My parents just told me they haven't saved up any money for college despite making $300k+ (HS junior, intended communications/journalism major)

Paying for College
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University is academically challenging, and often has a LOT of homework. As such a one hour commute in each direction is a long commute. You also need a predictable commute since classes start at a precise time, and if you are late you will miss part of the class (not a good idea and not a way to take best advantage of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity). Rush hour traffic for example could deliver some unfortunate surprises for a university student on their way to an exam.

I know that people working a regular job sometimes have a one hour commute each way. However, university really is more time consuming that most jobs, so it is not the same thing.

Maybe you should see whether your guidance counselor would be willing to say this to your parents. Some preparation with just you and the guidance counselor might be needed before you bring your parents in.

One daughter is by the way currently studying for a PhD at a university that is about one hour from here. We never even considered having her live at home. She lives very close to the university.

Of course if we knew your home state it might also help us suggest out of state schools, and maybe (?) out of state schools that have some sort of tuition deal with nearby states.

I have by the way heard that the University of Maine can be relatively reasonably priced for out of state students. I am not sure how it would be for your major or what the cost would be for you however.

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With the words you are using, and I hope it’s from emotion, but you should find a counselor or parent or someone you can speak with. There are people here who can try and give you ideas but not when you use the words that you are. Please find some help via a therapist, your school, another parent, etc.

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If you major in business or marketing, you’ll have to take at least 1 or 2 courses covering economics. You might want to consider taking AP Macroeconomics or Microeconomics senior year, even though you hate economics with a passion, to possibly pass out of the intro subject & not have to spend time with taking it in college.

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I’m so sorry you are running up against this mindset. I see this often with high achieving African immigrant parents. Because college, even medical school, was likely free for them in their countries, they think that you should be able to get the same - and they’re always going to compare you to the high-flyer children in their community. I also get that you’ve got to get out of the house for your own mental health.

Do your parents intend to pay anything for college for you? You’ve got to be frank with them, got to ask them point blank what they will contribute, annually. Explain to them that the good private colleges will cost about 100K/yr, and don’t offer merit scholarships, and they make too much for you to get financial aid. That public schools in-state are going to cost (insert your in-state cost here), and that the best you’d possibly get at an out of state public would be maybe 45K/yr, at some of the less selective ones (I’m looking at UMass Amherst if you get their maximum OOS merit award), and maybe nothing at others, so maybe 65K/yr at OOS publics. If they balk, then ask them what they are willing and able to commit to paying annually for you for college - and if the answer is 20K/yr, and only if you study something they choose for you, that you would hate to study, then you’ve got your answer.

You can only borrow about 5500 for your first year of college, without your parents co-signing. And you cannot even get that if they won’t file a FAFSA. This is barely enough to cover community college, living at home, and working part time. And you clearly need better than community college (Cue the chorus of “our community college is so wonderful that how dare you say something so prejudiced against community colleges” - and yeah, it’s total BS).

If I were in your shoes, I would right this minute start prepping absolutely non-stop, totally intensively, for the PSAT. You’re a junior, and you’re probably taking the PSAT in a month, in-school. I’d get off the internet. Get off your phone. Get on something to prep you for the PSAT, like Khan academy, PSAT prep book, an Anki decks for PSAT, whatever is the latest and best thing for PSAT prep, and I would focus entirely on that, 24/7, with practice tests taken very frequently, self-corrected, and self-teach/review what you need. Also focus on the time taken for the test - it is very time pressured. The reason that I say this is that there are a few schools which still offer an automatic full free ride for NMSF/NMF. And that’s the only way that you are going to a decent school on a full ride, not dependent upon your parents filing a FAFSA for you, or co-signing loans for you, or doing anything for you. The best one is probably U Alabama. Yeah, it’s in the south. Yeah, it’s not an Ivy. But they offer a ton of majors, and a lot of NMFs have been taking them up on the offer, so there’s a cohort of really smart kids there. You can recover your schoolwork right after the PSAT - I mean, obviously, don’t let your grades drop if you can avoid it, but even if you were to get straight A’s this semester, it won’t get you a full ride, whereas NMF or NMSF status will.

You can worry about other solutions after the PSAT is over. It’s just too bad that you didn’t realize this before the summer - I suspect that with a summer of insane prep, you’d have had a better chance, but you can only look forward, not backwards. The thing about the PSAT is almost no one preps for it. Most people just consider it a gentle introduction to SAT testing. So for someone who is bright, and has the math and reading/grammar foundations, who is willing to prep really hard for it, it is definitely within reach to make NMSF.

Good luck to you! If NMSF doesn’t happen, there are other ways, but right now, forget about researching any of that and pour yourself body and soul into PSAT prep.

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Oof I don’t know if I can fit that into my schedule but you’re right. Which one do you recommend?

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Thank you! I spent the summer studying for the SAT, so in a way I did study for the PSAT. I got the chance to take the actual test last year and got 1400 with minimal studying, and I took a practice test a few days ago and got 1500. Yes, practice tests are easier than the real test, but I do know for a fact that I learned all the material on the PSAT in middle school. It’s only a matter of how fast I can answer the questions, which I’m good for in reading and almost good at in math. I have an SAT prep book rn actually, so I can use that to practice for both tests too!

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Right. I’m going to do that this spring!

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Microeconomics, which focuses on individual decision-makers, single markets, supply and demand, and pricing strategies, would be the better option for a future marketing major. Approximately 2/3 of test-takers pass either AP exam with a score of “3” or higher.

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OK - let’s cover a few things.

  1. You’re a Junior - you have time - but it may be time to discuss. The first thing I would do is take them through the NPCs for Penn and Yale because you like them. Note - I don’t see any path for you to get there, especially given you’re uncomfortable taking an econ class and you got a C in math, not to mention the SAT. But you can show them, even the most generous won’t make attending affordable. I put them below. They, not you, should fill out. Someone at $300K at an Ivy might get “some” aid - depending on assets. Perhaps they just need perspective.

  2. Most every school has an undecided major and most every school allows you to change. So what you go in as isn’t necessarily what you’ll finish. And given most major classes will be later, you will be well entrenched in school by the time you choose a major or if you change.

  3. Many schools don’t even allow you to choose a major until the end of the second year - so you’re not applying for a major.

  4. A major has little to do with what you do in life. I’m in the car industry - in relevant roles, I’ve worked with engineers, geologists, business majors, humanities majors, language majors, poli sci and more. I’m your parents worst nightmare - a Broadcast Journalism and History (because the schools required an additional major) and then an MBA in marketing. I’ve had engineers as sales VPs and there are English majors in the business world and probably Fortune 500 CEOs - so this is simply what you are studying, not running the rest of your life. But education opens doors - but something like Supply Chain Management might be a major you can get through that has great hiring prospects.

  5. There are likely majors you don’t know about that are inter disciplinary - so they cover many areas - from an International/Global Studies to Intelligence/Cyber Studies to a global area studies - like African Studies/European Studies/Black Studies to Public Affairs to Health Policy and more. So some of these will have some you like, and others you don’t.

But I think you’re too early for that - because initially you said your parents won’t pay and now you’re saying they won’t pay for what you want.

Many parents are like that but I’m not convinced your parents won’t help you but you also seem inflexible and you need to bend.

I’ll send you some idea in the PM now that I know your state.

Ole Miss is well known as a leader in English. It’s $45K direct costs, meaning tuition, room and board.

Right now you get $18K but get to 1420 on the SAT and you go to $20,790 off. They have a competitive scholarship app too - so there could be more.

But - they won’t pay for English. But what about Communications Science and Disorders, where you can work toward being an audiologist (like a health care provider). Or Management - which is less rigorous in business. Or Professional Sales - another softie. They have Psych and Public Policy Leadership, etc. But also undecided.

Maybe it’s too early - although I will tell you, some STEM majors do have better initial salaries. At the same time, others have lower salaries.

The big thing to me is - not everyone is cut out for every major. If my daughter majored in business or engineering, she’d have flunked out - so that’s another thing to think about.

But I think you start with them understanding the cost and also that you will qualify for merit, but that’s very different than full ride. But you do have in state schools. You could be close to home and never go home.

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This was probably mentioned upthread, but none of the Ivy League, MIT, Tufts or Stanford give ANY merit aid.

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For writerofwords’s reference…

Affording Penn

What Does Harvard Cost?

Yale Affordability

Joint Statement for Candidates on Common Ivy League Admission Procedure

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Would a Technical Writing degree work?

Texas Tech is one example - $36.5K is the out of state cost.

You get the $6K Presidential Scholarship - but that also comes with in-state tuition. So it’s $23.9K + $6K off.

So $18K. That’s today - don’t forget, you go in two years.

Texas Tech might be worth a look. I’m sure others in TX, OK, LA are too.

Here’s the page and you can go through and see classes.

But might this appease your parents - and still pacify you? Forget the classroom, you can minor or double major in another discipline - but you can join the student newspaper, magazine, radio - whatever. College is more than academics.

Writing, Design, and Technical Communication | Undergraduate Programs | Department of English | Texas Tech

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You did better than 93% of all recent test takers according to the College Board, and better than 97% of all h.s. students.

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Low end for Ivy or a full ride…

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Please, don’t just assume that the SAT prep book you have is the right thing. This is your best shot at independence and a full ride. Put your all into it, find out what the best way is to prep, and do it. You are scoring high enough that making NMSF score is a real possibility!

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These schools are an interesting dialectic, they are simultaneously the worst and best values depending on your EFC.

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Please do a chance me/match me thread and answer ALL of the prompts on it. Additionally, give folks an idea of where you would like to be.

I will say…many merit scholarships offered by the colleges are based on stats, not your ECs. So your GPA and SAT or ACT scores will matter. Not your ECs.

There are some merit scholarships that are awarded based on dedicated interest to specific fields…so for those, your ECs would matter.

As noted, the Ivies give zero merit aid, and thinking you can get an outside scholarship to cover $100,000 a year just isn’t going to happen.

You need to find out what your annual parent budget is for college. That is one of the questions on the chance me/match me template. Once folks here know that number, they can help you. Until that time…it’s a big guess.

ETA…the colleges you have on your list are only attainable if you can afford to attend…and that includes the ones you have listed as safety schools. If you can’t afford the costs to attend, these are not safety or likely schools.

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Good luck to you! NMF is a great opportunity for students who need it.

When the digital SAT first came out a couple years ago, it was offering 6 or 8 free practice tests in the blue book app. (Maybe there are more now?) My daughter was determined to do well on it, and she wanted to get it out of the way before marching band season ramped up in fall of her junior year. So spring of sophomore year, she took a full-length timed practice test every weekend, and then went back and learned how to do the questions she missed. She worked her way through all 6 or 8 tests. (You probably already know this, but these are free, and they score them for you immediately.)

She said the biggest help was learning how to use the provided Desmos calculator backwards and forwards – like watch YouTube videos on all the Desmos tips and tricks, because it can help you graph math problems that you might not otherwise know how to solve.

With just this prep, she was able to get a great score on the SAT that June, and then that fall took the PSAT at school and easily scored high enough for NMF.

You can do this! I second parentologist’s advice that this might be the answer you need.

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This! My C26 was one of those who took the psat cold, and didn’t even know how desmos worked. When they got to grips with it for the actual SAT they realized they could probably have got NMSF if they’d known how to use it then.

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This is great advice OP. Definitely study hard starting now. You can do it! NMSF weights the English score more than the math score which is great for you! But you have to do well on both sections. My kiddo had learned all the PSAT math in middle school also but that meant it really needed review.

It sounds like you have a difficult situation at home. If you can get your parents to look at a NPC that would be good. Having your counselor speak to your parents sooner than later would help. A guidance counselor at an high achieving STEM school probably has experience with parents like yours. And keep your end goal in mind. Try not to get polarized in the arguments with your parents, it just makes it harder for you to get what you want.

Having the NMSF was great for my kids. They didn’t end up at Alabama but it was a strong choice to have in their back pocket. Hop off here and get to studying! We are rooting for you :hugs:

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