<p>Well, I’m getting my information form Project on Student Debt, not the UC system, but it looks like this to me:</p>
<p>University of California (systemwide) $9,400</p>
<p>Anyway, Stafford loans add up to $5500 a year, and Perkins can add up to as much as $4000 per year. That’s where the $9400 figure comes from, I’m assuming. Anyways, a full Stafford load alone puts you at $22,000, and the full Perkins can put you up to $42,000. $22,000 for a UC education is great - don’t get me wrong. A $42,000 education for a low-income student is toxic (and certainly not very good for anyone).</p>
<p>Like I said, I am definitely gonna try Questbridge. However, I do know to not count on it, just as I know to not apply to only 1 or 2 schools with no back-up plan.</p>
<p>I know I mentioned that NYC is where I wanna be, but I am still considering other urban areas like LA or maybe SF. I just don’t know where else I can get the open campus thing that NYU has plus the opportunities of going to school in the city. I would like to major in communications. I live in central California and I would really really prefer to get as far from here as possible I am more than willing to work extremely hard for a good education.</p>
<p>Have you considered University of Alabama? It’s not a strong school at all rankings wise but it is trying to improve its stats by offering guaranteed scholarships for poor students. They main drawback is that it is in a highly urban environment, too similar to NYU, so if you want to avoid a school / campus with that kind of feel then Alabama might not be great for you, but otherwise it has strong academics and a well-regarded athletic injury programme among others.</p>
<p>*mom2collegekids, that looks like $5500 per year, which looks fine to me. As far as I’m concerned, loans = contribution. *</p>
<p>I agree…but it’s not $10k per year …so not a lot of debt like you thought. The student should have about $20-25k in debt at graduation - certainly no more than $30k. That is reasonable for a UC degree.</p>
<p>Have you considered University of Alabama? It’s not a strong school at all rankings wise</p>
<p>It’s a mid-tier school. Nothing wrong with that.</p>
<p>U of Alabama has a very traditional well defined college campus and is located in Tuscaloosa, AL, which is a great college <em>town</em> with a population of just under 100K. So how Bama is “in a highly urban environment” and is “too similar to NYU” escapes me.</p>
<p>Of course, the OP is wanting a highly urban area and a college with an urban campus that is well integrated into the surrounding city.</p>
<p>Maybe Bedouin means Bama is too unlike NYU for the OP?</p>
<p>I do agree with m2ck that Bama is a well respected mid-tier national U. For the right kid, it’s a great place to go, but you <em>won’t</em> be in a truly urban area if that’s a major priority.</p>
<p>Actually, U of Alabama is improving it’s stats by offering guaranteed scholarships to students with HIGH STATS…not by guaranteeing scholarships to low income students (although perhaps they do this also…Mom2 would know).</p>
<p>It’s always better to have more money, all other things equal, since it gives you more options. You can give away the money, quit the job, if you want to go “poor”, but moving into a higher income/asset level is not as easy. </p>
<p>When you are looking for money for college, there are usually two venues: merit awards and financial aid. They are not mutually exclusive. If you need to get money to go to school, you need to cast a wide net and investigate a number of different situations. A local state school where you can commute and work part time, for instance is a good safety option. NY state schools have reasonable tuition. If you qualify for the Pell grant under FAFSA, there is also TAP money from the state and subsidized loans that can cover all of your expenses if your family is at that level economically.</p>
<p>However, FAFSA as a rule only guarantees eligibility for the PELL and other grants at low EFC levels. What you and your family consider an acceptable family contribution may not be what the government or the schools think you should be paying. </p>
<p>If you can find schools where you are one of the top students, test score wise, and if they offer merit money, those are also a good source of funds. My son in college now did pretty well in the merit hunt by looking at schools where he was wanted as a male, east coaster, with high stats. Schools within several hours and popular choices did not offer a dime whereas school out west and schools with a 40% or less male population were definitely willing to discount their costs. You have to find a school that is seeking a student like you and will pay for you.</p>
<p>As for NYU, I do know kids who got great merit/aid comb packages from there. They needed very high stats, however and/or geographical diversity or something else to bring to the table. Two of our friends from the midwest have kids who got their most generous package from NYU as they got merit within aid. Other schools of that caliber tended to offer either a small merit award or meet financial need. So it is possible that NYU could give you a good package. No reason not to include in on your list as long as you are covered by some other choices. and understand that, as a rule, NYU does not meet full need. It is one of the few top private schools that use FAFSA only to determine need, which can make a difference for some kids.</p>
<p>So check out a variety of choices and see what pans out for you. We were surprised with our kids as to what schools were willing to pay and which ones were not at all interested in coming up with a dime.</p>
I have never seen someone get so many things wrong trying to contribute to the future of high school and college students, and this is just a small sample. What state of alternate reality does Bedouin live in?</p>
<p>If your numbers make the cut, a school like Pitt may make your criteria. Or GW or Temple. Or UDenver, Loyola in Chicago. Providence College has some good merit awards as does Manhattan College. LOok for less competitive school in big cities.</p>
<p>Seattle U is located within Seattle if you have any interest in that area.
I applied there and didn’t get good aid, BUT if you have certain stats (gpa,SAT) they offer pretty good scholarships. The highest I think was $15,000 and that is just merit aid. They also promise to give the same amount of grants/scholarships for all four years. I didn’t have that great of stats so didn’t get much merit aid. But I think you might get good money from them if you qualify for the merit+need scholarships/grants. It is a really urban campus, idk about rankings though, but it’s a good school in a great area.</p>
<p>As cpt said, NYU can be affordable to some low-income students. Search for older posts by sueinphilly as her son is a student there and got a decent package several years ago…don’t remember if they were Pell eligible or not, but I think it was a combination of need and merit aid. Obviously, you’ll want to take both SAT/ACT and prep carefully to get your scores in the best category possible. You might want to pay for the score report for your upcoming SAT so you can see which areas to focus on over the summer.</p>
<p>Have you considered University of Alabama? It’s not a strong school at all rankings wise but it is trying to improve its stats by offering guaranteed scholarships for poor students. They main drawback is that it is in a highly urban environment, too similar to NYU, so if you want to avoid a school / campus with that kind of feel then Alabama might not be great for you,</p>
<p>How does Bodoiun get things wrong? Let me count the ways…</p>
<p>1) Bama gives its guaranteed scholarships by stats - Bama doesn’t ask for ANY income info. Those are the scholarships Bama gives to improve rankings.</p>
<p>2) It has some scholarships for low income, etc, but they’re not guaranteed. </p>
<p>3) Bama is in Tuscaloosa, which is not the least bit like New York City. T-town is a mid-sized suburban city. How could it possibly be like NYC? there’s nothing “urban” about it. LOL</p>
<p>4) It’s a top 50 public university. It has a tier 1 law school. It’s not some Podunk U.</p>
<p>Boston U is forthright on what it gives at certain SAT/ income levels. The OP can look at what he can expect there. Also, many of the Catholic schools are very good deals as they give merit money for good stats and many are in great city locations. My son got a an offer that was pretty much half the cost at Fordham U. Still left a hefty portion, but it made our budget requirements, and it would have been less of a financial stretch than the option he ended up taking. </p>
<p>NYU can be very generous to those student who have financial need and who are on their coveted list. But it’s a crapshoot as all of this is, and you need to diversify your “portfolio” of schools so that if certain categories do not pan out, you have other alternatives. Definitley have a financial safety in there, that is also an admissions safety.I insisted on one for each of our kids. They all applied to SUNY schools which we could afford, and to which they were pretty certain to be accepted.</p>
<p>Thanks so much for all of the suggestions and advice! I will definitely take everything you guys said into consideration. I really hope this whole college thing works out and that I won’t get screwed by every FA package I am offered. I have high hopes for NYU, but you definitely provided me with some very nice alternatives in case the FA doesn’t work out.</p>
I am more than willing to work extremely hard for a good education.</p>