Financial Aid in Future Years

cptofthehouse
Sat, 12 Jun 2010 12:02:50 +0000

Of course you are nervous. Given an upper middle class situation, PROFILE calculators will best give you what you are likely to get in aid. If you fall in the category of most who put themselves in that economic group, it is doubtful you will get any financial aid for one child unless there are some truly extenuating circumstances, or you are seriously misdefining the term upper middle. Even most who consider themselves middle class often get no aid for one child in college.

Your daughters scores, however put her into the category of being in the market for some merit scholarships. Take a look at the threads on those. Schools like Duke, WakeForest, UNCchapelhill, Emory, UChicago, Johns Hopkins, Georgia Tech, have some very selective merit awards that she can attempt to get. Then there are schools like some state flagships, Pitt, Fordham, Rhodes, Tulane that also have some really good merit scholarships for high stats.

If you fall in the typical category of folks that are upper middle class, you are most likely to end up with your D accepted to a highly selective school with no financial aid awards and no merit money. Full pay. The alternative would be a cheaper school such as your state schools or commuting, or less selective private schools that will offer her a generous merit award. Unfortunately that is not the choice you would get with other kids who don’t sport those high test scores.

If you have another due to go to college while your D is still there, you might get aid with the double doozy. Check the calculators and see what two in college would do for your financial aid numbers.

My son had a 2300+ SAT1 with a similar CR/Math breakdown and did not even make the first cut for the top scholarships though he got into the school. He did get some nice awards at schools like Fordham, Fairfield, Rhodes. Smaller awards at the more selective schools. Admissions to an ivy, but no financial aid. My oldest who was an athlete with fairly decent academic numbers got into a number of selective schools, but the only athletic scholarship, or any scholarship that he was offered was at St Bonaventure. Could have gotten other offers, but the schools he wanted either did not give athletic scholarships or he fell just short of the caliber needed to get them. And he was a national level athlete. Son2 got a number of merit offers despite lower grades and test scores due to performing arts prowess but the amounts were all $5K and under, hardly a scratch towards the high private school costs. This, I find is typical among middle class families.
With two kids in college for a year here and there we just qualify for some subsidized loans under FAFSA. Hardly much in terms of aid. We have to plan accordingly as we will have two in school in two years. If the older keeps his merit award and earns what he is, we’ll squeak by with some effort.