<p>I’m Hispanic.
My parents never attended college.
My parents are married.
Both of them combined made about $37,000 (before taxes) in 2009.
We live in an urban city in NJ.
There is another child that lives with us. (He’s 1 month old)
I have a mediocre HS record.</p>
<p>I applied to Arizona State, Montclair State, and University of Mississippi.</p>
<p>Your help will be greatly appreciated.</p>
<p>Your ethnicity and your parents’ education level won’t make a difference in federal aid. That is based strictly on income.</p>
<p>You won’t get the aid you need for AzSt or UMiss because Federal aid is minimal and you’d have to pay out-of-state costs for those schools. Each of those schools have OOS COAs around $28k-30k per year. Unless your parents have money to send you there, those schools will be unaffordable.</p>
<p>Students who need a lot of aid (who don’t have high stats) need to apply to in-state publics and to privates that give a lot of aid (which are hard to find if you don’t have high stats).</p>
<p>You might get about $5k in Pell grant, $5500 in stafford loans, maybe some work-study, and maybe some other small amount of grant money. </p>
<p>You will have a large gap in aid for your OOS publics and a maybe a smaller gap at your in-state public. Does NJ have any state aid for their schools?</p>
<p>Can you commute to your in-state public?</p>
<p>If not, are you applying to any in-state publics that you can commute to?</p>
<p>To estimate your federal aid, you need to provide your EFC. If you haven’t filed FAFSA yet, you can get an estimate using</p>
<p><a href=“https://fafsa4caster.ed.gov/F4CApp/index/index.jsf[/url]”>https://fafsa4caster.ed.gov/F4CApp/index/index.jsf</a> </p>
<p>(but you should file FAFSA as soon as possible). It sounds like Pell and Stafford loans may be the only federal aid you’ll receive, other than work study. Some schools have FSEOG and Perkins loans that they give to low EFC students. Once you know your EFC, you can estimate your Pell grant using this table:</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.ifap.ed.gov/dpcletters/attachments/P0901PaymentSchedules1D.pdf[/url]”>http://www.ifap.ed.gov/dpcletters/attachments/P0901PaymentSchedules1D.pdf</a></p>
<p>*It sounds like Pell and Stafford loans may be the only federal aid you’ll receive, other than work study. Some schools have FSEOG and Perkins loans that they give to low EFC students. *</p>
<p>I really wish that GCs would tell students that if their EFCs are low and their stats are average, then they will have virtually no chance of getting the funding they’d need at an OOS public - so these kids wouldn’t waste time applying to those schools and instead would apply to schools that might be affordable.</p>
<p>A lot of schools only give SEOG funds to students with 0 EFCs. They can set their own criteria for SEOG, but that seems to be what I hear the most. My daughter did not get SEOG her 1st year of college with an EFC of around 750. She got it the next year with a 0. She did get a small Perkins that first year though. With an income of 37,000 your EFC will probably be low, but not 0.</p>
<p>OP, I hope you applied to some instate schools that are financial safeties for you. Federal aid is quite limited and is not enough to cover even the cost of instate costs at most State universities. It will certainly not cover anywhere near the cost for OOS.</p>
<p>A very rough idea. Say your EFC is around 1,000. Federal aid available might be:
Pell Grant: $4500 (the maximum is $5550 but that is for 0 EFC).
SEOG:$0 (your might get some but most schools require 0 EFC)
ACG$750 (maybe, it require Pell eligibility and that you meet some academic criteria defined by your state)
Stafford loan: $5500.
Perkins Loan:$?? (hard to predict as some schools have no Perkins to offer. The maximum is, I think, $4,000. But most schools do not have $4000 to offer).
Work Study$3400 (this varies from school to school depending on their WS funding and policies. You might get less or more or none).</p>
<p>My suggestion is to look for in state schools with Latino, Hispanic, or Chicano-Boricua departments (search on their websites). You may find special scholarships through these departments. Another idea is to find schools with TRIO services … where I work, TRIO funding not only assures 2 years of fully paid school without loans (everything in the COA, although the family has to pay the EFC - and they can borrow Stafford loans for that, if need be) - but it also provides much-needed support services for students who are first-generation college. </p>
<p>Please look into these ideas. In addition, pick some in state schools you like & call their admissions departments. Explain your situation & ask if they have any special programs for students like you. In all honesty, Hispanic young men are still very much URMs in college. You may be able to find financial assistance, but you will need to do some calling/emailing & ask. Be proactive … and good luck!</p>