<p>At the very least I would suggest you change your picture. I would think that there is a good chance that someone you or your dad knows is on CC. I highly doubt that your parents would want everyone to know their financial picture.</p>
<p>I also wanted to say that even though we paid a bit over 5k for my last semester, I think it would have been $15k for the overall school year. The reason we paid less was because I was able to get more aid (loans) since I left Knox early. At Knox, I was taking out $7,500 in loans per year in federal direct subsidized, unsubsidized, and perkins. Goucher did not offer me a Federal Perkins Loan like Knox did. </p>
<p>So, how I see it is if Goucher wants 20k from my family then my dad can pay 15k and I’ll take the 5k in private loans, but I’m not even sure how much debt I’ll be in when I graduate because at Knox it would have been 30k, but not sure how much debt Goucher will put me in. If Goucher wants more than 20k then that will be a problem. I only have two years left of college. I want to just finish my degree and move on at this point, not transfer again. When I go abroad to Australia, financial aid will cover it and I also get a voucher for the flight. My dad already told me he isn’t paying Grad school as my younger brother will be starting college in a year, and he has to worry about him.</p>
<p>I did talk to my father about taking out Parent Plus Loans, but he won’t do it of course and neither will my mother. I think my father would cosign. I don’t remember needing a cosign for my federal loans. I do think 5k would be worst cast scenario if Goucher wants 20k a year. If they want more then that, I feel as though I may be screwed. I’ll do everything in my power not to transfer again. I haven’t found that Goucher has merit scholarships for current students. Maybe it’s more of a state school thing? I could always look for outside scholarships, but it’s probably a bit late applying for those, and I know those can decrease your overall financial aid package. I could also aways ask my nana for help if I am in dire need because then maybe she’d be willing to help.</p>
<p>Just because someone asks it doesn’t mean you have to tell them . . .</p>
<p>Well, it should be known that those weren’t exact numbers, but approximations just to give everyone an idea in the difference. </p>
<p>Nonetheless . . . as imprudent as it is to overshare about yourself, oversharing about your parents’ finances and/or siblings (or kids for some of us) doesn’t seem fair to them. CC parents often withhold “critical” information about their kids to protect privacy and those who don’t are often reminded that it would be a good idea to dial back the information.</p>
<p>So, someone just sent an e-mail to my father with this link and a past thread I wrote? And said you might want to have a talk with your son for “over-sharing”. I’ve told my father in the past I’ve used CC. You have no right to e-mail my dad without consulting me first. Who do you think you are? That’s beyond rude and going into my personal business. I guess there is a reason I stopped using CC. I would have no problem telling my dad what I wrote on CC. It’s no secret…And then sending him a thread that’s from 2011? Let me remind you guys, I was told that I had a learning disorder just because I did poorly on the SAT. I was also told state schools were my only option and I wouldn’t get in elsewhere, boy did I prove you guys wrong! After getting a 3.6 at Knox (along with being on the Dean’s List) and a 3.5 at Goucher, I have proven that I have what it takes to do well in college.</p>
<p>I remember when I first started using CC in 2009. There were posters who asked where in the Metro Atlanta area I lived. I wouldn’t tell them and they told me “we aren’t going to hurt you”. Yet I was trying to protect my privacy, but CC users did not care. However, five years later, when someone asks me how much my father makes and I give you guys an estimate then I’m told I’m giving too much info. I’m sorry that I cannot please each and every one of you. I either give too much or too little, but I only got into finances in this thread because of Erin Dad’s comments. I should have left it off all together because I knew this would turn into a bashing thread instead of Fire’s post (which was in the minority) about how he/she is glad I’m doing well in college!! This thread was merely supposed to be a update, that’s all. </p>
<p>OP, someone really over stepped by sending your dad an email. That’s just not the right thing to do. I can only hope that they already knew you and your dad and that they weren’t some random stranger. 
</p>
<p>No clue who sent an email, but if you want, you can send the email address to the mods and let them look into it. Whoever did it seems to be making a point.</p>
<p>early_college, you might want to get the name of the person who sent the email to your father and report them to one of the site moderators. I think that was totally inappropriate, and I wonder if it violates CC terms of service. I would be furious if something like that happened to me. </p>
<p>I’m not sure why your posts tend to rile people so much. I think it’s partly because you are consistent in replying. In many threads, when the OP gets hammered they tend to vanish, never to comment again. Whereas you are feisty and reply, and sometimes get defensive in the process (not that I blame you, because you have gotten some very negative comments over the years). </p>
<p>I’ve been following you from the start – I still remember your initial plans to go to Bard College at Simon’s Rock. I think you’ve gotten some good advice on CC, and some really bad advice. I found your experience at Knox really interesting – I have a friend whose kid goes to Kenyon and is absolutely hating it, very much like you hated Knox. This kid is working on transferring, too – I wish they’d acted as quickly as you did, because they’ve been miserable for two years.</p>
<p>early_college, I’m so sorry someone emailed your father. That really is outrageous. You have every right to be angry about that. Good luck at Goucher. Be careful in taking on too much debt. Goucher does sound like a better fit for you than Knox was so hope everything works out for you, including the finances.</p>
<p>This is what the e-mail said:</p>
<p>"Subject: Oversharing</p>
<p><a href=“Update - Parent Cafe - College Confidential Forums”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parent-cafe/1662319-update-p1.html</a></p>
<p><a href=“Did atrocious on the SAT; SAT Optional Suggestions? - Parents Forum - College Confidential Forums”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/1085497-did-atrocious-on-the-sat-sat-optional-suggestions-p1.html</a></p>
<p>You might want to have a talk with your son unless you’re comfortable with your personal financial situation being broadcast on the internet…."</p>
<p>No, I have no idea who this person is. They were 100% a stranger. Obviously they were following my story for years though if they e-mailed my dad something from 2011. I don’t even see how something from 2011 is relevant in this situation. I was a 17 years old back then, and I am now 20. I can see how this would be a bigger problem since I was a minor back then, but I am a legal adult now (and have been for two years). It is very frustrating because this site is called “College CONFIDENTIAL” for a reason…</p>
<p>I don’t mind if people know who I am, but I do mind if people contact my dad when it wasn’t their place to do so. CCers found out my last name due to an article Knox posted in which I was interviewed. It had to do with meeting Knox peers on Facebook and how everyone knew who I was prior to attending Knox. Then there was also the Survivor audition tape, in which a lot of CCers viewed, although I have deleted the video from the internet, but I have applied three more times since then, and Jeff Probst, the host of Survivor, actually commented that I am really like-able (after watching my second audition video), but he didn’t think I had enough life experience being only 18 almost 19 at the time.</p>
<p>I think if you gave their email to a moderator they may be able to track the CC’er down.</p>
<p>I would second the suggestion to pass the email address to a moderator. Emailing your dad was completely inappropriate. </p>
<p>And I’ll note that for many people income is a matter of public record. It is for me and my husband. So if one of my kids posted our income on here it wouldn’t be anything that isn’t already out there. And I would be really taken aback if someone emailed me about it. </p>
<p>I don’t get why somebody did that, you had already posted it and it was out there for better or worse. I hope they can track it down but I would assume whoever did it probably created an email account just for that.</p>
<p>I forwarded the email and the sender’s email address to an administrator. It looks like a throw-away email address, though.</p>
<p>I just PMed two mods (not sure how else I would report it), and I was told they’re looking into it. I don’t know how much they will be able to do though if this user does not use the same e-mail address on CC. It may take some time for them to figure this out though.</p>
<p>Fireandtrain: I have a love and hate relationship with CC. In all honesty, if it wasn’t for CC I probably wouldn’t have applied to Knox or Wheaton or any of the other CTCL’s. I applied to 17 colleges (mostly CTCL’s or similar like institutions in the Northeast/Midwest), and I got accepted to all the schools I applied to except Holy Cross and Hobart in which I got wait-listed to both universities. I did get denied to one college in GA though (deferred first), but overall I had over an 82% acceptance rate. I only got rejected by one school. I think it just shows though that just because one has bad SAT scores does not mean they’re deemed to a state school. BTW I have nothing against state universities, but having just taken three summer classes at one, it was NOT a good academic fit.</p>
<p>Do not get me wrong though because Knox is a great school academically. I loved the trimesters, the open curriculum, and my professors. It was just a very bad social fit. I honestly really do feel like I was more academically challenged at Knox, and I did better at the school (not by much though a 3.6 isn’t much better than a 3.5…although I had a higher GPA my first two trimesters at Knox). Goucher has a lot of core requirements which I do not like, looking back now a school like Grinnell, Amherst, or Brown would have fit what I was looking for academically (even though I wouldn’t have been able to get into any of those schools). If I could have Knox’s academics with Goucher’s social life then it would have been the perfect school. I really do think I’m more of an East Coast person as both my parents are from New York, and I lived in South Florida ten years prior to moving to the Metro Atlanta area. However, it’s still a bit weird going to a school with a bunch of rich kids (not that there is anything wrong with that), but sometimes I feel a little out of place when people talk about how their going to Europe again this summer LOL. When I went to France, it was my Christmas and birthday gift, and my parents have never even been to Europe before. I also saved a lot of my own money to go. I just feel a lot of the kids are privileged as am I, but it’s to a different degree in my eyes.</p>
<p>Also, last summer I posted a similar thread about financial aid. I was worried because my dad did make more money, Knox’s tuition increased, and I had no idea how much my aid would change. Well my dad only ended up having to pay 2k more (well not really since I withdrew mid-year & transferred) for my sophomore year. We did look at a special circumstance form though. Everything worked itself out. As I’ve talked to calmom before, she really understands that every year I will have to worry about my financial aid package and if the college will be affordable. It’s because my dad is self employed, so his income is never the same year after year. I think it’s way too amateur to tell me to start applying to Georgia state schools when I do not even have a package yet. I was told the same thing last year, and we were able to afford Knox fine. It really irks me though when people tell me I was trying to transfer to another unaffordable school when, in fact, Goucher was about the same price as Knox this past semester. So a lot of this arguing is kind of pointless when this was supposed to be more of a update…I knew I shouldn’t have included that last financial paragraph! </p>
<p>I have gotten defensive in the past, but that was only because I was told I wasn’t going to go to a good school academically because of my SAT scores. I didn’t apply to Goucher in the first process because they didn’t give merit aid if you didn’t submit your SAT scores. Yes, I probably should have chosen Wheaton (MA) over Knox, but I have no regrets in choosing Knox to begin with because I feel like I’ve grown as a person because of what I had to go through. Just because I researched colleges since I was 13 meant nothing. I am so glad I withdrew mid-term because that’s what I needed to do. I was never going to be like your Kenyon friend and wait until the end of the term because I probably would have told myself it would have gotten better. And yes I wanted to go to Simon’s Rock from the time I was 14, but that all changed when I learned from CC that Simon’s Rock wasn’t for me. It was more so for kids who weren’t academically challenged in high school, and I just wanted to skip high school and go to college. I’ve actually met two Simon’s Rock kids who were both my roommates friends. One goes to UMD-Baltimore and the other goes to the New School in NYC.</p>
<p>Transferring wise I didn’t even look at the process the same way. I only applied to three schools, and I wasn’t sure if everything would work out. Even my local state school’s deadline had passed. My backup plan was to apply to UGA for summer 2014 if Goucher, Guilford, or New College didn’t work out. My dad really wanted me to apply to more colleges, but I was exhausted after applying to just those three. Having to get transcripts and profiles from my high school and Knox was very hard when I didn’t attend either school anymore, but everything worked itself out thankfully just like I’m hoping it will this financial issue (like it did last year). I am just very scared it will be too much because I cannot transfer again. I will do everything in my power not to. I don’t want to take out too many loans, but I’ll have no problem taking out an additional 5k in private loans at Goucher in order to stay there. </p>
<p>One of my best friends at Goucher transferred from Hampshire, and since they don’t have formal grades, a lot of her classes didn’t transfer. And I know one girl who transferred from U Tampa and she is a freshman now credits wise when she should be a junior. I’m very lucky all my credits transferred, but Knox and Goucher are both similar institutions. I love Goucher because there is just so much more to offer internship wise and post-graduation and just overall more to do in the area. I’m not surrounded by cornfields, but I’m surrounded by hundreds of thousands of people in the metro area which I prefer. </p>
<p>
“Amateur” isn’t the word for it, it’s inappropriate and bad advice which comes from someone who does not have your best interests at heart. If, as you suggested, a shortage in financial aid means that you have to take a $5,000 private loan – the loan makes the most sense. Private loans & higher interest are not a good thing, but no one ever went broke over a $5,000 debt. Another option if the ultimate problem is the father’s fluctuating income would be to consider a gap year, or just a semester off to earn some money. But given that there are only two more years of college, the equation is very different than when you started. Even if you lost the entire Goucher need-based grant for the coming year, that’s less than a $14,000 short fall – so you aren’t one of those NYU wannabe’s contemplating $100K of debt. Your dad has told you he thinks he can manage $20K-- so if you do the math the amount you will need to pay, worst case scenario, isn’t that daunting. </p>
<p>I think it’s a mistake to look at this as an issue of needing to stick to the same budget that you had in mind when starting at Knox. Rather, you got the help you needed when your father’s income was lower - you will still have a number you can work with for the coming year, that will be higher but only because your father has had a good year. If your father doesn’t do as well financially the coming year, then you’ll get a more generous award senior year – and if he does do well, that’s better for him even if it means one more year of a stretch to put you through college. And again, once your brother starts college, your FAFSA EFC will come down. My d’s LAC looked at the actual COA for my son the year that both kids where in college – so it was less than the total FAFSA reduction because my son’s public university tuition was only about $3000-- but the grant at the LAC was essentially raised to cover my son’s entire tuition. </p>
<p>So again: just take things as they come. Don’t even think about transferring or dropping out – you are on the home stretch. </p>
<p>Am I right in assuming that when you graduate, you’ve got guaranteed employment working for your dad if you want it? I’m also assuming that it you’d much rather do something else – but it seems to me that at least you have a fall back to get by until you find your preferred job. </p>
<p>Also, keep in mind even though I may have to take a 5k or more private loan this next school year then I may have to do the same senior year. However, keep in mind we have no idea what my father will make in 2014 as even in January of this year he had no idea he made so much more in 2013 than 2012. Also, when I’m a senior my younger brother is a freshmen, so I wonder if I can put his college’s tuition in the FASFA, so that may help? I still plan on filling out the special judgement form even though it didn’t work last year. Goucher has told me they’ll work with me to make it affordable, as I am sure they don’t want to lose the money we’re paying to go there. However, I will do whatever it takes to go back, but I already hate I’ll be in 30k in debt when I graduate, I do not want to be over 50k in debt when I’m a theatre and women studies double major…not exactly the highest paying fields. </p>
<p>Yes, I’m pretty sure I can get a job with my dad’s healthcare recruiting business if I cannot find anything else. However, I’m not interested in the healthcare industry and he hires independent contractors, so it is commission based only. However he still pays for all the job boards and whatnot which cost him 30k in business expenses for everything (not just that). There are people who work for him in which it takes 3 months just to make one placement and it takes 90 days just to get the money from the hospital. So if I want to live by myself and I don’t make any placements, I wouldn’t be able to afford rent and to pay off those college loans. I’ve also thought about going to L.A to try the acting thing out, while working for my dad because his job gives me the flexibility to go on auditions. Obviously becoming famous isn’t realistic, but I’ve thought about auditioning for a couple years and if it doesn’t work out then move on. </p>
<p>I am hoping that if I intern at the Human Rights Campaign Senior year then they may offer me a job, and I can live in Silver Spring and commute to DC or work for another nonprofit or if I do move to LA start as a casting assistant for CBS let’s say and work my way up.</p>
<p>Here are a couple grad programs I’m interested in, but I don’t know if I’ll be able to afford them right out of college:</p>
<p><a href=“Master of Entertainment Industry Management | Great Stories Need Great Leaders | Carnegie Mellon University's Heinz College”>Master of Entertainment Industry Management | Great Stories Need Great Leaders | Carnegie Mellon University's Heinz College;
<a href=“Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Program | Columbian College of Arts & Sciences | The George Washington University”>Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Program | Columbian College of Arts & Sciences | The George Washington University;
<a href=“https://gender.ceu.hu”>https://gender.ceu.hu</a> (could get a full ride for a masters in Gender Studies and will live in Budapest).</p>
<p>I really love CMU because I get to go to LA my second year and intern and network, but also both this program and GW’s are VERY expensive and you have to take the GRE–and I’m not the best test taker as we know!</p>
<p>early_college, I’d like to make a suggestion. Try typing your posts out in a Word document before you post them. Read them and decide if there’s too much information there. Edit it, read it again, and then post. </p>
<p>Yes, I’m surprised that you keep oversharing, early_college, even after you have been warned that it’s not wise. It is the poster’s responsibility to keep information private. CC does not edit or delete posts on request. We get MANY requests a day to do so!</p>