Whenhen - As close to $15K as possible (with student loan of about $5k if available. For the last couple of years, when my two youngest kids (including this one) went through the freshman application process, most of the offers were coming in at about $14k-20k EFC (the one exception was Princeton that had a ridiculously low figure for his sister). This compares to most OOS public colleges that were well over $30K. Right now, though we are paying about $9k and he has around $5k loan per year. Without the Forestry scholarship, we will be back to $15K. I can’t recall, but I think Purdue’s offer was around $11-14K with scholarship and loan based on his father’s Indiana residency. And no, he doesn’t want to go to IU or Purdue for various reasons, if he can avoid it.
Merc81- Thank you. I’ll take a look at those. I know we looked briefly at Hamilton for my daughter.
Happymom- thanks. I guess my son has been talking to people in the department, and he is the one thinking it is time to move if he is serious about Geology. Hadn’t thought about a semester at home (he has, however thought about going overseas). As for aid, the pattern I saw was that the better aid packages come from the places that accept fewer or no transfers. I guess we’ll need to look at his grades come December. However, I’m trying to find places for him to check out now before the break so he’s ready to roll. And for some reason he is super busy and stressed this semester - not sure if that’s with academics or he over extended himself on the extracurriculars.
Thanks to all for your comments and suggestions.