Paying for TAMU with high EFC

lessonwitch2
Thu, 17 Aug 2017 16:45:40 +0000

@itsgettingreal17
While it is nice to consider alternatives, they come with an equal amount of downsides.

Like, how many schools will give scholarships that cover more then tuition based on merit alone? Not many unless you are an NMF. For a family with an EFC that exceed the cost of attendance this would make most schools completely unaffordable.

As far as transfering goes, nearly every school gives significantly less to people who transfer from a CC then incoming freshman because their is no way to know if the classes taken at the cc will accurately prepare them for upper level classes at the university. So the scholarship problem will remain apparent (this is mainly because if you attend a cc, you (ideally) should have enough time and resources to work enough to cover the cost of your tuition for the remainder of college.) But as times and prices have change, this option becomes less and less probable. I’ve met alot of people who turned down 8k or 10 k per year scholarships freshman year for a cc, and transfer back to receive absolutely nothing.

A commutable school is always a good option but not many people have options to commute to schools with nearly as many options as A&M. Not to mention how if you are living at home your cost of attendance will decrease which isn’t too helpful for a family with a very high efc.

And while that is true to note, its also nice to note that A&M has a really high 4 year graduation rate (52% i believe ) and the average student graduates with 26k in debt . Which is much lower then the national average of $37,172 . At A&M they at least give you the opprotunities to finance your education. Very few people graduate without recieving some awards though out their four years . However this Idea wouldn’t work in places like UT - Arlington since their continuing student award are very limited and nearly all require a component of financial need while their freshman award are generous and about half need based hand half merit.