I got a 0 on my Fafsa but I'm going to a private school, will my college still be payed for?

Question

I got a 0 on my Fafsa but I'm going to a private school, will my college still be paid for?

The college is a Religious affiliate and is $26,000 a year school.

I also am 1/4th Cherokee and Crete Native American and will hopefully be going in for blood tests to prove this, can that possible help my fafsa any.

As if this all may not be enough I may be transferring to Harvard after the first year will they pay for that as well?

Thank you all for reading all this and any information will be much appreciated.

Answer 1

A 0 on your fafsa does not mean you won't have to pay anything for your school.  A 0 means you will get the maximum pell grant (which is around 4700 per year if you go full time) and it also means you might qualify for other state grants and low interest loans and federal work study.  But again, it does not mean you will pay nothing for your school.

Folks with 0 EFC's who choose to attend expensive schools will likely still have to take out federal student loans, parent loans and maybe still have to come up with cash to cover the difference.  (Freshman are only allowed to borrow 3500 in Stafford loans a year).  

If you are having to do blood tests to prove you are native american, you aren't going to have your ducks in order to get the benefits of this anytime soon.  Don't count on scholarships based on blood tests. (Fafsa doesn't care about your ethnicity.  Its bases completely on income).  You have to have a CDIB card, that is what the schools, tribes and scholarship committees recognize.

Answer 2

Unless you are an ENROLLED Cherokee or Cree/Creek, ("Crete" is not a tribe but the Cree are from Montana/Canada and the Creek are from the SE part of the US) you will receive NO ASSISTANCE from a tribe or any other funding source for American Indians.  Blood tests will do nothing to help you get enrolled, you must be a lineal descendant of a person listed on the tribe's base roll and may also have to meet a minimum blood quantum requirement.  If/When you become enrolled, your tribe's education department may or may not offer funds to you.  Some tribes offer little or no funding yet others offer larger funds.  Very few tribes offer "full ride" scholarships and those are usually competitive and reserved for the top candidates.

I don't know who will be paying for your education but if you are not an enrolled member of a federally recognized tribe, it won't be them.