I think colleges do a massive disservice by calling their need based financial aid “scholarships”. Your parents’ attitudes are EXTREMELY common. The vast majority of people think that students are receiving merit scholarships from schools that only offer need based financial aid. It perpetuates the utter confusion about where one can or should apply based on their budget. I’ve also heard of way, way, way too many low income students who won’t consider the extremely generous colleges as they think they’ll be too expensive.
I whole heartedly agree that sitting down with where they would like you go apply and walking through the need and potential merit and those universities would be useful. Even if they are not schools you want to attend, it will educate them and give you some idea if there is any parental contribution coming.
I’m also going to reiterate the post above about University of Maine. It was extremely generous with merit aid for my son and came in about $13,000 for full cost of attendance. There are generous merit schools outside of the south, but they’re harder to find, so beginning to research that now is a great idea.
One option that you may want to look into is H3SP at Howard. @ChangeTheGame had kids who took part in the STEM scholars program (the complement to this one). It covers either 75% or 100% of tuition, but all of room & board and offers a lot of opportunities.
I’m also going to put it out there that this may sometimes be implied by the parents of the kids receiving aid too because they don’t want to admit they are low income enough to be getting a full ride.
Hence the need to have them fill out the net price calculators. This will show them.
They can also show the verbiage on web pages as a supplement that state - we only give need aid. It’s many top schools.
But the NPCs for this type situation “may” help…I can’t speak for it.
But now we know - it may not be they won’t help - and there are low cost schools out there via merit or non merit.
But we know the intended major is also impacting. Would the right major free up money? That’s what we’d need to know to match the student - and if so, how much?
Howard also has general frosh scholarships, although they are somewhat vague on their amounts and what GPA and SAT/ACT scores qualify for each one: Grants, Scholarships and Other Opportunities | Howard University | Student Financial Services . It may be that the GPA and SAT/ACT scores are determined competitively each year or something (many years ago, they actually published a table listing specific scores for various scholarships, up to a full ride). This Reddit thread of anecdotes suggests that a full ride is a possibility.
I agree with this and media can reinforce it too. I see articles about students who “won a full scholarship” to Harvard which implies to most that it was an academic award and not a reflection on parents income (obviously a very smart kid to get into Harvard regardless..)
Realistically, for journalism, you probably want at least an introductory level background in many subjects that are topics of the news that journalists write about. These include economics, business, and political science, as well as other social sciences and sciences. Obviously, this does not require anything close to a major in such a subject.
@writerofwords – I would not put all my eggs in one basket. Raising your test scores to get a full ride at one of a few handful universities that offer full rides to NMF is one strategy, but it may or may not work out. If it’s so easy, everybody would do it. We all want to diet & exercise to lose ten pounds, but very few people actually achieve it.
I suggest you diversify your options. One option might be to have a dialog w/ your parents to develop better mutual understanding. Take time to listen to their concerns and convey a sense of respect for their point of view. Maybe over time, they will develop some respect for your point of view too; and gain some understanding about how financial aid works in the U.S.
Maybe you can suggest you & your parents attend college prep meetings at your h.s. together, where someone in a position of authority tells them how college admission and financial aid works, and that might sway them more than you telling them. And maybe some compromise can be worked out between you & your parents about your major (and a minor).
I hear what you’re saying, and yes, NMF is not possible for everyone. But with the initial SAT score OP mentioned, I thought it could be within her reach.
Also, when a student mentions that her mother is physically and mentally abusive, I didn’t think “have a dialog with your parents to reach a mutual understanding” was necessarily the right call.
She can always try to do that – but as a previous poster mentioned, the PSAT is happening within a few weeks, might as well try like heck to score high.
Yes, Desmos was very helpful when I took the test last month! I also took all of the official practice tests already…so I have to use less official websites now. Thank you
I somehow forgot to add that to my post, but I actually do have UMaine on my list for that exact reason! My parents aren’t keen on me attending it though because my grandfather went to New England for a Master’s in the 60s and experienced racism. I’ve been telling them that it’s been over half a century since then—society has progressed immensely—but they won’t budge. Hopefully the money will talk louder if I get accepted with that scholarship!
I’ll talk with them eventually. Mom is sick right now and neither parent would be willing to discuss this until spring, based on my attempted conversations with them.
Not sure if I mentioned it earlier, but I got 1400 on the PSAT last year, and my practice tests + studying suggests 1500. It definitely is within reach. I appreciate the encouragement :))
Then just do well in school. But your entire they won’t pay is premature because it doesn’t sound like it’s necessarily the case.
In the meantime, look at alternate majors like Technical Writing or find others - like STS that might be a compromise. And don’t forget - no matter what - you can practice your journalism. Tons of journalist have had zero journalist training.
Mom and dad are the bank. Work with them rather than antagonizing them. You’ll be better off.
There are many schools where STEM majors are required to take a lot of courses in the humanities— ie reading and writing. That could be one compromise. You get a science degree as your parents wish, and you still get lots of writing done so after college you can seek out roles that involve a lot of writing.
A more obvious way is to do a major in science and get a minor in some type of writing/journalism.
Or get your science degree then go to grad school in something else.
Many ways to skin a cat.
BTW if you genuinely believe you are being abused then that’s a whole nother issue. You must seek help from something other than an online college forum. There should be local services and trusted friends/family/teachers/clergy who can help. (PM me if you have trouble finding help).
It’s interesting - in many cases bio is a very low paying field. But you are saying they want med school. Few apply. Few get in. See this study of Vandy students. 2021-2023 apps and how many accepted. A school like UAB -20 of 159.
LSU 4 of 65 applicants over three years got in.
So getting into med school is very hard.
But know what?? You can major in anything and be pre med. I was looking at U of Kentucky med school earlier where 8 of 86 Vandy applicants got in over 3 years. They show majors of med school attendees - they have the following majors in addition to ones you’d expect - classics, math, music, music education, philosophy, psych, radiology (sort of a trade degree), Spanish Lit, etc. - so yeah, the bio/biochem, chem and neuroscience are most popular, but they had 35 majors represented.
But bio as a major - it’s great but here’s some examples of how it’s not great from a salary POV. Some will be pre med which is why - they might be in a lab on a gap year. But you just need the data to show the story, not the background.
UNC - grads earn $68.4k. Bio is 46.3k. This is 2024
UVA - 2025. $83k average. $52.5k is bio.
Bama - 2025. $65.4k avg. $45.4k bio
Cornell $89k. $51K for bio.
Purdue - $73.8K. $51.7K bio.
Oklahoma $63.7K. $44.8K bio.
U Kansas shows a 1-5 years after graduation of $64.6K. 6-10 years $82.2K. 11-20 $105.1K. Change to bio from all majors and its lower in all 3 time frames.
I don’t want to jinx myself this time though.