<p>I’m going to change the subject here a bit, but it pertains to the title of the post-- Parents-- REALLY be aware of how much you can afford to pay for college. Last year, we let S apply to (almost) any schools he wanted too, not really taking into consideration the total 4-year tuition cost. (… there were a few we immediately took off the list because of price tag…) Our philosophy at the time was: Apply to lots of schools because we know it’s SO hard to get into ANY. When April came around, there was 1 school he was accepted to, excited about (until he visited it, but that could be another thread…). But, after hubby and I crunched the numbers, we told him we really couldn’t comfortably afford it, without having to make huge sacrifices, and him taking out large loans. (He had other school options, thank goodness.)</p>
<p>Thinking back, that was really lousy of us…to let him apply to a school – and get accepted!-- only to tell him – sorry, but we’re not going to be able to swing that, financially. Granted, I think we were hoping that there might be scholarship money attached to any offers… and there was for this 1 school, but it really didn’t even make a dent.</p>
<p>So…I’m just putting that out there… You really have to know how much your family can afford and is willing to sacrifice. It might be really painful for the child, come acceptance time, to say… “sorry!” after all of their hard work. </p>