Is it realistic to depend on scholarships?

<p>I’m applying to many, many different scholarships, mostly local. They range from $30,000 to $500. My question is, how realistic is it to expect much of my college $$ to come from this? I grew up poor, so we never really got the chance to save money for college funds, and even though we’re now middle class, the current economy situation has got us strapped for cash. What have been some of your experiences when it comes to being applying for & being awarded scholarship money not affiliated w/your college? What are other things I should be doing to meet the cost, if scholarship money will probably not be enough. FA is the area I’m most clueless in.</p>

<p>The very best thing you can do is apply to the right colleges. Look at colleges that you are in the above their 50%ile for stats. Look for colleges that are looking for students like you - perhaps they have a new program in your major or they want to increase geographic diversity and you live in a different region. Look for colleges that have great merit awards. You are more likely to get a great scholarship at a school that you would be a top applicant for.</p>

<p>We found the college’s own scholarships to provide much more money than the local and outside scholarships.</p>

<p>You will find students who have received no scholarships even though they applied to many and students who have covered their college costs - there is no secret recipe and you CANNOT count on ANY scholarship until you have the letter in your hand awarding you it.</p>

<p>That said, KEEP applying! But mostly make sure, yes, that you choose more than one college you can be happy with. A couple that you can afford with savings (working summers), loans, merit aid if possible. You can choose a couple “reaches” too - but try to look for those which have known good merit aid if you have the grades/test scores to qualify.</p>

<p>collegebound… >>> Is it realistic to depend on scholarships? <<<,</p>

<p>Pretty much the only scholarships that you can “depend on” are automatic scholarships - any YOU have to make sure that you properly meet all the requirements… meet school app deadline, meet any scholarship deadlines, make sure all high school transcripts, and test scores are sent ontime. You don’t want to lose an automatic scholarship by not getting an important piece of the process. </p>

<p>That said…you also don’t want to lose a scholarship by not maintaining your GPA once you are in school.</p>

<p>What are your stats - GPA and test scores… If your stats are high enough, you might be able to get some automatic scholarships at various colleges.</p>

<p>If a student is trying to fund a substantial part of their college education with scholarships, my recommendation is usually to pursue schools with merit scholarships rather than outside scholarships. This doesn’t mean you can’t do both to some extent, but outside scholarships (particularly the local ones) tend to be for relatively small amounts and are only usually only for the first year of college. In comparison, institutional scholarships are often for higher amounts and for all four years provided the student maintains a specified gpa. But unless they are automatic scholarships for SAT scores or the like, you need to do a lot of homework selecting the schools where you will be more likely to get a scholarship. It’s important to look at the number of each scholarship that a college gives and what the usual stats are for students who receive them. Sometimes these are listed clearly on the website, other times they are pretty vague.</p>

<p>See, that’s the problem. My first choice is Fordham, which costs about 50k, and they aren’t really known for having great financial aid. Right now, Fordham is way out of my price range, and I don’t forsee that changing anytime soon, so if I get admitted I’m looking at about 30-35k in loans (if I’m not awarded any scholarships). My financial safety is UMD: College Park (in-state), but if I am forced to go there, I know I won’t be happy. It’s hard to explain, but basically my whole high school career has been geared towards me going to college out-of-state. It would be severely depressing to have to spend another 2+ years here in MD, and most likely living at home. But then again, while I’m thoroughly in love with Fordham, going into that much debt scares me. Especially when I have plans of going to graduate school. I’m so confused!</p>

<p>My stats are 3.8 GPA(uw). SAT (1st time): 1980. Top 10%.
ACT, haven’t taken it yet, but I’ve been scoring 33ish on practice tests.
Parents usual income something like 120000, this year we’re bringing in half of that, 60k.</p>

<p>And I don’t think I’ve ever heard of “automatic scholarships”. I know Fordham has a Dean’s scholarship, which is something like 10k, but I’m not sure if it’s automatic.</p>

<p>Have your parents plug their numbers into one of the online financial aid calculators to find your family’s Expected Family Contribution. Once you know your EFC, you’ll have a better idea whether Fordham will be affordable. </p>

<p>Your family’s “usual” income is not relevant, although if your parents’ income returns to the $120K level next year, you will likely qualify for little, if any, need-based financial aid at most universities. </p>

<p>U-Md might be your best bet, and it’s not exactly a community college. </p>

<p>What sort of graduate program are you considering? Professional schools generally award little financial aid, but a good PhD program may be fully funded if your credentials are strong enough.</p>

<p>Our EFC was about 6-7k. My parents are thinking about selling our home and moving to a smaller one with less mortgage, so that they can put more money towards college for next year.</p>

<p>collegebound. I think in the back of Fordham’s Viewbook they present a few different scenarios for F/A. If your family’s EFC is that low, you would likely get some decent F/A.</p>

<p>The only “automatic” scholarship that I know of from Fordham is NMF (my son was offered one.) But, I don’t know if they still do that one.</p>

<p>“. My financial safety is UMD: College Park (in-state), but if I am forced to go there, I know I won’t be happy.”</p>

<p>That’s a decision you’re making. UMCP offers many wonderful opportunities – including opps to study abroad. Students who want to be happy can find ways of being so even if it’s not one of their top choices.</p>

<p>collegebound…</p>

<p>I’m not an expert on such things, but if your parents sell their home and buy cheaper, won’t they have to pay capital gains taxes if they “made money” on the sale of the first home and didn’t buy something more expensive (and they aren’t over a certain age)? Can anyone advise here??? I’m not sure.</p>

<p>collegebound >>> See, that’s the problem. My first choice is Fordham, which costs about 50k, and they aren’t really known for having great financial aid. Right now, Fordham is way out of my price range, and I don’t forsee that changing anytime soon, so if I get admitted I’m looking at about 30-35k in loans (if I’m not awarded any scholarships). My financial safety is UMD: College Park (in-state), but if I am forced to go there, I know I won’t be happy. It’s hard to explain, but basically my whole high school career has been geared towards me going to college out-of-state. It would be severely depressing to have to spend another 2+ years here in MD, and most likely living at home. But then again, while I’m thoroughly in love with Fordham, going into that much debt scares me. Especially when I have plans of going to graduate school. I’m so confused!</p>

<p>My stats are 3.8 GPA(uw). SAT (1st time): 1980. Top 10%.
ACT, haven’t taken it yet, but I’ve been scoring 33ish on practice tests.
Parents usual income something like 120000, this year we’re bringing in half of that, 60k.</p>

<p>And I don’t think I’ve ever heard of “automatic scholarships”. I know Fordham has a Dean’s scholarship, which is something like 10k, but I’m not sure if it’s automatic.<<<</p>

<hr>

<p>Are you a junior or senior? If you are a senior, when will you be taking the ACT?? Many colleges won’t accept scores after Oct, Nov, or Dec, to determine scholarships (each school is different). My son’s school won’t consider ACT after October test, and SAT after November test, for scholarship consideration.</p>

<p>If your practice ACT is around 33, that is MUCH, MUCH higher than your SAT of 1980 (which is equivalent to about an ACT 29). So, hopefully you are scheduled to take the ACT this Saturday (if not, you may be able to do a “stand by” - which allows you to pay “on-site” if someone doesn’t show up" and take the test. Check the website for details or call ACT tomorrow and ask.)</p>

<p>Automatic merit scholarships are not “competitive” - that means that if your stats meet the specified req’ts and you meet all the deadlines, you will automatically be awarded the specified scholarship. Some schools give “automatic scholarships”, but not many.</p>

<p>

Are you talking about $30-35K a year in loans? If so try plugging your loan amounts and interest rate into a loan calculator like the one at finaid.com
[FinAid</a> | Calculators | Loan Calculator](<a href=“http://www.finaid.org/calculators/loanpayments.phtml]FinAid”>http://www.finaid.org/calculators/loanpayments.phtml)
Don’t forget to factor in and compound any interest you will not be paying as you go along. You will probably find you will be a whole lot unhappier paying $1500 - $2000+ a month in loan payments for 10 years than you will be at UMD.</p>

<p>swimcat…</p>

<p>You make an EXCELLENT point…</p>

<p>I wonder how many people - once they start paying back their student loans - begin regretting attending the expensive school that they attended? </p>

<p>Can you imagine, month after month, year after year, just thinking to yourself… if I had ONLY gone to (fill in the blank State University), I could be buying a house now, or replacing my beat up car, or not feeling so poor all the time.</p>

<p>I know someone whose father won big bucks in the Irish Sweepstakes and split the proceeds among his kids. My friend used the money to attend GWU, which was his top choice college. Ten years after graduating, when he had a wife and kids and was struggling to buy a house, he told me what a stupid decision it was to use the money to go to GWU instead of choosing a cheaper college, and investing the rest of the proceeds.</p>

<p>With the thousands of colleges the U.S. has, one can find affordable, nice places to go to without mortgaging one’s future.</p>

<p>Exactly Northstarmom!</p>

<p>Thanks to everyone for the responses, I really appreciate it.</p>

<p>“That’s a decision you’re making. UMCP offers many wonderful opportunities – including opps to study abroad. Students who want to be happy can find ways of being so even if it’s not one of their top choices.”</p>

<p>I’m not saying College Park is a bad school at all! It’s more of the fact that I’ve practically grown up there; many of my friends and family attend CP, and my high school sends a good percentage of its grads there. Those factors are a turnoff for me. CP feels too much like “just a part of home”, and I’ve never really been able to picture myself going there, or even staying in Maryland, for the next four years. I’ve done a lot of research into Fordham and visited, and I just had that “aha!” feeling, like that was what I’m looking. I didn’t set out looking for the most expensive school, it’s just that out of all the schools I’ve looked at, I haven’t found a cheaper one I like more.</p>

<p>One problem I have with other schools, I guess, is my parents. They’re pretty strict as far as school goes, and they have and will refuse to allow me to apply to schools that don’t have high enough rankings (they call all other schools “mushroom schools” and throw away any mail I get from them before I can see them). But the schools they choose aren’t much different from 40-50k, so there’s a lot of contradiction there. And I’m not counting on a whole lot of merit money, so I’m pretty sure I’ll end up taking loans.</p>

<p>Jl50-I have no idea about the house thing. I just know that moving has been the topic of conversation for a few months now.</p>

<p>claremarie- I’m planning on going to law school. I wanted/want to do Fordham’s 3-3 program and go to their law school after 3 years of undergrad.</p>

<p>You still need to broaden your views of other colleges. Happiness really is a choice. </p>

<p>You can have some similar experiences inside Maryland that you can have outside of Maryland.</p>

<p>You don’t have to rely on college mailings to find out about colleges. You can do the research yourself, and even fund your own applications. I know students who did this and who managed to get merit aid to schools that met their criteria. </p>

<p>One student did this even though his prestige-impressed immigrant parents stopped talking to him when he insisted on applying to (and funding the apps) colleges that he felt met his needs.</p>

<p>He ended up getting virtually full financial aid from a college that was excellent in his field of choice. His parents wouldn’t even transport him there. Later, freshman year, however, they were talking to him. By the time he graduated, they hosted a graduatio party for him and his father publicly apologized for trying to keep his son from going to that college.</p>

<p>Son had excellent job offers, and has been a success in his field.</p>

<p>In college, because of the college’s connections, he also had managed to twice meet the president of the U.S., including once in an event that was televised. The S was in a small group of student journalists who were at a press conference.</p>

<p>The college was a second tier college, incidentally, a place where his mom had predicted, “You’ll never meet the movers and shakers of the world.”</p>

<p>Collegebound: I do think it is unrealistic to depend on scholarships, especially those outside a college or university. No matter how outstanding your qualifications, it is very competitive and never something anyone can count on. My own DS won a small scholarship only to se the entire program shut down by an NCAA ruling, so sometimes you can’t even count on a scholarship after you have won!
In my opinion, te best thing you can do is choose a good range of schools financially from safety to reach, then try your best to find and compete for any aid. Fordham is a great school, and it is easy to see how you might be so taken by it. But please don’t be short-sighted and reject UMCP or similar oppoortunities; you may qualify for great things there. Are there any schools in VA or PA which interest you? Above all, please be very wary of significant loan debt; it is a terrible trap for many. It seems to me your misgivings about in-state public schools are largely emotional and based on what you have thought in the past. Focus on the future with an open mind, and make choices on a practical level. Your education at UMCP would be as good as you work to make it, and you can find a way to be happy almost anywhere.</p>

<p>I haven’t really found any in VA that I’ve liked, but I did like/am applying to Bucknell and Penn State. </p>

<p>And all of my application fees so far have been waived.</p>

<p>Another reason I’m leaning towards FU is because their pre-law/law program is supposed to be stronger. I want to do a 3-3 program for law school, but I’m so confused. CP has one, but theirs is connected to University of Maryland or University of Baltimore’s School of Law. The average starting salary for grads of those schools is $59,443-$73,229. For those who graduate from Fordham, it’s $125,806. I’d love to be done with undergrad & law school in 6 years, but should I just let go of that idea and do 4 at UMD and then apply to Fordham Law? What do those numbers even mean for me? Should I even be worrying about this now, or just focus on getting into/choosing an undergrad school?</p>