It’s entirely unrealistic.
First, 40k for a co-op is not guaranteed and AFAIK is way an outlier.
Second, even that amount isn’t take-home pay nor is it disposable income (your co-op can be anywhere so it means extra costs) so what you can set aside and save is much less than this.
As a result your co-op may help decrease loans but will not cover the 25k you need per year even for a year.
Once your older sibling graduate will your parents spread the extra 5k to you and your other sibling? And then the remaining 10k to you?
Where are your siblings going to college, did your parents take on Parent Plus loans for them too? Can you see if your siblings college would be affordable for you too?
Is there a PSU branch and/or PASSHE school that you could commute to for 2 years?
(For non PA residents, the usual CC->flagship in PA is branch->flagship because outside of Harrisburg/Behrend/Altoona and~Abington the other branches are basically CCs set up to provide 2years at lower cost to students who would then move to the flagship… or actual CC-> PASSHE aka directionals aka the real public universities.)
Have you been invited to Honors? If so reply ASAP and accept a visit day. These visits often (not always, but often) result in a little bit more in scholarships because you showed interest.
Bloomsburg has a pretty good business school, AACSB accredited and strong for Sales.
SEF also recognized Susquehanna BTW (plus LaSalle, Temple, Penn State Harrisburg, Duquesne, Point Park.)
Right now you need to stop thinking about St Joe’s and send applications while you still can.
Since your SAI is (I think you said) 40k but with 3 siblings in college, some CSS profile colleges may actually consider your ability to pay to be ~15k instead of 40k (FAFSA no longer factors siblings but some CSS profile still do). A problem is that many of these colleges had Jan 2 deadlines but some still have Jan 15 deadlines.
Just as an fyi st joes estimates $32k for co op earnings and charges tuition during if I read right. Average salaries are also lower than OP is estimating. Doesn’t mean that this student doesn’t crush it but what’s published on an overall basis is lower.
Although it makes sense for a HS student to think so, even 32k is not the same as take home pay which itself is not the same as disposable income - in short, it’s not 32k to set aside to pay for college.
At this point St Joe’s is not affordable and OP needs to pivot quickly.
I feel for OP “40k budget that would be better if 30k” is different from “30k tops” which is different from “15k max”.
Knowing what his/her siblings did could also be a clue for us.
Here’s the list of all CSS colleges. Colleges keep their family contribution formula under wraps, so there’s really no way to tell which ones consider siblings in college when calculating a family’s expected contribution.
You can check a given school’s NPC and see if it asks a question about siblings in college, and then play around with scenarios to see how the COA estimate changes with a sibling in school vs not.
These are some CSS schools that you may want to consider if their NPC looks favorable (I also included a list of a few whose deadlines have passed as an FYI:
Dickinson and Lafayette are supposed to meet full need as they define it so it’d be worth running the NPC to see if they’d be cheaper than Susquehanna.
If you need to spend less - and this is sans travel etc a school like W Carolina is $21k or so all in as an NC promise school. There are scholarship possibilities.
C Michigan is $27k but goes down the last two years. And you get $7500 merit. So $20k the first two and down the last two.
These are not in your location but you need to make trade offs. So you go local to schools you found reason not to like or cc or if you want a four year experience you need to minimize cost.
You can get to your career goals from anywhere - and if you really want to do a co op - it needn’t be from St joes. Use their list of companies.
Here’s what Wegman’s - on the St Joe’s list says -
Internships/Co-ops
Find unique opportunities to utilize your skills while adding to your knowledge and experience in your chosen field of study. Internships and Co-ops are available in most areas of corporate; you must be a current college student working towards a degree in a related field.
I assure you that St Joes does not have a monopoly on co ops.
You can fill out an NPC for a meets need school like F&M but it sounds like it won’t get you where you need to be. And don’t forget those type schools are need aware. If you need too much, it’s reason for them to say no.
So you’ll need to think hard about the trade offs you need to make. You can play around with # of kids. Your other issue is the schools whose deadlines have passed.
I know it’s more than you bargained for coming here but even your initial desires were, as you see many are saying, not realistic. But it’s ok. You have time to find something achievable.
Their website says Jan 1st was the financial aid deadline for federal loans and grant, and priority deadline for Fin aid/scholarship. Does this mean I am unable to get fed loans, fin aid, and scholarships?
You can call tomorrow but realize the trade off - vs a Millersville or other in state - distance from home and geographic diversity or lack of. Also it’s in a mountain town, an hour or so from Asheville and three to Knoxville. So there is a large trade off.
It says priority filing for FAFSA is March 15th. So you can get loans.
But I wish you’d not go that way - at least not more than the $27k over four years allowed.
Scholarship app shows a Feb 1 deadline.
I’m not sure they have automerit given the low cost. But C Michigan is another to check out. Price seems to go down year 3-4 and you’d get $7500 off based on your stats if I read correctly.
Go back to the top of this thread - lots of suggestions with good prices. Apply to all.
You’re a strong students - with the right applications, you’ll have choices.
Do run the NPC on Dickinson at least, in case their CSS formula does help.
Right now Susquehanna is your least expensive choice, right?
Drew may work - similar to Susquehanna but more urban/closer to big city. (?)
If push comes to shove, there’s Delaware State that someone mentioned above and also I’ll add Youngstown State, which has automatic Honors college scholarships + automatic and competitive merit scholarships so your total should be in the 15k range.
Additional automatic discount if you live in one of these counties:
Undergraduate students who are legal residents of the University-defined “regional service area” (which includes the counties of Chautauqua, NY; Armstrong, Clarion, Fayette, Forest, Greene, Indiana, Jefferson, Warren, PA; and Brooke, Hancock, Marshall, and Ohio, WV) pay a lesser surcharge than do students who are legal residents of other areas.
A further reduced surcharge is assessed to undergraduate students who are legal residents of the PA counties of Allegheny, Beaver, Butler, Crawford, Erie, Lawrence, Mercer, Venango, Washington, and Westmoreland. These counties are considered to be within the “Western PA Regional Area.”
“40k budget that would be better if 30k” is different from “30k tops” which is different from “15k max”.