<p>Yes, Brown is one of the more liberal schools in atmosphere, but I know many, many who have gone there who do not smoke,drink, party much at all, and have loved it there and thrived. Most universities are liberal in mindset. Just the way it is. Any narrative written description of the school could have given you a good idea of how it is at Brown as compared to other schools. But there are conservatives, non partyers who do just fine there. </p>
<p>Brown is one of the more generous schools when it comes to financial aid, so something does not add up here that all your son got was Work Study. Either you have a business or some other unusual family financial situation or lots of assets. Can’t imagine you got more from UChicago than from Brown this year in the fin aid renewal (you would get more than when you just had one in college) unless your second student got one of UCh’s merit awards. It just doesn’t add up. UCh, overall, does not give as generous aid as Brown, from the many examples I have seen. Possible, but not that drastic. Where the heck is your student getting $40K a year to borrow anyways, as the student limit is $5500 for freshman year, and even with Perkins added to that, it comes to a max of $11K or so Anyone strapped for costs shouldn’t be spending $70K a year at any school–should be “beating” the COA given, not exceeding it by cutting the corners on every cost possible, working summers, and hopefully working that WS job that would have brought the costs down by that $2500 given out and augmented by an additional $2500 from summer work or some student savings, should have at least brought the cost down to a total of $55K a year at very most, reduced by parental contribution to $25K which is still too much for a student to be borrowing or even being allowed to borrow on own. </p>
<p>Financial statement situation–your fault Insist that your kid signs over the papers at the school so that you get access. it’s the law that the school can’t otherwise sent you any info,but the solution is right at hand. It’s a problem right there that your son could not figure out the password for his account, and YOUR problem that you are not putting the blame on HIM, not the school that he and you could not get it together to figure all of this out. That comes with the territory with all schools. Of course, you will get late fees when you don’t pay your bill when due and when you don’t figure out the billing system EVERYONE has to do this. He’s not the only student at Brown, you know, and most others students and families have somehow managed to work this out. Take some ownership and responsibility here, and lay it for your kid. Apple not falling far from the tree here. I’m being harsh, yes, but it’s deserved.</p>
<p>Brown, or any school, is not for everyone. I know kids who were very unhappy at Yale, Harvard, MIT, PRinceton, miserably so. Most stuck it out, maybe for not the best reasons, but they certainly were not happy, things went wrong, they screwed up, parents made mistakes too. Yes, I made a big long list of mistakes as did my kids, and I expect to continue to do so. But you own up, fix them. Get the info, figure it out. That’s a whole separate matter from not liking it a school.</p>
<p>Suggest your son transfer. With his great GPA coming from Brown and being in an engineering program, that should not be a problem, though money will likely be an issue, since as I said earlier, Brown tends to be one of the more generous schools. Engineering majors tend to diminish in later years so finding a seat will be pretty easy, but all of those other problems…well, I think it’s more your problem and your son’s. And I don’t even care for Brown much at all, just assessing the situation from your post.</p>