Work on getting that SAT score up to help get the best merit aid. Try the ACT.
Thank you everyone for the advice.
Maybe I should rephrase what I am trying to say. What are some ways to afford these schools? I know that many many low income people are able to go to ivies and such. I do appreciate the people who tried to give me genuine advice instead of criticizing my choices.
If you are interested in majoring in Journalism, I would encourage you to check out Ohio University. The Scripps school there is highly regarded, and it appears that OU is very generous with out of state merit scholarships. I understand your desire to attend the schools that you listed, and to somehow make them more affordable but I would also encourage you to broaden your horizons and consider other excellent journalism school that are likely to be less financially burdensome. You may be in for a very pleasant surprise.
@ylracon I think you misunderstand the advice. People are trying to steer you to affordable choices… The FL Bright Futures is a wonderful option to get your education and you can always look to do a semester or a year abroad or at another college and then move elsewhere once you get your degree. Most people do have financial restrictions when choosing colleges and that is part of the process. So many people would give almost anything for the opportunity to have a four year education in the US so please don’t discount your affordable options. I would also focus time/energy on improving your standardized test scores as that could open up scholarship opportunities.
There are only a few ways to pay for the schools you’v listed–
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Full pay. Your parent pay 100% of the listed COA for you at attend.
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Merit aid. You win a scholarship for your academics or achievements from the college. To win merit aid you need to be among the very top applicants to the school.
Merit aid will not cover the full COA and your parents will have to pay the balance.
- Need-based aid. Some (but not all) schools award grants to student who need financial help to attend. Need based aid requires the FAFSA and for private colleges, the CSS Profile. For FAFSA-only schools, the amount of need will be determined mostly by your parents’ income. For private schools (like NYU), there is a more comprehensive look at their income and assets (savings, home value, investments, retirement funds. etc).
Each private college will use its own formula to determine your need. Only a few colleges promise to meet full need. None of the colleges you mentioned (NYU, American, GW) do. NYU is notoriously stingy with need-based aid.
- Loans. As a dependent college freshman you can only borrow a maximum of $5500/year ($6500 for sophs, $7500 for jrs and srs)
Any loans above those amounts must be taken out by your PARENTS.
- Some combination of federal student loans, merit aid (if you’re top student), need-based aid (if your family income qualifies you for it AND the college offers it) and your parents paying the balance
There is no magic money fairly that pays for the cost of college. You have to find something that you can pay for.
As for your question about how poor kids pay for college—they do it the same way everyone else does through a combination of merit awards, need-based aid, loans, money they’ve saved up by working.
I think you’re going about this backwards. You need a college degree but only have money for two years at a private college. That won’t cut it. Plus you need to know more about opportunities, not just dreams.
Also, not my expertise, but I heard this week that for the first time, the number employed in broadcast journalism exceeds those in print. For a long time, we’ve known the print media is in serious trouble.
So I agree with @Westchestermom to CYA. Have a subject specialty or two. Be as brightly informed as possible. You can do that at UF.
And if you can’t later work in journalism, there would be other opps for your subject knowledge. Companies (and govt) will hire subject specialists to write about fields they know. They don’t hire “journalism majors” to write about subjects they don’t know.
Have you run the NPCs? How do you know your income is too high?
You say your parents have enough saved to pay for a private college for two years? For easy math sake…let’s say they have $100,000 saved ($50,000 per year)
The OOS cost at Missouri which has a great journalism program…is $37,000 a year.
Multiply that times four, and you get $148,000 for the four years at Mizzou.
But wait…YOU can take $5500 in loans for freshman year.
So…of your parent $100,000 in college savings…you have $25,000 per year…right? If you divide by four.
So…$25,000 plus the $5500 Direct Loan is now $30,500. If you get a job…that will be another $2000 a year. So $32,500. At Mizzou, you would need a $6000 or so merit award to make it work.
The OOS cost of attendance at Ohio University in Athens OH is about the same amount.
@ylracon You are getting good advice of two sorts. One is to encourage/challenge you to look beyond the schools you think you must attend to meet your career goals. There are other less costly options out there. The other is to clarify to you what you can expect in terms of aid. If the private school you’re looking at is 70k then that is at least 280k for 4 years. You can’t borrow but 27k (over 4 years) as student and you won’t find many parents on CC urging your parents to take out huge loans.
Now, as a journalism student you should know how to research so I’d advise you to hit the web at each school you are interested in and read about available aid. Some schools don’t have much to give and they prioritize low income students with what they have. But if you read enough threads you will find lots of poor students who can’t attend their preferred college because aid is not there. Even if you are poor, full ride based on need is pretty rare. The Ivies and a few others are exceptions in terms of aid based on need. Your best chance of paying for private school is merit, if you have the stats, at a good school but that’s not a sure thing at many schools.
Start by sitting down with parents and getting their budget. Do FAFSA and CSS profile with your parents. It will NOT tell you what any given school will give you, but will give you an idea of how schools view your financial situation. Also put your numbers in the Net Price Calculator of each school you are considering. If your family financials are pretty straight forward, then it should give you a good feel for what that school will cost you. (Keep track of your journey, victories, disappointments and hard realities of paying for college and write a hugely helpful series for your school paper next year).
When you have that information, come back and let people help you with more targeted suggestions.
Another question for the OP – when you mention the money your parents have saved, is that specifically set aside in a college fund for you, or is it part of retirement and/or emergency/general savings? If not the former, it’s even more important that you go with the least expensive option.
Most students commute to their local school, so your statement that “many, many” low income students attend elite schools is inaccurate.
If your parents can pay for 2 years of private school, do 2 years at a cc then transfer.
Excellent suggestion by @austinmshauri .
You can attend a CC very inexpensively…maybe use your Bright Futures for that too…and then transfer for your last two years to a four year program to get your bachelors degree…using the saved money your parents have for you.
Private universities are expensive and your parents only have enough to pay 2 years. The most you can take out in debt for a 4 year degree is $27k. That would barely cover a semester at a private university. Anything over that has to be co-signed as private loans, which is a certain set-up for failure. Your parents are simply being sensible. Your school is paid for. Quit complaining. Most students don’t get that privilege. The only prestige here you, not the school. Get top grades and go for a masters degree. Let us know when you’re a columnist for the Wall Street Journal 
I just googled top ranked schools for journalism and UF appeared on both lists. Not only that, but public schools seem to dominate when it comes to top journalism schools so I’m confused as to why you are fixated on NYU, GW and American, all of which are quite expensive and you simply can’t afford.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/22/best-journalism-schools-newspro-ranking_n_4490649.html
Your parents have already said you can’t take out loans and they only have enough saved for 2 years at a private school. If you are serious about majoring in journalism, you already have your best option in-state. Starting salaries are low and as someone else has pointed out, print journalism is in decline.
Many high school students dream of going out of state and to private schools but in your situation, it simply isn’t practical and will not give you a better outcome, post graduation. Bright futures is a fabulous program that most other states can’t come close to matching. Please don’t dismiss it.
Mizzou would be a great choice for journalism, as long as you double major in a traditional subject (envionmental studies, political science, economics, foreign langue& culture…)
Data journalism is growing and infographics would be a good skill to have.
Denison with its excellent non fiction writing program should be looked into - work hard as a high sat/ACT score will be necessary for merit.
You could also apply to the Sciences Po Reims program - I think it’d be within budget. I’d recommend working on your French. (There’s the Sciences Po Columbia program too).
Look at colleges in Canada, they’d likely be within budget too.
In short, there are plenty of options, but not NYU or gwu.
A lot of being successful in journalism is going out and finding the opportunities you need. FWIW, my eldest is a journalism major. Found it accidentally in college. Her school has a good program but it’s not reknowned for journalism. She has had great internships. She’s had two articles picked up nationally. She’s produced radio interviews for her local NPR station. She writes for the local papers. She’s sat down and talked journalism with 9 Pulitzer Prize winners. She does those things because she went out and found opportunity despite not being in a huge hub or in a nationally reknowned program. She chose not to minor but to take a very broad selection of classes from botany to Muslim literature to art history. She graduates with great prospects and about 7k in student loans. That’s scary enough to her based on what people are willing to pay entry level journalist.
Everyone wants the top programs and I don’t doubt the connections are helpful but if you don’t have the money, you don’t have the money. You may just need to really hustle and that will only make you a better journalist.
@turtletime: where is your daughter attending? It may be one more college for Op to investigate.
Tell your parents you’re not motivated enough to go to UF.
Parent here. If my kid told me they weren’t motivated enough to go to ANY college…I would suggest they take a gap year and decide what to do.
If my kid wasn’t motivated enough to go to my instate flagship university, I sure wouldn’t throw my money behind a private college at great expense.
There is no guarantee this student will be accepted to UF. It is very competitive