the PSAT but if I practice I can do better.
I want to run the Net Price calculators to see how much various privates would give me but I don’t know enough about my parents’ income and assets and stuff to do that.
Run the NPCs with a range of income and see what the results say. Then show your parents. Fortunately you live in a state with an excellent college system so you have that fall back.
Do you get free tuition because of GI Benefits? Or do the UCs and CSUs just auto give that? I’ve never heard of that.
Is your sibling already using your dad’s benefits?
Has your father transferred any of his education benefits to you? Some private colleges have the Yellow Ribbon program where quite a bit of tuition is covered.
@mom2collegekids https://www.calvet.ca.gov/VetServices/Pages/College-Fee-Waiver.aspx It says they have to have some service-connected disability so I guess my dad has one that I don’t know about since it worked for my sister who is in college now.
The UCs are pretty elite. Is there some reason that you would prefer a private?
@nw2this No, but it’s always good to have some variety, right?
Do you have a strong GPA? Are you likely to test well on the SAT? Then I’d say it’s worth applying to competitive privates that are known for merit aid + some slightly less competitive (but still good) schools that are also known for giving merit aid. You never know who will give you the best offer and it’s best to have options, IMO.
@proudterrier Thanks for the help.
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my father is in the military,
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Since your dad is currently in the military and you don’t know of any disability, then maybe he’s a Medal of Honor Recipient.
You can ask your parents to run the NPC w/o you seeing the info they put in.
I think the OP would know if his father had a Medal of Honor. :-? I have doubts that is the right waiver for the OP. It’s more likely the GI Bill benefits have been passed on.
^^^
lol…I would think so, too. I would also think that the OP would know if his dad has a military related disability. lol And, since the dad is still active-duty, would he have a disability that meets the standard? Seems like the person would have to have a disability related discharge.
I agree that it may be GI Bill benefits that have been passed on. The student needs clarity on this because the whole family may be confused and the benefits may get wasted on the older daughter who seems to be without direction. It would be sad if the very limited benefits get wasted on a child who does nothing with them, and then this serious student comes along and gets nothing.
dsi411, as your father is in the military, it is easy to figure out his base pay. Go to http://www.dfas.mil/militarymembers.html and select the “2015 military pay charts”. you need to know his rank and how many years he has been in the service. This is only the base pay and doesn’t include any additional pay he may get. It is a start to do the NPC for the schools.
The NPC will be off if you live off post as the housing allowance can be considered income for schools that use the CSS. The housing allowance for California will be high so could make a private college unaffordable. Here is that link to find housing allowance cost, http://www.defensetravel.dod.mil/site/bahCalc.cfm.
Yeah, I really don’t know much these things, apparently. I don’t even know how long he was in the military (he’s retired now), but I do know it was a long time! He was in the navy and was a “chief.” I guess what I really need to do is talk to my family. We don’t really discuss these things (or anything) very much.
@mom2collegekids He’s actually retired, I forgot to say that.
If he’s retired he could have been diagnosed with some level of disability by the VA which CA might use to fulfill their requirement.