Reply to FAFSA - is middle-class waste time applying?

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[quote=Anonymous]OP, I can relate but you had to know, you weren’t going to get much sympathy. But thats okay. Generally, there are solutions to every problem even of your own doing. I will be the first to admit we weren’t the best in terms of financial literacy, and not save as much as we could have for college with the benefit of hindsight. But dwelling on that does nothing for you so let’s get down to some answers and facts.

1. Always fill out the FAFSA. It costs you nothing to do so.

2. Whatever schools you all are interested in, just google the “name” of the school and “merit aid.” You will get direct links to the referenced school’s scholarships and merit aid page where you can get very specific information on the types of aid available and the stats (grades, SAT scores) needed to be eligible.

For instance, my son is a rising senior in public school. He is in the IB program, has a 3.8 unweighted gpa and 4.27 weighted gpa with a 1310 SAT (will take it a couple more times). He is also a track athlete and is getting recruited by some schools.

One division 1 private school that costs approximately $60k is interested in him and offers 31k in academic merit scholarships for incoming students with his stats. And if he hits certain times for track he can get up to another $22k. A few LAC have already informed him he could get $22k and $36k respectively for his grades alone. There are also other schools where he could get a full ride for academics alone not based on any financial need. But those are competitive but you have to be in it to win it.

Here are some schools that cost upwards of 70-80k but offer Merit aid to cut it in half:

Dickinson (PA)
Ursinus (PA)
Washington College (MD)
Lynchburg (VA)

Here are some that costs 50-60k but offer Merit to cut in half:

Stevenson (MD)
Mount St Marys (MD)

Here are some that offer full ride scholarships, they are HBCUs but you are not prevented from applying if you aren’t black

North Carolina A&T
Delaware State
Coppin State

And lastly there are vast number of private scholarships that could make up the difference if you get merit aid from those schools to begin with.

You have a pension, benefits and a TSP. You can take out Parent Plus Loans, you can pay it back from TSP or other means you may have or you can work 10 more years after they finish and get the loans forgiven via public service student loan forgiveness program, just make sure they are consolidated into the proper repayment plan to count.

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