<p>non-custodial profile only applies if you have a non-custodial parent (the school requires the NC parent to provide their info as well to be factored into financial aid offers)</p>
<p>Oh okay thanks!</p>
<p>Re post #543: Maybe EC wouldn’t have to repeatedly ask similar questions if his legitimate questions weren’t met with criticism and contradictory, and often wrong information. For example, what’s the point of a parent telling him not to bother with scholarships because every dollar of private money will reduced his college grant (not true) – or when he is accepted to a college with merit aid and a seemingly affordable result from the college’s online financial aid calculator, being told that he probably won’t be able to afford that college and introduced to the concept of “admit-deny”. </p>
<p>Generally when people ask a lot of questions, it is because they are trying to learn something. </p>
<p>If parents are annoyed by all the questions… then those parents don’t have to read the thread or post. </p>
<p>I agree that ec responds in a defensive manner to posts, but I also see the posts he is responding to as extraordinarily rude and demeaning in tone. I mean… the kid asks questions and he keeps getting answers with the basic undertone, “go away, you are stupid and worthless and will never succeed”. </p>
<p>There is a form of bias/elitism on this board that is extremely disconcerting – I don’t have a word for it, but it seems to me that they day e_c disclosed his SAT scores he was written off as being unworthy. And to this day there are a handful of posters who seem intent on driving home that message.</p>
<p>I do feel like I was encouraged to ask questions, but when I do, I often get criticized. I’m sorry if I’m asking similar questions, but I’m just trying to understand the FA process. I agree with calmom.</p>
<p>EC, keep asking until you are comfortable in your understanding. For those adults who are frustrated (often understandably) feel free to take a step back and stop answering. </p>
<p>A lot of adults here are telling cautionary tales of students who learn in April that they have no affordable choices. It happens every year. Parents here seem to be concerned that EC doesn’t seem to have a firm commitment as to what his parents will contribute toward his education. Personally I understand that because as parents we did decide to “play it by ear” a bit and figure out what we would contribute once we had more information in front of us (i.e. his acceptances and financial aid options). (We didn’t have a true financial safety, but did have a couple of highly-probable safeties based on merit money we believed our S would qualify for. Other than our local CC, there were no schools that were guaranteed financial safeties – that is sometimes just the way things are.) But playing it by ear is not the “accepted” best way of doing things around this board. No one wants to see someone find out at the last minute that they can’t afford any of the schools they were accepted to. The bottom line is that based on the (sometimes apparently contradictory, and in any case of course incomplete) picture EC has drawn over the years in his threads, some parents are concerned that he may not be being realistic about this financial options. I don’t know the schools he is considering well enough to have a personal opinion on this. But those who feel this way keep harping on it because they are worried that EC will be one of those kids… Personally at this point I think it’s time to back off – EC and his parents have made certain choices, and if they don’t work out as planned, he will come up with plan B and do just fine.</p>
<p>Based on some of the estimates already, Clark and Holy Cross are already affordable and cheaper then instate schools (not including the loans). I know these are just estimates, but still. It may just come down to the best financial aid package. But if I get all crappy financial aid packages, I will probably just stay instate. GCSU is my financial safety which I got deferred to, but I will find out in January if I get in. If I do not, I will apply to Valdosta State instead. I’ve said this before. There really isn’t that much I can do besides applying for outside scholarships or my anything that my parents can do before our financial aid decisions come in. We have no idea what they’ll offer us. Also, a lot of it may come down to what I think of each school when I visit. If I don’t get a good feeling about the school then it will be off my list.</p>
<p>“There is a form of bias/elitism on this board that is extremely disconcerting – I don’t have a word for it, but it seems to me that they day e_c disclosed his SAT scores he was written off as being unworthy. And to this day there are a handful of posters who seem intent on driving home that message.”</p>
<p>I couldn’t agree more. I’ve always felt CC is way too elitist. Of course not everyone is, but in general it is very much so. Just because I got a 1420 on my SATs does not mean I am stupid. I do not let stupid standardized tests define who I am, and I would hope you and your child(ren) does not either. I also feel like some posters are hoping this whole process does not work out for me, which I don’t really appreciate.</p>
<p>Re post #548:
I guess you didn’t notice that the kid has really weak SAT scores in relation to his high school GPA & college aspirations, and also really needs financial aid. He’s casting a wide net.</p>
<p>I would agree that at this point with 6 college admissions already in hand, it may make sense to let some of the apps go – and in fact he has mentioned withdrawing at least one. But my impression is that the kid managed to get his apps in for all 16 or 17 colleges by the end of October. My wonderfully “mature” offspring were still polishing off essays on the eve of respective college deadlines. </p>
<p>I did notice that e_c did NOT do what many CC kids do - he didn’t target a bunch of pie-in-the-sky schools, such as the hit-and-hope approach of applying to 6 Ivies – nor did he throw in some ED app to a college known for weak financial aid (such as NYU) with the expectations that somehow everything would magically work itself out in the spring. </p>
<p>My son was one of those kids in school who used to annoy his teacher by asking too many questions. When he was a senior in high school, one of his teachers asked all of the students to write down what they liked about each of their classmates, and then reassembled the comments into an individualized report for each student. Again and again my son’s classmates wrote that they liked having him in class because he always asked the questions they needed to know the answer to, but were afraid to ask. </p>
<p>I don’t care how “mature” e_c is. He’s 17 years old, I don’t expect him to be a sophisticated adult. I think he correctly perceives his parent as unable to give him the help he needs, and he has come to an appropriate location – the parent forum of a college admissions web site – to ask the questions he wishes he could be asking his own mom & dad. It sounds like he has good, loving parents – but they don’t seem to have the background or education to give him the information he needs right now.</p>
<p>I applied to so many schools for financial reasons as well. I really wanted to compare and contrast all the financial aid packages. I have withdrawn one application to Cornell, but I already have top choices. I didn’t really have top choices a couple months ago. I started this whole process by wanting to go to Simon’s Rock. I have also considered getting a BFA in Acting, but I’m pretty much just undecided what I want to do with my life at this point in time. NYU use to be my DREAM school. I always wanted to go there, but then I just had to let it go. I had to do the same with Sarah Lawrence because my father wouldn’t let me apply there, so I applied to Holy Cross instead which is very different from SLC. I’ve pretty much considered every college out there. I even liked Yale, Northwestern, and Vassar at one point. I have a friend applying to Vassar with my GPA and course-load, but she got a 26 on the ACT. Roanoke is her other top choice.</p>
<p>When I found the Colleges that Changed Lives, I really knew these schools were for me. I seriously considered Beloit, Kalamazzo, Eckerd, and Goucher as well. Clark University, College of Wooster, Lawrence University, and Hobart and William Smith are my top choices right now. Allegheny, Juniata, Holy Cross, Ursinus, Knox, Wheaton, and Earlham are still considerations though. Out of all my admission interviews, I really connected to the Lawrence admission rep and had a lot in common. I set up probably over 10 admission interviews all by myself. I had 3 just on 9/11. </p>
<p>I am very inquisitive and I’ve always been. My mother has the education, but she went a very different route then me. She is an elementary school teacher, so she doesn’t know as much about it as high school teachers. I will be able to help my younger brother go through this process much more simpler.</p>
<p>BTW, I find out if I got into Wooster on the 31st of this month :)</p>
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<p>It’s clear to me that his parents don’t know. Obviously the dad is self-employed with a modest but variable income, and the mom is currently not working, and has a toddler at home – so it may not be economically feasible for the mom to return to work until the younger sister is a little older. I think ec’s parents will do the best they feel comfortable with – and that’s why I am also encouraging him to look at options like employment and private scholarships. I don’t think he’s going to raise a ton of money that way – I just think that he’s in a position where he may need to come up with relatively small sums – such as a few hundred or a few thousand – to bridge relatively small gaps between the financial aid he gets and what his parents can give. </p>
<p>I don’t think this is an unusual setting. I think this is NORMAL. It is what my own kids faced – and one reason why I always saw it as important to ensure that both had reasonable employment experience and skills before going off to college. </p>
<p>As far as repeatedly asking/answering the same questions, I don’t know how many times ec has explained that his financial safety is Valdosta, an in-state public that he doesn’t want to attend but will, if necessary. So I do think he has the “financial safety” part pretty well covered. It seems to me that part of the communication problem on this thread is that he keeps posting information that others ignore. (I don’t know anything about Valdosta… but my impression is that it is a not-very-selective Georgia public college where ec would be able to apply the Hope funds for a relatively affordable education).</p>
<p>My parents really do not know. I’ve asked them for years now and a lot has changed. It’s going to depend on those financial aid packages. Before my dad went out on his own, he made $90,000 a year not including my mothers teaching salary. In 2010, he made around $75,000 a year. The problem with my fathers job is that is commission based. There are months when we don’t get any money and we have to live off our savings. Recently, we couldn’t go grocery shopping until his check was mailed in. It has been a struggle just to afford our mortgage when my fathers checks don’t come in on time, which our house isn’t even worth what it should be in this economy. We live in a pretty nice 5 bedroom + basement house. His job does not bring in a certain amount of money each month, it’s different each month and year. His business is still in the works as well. So, money is obviously an issue and that’s why I applied to so many schools. My parents are also paying for my brothers technical college and my sister attends a Montessori School part time which isn’t cheap. I am just worried that one month he will not get payed and won’t be able to pay my college tuition bill. </p>
<p>Georgia College is Georgia’s public LAC. If I get accepted and I have no where else that’s affordable, I’ll go there. But it costs $13,000 a year. Valdosta is ridiculously easy to get into. [url=<a href=“http://www.valdosta.edu/admissions/Freshman.shtml]Freshman[/url”>http://www.valdosta.edu/admissions/Freshman.shtml]Freshman[/url</a>]</p>
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<p>I think some individuals on CC have a lot of emotional investment in the idea that their kids’ high SAT scores are a direct measure of intellectual ability and likely success at college. So it is distressing to them when kids break that mold - it challenges some basic assumptions. </p>
<p>I also encountered very strong resentment from a handful of posters when my daughter was accepted to highly selective colleges with test scores in the bottom reported quartile. (I actually think that some colleges fudge their score reporting a little… but that’s a question for another day). </p>
<p>All parents want what is best for their kids, but I think that there are some who see the whole test process as some sort of test of worthiness. It’s not just you – there’s another thread going right now about legacy admissions, started by a parent upset because the offspring of Ivy League parents managed to get accepted ED to her parents’ alma mater, presumably with a lower SAT than kids at her school who were rejected. I think its very disconcerting to some to see the success of individuals they feel are somehow undeserving.</p>
<p>Calmom-
You’ve been around this board as long as many of us. You know full well that people will give differing advice and have different opinions (like you and I think he should apply for outside scholarships, others don’t). So what else is new. No need to be patronizing. People can and will share their opinions and thoughts. People can take it with a grain of salt or not.</p>
<p>If you have been following this saga and the many many threads, including the initial goal which led to the OPs screenname (which he was strongly encouraged not to do, and in retrospect he agrees), you will know that many many posters encouraged the OP to make studying for standardized tests a priority, given the schools he was interested in and his financial concerns. He chose not to. So now he has chosen SAT optional schools, which makes your first comment in post #527 irrelevant and moot. There seems to be an unhealthy amount of projection or hypothesizing about people’s motives accompanied by lots of putdowns. Almost creepy, in fact. By the way, its pretty clear you haven’t followed this saga, as there were some “pie in the sky” schools targeted as “dream schools”, including Vassar and NYU, which you correctly indicated is notorious for lousy aid. But after the SATs, sadly that pie hit him in the face. No one wishes anyone ill will. BUt many don’t want to hear excuses and complaints over and over.</p>
<p>Just got a letter from Ursinus stating “Your Ursinus College Achievement Award brings you to a stipend of $10,000 for the 2012-2013 academic year. No separate application or interview is required. The award will be continued in the same amount for four years of study” Yay, so I’ve received a scholarship from every college I’ve gotten accepted to. I haven’t heard back from Allegheny yet. But here are the awards:</p>
<p>$10,000 per year scholarships: Lenoir-Rhyne, Knox, Ursinus, and Hiram. I can also get up to 3,000 a year for an out of state grant at Hiram.</p>
<p>$7,00 per year scholarship: Clark</p>
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<p>I hope you are not thinking you are going to be automatically admitted, especially when you say you are going to wait until late spring to apply. By then, they might have all or most of their class full, and Valdosta will NOT look at your application holistically . They admit by the numbers, and you are below the 25% in both the SAT and the ACT. You might want to reconsider and apply now.</p>
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<p>Where is the $13,000 per year coming from that you say they can pay?</p>
<p>I just think that people should share their thoughts without repeatedly insulting ec. He seems to be very polite and appreciative to those who are polite to him. He is the one who is the victim of a patronizing attitude here. </p>
<p>There is not a single post from ec that could in any way imply that he has been unrealistic about college expectations or financial aspects. </p>
<p>To EC: because of your father’s employment situation, it is very possible that need based financial aid could fluctuate significantly from year to year. If your dad has a great year in 2012, you will see aid diminished in 2013. If 2013 happens to be a bad year… you’ll have to wait until 2014 to recoup that “loss”. I think if you get an an offer that seems affordable for the first year of college, then go for it – in your situation all you can do is keep on going and hope for the best. But I am mentioning this because in evaluating your awards, merit money tied to reasonable academic expectations will probably be more valuable to you than need-based money.</p>
<p>That is, if one school offers you $25k of grant money, all need-based – and another school offers you $15K of merit, coupled with $8K of grant money ($23K overall) - you are going to have to keep in mind that merit money will survive your father’s good economic year, the grant money won’t. Given other circumstances, when your father earns more money it will not necessarily mean he has more to save or give --he may have a habit of borrowing or putting off expenses when times are lean, and then paying off all the accrued stuff when times are good. (I used to buy a lot of stuff on layaway to compensate for a fluctuating income, not to mention running up credit card debt). </p>
<p>But do be aware of bait-and-switch merit money – that is, the type of school that offers you $X for year one but makes the requirements for renewal of the scholarship in year 2 so difficult that most students end up losing the money. You are going to have to evaluate each award carefully, one at time. Unfortunately there are no easy, right answers.</p>
<p>However, I’d also point out that you don’t have to attend college continuously for 4 years. My son attended college 2 years, worked 3, then 2 more years to finish. It wasn’t economics that led to his decision to drop out - but it could have been, and in many ways he is better off for having followed that path. The older you get – and the more education under your belt – the better your own employment opportunities. In the end my son returned to school, used up all of his savings from work to pay for year #3, and then qualified for enough need based and merit money in his final year that he came out ahead.</p>
<p>EC, just curious: why wouldn’t your dad let you apply to SLC? Was he concerned about the high tuition, or the unstructured approach to academics? Or something else?</p>
<p>Valdosta does automatic admits. Please look at the link I sent you. Once you have the required GPA/SAT scores, you’re admitted. </p>
<p>“430 Critical Reading (SAT subscore) 400 Math (SAT subscore) OR 17 English (ACT subscore) 17 Math (ACT subscore)” </p>
<p>Valdosta’s admission rep came to my school and they confirmed once you have your required SAT/GPA, you’re in. I know kids with GPA’s of a 2.5 who got in with all college prep courses. I will apply only in the end of Jan if GCSU denies me, which should be plenty of time. Their deadline isn’t until June 1st.</p>
<p>I have to say that GA212MOM has very good points. I don’t know how easy Valdosta is, but if I were you I would apply (even if I had to pay for the application) given the reality that the other schools might be too expensive for your family. You want to konw that you definitely have an affordable option.</p>
<p>I understand how your family lives. Many middle class families who do not get a steady paycheck live the same way. That said, if your parents will not take out a loan to give themselves some type of cushion when they do not have cash on hand to pay for food or mortgage, how will he pay the tuition (even if you are on a payment plan)? It really does need family discussion and some thought.</p>
<p>My dad didn’t let me apply to Sarah Lawrence due to the cost, it is the most expensive college in the US. I tried to convince him, but it didn’t work and there is nothing else I can do. It also isn’t known for giving the best financial aid. I interviewed with an alumni and she said her friend got $10,000 a month as an allowance and that celebrities kids went there. My dad told me “SLC is a college for the rich and the famous and your not rich or famous.”</p>
<p>Sorry, I just cross posted with EC and calmom.</p>