<p>TrinSF: What is RISD?</p>
<p>Rhode Island School of Design.</p>
<p>It’s ironic that many kids view their own flagship as a financial safety, but might look at other states’ flagships. One of my kids got into Penn State (our flagship), but instead wanted to go to UCONN. As an out-of-state kid, he didn’t get any aid from UCONN. When we did the Penn State tours and when we visit a sibling at Penn State, we encounter many kids who chose to pay out-of-state rates at Penn State…grass is always greener! My kid wanted us to move to Connecticut…</p>
<p>Cynic that I am, I also would just love to see the statistics for all of the premed, neuroscience, biochemistry etc. majors coming out of high schools, to see how many actually go to a professional program/medical school. Whenever we visited schools with an open house, the premed table was six-deep…including parents elbowing others with their kids…</p>
<p>I also wonder about the whole concept of academic reaches. If a kid is accepted by a “reach,” isn’t it more likely that the kid would not get merit aid (ie, aid that doesn’t have to be paid back) at that school, if that kid is at the bottom of the acceptance pool?</p>
<p>With my last kid, I see the process very differently than I did with the oldest kid. Of course, each kid is different. My Junior is having a wonderful time researching colleges and planning visits. She’s much more engaged and interested in the process than the older kids were – but this is also a kid who tried on every pair of jeans in the mall in her size, before deciding to go to another mall.</p>
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<p>I think the key word there is “financial” safety. </p>
<p>In our case, we’re looking at neighboring states’ flagships because their size is a better fit. At 30,000 kids, UMCP has no appeal for son. But, at 12,000 - 14,000 UDel and UVA are still on the “long list” as a safety and reach, respectively. </p>
<p>He has an in-state financial safety. It’s just not the flagship.</p>
<p>Yes, I agree, “usually” if you are at the top of the stat pool, you do better with merit awards. My son’s GC tried to get me to see that and I’m sure if we applied to certain colleges he didn’t find as appealing, he would have had more $$. But, that said, nothing is certain. I’ve even heard of certain students who got aid from UConn when students with better stats didn’t…I think when you deal with such great numbers, you see wider rangers in aid. Some did get more on appeals.</p>
<p>DougBetsy, UDel now costs just under 30,000 for an out of state student. That is pretty pricey, but could be worth it if you are thinking about more attention that an undergrad might get there (not necessarily, btw) than at a school with 30,000. </p>
<p>I see more value, if the student is willing (big “if”) to just look for a private school. I think that you can pay less (of course EFC and stats come into play) if one looks at the right private schools. What I mean by “right” is that if a school meets nearly 95% of need and you have a lower efc, it might be cost you less than a school that meets 40% of need (or an OOS public, which usually gives poor FA to OOS students). If one is applying to a private that is third tier, and the student has great stats, one might be awarded a larger merit award which hopefully is better than the nearly 30,000 sticker price at UDel. I read on CC that a student did just that. The student had a very good gpa, verbal and math scores in the 1400s combined. He applied to a much lower tier school than what he could have gotten into and was offered a superb package! It sounded like his mother was celebrating.</p>
<p>Northeastmom, I agree wholeheartedly. Privates far outnumber state schools on son’s list. I was just commenting on neonzeus’s post about state flagships. :)</p>
<p>Oh, okay. It is just that most public Us have outpriced themselves for our family. When our older son applied just a few years ago, there were still some more realistic public options, but schools like UVM, UConn, and Penn State were already too high priced for us. There were still some options looking south, and probably in the midwest (we did not look though). Now, public Us are just priced out of sight for us! If our son had higher stats, and could benefit from some of the OOS scholarships that some Us set up, then maybe we would look (I would need to be convinced that my kiddo would not lose that award). OOS schools in FLA, or NC are priced more reasonably. U. of Minnesota-Twin Cities has a great deal, but it is a huge school. SUNYs are okay.</p>
<p>My D has not found one private school worth even sending an application, even though they are offering her free applications, laptops, essay waived, etc.</p>
<p>The privates all seem run down, lack security, or have 60%-80% international students.</p>
<p>I personally think that UCONN is a really good school, but for some reason, both D1 and D2 hated it when we visited the campus, during D1’s college search. In fact, we ended up leaving, at their insistence, before the tour was even over. The best explanation that I could get from them was that the students we encountered while on campus, as well as our tour guide, seemed stuck-up and unfriendly. Oh well. I grew up in CT and my brother is a UCONN alum and I couldn’t get over how much the campus had changed since he went there, back in the 70s. I’m now out-of-state, but I think that UCONN is a great deal if a student can get into the honors program–so I’m hoping that maybe D3 will be willing to give it a look when her time comes.</p>
<p>Regarding merit aid, yes, it definitely helps to be in the upper range of the applicant pool. Naturally, D2’s current favorite school is private with no merit aid offered. :rolleyes: But as we get closer to application time, I’ve been warning her about taking on student loan debt, especially since she’s planning on going to graduate school and <em>especially</em> given the current financial/economic news.</p>
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<p>critter - I can definitely relate. As I mentioned in my previous post, most of D2’s college choices would entail taking a plane to get to and from, other than moving in and out of the dorms. Part of me is so excited for her and I encourage her to explore the college that would most closely meet her needs regardless of the distance from home. (Another reason that I want this for her was that, back in the day, I ended up, for financial reasons, having to spend my own college years commuting to a local school while living at home.) At the same time, the realization hits me of how far away she’ll be and how much I currently take for granted seeing her here every day after school and on the weekends.</p>
<p>JerseyShoreMom, we have seen some lovely private schools campuses. I won’t say that there were no blemishes, or that there is never a crime, but we have found seen some very nice private schools that my sons would have loved to attend. We did see 2 schools that were very international student heavy, so I must agree that had experienced this too.</p>
<p>I agree about the cost of some public schools for OOS students. If I’m not mistaken, I think that UVM is around $38K (?) for just tuition and room/board, with very limited merit aid opportunities. And I think that U. Michigan, for OOS, is even higher? The SUNYs seem like a pretty good value, though.</p>
<p>I had sticker shock when I looked at the OOS cost for UVM 5 years ago. My son’s GC suggested that he have a look at it. Once we saw the sticker price, we did not look into it!</p>
<p>All of the OOS universities on D’s list are between $15-$18 for OOS students, except Temple which is just over $20k.</p>
<p>When I started helping her prepare the list, I didn’t look at tuition, we were trying to target certain schools. D wants Football to be a part of her college life, and she has a specialized major. SHe wanted to stay East Coast from NJ/NY/PA/CT down, along the coast, all the way to Florida. That was her geographic region. Going to Virginia Tech was too far inland for her.</p>
<p>We’ve been doing this since March and as of early this month have finalized a list of 8. Seriously, I sat down with her on each college and said “if you got accepted here and no where else, would you go?” If the answer was Yes, we kept it on the list. If the answer was “I’d rather go to community college and transfer in somewhere else” we took it off the list.</p>
<p>I had colleges such as Purdue and Michigan State on the list, both of which are $25k-$30k just in tuition. I asked D if she would go to Purdue and she said “I can’t see myself in Indiana”. I asked D about MSU, she said “it’s too cold”. Viola, we took them off the list. :)</p>
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<p>Jerseyshoremom, I did something similar with my son. I told him not to “fall in love” with any one school. He knew that finances mattered. I let him know that there are many schools that could be " a good fit" for him. I asked him if he could make each school “work for him”. If the answer was yes, it was on the list. Some schools were taken off the list after touring.</p>
<p>ALOT of schools were taken off the list after touring. I was surprised. Schools both D and/or I loved on paper turned out to be horrible. D loves UCF, it’s #1, we visited, everything is great, I’m worried though that it’s too competitive for her in Florida. It told her to apply for summer session there, but she wants NO part of summer. If they want her for summer and not Fall, D said she doen’t want to go. I don’t get it and I’m trying to convince her otherwise.</p>
<p>Her #2 school is East Carolina U, we haven’t visited, only heard stories, but she thinks she’s going to love it there. After touring other colleges and taking them off the list, colleges we thought we’d love, I’m worried that ECU will just be another college that looks good on paper but not in person. Unfortunately, it’s 2 plane rides away or an “easy” 9 hour drive to get there. It’s something we’ll have to do between now and the end of the year. </p>
<p>I think because D’s school’s tuition figures are all in the general ballpark I don’t think I need to wait to get the FAFSA back, I think we would be able to make a decision once all the colleges have responded.</p>