<p>My parents together make around $130,000, which is good money but the spend every dime of it because they don’t know how to manage there money. We live pretty well but the is ZERO left over at the end of the month. I have 7k from bonds and such from grandparents and other family. I won’t qualify for aid and if I do it will be very little the only reason I might get some because of 3 younger siblings. Most college say there average debt is around 20k and I hope to stay close to that number and I am not getting any scholarships.</p>
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Only siblings in college at the same time as you will affect your aid in any way. And then only if they reduce your EFC enough to make you eligible for aid.</p>
<p>Don’t forget that the term average debt can be very deceiving and a bit meaningless from an individuals point of view. If you have $60000 in debt and students A and B have $0 in debt then the average debt for the three of you is $20,000. But your debt is still $60,000. The average debt at my daughters school, a state U, is @ $20k - she will have less than half of that (she has good scholarships that cover about half the cost and she receives financial aid), others will be more. Without the scholarships she would have more than double the average debt for her school despite qualifying for need based aid. </p>
<p>To be honest if you don’t qualify for need based aid (which with an income of $130k is pretty likely at State schools) *and *your parents aren’t going to contribute much, *and *you are not likely to get any scholarships, then your debt will probably be pretty high - considerably more than $20k (even in an instate U). Say your State U is $20k a year - if you don’t qualify for need based aid or merit scholarships and your parents aren’t contributing much - where is that $20k a year coming from? And out of state will be a lot higher price tag. If you want to apply out of State then you should and see if you can get financial help. But you should also make sure you apply to some instate and financial safeties (schools you can afford without aid). You need to sit down with your parents and have a serious talk about how much they will actually be willing to pay a year. Good luck.</p>
<p>As far as I know, only Harvard offers some financial aid for that income. </p>
<p>Other possibilities besides a state school are a school with merit aid, ROTC, or a military academy.</p>
<p>You would definitely get some need based aid at the schools with very generous aid considering your large family size, but your parents would still be asked to contribute most of the cost unless they have something like unusual medical expenses.</p>
<p>Use some calculators to figure out your EFC. If your parents are not prepared to pay the EFC, you’ll probably be limited to your state schools without taking on debt much, much higher than $20K.</p>
<p>If you are a high stats student…great GPA, great SAT or ACT scores…you might be eligible for a scholarship at some OOS universities. That average debt you are reading about is actually the total of the Stafford loans if it is in the $20K range for four years. We insisted that our kids take those loans in their names…it was how they contributed financially towards tuition/room/board/etc. </p>
<p>From your screenname, you live in New York. There are many instate SUNY campuses in NY State. Perhaps at least one of those should be on your college list. They would certainly be a bargain for you as an instate student.</p>
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<p>If it’s average debt upon graduation you are talking about, that is by nature out-of-date information. The most recent data is likely for 2008 grads who started college in the fall of 2004. That’s 6 years earlier you will be starting college. A lot has changed on the financial landscape over that period of time and will continue to change into the future. I’d plan on average debt for your graduating class to be significantly higher than 20K, perhaps as much as 30K.</p>