College financial aid?

There is no way to answer this question based on the information you provide.

The amount of aid you are eligible for is based on a complex calculation that is computed by a federal processing center when your FAFSA is submitted. The calculation considers your income, your parent/spouse income (depending on which applies), your family size, the number of people in college, all savings/assets, etc. From that calculation, you are given a number called an Expected Family Contribution and that is what your school uses to determine what types of aid and how much you qualify for.

Furthermore, the EFC is compared to your Cost of Attendance (COA) at your school to determine your eligibility for alternative types of aid, such as scholarships or federal student loans. Each school's COA is going to change because the cost of attending a particular school can change (i.e: it's much more expensive to attend a private university than a community college, so their COAs are going to be drastically different).

So, in short, your question is unanswerable. The only way to know what you might qualify for is to apply. If all else fails, you can take out a federal student loan, but even then you must still file a FAFSA in order to apply.

Hey Dude,

I'm glad to see that you're thinking about some of these nuts and bolts questions for college. I'm sure Miller has got you doing some stuff for this too. Ms. Kelly and I will try to make it down this spring, but we actually can't go to your graduation because Ms. Kelly is graduating from her master's program the same day.

It seems you've gotten some pretty good answers so far, so I'm mainly just try to add some financial perspective. Firstly, the best thing you can do is get the book of grants and scholarships and set up a calendar where you apply to one or two every week. It'll be weird at first, but it'll get easier as you go because they really all want the same bits of information.

A friend of mine, actually, Mr. Acosta's older brother, did that and he got more money in scholarships than tuition and fees at Rice. So he made about $6,000 on going to Rice. Frankly, the fact that you are latino helps you out.

Education is almost always worth it if you make good grades. It doesn't matter what you study so much because you're basically there to prove you can do something well. But doing that will increase your earning potential significantly. It also makes it so that you are employable in a wider range of fields in a wider range of places. You'll have more freedom to do what you want where you want.

The only major drawback to going into debt is that it kind of forces you to get a job when you get out. I didn't have much debt and, as a result, I was able to bum around a bit. I joined the Peace Corps and worked odd jobs for a while.

Financial aid is enormously complex and it depends on everything. But one tip is to make sure your parents have as much of their assets in retirement accounts. Financial aid calculations always discount those assets when determining how much a family can pay.

Tonybalongacheeseandmacaroni. Ms. Clements is getting married in April. We may come for a visit around then.

TTFN,

emeka

You'd probably have better luck talking directly to a financial aid advisor for this question. You may also want to think about funding your own tuition rather than taking out student loans. It is possible if you attend a state school, community college, or apply for and receive grants and scholarships. The student loan industry has turned into a nightmare and not being able to make minimum payments upon graduation (which can be very high) will put you into default. Defaulting on a student loan is awful because you don't have any bankruptcy rights and the student loan industry can come after you and your finances just as badly as the IRS can (bank levy, property, garnish wages including social security, etc). Think long and hard before taking out a student loan. http://www.studentloanjustice.org/

it depends on how many brothers and sisters you have. and how they file their income. If you are a only child, you probably won't get any aid. you will qualify for loans, that you do pay back. there are a lot of scholarship and grant oppurtinitys. I one time wrote an essay and was the only person who filed for the grant. I got a free $2000 for Best Essay. there is a book you can buy from the book store that lists all the grants you can apply for. Ask the resource center.

None! Sike I really don't know but It probably won't be that much considering how much your family makes.