[alcicere]

Hi, I am new here. I have an adopted daughter of 15 years old. I am concerned about college and the cost associated with going to college. I am a retired teacher, but my pension isn't the greatest. I was wondering if ther is any scholarship money available for adoptees. My daughter's goal is to become a lawyer, and sending her to law school could be prohibitive for my wife and me. Grants would be helpful also if anyone has information available. Thanks,
Al Cicere

[feelingreyt]

I don't have an answer for you, but I just wanted to say...Welcome to adoption.com!

[startedover]

Don't teachers (and maybe retired teachers) get a 50% discount. It is that way in our state. If your pension is not too much she may be eligable for pell grants. you have to fill out a fasfa at fasfa.org (I believe) and if you do a sampe one I think you will get an idea of your EFC (expected family contribution. ) I may be off some but that is the best I have. Luckily my daughter has been able to maintain a lottery and academic scholorship, but I have two more coming up.

[mommy3]

Al -- if you are on a fixed income now due to retirement, it's possible that your daughter will be eligible for state and federal aid. It might be useful to speak with a financial aid counselor at a local community college to get an idea of what your daughter might be eligible for, which would be based upon your income until she is 24. Clearly, her grades are important to scholarships in general but there are lots of them out there, so doing scholarship searches online (free) are great. I don't know, however, of adoption scholarships. susan

[ourdreamcametru]

Once she decides on college student aid should be able to help a ton. Also, the Guidance Counsler at my Son's school was a huge help his Jr and Sr year getting us started.

[missw005]

If you adopted your daughter as an infant, no, typically there aren't grants/scholarships for them.
However, if you adopted your daughter from the state - from foster care - then many states do have financial assistance available. One of my sons will receive college for free - if he goes to a college in his home state - and the other will qualify for grants from his state. They were both adopted from foster care and are classified as special needs because of it.
So it depends.
If she was a foster child, you could check NACAC's website NACAC or ask the foster care agency where you got her from.
HTH,
Sandy

******also, since you are a teacher, check into your education association or teacher's association - they often have scholarships just for teacher's kids. And her high school often has a teacher's scholarship, which she'd have a good chance of being chosen for as a teacher's kid - though that depends on her grades & activities, too. I know the school I work at has one.

[ProspectiveSingleMom]

One thing I would recommend, having attended both state a private colleges (transferred during my undergrad, then went on to grad school) is to apply to both types of schools (assuming they meet the qualifications that your daughter is looking for). Even though private colleges have a higher sticker price, they often offer more financial aid. I was able to get a scholarship at the private college I transferred to and ended up paying a lot less out-of-pocket than I had paid at the state school where I started out. As far as whether your daughter will qualify for some sort of aid specifically because of being adopted -- I don't know about other states, but in my state it is only children who age out of foster care who get tuition paid by the state. If they are adopted, then the fact that they are adopted doesn't factor into the financial aid picture.