College for kids graduating high school

[JL25and3]

You lucky bastid.

Completely. I can't pretend I earned it on the basis of busting my butt for, well, much of anything.

[penfold]

Completely. I can't pretend I earned it on the basis of busting my butt for, well, much of anything.

I am amused by your honesty.

I can't imagine how hard it is to get into schools these days. Both the hubby and I are convinced that we'd never get into our alma maters if we had to apply today.

[GiambiRocks]

Wow, I might need to talk to you, Teri. Not that College of NJ is going to be the school she goes to but if so, tuition etc is about 40k/35K. What scholarship other than a merit did your daughter get?

She got a large scholarship through our religious denomination, her high school p.t.a., Rotary Club, Masonic Lodge plus departmental awards. Feel free to p.m. me for my phone number if you have any questions.

Also just got a phone call from her, she found out this morning that she is graduating with high honors. (I'm one proud mama!)

[4bronxbombers]

She got a large scholarship through our religious denomination, her high school p.t.a., Rotary Club, Masonic Lodge plus departmental awards. Feel free to p.m. me for my phone number if you have any questions.

Also just got a phone call from her, she found out this morning that she is graduating with high honors. (I'm one proud mama!)

Congratulations!

[35Knucklecurve]

She got a large scholarship through our religious denomination, her high school p.t.a., Rotary Club, Masonic Lodge plus departmental awards. Feel free to p.m. me for my phone number if you have any questions.

Also just got a phone call from her, she found out this morning that she is graduating with high honors. (I'm one proud mama!)

You should be one, proud mama. That's wonderful.

BTW, Vicki - she's right. Scholarships, scholarships, scholarhships! That's always one of the areas I mention to parents. Sometimes you have to dig, but it's well worth it.

[Bernforever51]

go to ucf or fsu

[mentalgidget]

Check out this site to get an idea of the student loan debts associated with various colleges.
http://projectonstudentdebt.org/state_by_state-data.php

You can select a state and then scroll through every school within that state to see stats on avg. student loan debt upon graduation.

It also re-affirms those who praise the value of an Ivy league education.
Avg stduent loan debt for a Harvard grad = $10,000, Yale = $9,000, Princeton = $5,000

The take away from this site... 3rd and 4th tier Private liberal arts colleges** (Ivy's being 1st tier, Amherst, Williams, Middlebury, etc. being 2nd tier) HAVE to change their models because their grads have ridiculous debt

**One of which I am an alumnus of, and another of which I work at

[krystl]

Maybe someone here can help. My daughter goes to a CUNY school. The tuition is very reasonable and the TAP makes it barely anything. The housing, OTOH, is expensive ($16k for a 9 month term, which covers fall, winter and spring). Thank goodness she has a college fund but it won't cover the rest of the time till she graduates. The fee is only housing, she still has to pay for food and books, obviously.

Seeing as commuting is out of the question, she has to live down there (her school is in Brooklyn). So she is in student housing that covers the many schools in the area. It's a nice area, so renting an apartment would be out of the question and I don't want her in a shadier area just to save money.

Recently she read on the housing's website that it is possible to get financial aid for the housing. She needed to talk to her school. So she went to the financial aid office and they said yes, she could possibly get aid for the housing. After being shuffled from office to office for almost an hour, the woman handed her a brochure for the housing she is in now. When she clarified that she was already living there, and that she wanted to know about financial aid covering the housing, they said "Oh, no, we don't have aid for that".

I'm really confused. Is there someone else we need to talk to?

[35Knucklecurve]

krystal - This is the first I've heard of financial aid for off-campus housing but that doesn't mean it's not out there. Maybe the person she asked in the first place assumed she meant on-campus housing - I'm assuming that's what she meant since financial aid does cover it.

This site lists just about any type of aid that's available:

http://www.finaid.org/otheraid/

[krystl]

krystal - This is the first I've heard of financial aid for off-campus housing but that doesn't mean it's not out there. Maybe the person she asked in the first place assumed she meant on-campus housing - I'm assuming that's what she meant since financial aid does cover it.

This site lists just about any type of aid that's available:

http://www.finaid.org/otheraid/

Thanks, I'll check out that link. I doubt they meant on campus housing, because most of these schools don't have on campus housing.

[krystl]

Here is the Q&A that I saw on the housing's website:

Q.
Can I use financial aid to pay for EHS housing?
A.
You can speak with your school when applying for financial aid, and let them know that you will need funds for living expenses. Since financial aid is typically paid to you directly, it is up to you to determine how you would like to use those funds.

I have been awarded TAP before (NY State aid) but it is paid directly to the school, then I just pay the balance of the tuition. What financial aid gets paid to the student and not the school? FAFSA? I haven't gotten that before.

[NJ Fan]

Here is the Q&A that I saw on the housing's website:


I have been awarded TAP before (NY State aid) but it is paid directly to the school, then I just pay the balance of the tuition. What financial aid gets paid to the student and not the school? FAFSA? I haven't gotten that before.

FAFSA isn't money... it's just the application: Free Application for Federal Student Aid.
If you mean a Pell Grant, that is paid to the school as well, I believe.
Student Loans can be for the "cost of attendance," which can include housing, books, transportation, food, and that can get packaged with the tuition, if I am not mistaken.

[fredgmuggs]

My youngest kid went to a Catholic high school that likes to pat their back on the amount of scholarship money they get awarded to their graduating seniors. The only thing is they take the cumulative amount from each student - for example, if a kid was accepted by 5 schools and each school awarded him/her "X' amount of scholarship dollars they would use that amount towards their total. I always thought that was just a bit disingenuous because you only go to one school and get to use the scholarship money from that one school. Counting unused scholarship money was just puffery making their total look good.

[krystl]

FAFSA isn't money... it's just the application: Free Application for Federal Student Aid.
If you mean a Pell Grant, that is paid to the school as well, I believe.
Student Loans can be for the "cost of attendance," which can include housing, books, transportation, food, and that can get packaged with the tuition, if I am not mistaken.

Ok, so there is no Federal aid other than a Pell Grant? We have only received TAP before, although I did fill out the FAFSA. It never really mattered how much we got because she went to community college and now a CUNY. But the housing is costly, so I'm trying to find out if there are other options.

I'd rather stay away from loans. I really don't want her starting out life owing money.

[4bronxbombers]

My youngest kid went to a Catholic high school that likes to pat their back on the amount of scholarship money they get awarded to their graduating seniors. The only thing is they take the cumulative amount from each student - for example, if a kid was accepted by 5 schools and each school awarded him/her "X' amount of scholarship dollars they would use that amount towards their total. I always thought that was just a bit disingenuous because you only go to one school and get to use the scholarship money from that one school. Counting unused scholarship money was just puffery making their total look good.

The Catholic School in our town does the same thing. Everyone has their number, except kool-aid drinking parents who send their kids there and the kids of course. It's hilarious.

[__starr69]

Ok, so there is no Federal aid other than a Pell Grant? We have only received TAP before, although I did fill out the FAFSA. It never really mattered how much we got because she went to community college and now a CUNY. But the housing is costly, so I'm trying to find out if there are other options.

I'd rather stay away from loans. I really don't want her starting out life owing money.

PELL (federal) and TAP (NYS) are the only government grants. She could try for CUNY, school, and third-party scholarships. Other than that, it's loans or out of pocket, unless you're low-income.

All state and federal grants and loans are used to pay the school tuition, fees, and any school-affiliated housing first. If there is any remaining after all that is paid, it goes to the student. You may or may not get a bookstore voucher first, depending on the school.

I don't know where your daughter is staying, or which CUNY school she goes to, but you can do a lot better than $1700+/month, even if it includes a meal plan. You'll have to do a careful evaluation of how much you're willing to spend, how far away you want her to be, consider roommates, and a bunch of other things, all of which will be time-consuming but you should be able to cut her housing costs in half if you make sacrifices. PM me if you want more advice, I have plenty of experience in financial aid, and renting.

[krystl]

Thanks, PM sent!

[Jersey Yankee]

Maybe someone here can help. My daughter goes to a CUNY school. The tuition is very reasonable and the TAP makes it barely anything. The housing, OTOH, is expensive ($16k for a 9 month term, which covers fall, winter and spring). Thank goodness she has a college fund but it won't cover the rest of the time till she graduates. The fee is only housing, she still has to pay for food and books, obviously.

Seeing as commuting is out of the question, she has to live down there (her school is in Brooklyn). So she is in student housing that covers the many schools in the area. It's a nice area, so renting an apartment would be out of the question and I don't want her in a shadier area just to save money.

Recently she read on the housing's website that it is possible to get financial aid for the housing. She needed to talk to her school. So she went to the financial aid office and they said yes, she could possibly get aid for the housing. After being shuffled from office to office for almost an hour, the woman handed her a brochure for the housing she is in now. When she clarified that she was already living there, and that she wanted to know about financial aid covering the housing, they said "Oh, no, we don't have aid for that".

I'm really confused. Is there someone else we need to talk to?

Ask the financial aid office what kinds of housing that is offered, and compare those prices to what your daughter is currently paying, including room size, number of roommates (if applicable), etc.

If that's in the downtown area that we discuss in the menu thread, then see if the real estate agents have any sweet deals. It was around 1994 or so when I made my deal, but there were several college students in my building and next door. Even if they pay a broker's fee of, say, $1,000, if they can get rent for less than $1,000, it may be had.

Also, have her check out the local papers (Brooklyn Paper, the various Courier papers in Brooklyn (both print and online)), and also go to restaurants (there are countless along the main street) and see what kind of cut-out flyers they have for apartments. She may need to go with someone to avoid some shady characters, but if she finds a great deal, it may be worth it.