Convincing my dad?

juillet
Mon, 11 Jun 2012 21:28:41 +0000

$30,000 is a lot! That will get you a good education at your public flagship, probably.

Just because your father could “easily” write a $70,000 check per year (and at 14, I doubt that you have deep personal insight into your father’s finances) doesn’t mean that he has to or wants to. Just offering $30,000 is very generous - most people’s parents can’t or won’t pay that much.

My advice - first of all, just do well in high school. You’re only a freshman, and your personal top 20 may change significantly between now and then. There are likely a wide range of schools at which you could be successful and thrive, and a state school could be one of them. There is nothing wrong with public universities - some of them are better than some private universities, especially some oft-overrated private universities.

When you are a senior, you can apply to schools that give financial aid, give good merit scholarships for students with your stats and some public universities in your state. If your father really can afford to write a $70K every year you can’t expect to get good financial aid even at full-need and very generous schools, but you may be able to earn some merit aid from some very good schools. Otherwise, you’re going to need to stay within the range your father can provide. But if your dad is willing to pay $30,000, and you can borrow $5500 a year in Stafford loans, AND if you can contribute some of your earnings from a part-time or summer job and maybe get at least partial merit aid - you could very well go to a school with a $40,000 price sticker, which will open up the majority of schools in the US to you including some very good public universities.

If, as your moniker indicates, you live on Long Island - you have a number of very good SUNYs to choose from. SUNY Binghamton, for one, is consistently rated as one of the best public universities - and SUNY Stony Brook is a great campus, as well.