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PLEASE HELP ME, as i have spent the whole day researching financial aid (FAFSAS and CSS etc), and I'm becoming very distressed AND I DONT WANT TO GET LOANS (minimal loans only <15000 dollars)

I don't know if I can afford a private school.

1) My dad is a dentist who makes about 100,000 dollars last year and this year. He is 57 years old. He opened up a private dental office last year which costs 120,000 dollars or so (he works for state during the day, and private office for 4 hours after that, hard day yes).

However, since this business is an asset (i think), but its doing bad (barely making ends mees for the office), its really a bad investment.

2) My dad is willing to pay up to 14,000 dollars for college each year, so I can go to a SUNY (state university of new york school). However, I have greater expectations for myself and I'm looking at several private colleges.

I can get into any of them easily but I don't know if I can afford the 30,000 dollar education.


These are my basic stats: 3.71/4.0 cumulative GPA, class rank 18/266 kids , AP Euro - 4, AP US - 4, AP Calculus AB - 5 and ALL honors classes (most challenging course load), 1250 SATs (will retake hope for at least 1350), 710 SAT II Chemistry score, clubs (speech and debate, key club, volunteering over 80 hours, spanish club, school newspaper, national honors society, cross country skiing, cross country running, etc, NO AWARDS OR RECOGNITION).

I will take sat iis in writing and math, and I expect to get 700s in math IC, and mid 600s in sat II writings.


These are the colleges i am applying to:

emory (georgia) (I WILL GO ONLY IF I CAN AFFORD IT)
furman (soth carolina).
SUNY geneseo (ny)
ohio wesleyan (Ohio).
the college of new jersey (new jersey).
case western reserve university (ohio).
villanova (pennsylvania).
university of mary washington (virginia).
university of richmond (virginia)

So if i get no financial aid (assuming that the 100,000 dollars will disqualify me for need-based and most FAFSAS aid), where can i get the remaining 15,000 dollars? Scholarships will only get me to 2,000-3,000 max, that's 12,000 or so... I'm so depressed I don't know what to do...

By Cyclingdad (Cyclingdad) on Saturday, September 25, 2004 - 10:16 am: Edit

Don't panic! With the information you've given, your Dad's EFC could BE $14,000, but I'm no expert, others here may have a better fix on it. The fact this he's willing to pay that much is great. With some merit aid, you could get out with minimal debt. Read more on these boards, the Parents board in particular for good information. Have you done a FAFSA model online? Go to the College Board site and check theirs out. With careful research, you can come up with many schools to apply to where you have a chance for merit aid to supplement what your Dad will pay.

By Jenskate1 (Jenskate1) on Saturday, September 25, 2004 - 05:35 pm: Edit

You should be looking at merit aid! Lots of schools give really good packages. Case gives a fair amount, richmond and rochester aren't bad either. There's lots of merit aid out there if you look for it.

By Pattykk (Pattykk) on Tuesday, September 28, 2004 - 06:05 pm: Edit

Take a look at the 2004 archives, the Parents' section, titled: Best Merit Aid from Where? There is a long list of schools that have given generous merit aid in the past. Look at the Princeton Review and find schools where you would be an above average applicant (higher SAT, etc.) Incidentally, Mary Washington is relatively inexpensive, even for out of state students. Look at Goucher too.

By Chauncey (Chauncey) on Wednesday, September 29, 2004 - 03:05 pm: Edit

Ohio Wesleyan has good merit aid! Also, consider Denison, which is nearby

By Kinshasa (Kinshasa) on Monday, October 04, 2004 - 05:24 pm: Edit

Look at Drew University in Madison, NJ. Excellent merit aid.