So I got accepted into my top school which is a private school, the University of Rochester. I just got my financial aid from them and the price went form $65,000 to about $21,000. I also go accepted into a State University of NY school, SUNY Oswego and the scholarships/grants I got from them brings the price from about $21,000 to $10,000 per year. Do you think that going to the private school is worth it or that I should just settle for the cheaper school to avoid possible debt?
Without knowing how your family feels about paying, it’s hard to answer your question.
Oswego has a 4 year graduation rate of 40%. UofR has a 77% 4 year graduation rate. You’d be almost twice as likely to graduate from UofR. Looks like you got a great package from them.
snappin…you are totally misinterpreting the above data. That is for four year graduation rates, not overall graduation rates. The OP would be more likely to graduate in four years at U of R.
In addition, at SUNY-O, it is very possible that more students attend part time, or take five or six years to graduate for any number of reasons.
But the stats above tell nothing at all about the overall graduation rate.
My mother is very uneasy about paying for the U of R because right now, my family is in a horrible situation financially with my stepfather just getting laid off and a lot of stuff that needs to be paid off. I figured that I might be able to lower to cost by applying to a bunch of outside scholarships throughout my years, but still she seems quite uncomfortable with paying for the U of R.
Given your family’s current financial situation, SUNY Oswego sounds like the better choice.
Go for the affordable school.
Graduation rates are grossly misinterpreted - the most common reasons for failing to graduate are financial issues and family issues. The only graduation rate that matters for you is your own, and you’ll have a better chance of graduating if you don’t put undue financial pressure on your family.
Look, if your family’s financial situation is as bad as you say, and your stepfather just got laid off, the first thing you should do is contact both your admissions officer and your financial aid officer at UR and see if they can give you any additional assistance. I have no idea what they’ll say, but it’s worth a try - especially if your stepfather’s layoff is something the school didn’t know about when they put together your financial aid package.
UR claims to meet its students’ full financial need, so contact them on Monday and see what they say.
Last fall was the time to start applying for outside scholarships. You don’t have any in hand to count on now. Although looking and applying now and each year is a good idea.
What do these financial packages look like? Does each school put loan in or not? How long has stepfather been laid off?
Absolutely talk to Financial aid at UR about the layoff.
You can try this but I can say with 99.9% certainty you won’t be successful. Outside scholarships are generally only good for one year and have thousands of applicants.
Also most schools will subtract the outside scholarship from what they give but you can double check.
Do as @dodgersmom suggested and call your admission counselor and then call financial aid. Tell them about the financial changes and how you really want to go there but you would need more aid to afford it. Your parents can do this if you like. Financial aid will probably have questions for them anyway. After all it is their money. Best of luck to you.