<p>Sadly, another factor taken into consideration by some schools when extending admission offers is ability to pay. Some kids who may be good enough, an artistic fit, may not get an offer due to financial hardship. Not all schools are “need blind.” </p>
<p>I am reading a book on financial aid written by the former heads of two college financial aid departments that insist that other than engineering students (& other such majors), students who will be repaying their own college loans should not take out more than $8000/yr. ($32Ktotal) in order to be able to live on their own after graduation while be able to make their loan payments in ten years. We all pray for those elusive artistic acceptances, but they also have to be affordable. According to the book, the most vulnerable to go into debt are those who are accepted into their “dream” schools or those who only get few acceptances. These students accept an offer to attend a school which requires large debt for emotional reasons that have nothing to do with fiscal responsibility, hoping for the best in the end without having a concrete plan for paying the loan back in addition to meeting post graduation living expenses, etc. The book is written in language HS juniors & seniors can understand and gives them links to calculators that predict debt monthly payments, etc. As i read it, I am highlighting passages I want my D to not miss. I know some people are blessed in that they can just write a check for their kid’s education, but that is not the reality for most. For us, it has to be a triple threat threat school: academic, artistic & financial fit! [-O< </p>