Dumb question, I know, but I want to make sure I’m making the best decisions for my future. So recently, I got zero financial aid from Boston University, despite the fact that I was eligible for a lot of financial aid (Zero EFC, los income, high SAT score, on-time completion of the CSS/FAFSA, etc.) Should I go to BU, my top choice, if I can’t afford it by myself out of pocket? My alternative is WPI (Worcester Polytechnic Institute), and MY financial aid is being appealed. I want to major in biomedical engineering. I’m a U.S Citizen, 1290 SAT, 3.53 GPA, zero EFC, etc). Any help would be greatly appreciated!
You cannot afford to go to BU with no FA. What other options do you have besides WPI?
The name of the school is not worth the finincial burden that is accompanied with it, go to the place where you can get your undergrad at the cheapest price possible
What can you afford?
Did you apply to schools in your state that are ABET accredited for bio engineering?
Average SAT score for BU admitted students for fall of 2018 is 1468, with average GPA of 3.7. They say needs based aid is a combination of financial need AND academic merit.
If you can afford WPI go there. It is a good engineering school.
If your EFC is zero, I have no idea how you intend to come up with either a co-signor or a Parent willing/Able to take on a Parent Plus loan. Not only can you not afford BU, I think you may be hard pressed to get the funding at all.
Go with the affordable option
WPI is a great school for your intended major. They have 95% freshman retention which is always a good sign. They are on a variety of lists as being very good return on investment, job/grad school placement, starting salaries, etc.
Go there!
You’re not eligible for a lot of financial aid. A FAFSA EFC of $0 makes you eligible for a ~$5900/year Pell Grant. Did you apply to any colleges in MA? Your in state publics are probably your best option. You can only borrow ~$5500/year, so unless you get merit your budget is ~$11k. You may need to take a gap year and apply to a new list of schools or start at a cc.
@mommdc ABET is not the best metric for good bioengineering.
For example, the Harvard bioengineering department doesn’t bother with it.
BU is not possible. You cannot go.
Wpi doesn’t meet need so it may not be possible either.
If it IS affordable (direct costs = 10k) then it’s an excellent university, better than BU for your chosen field.
If WPI doesn’t end up being 10k, you have three choices:
- a public university you can commute to
- any university that offered you a full tuition+fees scholarship
- the list of colleges that miscalculated yield (published in about a week).
What do you want to do with BME? Note that it’s the only engineering specialty that requires grad school -might you be able/willing to switch to civil engineering with an environmental concentration?
Agree with the above. If BU is unaffordable for four years, don’t go. And to me it looks like WPI is also unaffordable unless your package changes substantially upon review.
You need to understand that: 1) most people’s college decisions are based on affordability and 2) colleges are not obligated to provide enough funding to allow each accepted applicant to attend. It is up to the applicant to research affordable options, to run net price calculators to get an estimate of aid from colleges he/she applies to, to seek out schools where he/she might qualify for merit aid if that is needed etc. If you have no affordable options, look at the suggestions noted above by posters above.
Agree, neither seems affordable. The 0 Fafsa EFC suggests you don’t have enough in savings to pay the balance at WPI. The way aid us distributed, if you can’t pay off first semester, you may not be allowed to register for spring.
And that debt would affect transfer opportinities, too.
Mass has some sort of transfer proccedure, if you start at a community college. This info is a start
http://www.mass.edu/masstransfer/
If you cannot pay for the full first year, you might not be allowed to register for second semester. And, you will not be able to transfer anywhere until you have paid off the remainder of your bills owed to the first place. This means that you could find yourself trapped in a low-wage job for two or three or more years until the debt is settled and your transcript is released. At that point, because you will have some credits, most places will require you to apply as a transfer, and since transfer applicants usually don’t get anything other than need-based aid, you may well be in a worse situation than you are now.
Look at all of your acceptamces again. Are any of them affordable? If not, then you need to think seriously about taking a gap year while you track down a better set of options to apply to.
Is WPI affordable?
If you got zero aid from BU the first time around…they are not going to increase that to $60,000 a year…or more.
You MIGHT…repeat…might see a couple thousand dollars more from BU…like $2000 or $3000. But you are not going to see $60,000.
I asked this question on your other thread…what maximum financial aid were you expecting from Boston University?
Did you think this would get you a ton of financial aid at BU or WPI?
What is the “etc”?
You have a decent enough GPA and SAT score to get admitted to these schools…but it’s not high enough to garner merit aid at BU…and not high enough for significant merit aid at WPI.
The ONLY guaranteed aid a $0 EFC gets you is that $6000 Pell Grant, and a $5500 Loan…so $11500 in guaranteed aid.
Neither BU or WPI guarantee to meet full need for all accepted students.
As I see it…you have a few options.
- Do the community college route in Massachusetts with an eye on transferring to a MA public once you have completed your general ed courses. If you can commute to a CC, that $11,500 I referenced above should pay your tuition/fees/books.
- Take a gap year...and apply for fall 2019 admission to affordable four year colleges.
- Work full time and attend college part time...to pay for your college costs.
It sounds like you can’t afford either school. You’re going to need to re-think your college options. Private schools love to preach generosity, but most students end-up being disappointed when the tuition bill comes due. There’s the temptation to co-sign private loans, which they offer in abundance, but doing that would sabotage your future.
Please note the latest common data set (CDS) I could find on the BU and the WPI websites:
76.78% of WPI students have GPAs > 3.75 with AVG GPA of 3.86
35% of BU students have GPAs > 3.75 w AVG GPA of 3.62
BU accepts only 29% of their applicants and WPI accepts 49% of their applicants. Perhaps these numbers are being used incorrectly to judge competitiveness for admission and for FA.
Historically, STEM focused schools have long attracted a discerning pool of math, science and engineering applicants. This phenomenon is called “self-selection.” When weighing your options, you will have a better grasp of the competition if you look at the matriculating students in the latest matriculating class. Because of the self-selection process, University acceptance rates do not reflect the caliber of your competition.
WPI is not a backup for BU. If you prefer BU, that is where you should go. Go where you are most comfortable with your classmates, environment and program of study. Your grades and test scores are respectable and you should be very proud of them.
If FA is a problem you might look into the cooperative education programs. Both schools also have these programs. It takes five years to complete the programs. A good co-op match helps financially and academically.
If the CC route is your solution, contact the school of your choice and find out where the university has agreements for transfer.
This OP started a thread “I am eligible for the maximum amount of financial aid possible, but I received zero financial aid” here
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/2077622-i-am-eligible-for-the-maximum-amount-of-financial-aid-possible-but-i-received-zero-financial-aid-p1.html
He then started this new thread. I wonder why? :-?
Without more information, I don’t know how much help we can give to this OP.
This poster had a FAFSA EFC of $0 which certainly implies a lower income! He got NO need based institutional aid from BU. Even the Pell Grant Plus Direct Loan will only cover $11500 of the $72,000 coat of attendance.
Where do you suggest this student get the remaining $60,000 a year or so to attend BU? Even doing a coop program…this school is NOT affordable at all.
It’s nice to suggest that he go where he is most comfortable…but guess what…if he doesn’t pay the bills, he won’t be allowed to register for classes.
To @hafamama’s point, despite almost 50 responses in the two threads, OP has replied once. Granted, it’s only been a day, but we need more info before we can say more.
And I agree with thumper that OP simply doesn’t have the liberty to choose what he thinks he wants most.