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Hey, I've posted around the other forums, but never around here. I'll admit that I am totally clueless about financial aid, except for the fact that I'll be needing it.

It's my senior year, and I go to a pretty small school (205 in my class) in the middle of suburban Ohio (what fun). I'm looking into highly selective schools to apply to. My SAT scores are all getting up in the right ranges to make my goal even more achievable.

Anyway...

My mother has been nagging me about pell grants.

We're pretty poor, but my dad makes about $55,000 a year. However, he's been unemployed for about over a year and a half during my early HS years. He's got a spotty record of being fired and such. He took all the money out of MY CD that was given to me when I was very young to support the family during his years of unemployment. We don't own our own house and my parents don't have anything really set aside for retirement. Despite his decent salary, he squanders money like crazy. Many things don't get paid because he wastes money so frivolously. Because of this, I haven't been able to get a car (I would have had enough if I still had my CD), and since I live a good distance from anything, I can't work. The financial problems in the family have really hindered my ability to get out and do things, but I do as many things and I can through the internet and at home. Any opportunity that I can do something after school or something (whenever time's right), I also take it. I hope colleges can look past my shorter list of things due to this.

So back to the pell grants or anything else that seems up my alley. Can anyone tell me if I am a good canidate for anything, hopefully?

Thanks.

By Northstarmom (Northstarmom) on Thursday, September 09, 2004 - 03:31 am: Edit

The first thing that you should do is to talk to your GC. Often state schools offer the best financial deals, particularly if you're a good student. If there are local colleges, they may give special scholarships and other consideration to local students.

Before deciding to apply to any school, take a very close look at its financial aid information on its web site.You need to apply to schools that either are state public schools (which probably have decent aid packages or low costs for in-state residents) or that guarantee to meet 100% of documented financial need.

Realize, however, that when school say that, the schools, not your parents, determine how much you need. The aid you get more than likely will include loans (sometimes huge ones), work study plus scholarships.

Since more than likely you will need a lot of financial aid, also look for schools that are "need blind" in admissions. That means that needing a lot of aid will not keep you from getting admitted.

If a school doesn't promise to meet 100% of financial need and such a school is clearly not something you can afford, don't bother to apply.If you get accepted, it would break your heart not to be able to go there because of the finances.

There also are many threads on scholarships and financial aid. They are on this board and in the parents' board. Take a look at all of them because there's lots of valuable info.

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By Jenniferpa (Jenniferpa) on Thursday, September 09, 2004 - 06:46 am: Edit

I would second Northstarmom's comments but I would also like to expand on a couple of her points. The first thing to remember is that the vast majority of schools will not take into account your father's past employment history, nor his spending pattern. What counts when these calculations are made is income and savings. Because of this, you may find that even at schools that meet 100% of need, and tend to use grants rather than loans, what the school is prepared to give you may in no way match your actual need. For this reason, I would strongly suggest that you look at schools that provide substantial merit money. I suspect from what you say that your parents will be unable to meet even a low EFC, which means that even if a school meets all your calculated need, you may be in the position of having to take out further loans just to meet you EFC. Only you know whether your parents would be willing to co-sign such loans: apart from Stafford loans, my understanding is that it can be difficult to get such loans without a co-signer.

I do not know what the requirements are for pell grants, but I suspect that your family income will make you ineligible for them. You might want to do an internet search for this information.

Make sure that when you make your applications that at least one school is both an academic AND financial safety.

By Emeraldkity4 (Emeraldkity4) on Thursday, September 09, 2004 - 09:15 am: Edit

even though you will prob be ineligible for Pell, colleges have own money to support students.
I suggest you look at schools that have merit as well as need based grants and loans.
Have been able to find many scholarships online?
try www.finaid.org and www.fastweb.com for more help.

Apply to several comparable schools because the aid package may look very different. What I mean is even at a school that meets 100% of need- one school might offer most of it in loans and workstudy, another may offer more grants.

By Momofthree (Momofthree) on Thursday, September 09, 2004 - 03:24 pm: Edit

Number 9
It might also help to keep in mind that financial aid offices take a variety of issues into consideration: savings of parents and student, number of dependents in the home, number of students in the family in college at any one time, age of the older parent, to name a few. You may be able to estimate your aid by going to www.finaid.org and clicking on the "calulators" link. There is also a lot of information about financial aid on that site. Good luck!!