Anybody decide for sure yet?

Lewis1212
Sun, 02 Apr 2006 16:06:19 +0000

For those recently admitted to Denison, has anyone made a decision yet, and if not, where are you in the process? My DD is leaning heavily toward Denison, as she has since she visited a couple of months ago. But I think more than anything just wants to have the decision made and the anxiety over, especially as she sees more and more of her friends commit to various schools!

She has been admitted to all 5 schools she applied to, has ruled out a couple, and is waiting for financial aid info from a couple, including Denison. Barring any surprises (I doubt she gets much from the other school, Davidson, as we already know she didn’t get any merit aid there), I think we’re still going to be looking at a few thousand dollars difference between Denison and her second choice, Mary Washington, which is in-state for us. Then we’ll all need to sit down and crunch numbers and she’ll need to decide whether Denison is worth an investment of student loans and more work on her part. She’ll probably also have to keep applying for outside scholarships as she goes through school. Our position has been since the beginning, that we will foot the bill for anything up to the cost of an in-state school (since that’s what we can realistically afford, although our EFC thinks we can afford more :-), and anything above and beyond that she’ll need to be responsible for through scholarships, loans and work. I think she’s close enough with the scholarship she’s gotten from Denison and 1 outside scholarship to make it happen, but I really want her to understand and make the decision responsibly because it will probably mean a difference of taking out some loans in her name to go there, vs. graduating without debt from the state school. I also glanced at the Financial Aid Review form and was pleased/surprised to see that we actually qualify for 2 of the “unusual circumstances” where you can ask for a review of your need-----the primary one is that I am still paying quite a bit on my own student loans (one of the reasons I am very careful with DD taking on debt, because I took on way too much not realizing the implications when I went to grad school), and we are also paying tuition for her younger sister’s high school. I don’t know that either of those will make a significant difference, but even if it means she might qualify for a subsidized loan vs. unsubsidized its worth asking.

Personally, I have been nothing but impressed with Denison so far. I asked the swim coach a couple of questions via email and his response was so nice about DD that it almost made me cry! (and she’s not a superstar, by any means!! Believe me, their team will not suffer if she ends up elsewhere, but he made it sound like there will be a vast emptiness in the pool if she doesn’t go there <g>). That has been the case with everyone we’ve come in contact with there and what DD has picked up on…they make the student feel like they are really important and special, and that they would truly be HONORED to have her choose to attend. That philosophy is undoubtedly why they continue to have such strong alumni support and loyalty!</g>