So I need some things cleared up about The Ivy League’s or a top school’s price (such as UCLA, Stanford, NYU public schools or private schools like that.) My parents earn about $30,000 a year and I am a URM, and first gen. I’m from a small town in NC. I’m really confused and need some clearing up, on one side people keep telling me that I could go to these schools since they give tons of financial aid and could go for practically free or with little charge on me and my parents and on the other side, people keep telling me that the school is lying about people going to it free and that it would be insanely expensive on my parents and me later on going to these schools and especially out of state, so which one is it in my case? Would it be expensive on my parents or me later on to go out of state and to a top school or could I go out of state and to a top school for practically free? I’m really confused, and need some clearing up of what to do. (This is all hypothetical of what I do IF I get into these schools) And how much debt will I have later on going to these schools, please give me advice.
Private schools, like Stanford and the Ivy League universities, do not factor in-state vs. out-of-state in calculating financial aid. The more elite private universities tend to be more generous with FA. NYU, although private, is not considered particularly generous with FA, UCLA, as a public university, gives little to no FA to out-of-state residents and will be unaffordable to you - cross that off your list.
For any school, you should run the numbers through their Net Price Calculator to see for yourself what your cost of attendance will roughly be.
Look for private schools that meet full need OOS public school like UCLA will likely be unafforable for you.
Generally speaking, the most generous schools are those that claim to meet full need, without loans. These schools also tend to be need blind.
Ivy League schools are usually among the more generous schools, as are private research universities like Stanford, U.Chicago, and MIT, or elite Liberal Arts Colleges like Williams, Amherst, Swarthmore, and Pomona.
Of the schools you mentioned, NYU is notoriously ungenerous. UCLA is expensive for OOS (out of state) students and will not give need-based FA to non-California residents. Stanford is the most generous of the three schools you mentioned. Also the hardest to get into.
You need to check the Net Price Calculators for all of the schools that you are interested in.
UCLA and NYU are not Ivy League schools. But more important…neither school guarantees to meet full need for all accepted students. In addition, UCLA gives NO financial aid to out of state students…so scratch that one.
Stanford…great school with terrific aid…IF you are one of the 5% of students who get accepted. Same with the schools in the Ivy League. IF…and I mean IF you get accepted, it’s possible you would get excellent need based aid. But with acceptance rates in the single digits, these admissions are not a slam dunk.
PLUS you are just now in 10th grade. How would you even know if you could be a competitive applicant for these schools.
And lastly…UNC-CH is amongst the top universities in the country and guarantees to meet full need for all. Hoping this school is on your list eventually too…
When you say “Ivy League,” keep in mind that not all eight are equal in FA. From my own net price calculation experimental tests, I found that HYP were the most generous among the Ivy. From non-Ivy schools, I found Stanford to be about the same as HYP, and that’s not surprising since these four are highly competing for the same students. Like what others have said already, you should run the NPC. However, unless your parents possess a very large assets, you should be able to get a full-ride – given your parents’ stated salary – at any of these four and perhaps at few other institutions if you can manage to get admitted. From Princeton’s FA webpage (and you’ll find a similar statement at a few other institutions): “Financial aid covered 100 percent of tuition, room and board for students in the most recent freshman class whose families earned up to $65,000.”
In addition to what Princeton stated above regarding FA for families earning up to $65.000…
What Harvard says: “Our program requires no contribution from Harvard families with annual incomes below $65,000. About 20% of our families have no parent contribution.”
What Yale says: “Families whose total gross income is less than $65,000 (with typical assets) are not expected to make a contribution towards their child’s Yale education. Hundreds of Yale undergraduate families have an expected parental contribution of $0.”
What Stanford says: “Total (Gross Family Income) less than $65,000: Average Net Cost (to your family is) $4,832.”
At these most generous institutions, even if your gross family income is around $150,000, you’re most likely to be able to attend tuition free, i.e., your family just contribute to room and board fees.
Ok thanks for the info I appreciate it. So would my parents or I have any debt after I graduate ?
Please read the responses carefully…again.
If you attend UCLA, you will need $65,000 a year to attend. Cross that school off your list.
If you get accepted to NYU, its unlikely you will get $72,000 in need based grant and scholarship aid.
To get the fabulous aid that Stanford, MIT, Princeton, Harvard, and Yale provide…you have to first get accepted…and right now…there is no way to predict whether you will be in the 10% or less who get accepted, or the 90% or more who are rejected.
Debt? Your family can’t afford debt on a $30,000 income.
You don’t have to worry about you or your parents being cumbered with any debt post-graduation IF you can get into these most generous FA institutions. With your family’s gross income, that’s absolutely possible, that is, again, IF you can get into these most generous institutions. So be that as your motivation for working hard and excelling in all that you do.
Tenth grade is not too soon to take the responsibility for learning what these colleges are about and gaining enough knowledge to sort the drivel from the good advice. Read their fin aid pages carefully. Run the NPCs.
If you listen to people in your small town who really don’t know, you risk not even understanding what it takes to get admitted.
And find safety schools- colleges you like and can afford.
Don’t forget to factor in travel if you plan to go to school out of state.
As long as your parents don’t own a business or have substantial assets, you will have to pay very little. Either no loans or minimal loans. And even with a business or farm you may be ok, it depends on how things are set up and what kind of business.
Google college 100 financial aid. There are several lists of schools in the top results. You should focus on these schools if you are academically qualified. These will most likely be cheaper than any in state school except UNC, which is on the lists. Although I am not familiar with NC and what aid they give in state students.
Cross any out of state public not on those lists off of your list. Also cross off NYU. They will give you loans you can’t afford.
@dadof4kids UNC-CH meets full need for all accepted students. It uses both the FAFSA and Profile to determine the family need.
@lookingforward I agree it’s not too early to get a small handle on colleges, and costs, etc. but this student wants answers about some specific colleges…but had no data here to even guess if the student is a competitive applicant for these colleges…yet.
But NYU? Probably not going to be affordable as the don’t guarantee to meet full need, and cost of attendance is over $70,000 a year.
UCLA? As an out of state student? Plan to be a full pay student at $65,000 a year…or more. No aid to OOS students at UCLA.
Good that this student is finding out about these now…the student can replace these schools with other options.
My question…what does this student want in a college??
He should be looking into Questbridge, too, assuming he has the stats.
This is the first thing to clear up. Schools are not “lying.” If a school says they will provide financial aid that covers 100% of your need, it is true. However, not every school offers the same amount of aid. You need to understand which schools offer great aid and which ones do not. Read the financial aid pages of the websites carefully.
Before going any further, please tell us what type of student you are. What are your grades? What courses have you taken? What grade are you in? Have you taken the PSAT, SAT, or ACT, and if so, what where your scores. Based on the answers to these questions, we can direct you to a list of schools that would provide the aid you need.
Well in regards to answering your question, I currently have a 4.0 UW GPA and I’m making all A’s in the following classes: AP Bio: A-, AP Gov:A-, Honors Math 2 : A+, French:A+(I know this might be too low on the AP classes but understand this is my first year with AP and need some time getting used to it since I’ve never taken such a rigorous schedule before). I have not taken neither the ACT nor the SAT yet since I’m barely a sophomore in high school, though I am taking the PSAT soon. I also feel the need to mention again(in order to put everything into perspective) that I’m a URM(if that even helps) since my parents are immigrants, I’m first gen,
, very low income as stated above, and I’m from a underrepresented rural area in NC in which I attend a high school that offers little opportunities for EC’s in which I’m working on getting leadership positions and such. Currently I’m just a member of clubs( HOSA, National Beta Club, Student Ambassadors, Interact, another volunteer club and a international club that promotes diversity and such (on leadership committee)) I’m interested in the medical field and have such clocked in about 80 hours at my local hospital and local hospice.(Nothing else I can really do medically related in my area.) I know my EC’s are pretty mediocre but understand that it’s extremely difficult to work with EC’s given that I’m in a rural area.
@curethevoid17
Wonderful! You are doing great! Please come back to us after you get your PSAT scores.
Question: Where did your parents immigrate from?
In the meantime, here’s what you need to know:
-There ARE colleges that can provide you the financial aid you will need to attend there. Some colleges will fund the entire amount for you and not ask you to take out loans.
-For the colleges that do ask students to take loans, the most student-loan debt you can possibly come out with is $27,000. That’s the most that students are allowed to borrow (there’s a slight chance it may go up a bit by the time you get to college). Although it may seem like a big number to you, it is a very manageable amount if you go to a top college and get a great job with a great future.
Here’s the most important thing that will make the college application process much easier for you:
Apply for Questbridge, which is a program for low-income, high-achieving students like you. Read about it here:
https://www.questbridge.org/
The application is completely free. Students who are selected are “matched” with one of about 40 top colleges and get 100% of all expenses paid. Note that the deadline is always at the end of September of your senior year in high school. You have plenty of time to read about Questbridge and get to know the requirements.
In the meantime, continue to to well in school!
Hi thanks for all the advice I’ll look into it, my parents are from Guatemala but I was born in Los Angeles, but have since moved to rural NC.
@curethevoid17 I think you have the best chance for admission to a top university with 100% financial aid by applying through Questbridge. Good luck, and come back with more questions or to let us know how it goes.