Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
It is not an urban legend that you can apply for scholarships that is free money. It is out there. Again you have scholarships ( some you have to pay into ) that can lead to money for college. Again I am not talking about FASA or Loans.
It is not free money when you take a loan out and use the government to cover the loan. Some ugly fat old hen calls it a win win for her daughter.
it is not free money when you take a federal loan out that gets passed to a collections agency that attempts to lock you into paying an increasing debt. It is still a loan.
FASA is like our SSI, or even Medical-coverage. You are entitled to it. It is an option for you to use and you should take that option if given the opportunity. Does not mean you should live in fear and take the option when your not ready to study. You should take it on when you feel the time is right. The government or entity is fueling itself using money on you for a cause that promotes capitalism in non-for-profit organizations..
Most ordinary families are making 6 figure incomes. Median family income is somewhere around the $60K range. Right where the FAFSA curve starts turning against you.
Average household income is around 80k.
And even with 60k it should be extremely easy to have a few 10ks saved as emergency fund.
I can see you've never gone through the financial aid process. The awards are very subjective. A college might be looking for certain types of students. YOUR students could have a 4.0 and still not qualify. Either that, or yours was one of the lucky ones.
You may need to put on your glasses, then, because what you are seeing is not reality. I have gone through the financial aid process as a student and have also taught at two different universities. My niece went through the process last year as well. She was accepted to 3 schools that provide all grant-based financial aid and two that don't (they were backup schools). According to their documentation, they don't consider anything else other than need to determine financial aid.
Luck has nothing to do with it. She was prepared for college.
There's dozens of decent schools that provide substantial financial aid packages:
It is not an urban legend that you can apply for scholarships that is free money. It is out there. Again you have scholarships ( some you have to pay into ) that can lead to money for college. Again I am not talking about FASA or Loans.
It is not free money when you take a loan out and use the government to cover the loan. Some ugly fat old hen calls it a win win for her daughter.
it is not free money when you take a federal loan out that gets passed to a collections agency that attempts to lock you into paying an increasing debt. It is still a loan.
FASA is like our SSI, or even Medical-coverage. You are entitled to it. It is an option for you to use and you should take that option if given the opportunity. Does not mean you should live in fear and take the option when your not ready to study. You should take it on when you feel the time is right. The government or entity is fueling itself using money on you for a cause that promotes capitalism in non-for-profit organizations..
The bold sounds pretty crooked to me!
Quote:
Originally Posted by tnff
You're missing a few points. First, it's not just tuition, but other expenses as well (room & board, books, fees for everything, etc). Actual cost could be anywhere from 50% greater to double tuition. I suppose for some students in some places there are good universities close to home that happen to offer the needed degree program so they could stay at home. But not for lots of people in large parts of the country. Second, and this is a big driver, college costs have been going up extremely fast over the last 20 years. That $15K today will be $30K to $40K in 18 years when the kid starts college. All these numbers get worse if they head to a private college or out of state. You can't assume the local University of Tech State University will have the degree program or get accepted there. And here's the kicker. If you manage to save for your kid's college, the FAFSA formula counts that against you. Whereas purchasing that bigger house and saving less actually works in your favor in FAFSA.
It doesn't work that way for either the military, nor scholarships. There really aren't that many full rides out there, regardless that so and so in church knows someone who knows someone's nephew that got one. And here's another dirty FAFSA secret. Doesn't matter if you as the parent help the child pay or college or not. The FAFSA assumes your money is available and bases aid on what they think you could pay, not what you actually do.
The greatest of these is room and board, and that is something that you will be paying no matter whether you are going to college or not. You have to have housing and food. Now a kid can live at home for virtually no additional cost to his/her parents, but food is a person by person expense. If you go away to one of these vaunted "trade schools" you will pay R&B also. If you get a job at McDonald's and you're sick of living with your parents and go rent an apartment you'll pay R&B. If you move in with a boyfriend/girlfriend/partner/roommate, you'll pay R&B.
ETA: Even if your kid lives at home and attends CC or a trade school, s/he is likely to need a car, which for some reason many parents have no compunction about taking out a loan for. I don't understand that, when they won't take out a loan or even give their kid money, for college.
Agreed. I've heard of people whose friend's kids got "full ride" sports scholarships at DIII schools, that don't even give sports scholarships.
Quote:
Originally Posted by tnff
The really struggling families don't have the game the system. It's already rigged in their favor. And those in the higher income bracket can afford the cost. The ones most hurt are those in the middle -- earn too much to get financial aid but don't earn enough to pay for it themselves.
Most ordinary families are making 6 figure incomes. Median family income is somewhere around the $60K range. Right where the FAFSA curve starts turning against you.
ETA: Forgot to put in my reply to this. Except for those in the very top %, say the top 5% or so, college is hard to afford.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Oldgorilla
You may need to put on your glasses, then, because what you are seeing is not reality. I have gone through the financial aid process as a student and have also taught at two different universities. My niece went through the process last year as well. She was accepted to 3 schools that provide all grant-based financial aid and two that don't (they were backup schools). According to their documentation, they don't consider anything else other than need to determine financial aid.
Luck has nothing to do with it. She was prepared for college.
There's dozens of decent schools that provide substantial financial aid packages:
Not how it worked for my kids, their spouses, their friends, my friends' kids, etc, most of whom now have advanced degrees, so they're not the slacker class.
Your list of "dozens" is actually 45 schools, less than 4 dozen in the whole US, many (not all) small. Some of them require a family income of as low as $40K.
I will say that teaching at a university doesn't mean you know how the financial aid process works. I've worked at several hospitals, but I don't know how the financial part of a hospitalization works.
Last edited by Katarina Witt; 12-23-2019 at 11:37 AM..
I will say that teaching at a university doesn't mean you know how the financial aid process works. I've worked at several hospitals, but I don't know how the financial part of a hospitalization works.
You missed the part about where I said I've personally gone through the financial aid process?
Your list of "dozens" is actually 45 schools, less than 4 dozen in the whole US, many (not all) small. Some of them require a family income of as low as $40K.
One of them requires an income as low as $40k. 17 of them around $160k and a few more in the low 6 figures.
This is just a lit of no-loan schools. There's plenty of other schools that provide substantial financial aid.
Not how it worked for my kids, their spouses, their friends, my friends' kids, etc, most of whom now have advanced degrees, so they're not the slacker class.
It depends on when they attended. If they attended in the last 20 years, did they apply to any of these schools (particularly the ones on the top list)?
You missed the part about where I said I've personally gone through the financial aid process?
Well, so have I and most of my friends.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Oldgorilla
One of them requires an income as low as $40k. 17 of them around $160k and a few more in the low 6 figures.
This is just a lit of no-loan schools. There's plenty of other schools that provide substantial financial aid.
Where do you see these 17 schools with $160K? Document!
From your link: "If you apply for financial aid and are assessed as having financial need, you won’t be required to take out any loans to meet that need. . . we’ve included the yearly family income threshold below which the no-loan policy applies where it’s available. . . Keep in mind that policies can change; more and more schools are instituting or broadening no-loan policies, but occasionally these policies will become more restrictive over time, as happened with Cornell a few years ago." It also says students may be required to work, and that special circumstances may make one's personal financial aid situation more complicated.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Oldgorilla
It depends on when they attended. If they attended in the last 20 years, did they apply to any of these schools (particularly the ones on the top list)?
Yes. In fact, one attended one of them, and his sister attended another, I believe. My husband attended one on the second list. They had a policy even then of meeting your financial need, but they decided what it was.
Where do you see these 17 schools with $160K? Document!
From your link: "If you apply for financial aid and are assessed as having financial need, you won’t be required to take out any loans to meet that need. . . we’ve included the yearly family income threshold below which the no-loan policy applies where it’s available. . . Keep in mind that policies can change; more and more schools are instituting or broadening no-loan policies, but occasionally these policies will become more restrictive over time, as happened with Cornell a few years ago." It also says students may be required to work, and that special circumstances may make one's personal financial aid situation more complicated.
$160k is a bit high., so I'm not sure where he's getting that number. At $160k parental income, the family would be expected to contribute about $15,000/year to attend these schools (including all tuition, fees, room & boarding). The 17 schools are the ones at the top list. This is well documented on their financial aid pages... just run the numbers yourself. Did you even check out the schools own websites before asking for documentation?
$100k seems to be the cutoff for most of these schools.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
