Some of the schools I am applying to ( Xavier, Butler, Marquette) tend to be on the more expensive side. Does anyone know if they give good aid to low income students?
Run the Net Price Calculator on each school’s web site to get an idea of what you might pay.
Run the NPCs on each school. You will need to know your parents income for 2018, particularly AGI on tax return and any other money they got that year as well as assets. You also need to know about how much they are willing and able to pay for your college
There are two types of aid—merit and need-based. Merit aid is based on a student’s academic and testing profile, while need-based aid looks at a family’s financial picture. Some schools meet 100% of demonstrated need, but most don’t…those that do tend to be more selective schools.
Run the NPCs at any school on your list to get an estimate of the price you and your family will be expected to pay. You will need to complete these NPCs with the help of your parents, using their tax returns and other financial documents. Note the NPCs may not be accurate if parents are divorced or own a business or second home, among other factors.
https://www2.xavier.edu/undergraduate-admission/net-price-calculator/
https://butler.studentaidcalculator.com/survey.aspx
https://tcc.ruffalonl.com/Marquette%20University/Freshman-Students
My mom is a single parent and she doesn’t like to disclose how much she makes to me but I’m guessing she makes around $30000 a year. I have a sister in grad school so she’d be helping both of us. I will probably have to wait until she fills out the FAFSA to see an accurate NPC
Marquette and Xavier are catholic universities that pride themselves on providing an education to a wide variety of students. IME, If you meet the academic thresholds for scholarships, they can be far less expensive than your in state schools. Yes, I went into debt to attend one of them years ago, but it was within the federal loan limits and I have made that money back many times over. It was my dream school because it was affordable and the right fit for me. Apply and see what their offers are. I wish you luck!
If your parents are divorced, some colleges require both of their financial information for financial aid.
You have to ask your mother directly how much she has in income and assets. My kids estimated I made 1/2 of what I did the year they were starting college. I worked with them on the NPC but it really is necessary to know the exact numbers.
If you run all the numbers with her making $30k and it turns out she makes $50k, you’re not going to get an accurate idea of the aid you are likely to receive.
We looked into Marquette. They do give a lot of financial aid, but the cost is so high to start with and they don’t meet full need. The net price for us with a 0 EFC and a 15K merit scholarship was 19K/year. Much less than the 60K sticker price, but still a little too much for us.
You could ask your mom to run the NPCs for some schools that interest you. That way, she will be able to tell you the outcome without divulging details she doesn’t want you to know … and she will be aware of the costs at various schools.
OP, the FAFSA and the NPC are not the same (in response to your post #4). The EFC number that FAFSA is not going to be what you will be paying. You need to do the NPC on EACH college website.
I think @kelsmom ‘s has a great suggestion. Show her the sites for the NPCs of each school and let her run the numbers. She can tell you what the final cost estimates are and if affordable.
If the school doesn’t ask if you Mom is a single parent…the net price calculators will not be accurate.
If the school uses the CSS Profile and requires non-custodial parent form…the net price calculator will not be accurate.
The federal student loan is only ~$5500/year. It won’t pay for a dream school.
It could theoretically be accurate if you put in all of the correct information for both parents – but divorced parents often try to hide their finances from each other, so neither one will have full correct information to put in, and the student may have access to financial information of at most one parent.
Of course, some colleges just have low quality net price calculators that do not match that well with their actual financial aid offers.
Marquette is FAFSA only. I don’t know about the others on the OPs list.
These colleges are expensive and do not guarantee to meet full need for all.
The student’s FAFSA would reflect the mom’s income and assets only (including any spousal or child support)…and with a $30,000 income, the FAFSA EFC would be pretty low.
BUT the only guaranteed aid for that low EFC would be whatever amount of Pell Grant the student is entitled to receive (the max is just over $6000) and a $5500 student loan. So that’s just under $12,000. That won’t fund any of these colleges. The student might get a SEOG, or federal work study. But what they really need is institutional grant aid…and that is not a guarantee to meet full need at these colleges.
To @gmarie1112 do you have any affordable options? Does your home state offer any aid to low income students?
What are your GPA and SAT or ACT scores? Are they high enough to make you a possible merit aid recipient? Some schools will stack merit and need based aid.
Any chance there are less costly colleges on your application list?
My affordable options are Kalamazoo College, western michigan university, grand valley state, michigan state, University of Michigan, and Denison University. I’ll have to do more research to see if my state has aid available.
My weighted GPA is 4.01 and my SAT is 1250. My super score is 1280. I plan to retake it.
Just for interest, run the Net Price Calculators with a $30k income and see what the results are.
Your issue isn’t so much as “does a school give “good aid,” your issue is really does the school “meet need”.
If your mom earns about $30k, and you have a sibling in college, your EFC will likely be 0…yet those schools on your list will likely expect your family to pay several thousand dollars, at least.
Run the Net Price Calculators with $30k income and copy paste the results here.
If you are a Michigan resident, I can see how University of Michigan would be affordable as they guarantee to meet full need for all accepted instate students. But that’s IF you get accepted, which is not a slam dunk with your current SAT score.
But…how would the others be affordable?