<p>bartleby, you must have missed this:</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>…</p>
<p>You can go to a community college in almost every state. CA isn’t the only state with community colleges. This OP needs to explore that option.</p>
<p>Re: payment…I think I already posted this…Families are first on the payment list…then federally funded aid if the student qualifies for need based aid…then institutional funding (can be merit or need based or both…depends on the school…but if it’s MERIT…grades need to be at the very high end of accepted students). It is assumed that parents will chip in their contribution from past earnings (savings), current earnings (income) and future earnings (loans). </p>
<p>OP…you need to look for schools where you will be accepted. Right now, your list is ALL reaches for you. AND no…running isn’t probably going to take you over the top unless you are a highly recruited athlete. AND your list of schools is pricey unless you are a Massachusetts resident. BUT I think you would more likely get accepted at one of the other UMass branches. Amherst might be a reach for you if you are instate…it is definitely a reach if you are OOS.</p>
<p>Even Arizona State with a 90% acceptance rate is a reach?</p>
<p>BTW, I don’t live in Mass.</p>
<p>And also, I know someone who will be going to UMass in the fall, and their track times were worse (not by much) than mine, however he got about 12k to run at their school…so yeah.</p>
<p>Arizona State - closer to a match. 40% of last year freshman had SAT scores like yours. 25 percentile was 470, 75% was 600. 58% were in the top quarter of their high school graduating class. It looks as if their average met need runs about 63% remember again, this is need - what is over and above your family EFC (expected family contribution) not 63% of the total tuition, room, board, etc. Below is the Common Data Set for Arizona State from last fall’s cohort of students.
<a href=“http://uoia.asu.edu/files/common/Common_Data_Set_2008-2009.pdf[/url]”>http://uoia.asu.edu/files/common/Common_Data_Set_2008-2009.pdf</a></p>
<p>
UMass Amherst for OOS is around $31.5K/year. Even with a $12K scholarship, you are still looking at needing $20K/year. You will not be able to borrow this amount without cosigners, nor should you, as graduating with $80K+ in loans is a crushing load.</p>
<p>Also, you need to be a little wary about depending on an athletic scholarship. Track is an “equivalency” sport, which means the schools get 12.7 total “full-ride” scholarships (for men), which are divided amongst all the athletes on the track team however the coach wants (this number generally includes the cross-country team as well). So unless you are an Olympic-caliber athlete, you will at best get a partial scholarship. And you are not guaranteed to get the same amount every year - by the time you are a junior or senior you may wind up with your scholarship reduced or you may even lose your scholarship so the coach can recruit some hot-shot out of high school.</p>
<p>Mr. California, </p>
<p>If your instate public college isn’t very good, it might be an excellent place for you to get merit aid. See, merit aid is given to the top students for that specific college. Your grades/SATs are average. If you apply to a school with low SATs, they might want you enough to give you merit money. </p>
<p>Look, I really think you need to understand that you can’t do this without your parents. Most colleges need financial aid paperwork from your parents to consider you for <em>any</em> award-- even merit. So your first step is getting them to give you some numbers (income, $ in the bank, assets like property other than your home) so you can run the financial aid calculators. </p>
<p>Oh, and to answer your question, at the top private schools we looked at, about half the kids paid full price. YMMV</p>
<p>The other thing you need to understand is that most state colleges give most of their $ to instate students. So an out-of-state public isn’t likely to give you much $. A private school has the highest ‘sticker price’ but may be good for merit if you’re at the top of their application pool. I don’t think you’re at the top of the application pool at any of the private colleges you’re considering. </p>
<p>But, one step at a time. I don’t know your parents. They could just be mad at you and they could very well change their minds once they understand how everything works. So my best advice to you is to apply to one or two instate publics as back-up in case your parents insist they’ll give you very little $ and then apply to other places where you want to go. Talk to your parents and, if possible, explain the situation to your guidance counselor and ask him/her to talk to your parents also-- the sooner, the better so you can plan appropriately. </p>
<p>By the way, you are a good student. Since there is such a discrepancy between your grades and your SATs, you might want to look at schools that are SAT-optional (google fairtest).</p>
<p>Have you looked at any SUNY schools? If not, it would be worth a look. OOS costs are about $22K,which make them a real bargain for OOS kids compared to most other public systems. Many offer DI/II track (and scholarships), academics and facilities are generally good, and your scores/gpa are in line with most of the SUNY’s middle 50% range. You may be offered merit at some, especially if you can push your CR score up. Look/ask for the SUNY recommended for the program/general area you’re interested in studying - they tend to be individually strong in different fields.</p>
<p>Yes, I have looked at SUNY schools, however Binghamton and Stony Brook are probably the only two my parents would “allow” me to go, but both are out of my reach, and I was thinking about SUNY Cortland because they’re DIII Champs in cross country, however they don’t have a strong business field and since they’re DIII, they don’t give out athletic scholorships…which doesn’t help.</p>
<p>I also want to make something clear, my parents are willing to help, just not money wise. But they will do everything they can to help me go to a decent college, execpt they wont pay. I’ve talked to them a few times and sometime this week, probably this weekend, we’ll sit down and use one of the estimator thingys to figure out our EFC…I just want to say however our family income…I think is around 60k, but we live in a $750,000 house. </p>
<p>Before someone starts asking how that is possible, my parents came to the USA about 30 years ago and it has always been their dream to live in a house that we do today. They’ve been saving ever since they came to the US and just recently, about 2 years ago we moved in…so yeah.</p>
<p>And also just based soley on my SAT, I would have a lot of trouble just getting into any but a CC. I don’t want to be vain or anything, and I’m not here to argue, but I think Arizona State is more of a safety, buy again I’m not here to argue.</p>
<p>I come from a decent public school where about 10-15 kids each year attend an Ivy. And I also want to point out that my GPA is unweighted and not all my classes are the easy/regular ones.</p>
<p>So far I’ve taken:</p>
<p>9th Grade - 2 Honors classes (math, science)
10th Grade - 2 Honors classes (math, science)
11th Grade - 2 Honors classe (math, science), 1 AP (APUSH), 1 College Class (Spanish)</p>
<p>And in the fall I will be taking </p>
<p>12th grade - 1 AP (English), and 1 Honors (Global economics)</p>
<p>And in regards to notrichenough, (anyone can answer this I guess) if I’m able to get a cosigner would I be able to borrow 20k a year?</p>
<p>I know that will be 80k a after I graduate, but what’s usually the average debt a student has after 4 years? Is it based on the school, the type of school, the area? Is there like a general number? How long does that usually take to pay off?</p>
<p>Thanks everybody.</p>
<p>Average student debt is around $23,000 for the entire 4 years. $80,000 is much to high an amount of debt (you would be looking at $1000 plus a month in repayments). A cosigner is responsible for the debt if you do not pay it for any reason, so it is very unlikely that anyone but your parents would be willing to cosign for you. </p>
<p>With your parent income you may be eligible for some aid though it is probably a tad high for much in the way of federal grant aid. On FAFSA the house is not a reportable asset so will not affect your EFC. If any of the schools you are looking at require CSSprofile then you will have to report the net value on that. How they will treat the asset will vary from school to school.</p>
<p>Again I would recommend that you at least add some financial safeties (ones you can afford with less debt) to your list. Then when you have all your acceptances and financial aid offers in front of you, you will have choices. You may then discover that one of your first choices is a viable option for you. But you may not. If you do not even bother to apply to financial safeties then you may discover you cannot afford any of your options and it may be too late to apply elsewhere. At least give yourself that safety net.</p>
<p>“But they will do everything they can to help me go to a decent college, execpt they wont pay.”</p>
<p>What on earth other kind of help do they plan to give you? Moral support?! For heaven’s sake! While parents are not duty-bound to assist their students in paying for college, they are in effect horribly naive to think that someone else (eg. the school, the federal government, the student working sufficient hours while attending full time) can or should carry ALL the higher education costs while they live in their dream home unfazed by college bills. (Oh, but I can dream : ) </p>
<p>Post-secondary education is not a right, it’s an investment, and it takes all parties stepping up to the plate. You need to rally them around to this view in order to have a successful experience! Practice your persuasive arguments! Make the pitch that you’re a worthwhile investment and back it up with your actions. Or defer acceptance at a school you like, work for a year and save every penny while continuing to live at home, and then consider going. They might respect that approach sufficiently to assist you once you have some “skin in the game” as they say.
Good luck.</p>
<p>Well I mean like they’ll drive me around if I need to do volunteer work, or visit colleges, or help me out with all the financial work, income taxes, and whatever, stuff like that.</p>
<p>I think eveyone here has been saying this, but I think swimcatsmom hit it home for me.</p>
<p>I do need to find a couple of financial safeties. I don’t know it’s hard to think about it, because to me all the financial safety schools are the state schools, CC, or like Tier 3 schools.</p>
<p>And kmccrindle, I never thought about college like that, but you’re right, it is an investment. However I think it’s too late to do anything regarding persuading them into doing anything financially meaningful.</p>
<p>For the past I don’t know, 5/6 years, even when I was in middle school my parents were buying me SAT books, and other stuff to help me get ready for this, but I’m not going to get into my SAT scores and whatever.</p>
<p>But also living at home won’t be an option, because well I’m moving out as soon as I turn 18. I have a very stiff/almost 2 face relationship with my parents. Even when I was in 9th and 10th grade, we would get into arguements (totally uncollege/education related), but it always turned out to end in something along the lines of them: “well you’re not getting any money for college”. Me : “I know, I won’t ask you either.” I guess now, knowing the situation I wouldn’t have said that, but thats too late.</p>
<p>Like I said, we would get into the stupidest know education related arugments, and they always say something like you’re moving out when your 18 whether you like it or not. </p>
<p>Well I turn 18 in November of my freshmen in college year, meaning I start college when I’m 17, so as long as I go to college I will be fine.</p>
<p>I don’t know, a lot of this stuff I have to set straight with my parents, but I appreciated everyones help.</p>
<p>The problem with the type of loan you are thinking (private with a co-signer) is that there is no guarantee that you could get $20,000 each and every year. That is $80,000 total minimum. That is alot of money. Really. Your co-signers would have to be very credit-worthy and the debt payment would make a horrendous situation post-graduation if that were added to $20,000 of Stafford loans. You really must understand that as parents we would never want to see our kids crippled like this. Secondly, yes, Arizona State is a “good one” to have on your list with your grades and test scores. You are statistically like many, many kids going off to college. There are many, many colleges and universities that would accept you. The kids that get into the no-loan/all grant type schools are at the very tippy, top academically and score statistically. You started the thread saying you would get no financial help, so we are all reacting to that. The value of your parents home for financial aid purpuses will be the market value of the home if they sold it tomorrow minus what they owe on it. The FAFSA focuses primarily on savings and investments, the schools that have supplements or require the profile will also use the value of your parents home. (remember what it’s worth minus what is owed). For perspective, we will not allow our kids to graduate with more than the Staffords or roughly $20-25,000. They will, I’m sure, be “hating” that for several years, but they will have to forgo a new car and have a roommate for awhile no doubt to pay that off. As you work on getting to your estimated EFC this weekend ask if you have questions. Remember, too, when you use the calculators if they refer to “federal” method they are talking about the FAFSA and if they refer to “institutional” they are referring to those schools that use Profile or supplements. Sometimes the numbers are similar and sometimes they are not so don’t panic if the numbers aren’t the same, just keep in mind what that means to the schools you are interested in. When the fall comes my best advice is to know that you would be happy at all the schools on your list and make sure you have at least one that you know is affordable for you and your family.</p>
<p>mr. california…so let me get this correct. In addition to paying for college costs (wherever you end up going), you are also planning to rent an apartment, pay the utilities, food, and other associated costs of living. </p>
<p>Where do you plan to get the money for all of these expenses? Looking for the money to fund college is daunting enough. Living expenses are an additional financial burden.</p>
<p>Personally, I think you need to sit down and seriously evaluate your current finances AND your long term goals. Set some priorities, and figure out how YOU are going to finance them. </p>
<p>If your parents are willing to help you financially at all…even if it’s living at home which would be much less costly than an apartment or dorm…the perhaps you should consider some compromise and do this.</p>
<p>Thumper1, honestly I have no idea. I really didn’t think about all of this until a few weeks ago, and now I’m just trying to fit everything together.</p>
<p>But I should have ask this earlier but the 35k for Northeastern:</p>
<p>[College</a> Search - Northeastern University - NU - Cost & Financial Aid](<a href=“College Search - BigFuture | College Board”>College Search - BigFuture | College Board)</p>
<p>that includes room and board correct?</p>
<p>Because I always thought the answer was yes, and since I would be able to get a job (either work study or something else) and get some money that way.</p>
<p>But another question. How many students (first year freshmen), have a job in college?</p>
<p>Blahhh, all this reality is setting innnnnn.</p>
<p>Edit: Another quick question.</p>
<p>How much ideally (I know zero but,) is a good amount that should be coming from the parents/student. Meaning like NY is 35k, and for some magical reason I get 25k in loans/scholorships, then 10k would be left for me and my parents.</p>
<p>And if I some how even more magically persuaded my parents into paying 10k a year, would that be ideal?</p>
<p>I don’t know, the question might be worded really awkward, so if it tell me so I can reword it.</p>
<p>No the room and board is listed under the tuition and is in addition to the $30+ But oh my gosh, they show $12,350 for room and board. Hope their dorms are 4-star hotel quality. As my parents would say “you’ve got champagne tastes on a beer budget.”</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>No - incorrect. Tuition is tuition only - does not include room & board or mandatory fees or books.</p>
<p>When you look at a college costs the cost for tuition is just for tuition (classes). There may also be mandatory fees (especially at State Us - the fees at my daughter’s state U are per credit per hour and are almost as much again as the tuition - private schools often have less in the way of mandatory fees - but of course the tuition is way higher). Other costs such as room and board are separate and in addition to tuition.</p>
<p>For instance Northeastern from their own website (best to use a schools own website as it is more up to date)</p>
<p>[Northeastern</a> University Undergraduate Admissions > Costs & Financial Aid > Tuition and Fees](<a href=“http://www.northeastern.edu/admissions/costs/tuition.html]Northeastern”>http://www.northeastern.edu/admissions/costs/tuition.html)</p>
<p>Tuition $34,950
Fees $762
room and board $11,910
Travel/misc $1,800
books $1000</p>
<p>giving a total of $50,422</p>
<p>Of these costs the tuition/fees/room and board (if you are on campus - freshmen often are required to live on campus) are direct costs with the school without much, if any flexibility. The travel/misc will vary by student. Books can be lower or higher depending on your major (science majors tend to have very expensive books) and whether you are able to find good used books.</p>
<p>momofthreeboys…it’s Boston…it’s expensive real estate. </p>
<p>mr. california, your parents will be expected to make a contribution to your education. If you run one of the financial aid calculators you will get a GUESSTIMATE of that amount. View that guess as the MINIMUM your family would be expected to pay as many schools have a gap between the financial aid and cost of attendance.</p>
<p>The private schools in Boston will cost you upward of $40,000 a year to attend. I do not believe ANY of them is less expensive and some are closer to $50K. </p>
<p>You really need to look at costs. You need to look at the likelihood of being accepted given your grades and standardized test scores.</p>
<p>You need to understand that the college bills need to be paid…and there is no tuition/room/board fairy out there.</p>
<p>Yes…many freshmen have jobs…but my guess is few of them are earning enough money to fund a private school education and room and board…or an out of state tuition bill and room and board.</p>
<p>You need to be REALISTIC. Please try to be.</p>
<p>If room and board isn’t included, then where does that money come from?</p>
<p>Can you use loans/scholorships/grants or whatever?</p>
<p>And I’m trying to be realistic, I guess I didn’t know what the reality was before so it was hard, but I don’t know.</p>