One of the curveballs for these OOS schools we haven’t visited is that their merit aid was much better.
The one OOS school that seems to linger among his favorites is about $6k per year less than our state flagship. But here’s where I’m struggling…
It’s definitely not going to cost $6k less once air travel is factored in, and if I’m being honest I believe that our family will take trips to visit him (in Florida) and make small vacations out of it. At the very least I’ll be flying 4-5 people down in August to move him in and we’ll stay 3-4 days if the airfare is already being spent. ($$$$)
It really feels like the cost savings will be practically nonexistent once those realities are factored in, on top of flying S20 home during peak travel times like Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Lastly, state flagship offers way more in terms of networking and overall opportunity.
In the end I guess this has to be S20’s decision, and the Florida school by no means is his dream school, but idk how much to “guide” him with my own opinions on it.
D18 was down to about four great schools and attended their admitted students days in mid-late April before making a final decision. She clicked the accept button on April 30th
I think my daughter is one of just a couple who has any idea where she’s going next year. The others were one and done for the flagship and/or engineering focused public instate. But the vast majority are still waiting for March decisions.
Last year DD19 had to wait until end of March for RD decisions. She decided to go to 3 revisits in April. After the 2nd revisit her mind was 100% made up. We insisted on the 3rd revisit just in case.
Many decision take time till the last of April because of choices kids have and when scholarships are announced. My S has got acceptances to 3 schools - state school with a full scholarship, 2 OOS schools one with full tution waiver and the other with a 28K scholarship - I would think its an easy decision to make but he is still waiting on 3 other schools - two comming out March 15th and one in April. The one in April seems to be his first choice - so the agonizing wait continues. At least he has eliminated 2 schools and currently his first choice is the one 28K scholarship per year. This is long drawn out process even though we are lucky he does not have make decisions based on Finances. Somehow I hope all schools will atleast provide their decisions by March 1, so some amount for tension can be reduced for both students and parents.
@OceanIsle , I think when it comes to finances, including the cost of attending an OOS, your opinion can/should be as strong as you want it to be! It is smart to look at the bottom line including those expenses that very well may offset the merit offer. It’s not that hard to figure out flight costs for Thanksgiving, Christmas, move in and move out, then consider fall and spring break. Thanksgiving will be very pricey but with college Christmas schedules it can be off peak time.
I don’t know if this is your first heading off, but you may want to rethink taking family to move-in for a vacation. Saving that flight money and coming later, in that long time between move in and Thanksgiving, would be more enjoyable for all, I believe!
But that’s getting way ahead…costs, including these, can definitely be a part of the discussion and the decision. I would say…if he hasn’t been interested enough in the OOS school to visit this far, how interested is he? A higher merit offer doesn’t mean a lot if it doesn’t bring costs where you want to be or with other good choices that he feels good about (unless it comes with an honors program or something like that).
We had kids on both ends of the timing spectrum. My S went to a few accepted student days in April before making a decision close to the deadline. My D was accepted ED by her top choice and committed in December.
@OceanIsle Yes, you should consider the cost of travel annually. It’s not chump change. We always planned on having S19 come home for Thanksgiving, winter break, spring break, and summer. BUT we went out for family weekend in Oct, my husband was out that way for work in January and extended his trip to stay longer to see him for a few days and then D21 and I went out last weekend too. S19 would be fine with only seeing us during breaks but it’s pretty nice to see him in between.
Anyway, if that school with the merit is a better fit or offers him more of what he wants, the merit might be wiped out by the travel but it might still be worth it.
I also wouldn’t bring the whole family for drop off. It’s a pretty busy time. Save bringing everyone there for family weekend. It’s geared more towards including the whole family.
We lived in Germany during the college process…we did a spring break trip to visit most of the colleges she applied to …but never did admitted students day trips. Decisions were made on net cost and the amount of IB Diploma credits she would get.
I seem to recall a few posts where students got last minute phone calls from schools with a better offer. Not many but a few.
One school that S20 applied doesn’t announce their full tuition scholarship until mid April. Another announces RD in mid March. I suspect we’ll be last minute too.