Hi,
Is any financial aid based upon cost of living?
I live in an extremely expensive city (Honolulu, almost always top three in U.S).
Will this be taken into account? Otherwise, I’m afraid they’ll just look at one number and not give anything (but it’s not super high).
Thanks.
Not in the way you mean, sorry. They use a nation-wide average.
Each state has a slightly different weighting, but they dont differentiate for example between Seattle or Spokane.
And they do take into account travel cost in total cost of attendance.
You can use SEARCH and see this question has come up before. the answer is not really
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1638739-cost-of-living.html
For the travel part of COA there is usually just one estimate for everyone. But I see some schools may now be using mileage from home, Brown seems to do that I noted on their costs page.
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And they do take into account travel cost in total cost of attendance.
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Most schools do NOT take into account the travel costs from Hawaii to their state.
Most schools do not give great aid.
Which schools are you interested in?
How much can your family pay each year?
What are your stats? include score breakdowns, not super scores.
These are (perhaps tentative): Berkeley, UCLA, UCSD, Michigan, Washington, Illinois, and Texas (flagships of states). <<<
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Most if not all of those school will not be affordable. Those are state schools, and most do not give need based aid.
Answer the questions above and we can help you.
Move to a cheaper state?
Those are some of the main ones. I’m not certain about other colleges. The application fees add up.
I’m not sure how much my family can pay. Parents currently paying about 13k a year for a private school. I’m not sure if that can continue or if they can do a little more. I’m not sure if my extended family can help.
SAT: 680 CR, 720 M, 630 W (second time 640 CR, 720 M, 710 W) both 96th percentile
GPA: 4.0 GPA UW, 4.29 W (I’ve had an A (+ or -) for every class for every quarter in every year taking the hardest possible curriculum) small school, no APs besides calc (not submitting score)
I’m doing AFROTC which will either pay for basically everything (so then I wouldn’t have to worry) or 18k a year.
I am skilled in computers (mainly security) and could work either at the college or somewhere nearby.
Ok well it looks like you need to start to pin down what your famiy can pay. Right now, the numver you put out, your family can cover your room and board. So you are looking for schools with a full tuition award which is not a whole lot of schools. Certainly not the state flagships you mention. You could get a large automatic award at Univ of Alabama.
For UC the minimum you would have to pay would be the OOS tutiion supplement, plus self help (student loans+student contribution, plus your EFC. So about 23k + 8k = 31k + EFC. UW you could be a full payer Texas a full payer. So you list is looking totally unrealistic at 13k parent contribution plus your student loan of 5k. You need to focus on low cost colleges, full tuition colleges, merit aid colleges. They will use the M+CR portion for admissions and merit aid. That’s without AFROTC, I don’t know how that works, if it is at all colleges and guaranteed your first year or you have to get it later or what.
The schools on your list are OOS public universities. In all likelihood, they will be very costly to attend. In terms of need based aid, for the UCs you will be expected to pay the differential between OOS and instate costs $23,000 plus your family EFC plus your student contribution. These will be very costly as an OOS student.
The schools do give need based aid to OOS students but usually only federal entitlements like the Pell Grant,many the Direct loans. It isn’t likely that you are going to receive grant money from an OOS public university where you are not a resident and your family doesn’t pay taxes. These schools have the mission of providing for their instate students first and foremost.
I would suggest you run the net price calculators for these schools. This will give you an estimate of your net costs to attend. HOWEVER, if your parents are self employed or own a business, own properties other than your primary residence, or are divorced, the net rorice calculators will not be accurate.
UMich does offer need based aids to low income OOS students. However, if you live in an expensive city, it is not likely you would be covered. How much is your family income level? Even the living expenses are included in CoA, most financial aid do not cover the full CoA or even the gap after EFC. So you will need to find a school that fit your budget, a need met school, or where you may get significant merit aids.
Is AFROTC money guaranteed?
The OP will have to compete for an AFROTC scholarship. It is not a done deal. Here are some other options, though.
http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/
^^That’s what I thought - (though OP said he would either get a full ride or $18k for doing AFROTC) - thanks for confirming.
To the OP…you need to know your financial budget for college. To be honest, I think the CA college applications are a waste of your money unless your parents can pay the full cost of attendance as an out of state student.
We live on Oahu too. My daughter originally only wanted to look at California colleges. Her SAT and GPA are similar to yours, and we’ve let her know we can pay $15K a year. That pretty much nixes any UCs. Then for private schools with the best financial aid (Stanford, CalTech, Harvey Mudd), her stats aren’t good enough. She’s realized she has to cast a wider net.
Some college’s EFC calculators (mostly private) ask for the value of our house vs how much we owe. Because houses are so crazy expensive, and we still owe so much, those schools show more financial aid, so in that way living in Hawaii helps for financial aid.
Your stats can get you decent merit aid. Alabama was already mentioned. My daughter is interested in Engineering. Other public colleges we have found with enough merit aid: Temple, U of New Mexico, Louisiana Tech, New Mexico Tech, West Virginia University, U of Houston, U of Kentucky, U of Utah, Montana State. Private schools are a little more tricky to pin down how much aid you will receive, but we are looking at a some STEM focused schools, Stevens, IIT, RIT, Worcester, Rensselaer.
Any chance you will make the National Merit cut-off? If yes, a lot more choices open up.
Good luck & aloha.
Don’t forget the WUE schools. Not UC’s, but CSU like Humboldt. Many engineering and STEM schools like Montana, Utah, Wyoming, New Mexico.
Ask your parents how much they’ll pay.
as mentioned above, there is no guaratee that you’d get an ROTC award, so you can’t count on any amount.
Studying eng or CS may be a help for snagging AFROTC, but get the application in as early as possible. Also check Army or Navy if interested. DD did a year of AFROTC in college as a sophomore but got cut before field training (summer between sophomore and junior year) - the calendar year they had big budget cuts (if she was ready for field training the year before, she would have been fine as 99% of her major got in and she had excellent recommendations from her local command).
If you do get ROTC at one school, do not think you can change schools and move the ROTC scholarship $$ either.
I know a retired AF Col who was in computers (went through UG with ROTC) and there were sweeping years where if you were in the wrong year they may not have had you stay in even when you wanted to on re-enlistment…Col hung in and advanced but would have advanced sooner on other year in.
I know a student whose older siblings received 4 year ROTC money, while he began as a FR in ROTC but only had the 3 year scholarship. All military branches have had such a big fall out over the FR scholarship students.
Nope.
We have the same issue as we live in the NYC suburbs and costs are very high.
San Franciscans also have a similar issue.
My house would be 1/10th the cost in many areas, let alone property taxes. Colleges do not care a hill of beans how much the mortgage is, or how much food is, or whether siblings or parents have expensive health issues (in an area where health care is expensive), or if your grandparents are in poverty and supported by your parents. They just don’t.
I had to give my father 20K due to his poor business decision, and I had to take out a loan for it. THEY DON’T CARE.
Suggest as others said, look into grant and scholarship options.