This thread reminds me of “House Hunters” when the must have list far exceeds the budget, and the buyers still expect to get everything on their wish list. It’s just not possible.
It seems the OPs choices are:
1). UW/UCB- cannot afford
2). UR- possibly afford, but lots of debt
3). Gap year - will allow a merit strategy, but family is against.
4). UAH- not prestigious enough or diverse?
5). UH and mainland transfer or grad school. Family is against.
6). Mystery option that allows the wishlist on budget. Anyone?
Sorry I am reading through all the response s in the morning and will try to reply to as many people’s questions as possible.
Yes I believe have already establish that there is no way to get state residency for UW or UCB nor can I be independent. I would think that supporting myself with a out of high school job in a new place, paying bills, cooking for myself, etc is a lot harder than college where I just need to study and make sure I remember to go eat at the dining hall when they’re serving food.
I want to major in systems/industrial engineering for undergrad but it’s not like mechanical or civil engineering. Sister wants to major in statistic. My sister was a NM semi finalist, I was not.
Regarding the professional engineers exam…my husband is an EE. He is a licensed professional engineer because he does a LOT of work on government projects…and they want those projects stamped by a PE.
An engineer wants to attend an ABET accredited school for engineering whether or not they seek the PE after graduation…according to my husband.
Not wishing to beat a dead horse…but University of Alabama has great engineering programs. @mom2collegekids I’m assuming the same great guaranteed aid is available to gap year students as for kids right out of HS.
I feel badly for these twins right now. I know they will land on their feet, and hopefully with out staggering family debt. But this has to be a trying time for them. They need a LOT of clarification on affordability for the schools they have been accepted to. Until they get some real clarity on THAT…all of this is noise…there is no signal.
I honestly think there’s a market for “College Hunters”. They’d have to film for a year accross several cities before they’d have a program about several students, but you could easily find two dozen families looking for affordable colleges.
I think we actually “invented” it before in the Parents Cafe
There used to be a section in the NYT that followed 8 high school seniors for a year, it was really interesting.
One thing thatI think the OP has to look more at if they decide to take a gap year or apply to school son the"still accepting applications list after May1" is to look at WUE schools. For example, University of Nevada at Reno gives a pretty good WUE discount and has let my students in the past stack the WUE discount with merit scholarships. I have had a student attend that only paid around $6K a year. Lots of California kids go there. I don’t believe they give financial aid to OOS, but the stacking of merit scholarships and WUE has made it affordable for my middle-class students. Getting into Honors Colleges at any of the WUE schools would also be good thing.
Like the OP, one year I had a student (who I did not initially help) not get into any place affordable or with their desired major. I had the student reapply to a list of colleges with a WUE focus, and work to save money during a gap year. The student ended up at University of North Dakota with some very good scholarships. What this student would have spent in one year at a place studying something he didn’t want to , ended up covering about 3 years of his education at his WUE school. He is graduating this year with a degree in engineering, has very little loans and is actually staying in North Dakota (having been raised in California) because he has falled in love with area.
Gap years are very common. OP don’t despair- just apply smart next year.
For whatever it matters, UH is ABET accredited as well. The UC schools are VERY expensive for out of state students. Our kids didn’t apply–too expensive and we did not want them or us to get pile of debt.
If you and sis decide to go to UH, you could live in the dorm for a term or year to see what that experience is like and then commute to save money for grad school.
It was clarified that the parental contribution limit was $15,000 per kid (twins) per year, while Rochester’s net price (before any loans or student work earnings) was around $40,000 or so (whatever it was, it was far more than federal direct loans and student work earnings could cover over the parental contribution).
Right now the options we are considering and my parent’s attitudes towards each option:
1.UCB- I’ve already told them I’m probably going to turn UCB down. Mom was disappointed but I reasoned enough with her
2.UW or Rochester- with more calculations, I think UW and R COA are about equal. Except that at Rochester I might be able to get more aid, but at UW I’d enter as a sophomore and graduate in three years. My parents are still considering this because with our student loans and merit, it is about $45k net cost for UW and $46k for either school. With dad’s $15k each budget (30k total), $4k work study, mom’s savings $55k (they’re technically rainy day savings but she thinks of us going to college as a reason to spend it), my $5k student loan, if I go to UW for only three years, it would mean I have a budget of $33k annually for UW, meaning it’s a $12k loan times two kids times three years, it’s only a $72k loan for both of us for three years. Not to mention the $3k each my sister and I would be able to make by fall 2017, $72k - $6k = $66k. Does this sound doable?
3.Gap year…based on my parents’ enthusiams about sending me to college I haven’t really had the courage to suggest this but I know they’d rather me go to UH
4. UH, pretty undesirebale but myself, my sister, and my parents would probably prefer this over gap year
And yes my mom is looking for ways to sell assets in the house. They can probably make lifestyle adjustments as well, since my dad tends to drop money on things that are more indulgent than necessary (mom tends to be the thrifty person). Don’t worry about step siblings, they are in their early thirties and support themselves now.
Also, I still don’t know if my dad has savings set aside or not. Maybe a few thousand?
$66k debt would mean parent loans or parent-cosigned loans. This tends to be a bad idea when your parents really do not have the money. It also tends to require everything going right to graduate in three years from UW (And did you and your sister get direct admission to your majors there? If not, check how competitive your majors are to get into at UW.)
Oh and, to clarify, I want to go into business, not engineering, but the major I am after is like pseudo engineering, easily used in business, especially if intergrated with a traditional business related degree (management/marketing/economics etc)
@NASA2014 the major I want to go into (industrial/systems engineering) is technically an engineering degree. However, I plan to use it to get a business related job
I’d double check about whether you can really get an engineering degree in 3 years at the Us you are considering. S entered USC with 60 credits and it still took him 3.5 years to get a USC engineering degree. Also, will sister enter UW as a sophomore as well?
Double and triple check your numbers. Tuitions and expenses tend to rise each year and sometimes folks take longer to graduate than expected.
I really think your family needs to seriously consider and look at what is being sacrificed by by not choosing UH. I think it would be useful for your family to go to UH and talk with the statistics folks and engineering dept. see what they have to offer so you know what exists rather than stereotypes that may be very out of date.
Yes my sister would enter as a sophomore as well. I’m going to check with my bio teacher (UW '15 grad) and current friend attending UW to see how hard it is to get into industrial engineering for me and statistics for my sister (we were not directly admitted) and what it takes to graduate in three years.
OH NOPE NOPE NOPE. UW is infamous for insanely high standards for declaring majors when you’re not a direct admit. I never advise my mentees to go to UW if they did not get into their program directly.
I honestly think there’s a market for “College Hunters”. They’d have to film for a year accross several cities before they’d have a program about several students, but you could easily find two dozen families looking for affordable colleges.