How Does One Pay for College if they Never Saved for College?

[Anonymous]

Fill out the financial aid application form. Don't own a home or have a lot of savings or a good paying job - the worse off you are financially, the more financial aid your kid will get. Weigh your offers and take the best one for your kid and your family.
Make sure they get good grades and have at least one or two activities in which they are outstanding or become leaders of their fellow students. Participate in competitions in high school (debate, science project, music, service, whatever) - a few awards on the application won't hurt.
Don't be afraid for your kid to take out loans and take a PT student job - if someone told you that after grants and scholarships you could live on 9 thousand dollars a year with meals in a country club setting, wouldn't that sound like a good deal?
You may be surprised how much money you will be offered. Save the community college plan as an emergency backup. It's great that it is there but too many kids go off the rails in CC and their peer cohort will (probably) not be as inspiring.
Agree with pp if you have to choose between your retirement and college, choose retirement.

[Anonymous]

Military academies are free.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If by any chance your child is a great enough student and/or good enough athlete to be recruited -- the Ivies plus Stanford give incredible packages.

The Ivies do not give merit based scholarships.

And that is also true for most (all?) the private, top-tier colleges and universities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:all private schools (including the very expensive one where I teach) offer scholarships --both need-based and merit.

This is false. While, as a PP mentioned, most top-tier private schools offer handsome need-based packages, the top tier ones do not tend to offer merit-based scholarships. Many have healthy endowments, and following Harvard's lead, now offer all of their need-based financial aid in the form of grants, not loans.

[Anonymous]

The top tier colleges really don't give merit based aid. However many in the next tier down do. My dc was offered $15k/year from a SLAC this year - we did not apply for aid, fill out any forms, etc. A friend last year got $10k/year from a top tier state school (not their home state) also with no application or need. Some schools do try to use grants to attract students that presumably enhance their stats.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Ivies do not give merit based scholarships.

But several give a full ride to families with income under $100k. If the OP has $0 college savings maybe she falls under that income limit.

Ivies are not need-blind when it comes to admissions. The legacy students and children of the wealthy are given preference. Some people buy their kid a spot.
If you have no money, send your kid to study in Canada. Their private colleges have not shot up in price the way the American ones have.
Consider the option of studying in England or Australia. Look into universities in Europe that offer English language degrees

[Anonymous]

We have 0 college savings and DD received a $20,000 merit based scholarship plus $17k in grant aid for financial aid from a SLAC. She will borrow some and we will pay the rest.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:seriously? someone asks about how to pay for college and the suggestion is Ivies?

I'd go for 2 years at a community college, and then transfer to a "big" school. Classes are a lot less expensive, often smaller class sizes, and your student could work to pay for it, or do work/study or something. Then, when he or she transfers, they can take out loans for the more expensive university experience.

While it's possible to pay for school on student loans alone, it sucks to later be saddled with the debt as a young(ish) person just starting out.

Our former babysitter did that and it totally screwed her. Very few of the credits would transfer and she had to go to the new school for 3 years. The only way she could afford the "big" school was with an athletic scholarship, but she lost that her last year because she had been in college for too many semesters. While it sounds good in theory, you need to research it carefully.

I know it does work in the California system. You can go to CC for a few years and transfer in to the UC system if you get a certain gradepoint. I think people don't do that for financial reasons, though. I think it's people who can't get in to the UC system initially and they prove themselves in CC.

Northern Virginia Community College has agreeements with all VA state schools on credit transfers. It also has agreements with a couple of private local schools including Georgetown.
DS went this route for 1.5 years then transferred everything to JMU. You don't need to pay $50k/year for a college education. Hardly anyone does. Ironically, if you sweat and save to do so, you will.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Ivies do not give merit based scholarships.

But several give a full ride to families with income under $100k. If the OP has $0 college savings maybe she falls under that income limit.

Ivies are not need-blind when it comes to admissions. The legacy students and children of the wealthy are given preference. Some people buy their kid a spot.
If you have no money, send your kid to study in Canada. Their private colleges have not shot up in price the way the American ones have.
Consider the option of studying in England or Australia. Look into universities in Europe that offer English language degrees

There are much simpler and less expensive solutions. The exchange rate on the dollar will make room and board very expensive. Then there are the
transportation costs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The NoVa guaranteed admission program is incredible - "As a NOVA student, you are offered Guaranteed Admissions to a variety of four-year colleges and universities when you meet the requirements of the written Agreement between NOVA and that college. Be sure to read the Agreements carefully. These Agreements guarantee admission to a college or university but most do not guarantee admission to a specific program." Schools include UVa, William & Mary, Georgetown, George Washington, Virginia Tech, and more, both in-state and out-of-state. You have to be a Virginia resident, and attend a Virginia community college, and achieve high grades in the core subjects that most 1st and 2nd year students take anyway. This deal cannot be beat.

Great program. In American, education is cheap; prestige will bankrupt you.

[Anonymous]

My kid will do dual enrollment in HS. F those AP courses that may get you college credit. College classes are counted towards diploma. Imagine half of college done when u graduate HS. NOVA and FFX is the same level.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are much simpler and less expensive solutions. The exchange rate on the dollar will make room and board very expensive. Then there are the
transportation costs.

Room and board does not have to be at campus.
Part time job can pay for room and board

[Anonymous]

Apply to lots of schools to compare aid packages, and consider the size of the school's endowment when selecting where you apply. This was learned the hard way in my family. My parents did not save for college. They also had a particular financial situation - variable income (my father worked in finance but was unemployed for a longer period during my high school years - my mother worked as a teacher in a Catholic school - my parents were in arrears on their mortgage when I applied to college). I applied to both public and private schools. When the aid packages came in, the out of pocket for my freshman year was basically the same at all the schools where I was accepted. Difference was that at private schools, where tuition was much higher, a good portion of the package was grant in addition to loans. I had my heart set on Georgetown, so off I went.

During my freshman year, my father found a new job (upper middle class income). However, my parents were still in danger of losing the family home (note: one major problem we faced was that our family home in suburban NJ was worth "too much"). This is where we learned the value of a school's ENDOWMENT. Georgetown has a small endowment as compared to other top (comparable) private schools. I was in college in the middle of a recession, and the financial aid $ was just not there for everyone who needed it. My fin aid was cut back to Work-Study ONLY in my sophomore year. I managed to scrape through college by: a gift of $ from my grandmother; going abroad on a state school program my junior year (far cheaper than staying at Georgetown that year); and (literally) eating rice and beans/maximizing my income in any way I could during breaks and school/and running up $20K in credit card debt to pay for essentials like books & groceries. I managed to scrape through but there was more than one point where I was on the verge of transferring to public school.

When it was time for my brother to go to college, he focussed on schools with large endowments and generous fin aid. He went to Pomona college, took out some loans to do so, and had a truly terrific experience that did not include all the scraping by that i had to do.

And, btw, I generally do NOT agree with the advice you hear nowadays about going to community college for 2 years and then transferring. College is not just a credential. It's education. And there are serious differences in quality between community colleges and solid public and private 4-year institutions.

[Anonymous]

Thanks, pp. Great advice.

[Anonymous]

"You don't need to pay $50k/year for a college education. Hardly anyone does. Ironically, if you sweat and save to do so, you will.
"

Gosh, you make me sound stupid for "sweating and saving" instead of sitting at home eating bon bons. Some people are privileged to be able to pay and not ashamed to do so.