Financial Aid in Future Years

cptofthehouse
Thu, 10 Jun 2010 17:19:45 +0000

However, it’s not as though each kid is “owed” the equivalent of his siblings. I don’t feel that S2 is owed the difference between a private education and his state school costs. Too many other factors in play. It is not unusual for a family to have kids with different personalities and desires that result in very different college lists.

I have a friend who insisted that his two oldest go to the very fine state flagship university. He knew that the third one was not likely to get accepted there, and really needed a smaller, more personal environment for a better chance to succeed at colege than his siblings, so they did focus on the smaller private schools for him. As much as he and his wife believed strongly in the state school models, when they looked at their youngest child, they could feel to the marrow of their bones that it was a good fit for him.

Also, it can depend on the department and program of some state schools, as to what sort of students and the attention one gets. My son went to a small program at a largish state school. He experienced little of the bureacracy issues of getting into classes and big lecture halls since his program was pretty much pre planned for him and involved a small group. So it was with my friend’s son who went to a huge school but was in the small Aeronautics program. Honors Colleges also are great deals for good students who want to be with their peers and in a smaller environment with more discussion opportunities with the professors.