Would anyone on this thread happen to know if Fordham accepts outside scholarships to cover room and board? I know for myself that even if I was blessed enough to get a full tuition scholarship, $15k+ a year will be very difficult to manage for room and board.
All colleges require that you report any outside sources, grants and scholarships and gifts. Sometimes they consider that in your package and may in fact reduce your financial aid package....as absurd as that sounds, it happens. Why? Because they use FAFSA and internal matrix to determine how much they think you (parents and yourself) must contribute towards your education.
However, if you provided a CSS and FAFSA with application they will see your family situation and could give you scholarship (merit) or grant (need) and then loans to cover the gap. You can get cheap government loans from Fordham with a 10 year repayment period. Some loan programs have max limits per year but others dont'.
National average for student loans at MOST colleges is around 20k per year per student.
Another consideration is if you have a lot of AP's coming in, and use them carefully and plan your major carefully and so forth, you can finish in 3-3.5 years at Fordham. yes, that means working your behind off and being stressed, but it saves you money. Its done fairly frequently in fact. A good number of seniors at Fordham second semester are really only taking classes for interest and socializing...cruising, they say. Not all...some are paying a price for slacking in previous years and having to get enough credits to graduate on time. Case by case basis. Careful planning and hard work pays off, is my message.
@MadameDefarge, all tuition+ scholarships are reduced by half the amount of aid received from outside scholarships. You can use them to cover room and board, but you'd have to find 30k/year in scholarships to cover that 15k while also making up for the reduction in your Fordham scholarship.
As sovereign notes, need-based grants may be reduced by as much as the full amount of outside scholarships.
I've only known one guy to graduate in 3 years--exactly as many as I know who've taken a fifth year. Fordham is stingy with AP credit, especially in math and science, but transfer course equivalence policies are the real kicker. If you took college classes while in high school, don't plan on getting any credits for them, and if you're a transfer, count on doing most of the core at Fordham.
angle, lots of kids graduate in 3-3.5. Most walk in May, but get degrees in February. AP credit is stingy. Most Ivy's give NO CREDIT. So we get some on the back half of the major but it placed correctly work also towards the major. My kid did it.
Not sure if the outside scholarships reduce by half, but yes they are often reduced. Its frustrating, but once financial aid says your expected contribution is a figure, it is what it is. And most people use loans to fill that gap.
^^I have to agree with angle.. I haven't seen anyone graduate in 3 years although some do finish up a bit early. Two seniors I know who live off campus and will go to school part-time next semester as they only need a couple more classes, another will take 2 classes towards his MBA next semester, and another friend who transferred in will need to go an extra semester to finish the required classes. All of the rest of the seniors as well as my friends who are juniors expect to be going full time for four years (all strong students). The new core makes it difficult to graduate early. That is fine with me since I love Fordham and I am in no rush to leave college early!
Look at the February graduation list. Many of those, but not all, are people who finished in less than 4 years. My kid finished a semester early but walked in May with her class. She was not alone. Takes HARD work, focus and careful planning. It can be done.
I applied to Northeastern, College of New Jersey, Baruch Macaulay, NYU, University of Virginia, and a couple of safeties. Wow this is so weird, being accepted (kind of? haha)!
I'm still not sure! I really do like all the schools I applied to, but the amount of money I receive will play a big factor in my decision, so I have to see. And you? Your stats are amazing btw, hope you get that full ride to Fordham !
