Janice in NJ Posted March 31, 2009 Share Posted March 31, 2009 We live just outside of the NY city. We are not the rich folks; but because of where we live, dh's salary usually lists him as above average. I just don't see how we would qualify for need-based aid. The numbers just don't work - unless the rules change to accommodate zip codes. :001_smile: Anyway. I've always hoped that my kids would get some merit aid. But now that we're two years away from school, I'm starting to realize that it would be better to really KNOW what we're up against as far as costs go rather than keep truckin' along with all of this "hope." :001_smile: So could I get some info. Based on what you have spent for your kids.... How much per year will/did college actually cost? Thanks! Janice Enjoy your little people Enjoy your journey Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Osmosis Mom Posted March 31, 2009 Share Posted March 31, 2009 I don't really think the poll-results are going to be helpful to you. A lot depends on where you apply, how many kids you have as well as your income. Also, when you look at colleges apply to places that award merit aid based on scores (if you are competitive). Dd was 1 point away from a full scholarship (to Emmanuel's, I think it was), but still got plenty awarded to that place and a few others based on her ACT-scores. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janice in NJ Posted March 31, 2009 Author Share Posted March 31, 2009 Nadia, I hear you. Almost all of the info that I've ever received was "it depends...." I guess I'm just trying to get a sense of "How did it really work out? In the end. What did it end up costing YOU?" I realize that the data doesn't apply directly to any one person for planning. But it does move me out of "hope and wondering" into the realm of "Here's how much it ended up costing us when all was said and done...." I guess I just need/want to see this from another direction - not looking forward with all of the variables - but looking back at it. Does that make sense? Janice Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liza Q Posted March 31, 2009 Share Posted March 31, 2009 We don't live that far from you so our exact $$$ amounts may give you a good idea. I will be pming you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Osmosis Mom Posted March 31, 2009 Share Posted March 31, 2009 OK, but then Janice, I guess you also need to know what kind of tier the college of choice is in in order to make this poll relevant? I mean if you are at a $50K and pay $5k that's not bad, but if it was a $10k and you paid $5k then it would be nothing special. So perhaps should make a poll asking what percentage people pay of their child's college tuition.... (Not trying to be snarky as I am also curious about the answer.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liza Q Posted March 31, 2009 Share Posted March 31, 2009 OH Janice - I just sent you a long PM but I realize that you really wanted to hear from families who already had a child in college. Sorry - you can disregard it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janice in NJ Posted March 31, 2009 Author Share Posted March 31, 2009 Liza, No, thanks! I appreciate the pm. Peace, Janice Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janice in NJ Posted March 31, 2009 Author Share Posted March 31, 2009 Nadia, Oh yes! I hear you. Lots of thought would be required to make a truly relevant poll. But I just don't have time to think it all through right now. I have just heard so many great "free ride" stories that I tend to think that's normal - when I know that it's not! I'm just looking to see what is more normal. How much do normal folk have to save in order to do this. Anything else would be gravy, right? It can always cost less. Right now I need to DEAL with the fact that it is probably going to cost a lot MORE than I think. Thanks for helping me deal... Peace, Janice Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ria Posted March 31, 2009 Share Posted March 31, 2009 (edited) I pm'd you. Ria Edited March 31, 2009 by Ria Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barb_ Posted March 31, 2009 Share Posted March 31, 2009 We would have qualified for very little need based aid, but we didn't want to dump all of our resources on our first child either. Meg was offered a National Merit full ride at ASU, so she took it. If you believe your children will qualify for academic scholarships, it's best to look at schools where they will be in the top tier of applicants. Barb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kelli in TN Posted March 31, 2009 Share Posted March 31, 2009 We would have qualified for very little need based aid, but we didn't want to dump all of our resources on our first child either. Meg was offered a National Merit full ride at ASU, so she took it. If you believe your children will qualify for academic scholarships, it's best to look at schools where they will be in the top tier of applicants. Barb We approached it this way too. Sarah had to let go of her #1 school choice because although her scores were plenty high to get in and to receive some modest scholarship money, it would have left her way too short. Instead she chose a school where she had a good chance of getting a decent scholarship and we knew had a good record of kids getting into grad/law/med school. And then that decent scholarship turned into being one of 15 kids in a special scholars program......oh I have no regrets about not looking at top tier schools, none at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barb_ Posted March 31, 2009 Share Posted March 31, 2009 We approached it this way too. Sarah had to let go of her #1 school choice because although her scores were plenty high to get in and to receive some modest scholarship money, it would have left her way too short. Instead she chose a school where she had a good chance of getting a decent scholarship and we knew had a good record of kids getting into grad/law/med school. And then that decent scholarship turned into being one of 15 kids in a special scholars program......oh I have no regrets about not looking at top tier schools, none at all. LOL, same here. It was difficult to let 'better' schools go knowing that she wouldn't have bragging rights but now she's a potential fish in a very big pond rather than a little fish in a small, private pond y'know? Barb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ereks mom Posted April 1, 2009 Share Posted April 1, 2009 (edited) ...when you look at colleges apply to places that award merit aid based on scores (if you are competitive). :iagree: We've paid $0 -- yes, that's right -- we've paid nothing -- this year (he is a freshman). ER attends a private Christian college (cost of attendance for this year was around $23,000 -- that includes tuition, room & board, fees, books, etc.). Our EFC was in the 2000 to 2500 range, so he qualified for the Pell Grant, and also got lots of other scholarships & grants -- NO LOANS. He had high ACT & SAT scores so he earned the highest merit-based grant his school offers, as well as several other, smaller grants and scholarships, both need-based and merit-based. We also applied for and received several outside scholarships. He actually was awarded more than enough to cover his cost of attendance, but when that happens, the school balances student accounts by removing some of the institutional awards so that they don't have to issue a refund. This semester, ER's bill shows that the school owes him 16 cents. ;) Edited April 3, 2009 by ereks mom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandy in Indy Posted April 1, 2009 Share Posted April 1, 2009 My dd attended 4 yrs at a private school--graduating this spring, yea! She received a scholarship that covered about 1/3 of the tuition and then need-based aid covered the remainder PLUS money for books. All four years...she paid nothing. DS will attend school this fall ($30,000). After scholarship and need-based aid, he's about $6,500 short and may have to take loans to cover that. We're still in the running for a couple of scholarships and hope to cut that in at least half. Still, he's in OK shape and I can live with the loans if he needs them. (He's attendiing pharmacy school and should make REALLY good money when he graduates.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karenciavo Posted April 2, 2009 Share Posted April 2, 2009 I have a friend with a daughter at Patrick Henry, according to her they take zip codes into consideration. Maybe some other schools do too? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gwen in VA Posted April 2, 2009 Share Posted April 2, 2009 (edited) I wish the poll listed merit aid as well as need-based aid. We are in the $0 - 5K with no need-based aid, but we could have ended up in that pool in several different ways -- our child could be either attending a college with lots of merit aid OR the local community college! Our college tuition story is amazing proof that God moves in mysterious ways -- we pay about $3K per year for dd1 and ds1 GETS PAID about $2K per year for attending his college in addition to having his books, room and board fully covered! Annual total cost per student at this college is ~$52K. Our total cost with no aid would be $104K. It's a USNWR top 15 LAC. And we literally have a check from the college on the counter waiting for my son to come home and deposit it!!!!! (We knew that he would receive a "stipend" from the college, but we didn't know until last week that it would be this large.) So everyone's story of how they are financing college is truly unique. Edited April 2, 2009 by Gwen in VA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
outtamyshell Posted April 3, 2009 Share Posted April 3, 2009 What's the secret to going to school for free? How does anyone go to a $50k/year school without taking out a huge amount of loans? Do you have to qualify for both need-based and merit aid? I am wondering if dd should apply to less competitive schools to improve her chances at getting a scholarship... I guess I just don't know where to begin. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ria Posted April 3, 2009 Share Posted April 3, 2009 What's the secret to going to school for free? How does anyone go to a $50k/year school without taking out a huge amount of loans? Do you have to qualify for both need-based and merit aid? I am wondering if dd should apply to less competitive schools to improve her chances at getting a scholarship... I guess I just don't know where to begin. The real key is excellent grades and SAT scores. That's what's going to get a child the grants and scholarships. Also athletic scholarships... Ria Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brenda in MA Posted April 3, 2009 Share Posted April 3, 2009 I am wondering if dd should apply to less competitive schools to improve her chances at getting a scholarship... I guess I just don't know where to begin. You begin by figuring out your FAFSA EFC. This is the amount that the government says you can pay towards your child's education. The difference between the cost of the school and the EFC will be the maximum amount your child would get in need-based aid. If your family cannot afford to pay the EFC (and many, many cannot), then you need to consider less expensive schools or go to schools that award merit scholarships. You can do an on-line estimate of EFC at this website: http://www.fafsa4caster.ed.gov/index.htm The book "Don't Miss Out: The Ambititous Student's Guide to Financial Aid" also has charts in the back for calculating your EFC. I liked these charts because they allow you to see exactly how various things (income, assets, etc.) are taken into account in calculating the EFC. The financial aid message board at College Confidential has lists of schools that offer substantial merit aid: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/ As you mentioned, if your child needs merit aid, you can seek out colleges where your child's test scores are above the 75%ile range for applicants. You can search colleges at http://www.collegeboard.com and see the SAT & ACT ranges at each school. As Ria mentioned, ensure your child is well-prepared for standardized testing; good scores are really, really important for merit aid. HTH, Brenda Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carmen_and_Company Posted April 3, 2009 Share Posted April 3, 2009 We approached it this way too. Sarah had to let go of her #1 school choice because although her scores were plenty high to get in and to receive some modest scholarship money, it would have left her way too short. Instead she chose a school where she had a good chance of getting a decent scholarship and we knew had a good record of kids getting into grad/law/med school. And then that decent scholarship turned into being one of 15 kids in a special scholars program......oh I have no regrets about not looking at top tier schools, none at all. We did the same. Taz passed over his 1st choice, Wabash, where loans were needed to bridge a $10K need. Instead, he went to his 3rd choice school on a full ride with zero loans or out of pocket costs for him our us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kate in seattle Posted April 3, 2009 Share Posted April 3, 2009 Don't really know how to answer the poll. Alex will be going to the ASAFA, so it will cost us nothing (except taxes - thank you America - and airfare to get him home) He was also accepted at the University of Washington, and a combination of grades and our low income qualified him for 17K of money (no loans). The family EFC (including Alex's contribution) would have been between 3- 5K. That was for everything - living on campups, transportation, books, etc. Classical homeschoolers tend to have excellent grades and are very competitive for merit scholarships. Coupled with the fact that many of us are one (or one-and-a-half) income families, there is often some need-based aid as well. kate in seattle Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TravelingChris Posted April 7, 2009 Share Posted April 7, 2009 Our first got a half tuition merit scholarship and work-study need money. We still paid 12,000. Now that he is at a state school living at home, we pay 8000. Our estimated EFC with the next one will be somewhere in the 40K range which is absolutely insane particularly as I have two-three chronic illnesses and will not be returning to employment when my children are grown. With our current income, that would be about half our paycheck just for one child's school. Dh can also be forcibly retired at any moment if DOD wants and then our income drops by over half. I will never have SS on my own right, can not qualify for disability since I got disabled before I got enough ss credits, etc. Our one ray of good news is that we will be getting somewhere in the area of 90K over four years for one of our children to spend on education if dh can manage to stay in until Aug 2010. As it is, our daughters will not be applying to schools where they have no chance of any merit aid or any other kind of aid and the expenses are over 20K. I don't want them to be disappointed when they get very entusiastic about school X and school X will cost 45K. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kimberly in Sedona Posted April 7, 2009 Share Posted April 7, 2009 Both of our oldest daughters received wonderful scholarships, but it was still a costly experience. They went to college within our state and without the scholarships it would have run about 15K each a year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brindee Posted April 15, 2009 Share Posted April 15, 2009 You begin by figuring out your FAFSA EFC. This is the amount that the government says you can pay towards your child's education. The difference between the cost of the school and the EFC will be the maximum amount your child would get in need-based aid. If your family cannot afford to pay the EFC (and many, many cannot), then you need to consider less expensive schools or go to schools that award merit scholarships.I'm just starting this process, and our ds is a senior this year! Ours came out to $25,000 for one school year! That's almost the total cost! I don't get it. We have one income, 3 kids, a mortgage payment and a car payment..... I'm not sure where to go from here. We haven't received his ACT scores back yet, but based on his PSAT scores, I'm fairly sure they won't be merit-worthy! NOW what do we do? We're looking at our denominaton's Christian colleges, so there's not a huge amount of difference in cost between them. Are there ways to adjust that FAFSA figure? Where are other places we can look? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brenda in MA Posted April 15, 2009 Share Posted April 15, 2009 I'm just starting this process, and our ds is a senior this year! Ours came out to $25,000 for one school year! That's almost the total cost! I don't get it. We have one income, 3 kids, a mortgage payment and a car payment..... I'm not sure where to go from here. We haven't received his ACT scores back yet, but based on his PSAT scores, I'm fairly sure they won't be merit-worthy! NOW what do we do? We're looking at our denominaton's Christian colleges, so there's not a huge amount of difference in cost between them. Are there ways to adjust that FAFSA figure? Where are other places we can look? Brindee, I'm not aware of any ways to adjust the FAFSA figure if you filled out the form correctly using the info from your tax returns and any assets (cash or investments -- FAFSA doesn't consider home equity or retirement accounts) you have. The FAFSA does not consider how much of a mortgage you have or any other debts, like credit card debt or car payments. Those are all assumed to be choices you've made. It also assumes that you've saved money for college expenses. It also doesn't take into account the cost of living in your area, so if you happen to live in a high cost area like NY or CA, that can relatively inflate your EFC as well. Yes, the number is outrageous in a lot of cases. If you have extenuating circumstances like high medical bills or supporting an aged parent, you can appeal to the particular college your child wants to attend and ask for more aid, but it's up to them if they give it to you. If you have a list of colleges the child is interested in or has applied to, then I'd suggest looking at their websites to see if they offer any merit or other scholarships he might qualify for. You might also call the financial aid offices of the schools and talk with them about options for funding the cost. All students who fill out the FAFSA regardless of need are eligible to take out a $5500 Stafford loan for their Freshman year (and slightly more for years 2 - 4), so if you're not against him borrowing, then that would be an option to reduce your cost. However, when decided if/how much to borrow, you should consider what kind of job/salary he is likely to make when he graduates and how much of a burden it would be to pay back the loans. The other options would be to have him live at home and attend a local community college or state U for two years and then transfer to another school. The whole Fin Aid system is not pretty for most folks. Good luck. Brenda Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paz Posted April 16, 2009 Share Posted April 16, 2009 Brindee, My ds had a very good GPA and a little above average ACT. He was able to get a nice scholarship from the Christian college he attended in the fall. It probably depends on the school but several liberal arts colleges were offering him a scholarship based on grades and ACT alone and then a chance for an interview to compete for more aid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brindee Posted April 20, 2009 Share Posted April 20, 2009 Well, because of extra credit, and hard work, he actually had a final gpa for his junior year of 4.19. This year it's running 3.85 or so I think, so his grades should be good enough to qualify for something, I'm hoping! We need to hear still, what the colleges may offer. He's tending to put all his eggs in one basket because he wants to go to one certain college. He was actually already accepted to it, but they haven't let us know financial info.??? We discussed the local community college, and he thought about it for awhile, but now his heart is set on this one school. We'll see where it goes from here. Thankyou for your answers and support! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandy in TN Posted April 21, 2009 Share Posted April 21, 2009 Well, because of extra credit, and hard work, he actually had a final gpa for his junior year of 4.19. It is my understanding that most colleges take GPA's and unweight them so that everyone's GPA is on a 4.0 scale. So, even for a dual enrollment course I've just put everything in a 4.0 scale. Mandy, who is thinking that this may be a discussion that warrants its own thread Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brindee Posted April 21, 2009 Share Posted April 21, 2009 He's at a Christian School (last year and this year), and that's just how they did it. I never knew anyplace to do that before I saw that last year! And yes, I didn't mean to hijack, sorry! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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