Also important to understand that “need based financial aid” can be in the form of grants (gift that does not require repayment), loans, or a combination of both. There are about 30 colleges & universities which meet full financial need (as determined by that particular college or university) without loans. These schools are the best for those in need of substantial financial aid, but they also tend to be ultra-selective colleges & universities.
Saint Mary’s College, Notre Dame, IN
Great scholarship opportunities.
@naturecreative Are you hooked? And what is the salary level of your family?
You might possibly take a different approach. If the school was a little too far away to drive but they met your need then it could be cheaper to simply fly back home if your financial package was great.
St Mary’s is a pathway to ND too I believe
It varies, depending on the institution and on the applicant’s family and financial situation. Try the net price calculator for different schools. In general, wealthier schools (like Vanderbilt) will be more generous about recognizing and addressing financial need. Vanderbilt’s policy is to meet 100% of the “demonstrated need” for all accepted students, without loans, which is about as good as it gets.
While Vandy promises to meet "demonstrated need" for all accepted students, it is possible that their perception of "demonstrated need" might differ from a student's perception. Another catch, of course, is that you have to be accepted in order to get an aid package, and this is difficult because there are so many applicants pursuing this opportunity.Yes, and this is standard for ED. From the same Vanderbilt webpage:
@gearmom @Corbett I got out a financial aid booklet that Vanderbilt sent me, and the median award for our income is around 60,000 I think, maybe slightly less. That would cover tuition and housing. Would they still offer me that kind of aid if I applied ED? What criteria do they use to determine that dropping your ED commitment was for financial reasons? I would still need to cover a meal plan and books, and I don’t know where I would find the money for that. I haven’t visited colleges yet, so I am not hooked on anything. Of course, there is a good chance that I will never get accepted anyway.
Either through a campus job or a subsidized federal loan of up to $5,500 your first year.
@Publisher How much would a campus job pay? No loans.
I don’t know.
@nativecreative Hooked is kind of a polite way of asking if you are black or Hispanic or Native American etc. which might help with admissions to selective universities.
You can take out Stafford loans ($5500 Freshman year, $6500 Sophomore, $7500 Junior, Senior) Also try to work summers and save $ for school.
VU says that they offer the same aid via ED or RD:
They probably make this determination when an applicant says “I have to drop my ED commitment for financial reasons”. They aren’t going to take an unwilling applicant to court to force them to attend VU. If someone drops their ED commitment pleading financial hardship – and it will happen a few times every year – they have literally thousands of other highly-qualified applicants who would love to step in as a replacement. It’s not a devastating blow to the school.
However, there is one thing that will piss them off. Suppose an applicant applies ED1 to Vanderbilt, gets accepted, but breaks the commitment, pleading financial hardship. Then his Facebook account announces that he’s been accepted ED1 to Duke. So he played the system by submitting multiple ED1 applications at the same time. That’s a big NO, so don’t do that. (in this hypothetical case, VU would likely tell Duke, and Duke would likely withdraw the acceptance).
There is no question that student loans can be misused, and that some people have dug themselves into nasty financial situations that way. Maybe you know some. However, it doesn’t happen very much at schools like Vanderbilt, which tend to have very smart students with strong employment outcomes.
The US government tracks 3-year student loan default rates by school. For Vanderbilt, the default rate runs about 1%, which is about as low as it gets. The rate would be even lower for people who only borrowed to cover the cost of books and meal plan, because that would be a relatively small loan.
https://nslds.ed.gov/nslds/nslds_SA/defaultmanagement/cohortdetail_3yr.cfm?sno=0&ope_id=003535
What is your family income? It seems like your biggest issue is that your family won’t pay anything. If UA with full tuition won’t be affordable, then I don’t see how the others would be either.
What is your major and career goal?
Check out Regis College in MA
Not sure which homeschool program you are with (we do Seton). A bit further than you want to travel but Christendom in Virginia is a very Catholic campus. The Seton site may also have additional suggestions.
@gearmom Did not know that lol! I am not. @mom2collegekids I’m not sure exactly how much they make, but I don’t really feel comfortable posting it online. I am not mad or expecting my parents to help pay for college, so it’s not really an “issue” for me, but more of a resource that I am not using.
I am looking into becoming a guidance counselor, but I know I have to get a masters and that jobs in that field are hard to get, so I am probably going to go to college undecided to give me more time to decide. I do really love working, helping, and learning about people, so teaching, social work, counseling, psychology, and the social sciences are what I would like to study. I know many of these jobs aren’t the best paying, which is another reason I don’t really want to take out loans.
@PianoDad We are with a homeschool group in our area, and we pick and choose our curriculum.
@naturecreative Having your parents not able to pay is an issue for you because you will likely not be able to pay for go away college. You might need to gap year and work and save. You can’t afford college at all right now unless you have a college fund set up for you.
I would expect Vanderbilt to offer virtually the same n-b aid package whether you’ve applied ED or RD. It’s just that, if the ED offer is affordable, you aren’t allowed to wait to see if you get an even better offer from another school. I don’t know, however, if anyone has researched ED vs. RD offer amounts for similar students.
In case you do need to drop the ED commitment for financial reasons, you might want to run the online Net Price Calculator, being careful to provide as much detail as possible, and record the results. Apply ED only if you’re confident you could afford the estimated net price. Then if you’re accepted with a lower offer, you can point to the saved NPC results as evidence it isn’t affordable (as long as your family’s income/assets haven’t increased). Then be sure you don’t accept another offer unless it is better than Vanderbilt’s.
@naturecreative I reviewed your posts. You say you need a full ride, will not get help from parents and do not want loans. It is likely not possible for you to do this. Your parents income will be factored in whether or not they want to pay and the value of your parents home and any other assets that your parents have will be looked at for private schools. You cannot go to school without money. You said you could get free tuition at UAB. I’m not sure I would apply other places and waste the money unless you know for sure that you are Pell Grant eligible, your parents don’t have much or make much. If your EFC is 15k a year, you won’t be able to pay that by yourself even with loans.
@gearmom That’s tough to hear, but you’re right, it is likely that I may not get a full ride to any colleges, especially private ones. I think I am still going to try but thankfully I have visited UAB and if there were no other options available to me, I would be happy commuting there. I am trying to and will continue to pray to God in this process and see what he has planned for me. Please pray for me as well as I go through the college process!
@naturecreative It will be a blessing to graduate with no debt at UAB. Then you can focus on what is really important, your future career. You could always look into a study abroad https://educationabroad.uab.edu/index.cfm?FuseAction=Programs.FeaturedPrograms or missionary opportunity at UAB.