<p>Would appreciate some advice regarding college enrollment options. We’re a household that won’t qualify for financial aid, but cost will obviously have a huge impact on household budget savings for retirement. We were hoping for a little merit money “sweetner” to indicate some reciprocal strong interest from school, and thought our student was an ideal fit. Didn’t happen for this ED-choice school. If you’ve a “full pay” student who’s been accepted to a school where student won’t qualify for a merit scholarship, how far down the list of proverbial “USWNR/Forbes etc” school rankings would you still be willing to pay full COA for your child to attend?</p>
<p>Number One (ED) choice (50 - 80 ranking range in USWNR) for our student opted not to give any merit scholarship to trim COA, despite assurances from HS counselor that this school would give best merit money. (Perhaps we showed too much enthusiasm to school?) Counselor identified two other stronger-ranking schools as “highly likely acceptances” that offer merit aid for our student’s area of strength. We’re confused on what direction our student should take - submit deposit to ED school anways and accept “full pay” verdict, or decline and re-apply elsewhere. Would appreciate input from other parents.</p>
<p>I’ve jokingly said that it seems like every private university, regardless of ranking, is around 50K/year, so we might as well get the most “name recognition” for the buck. Now the truth is that I want D to be happy with her choice, the programs they offer, the environment, etc. Although we’re able to full fare, it does feel a bit painful to not take advantage of $25K in merit/year that the #60-65 USNWR school is giving vs. a top 10.</p>
<p>To each his/her own. We were prepared to pay full fare at either top 10 (ranked) University’s to which DD was accepted (EA and RD though, non binding). And we were equally supportive of DD’s ultimate decision to stay closer to home and take the merit money, which essentially put the COA at HALF that of the top 10 schools, while staying in the top 200 of either ranking (USNWR, Forbes).</p>
<p>For an undergrad degree? I am confident she made the right choice while saving over a $100,000! :D</p>
<p>Remember - there are upwards of 4000+ accredited 4 year colleges and universities in the US. Attending any in the top 10%? isn’t going to limit their future. If the student has ambition and aspires to succeed? They can be academically challenged where it makes the most sense for them and you.</p>
<p>ED is for the by-far number one choice, the dream school, where you want only to know if you can afford it; this dilemma pops up when that is not the goal. Some schools are said to exchange ED info; you could try to anonymously ask the other schools if your child would be eligible after declining a full-pay ED acceptance elsewhere. We hear rumors of high schools being black-listed for a while when this happens, but not actual cases. Our HS was black-listed for a while for submitting two ED apps for one student (green GC).</p>
<p>The rankings apply only to the generic student who doesn’t exist; you may not agree with what magazine editors think is important, like matching the public’s expectations. Educators are said to hate the one-size-fits none rankings; bean counters might be supportive.</p>
<p>I would have a frank discussion with the school and explain (rookie mistake – be humble) that the guidance counselor ASSURED you that merit money would be part of the acceptance. The goal of this phone call would be to 1) Scare up some money or 2) Convert the ED acceptance into a regular RD acceptance.</p>
<p>You may not be able to accomplish either of these goals.</p>
<p>Then you have some decisions to make. Keep in mind that accept in schools where merit money is assured by stats, it is never a sure thing. Some schools don’t explicitly say this, but they reserve their merit money for financial need.</p>
<p>If you can’t afford the full-pay school you need to tell them and in most cases, they will rescind the application.</p>
<p>Are they state schools your student could attend that might halve the cost?</p>
<p>That might be the way to go.</p>
<p>Or if you have the means, you might just have to be full pay.</p>
<p>Maybe I’m missing the point but if you are full pay at the ED school then why would you turn that down and look lower in the rankings for the same full pay?</p>
<p>If you turn down the ED school then wouldn’t you be looking for guaranteed tuition discounts in the form of merit dollars for stats? Many of the flagships have these types of scholarships. Many of the entirely merit based scholarships for privates have scholarship applications due in December (or at least that what I remember) so to renege on the ED and start looking for other privates would have to be carefully researched to make sure you can meet scholarship deadlines.</p>
<p>You need to figure out where your priorities are:</p>
<p>(1) school rank
(2) cost
(3) best fit for your student
(4) honoring the commitment made to ED school
(5) avoiding potential blowback on future applicants from your student’s school if your student reneges on ED commitment</p>
<p>Keep in mind that your student’s ED commitment is binding unless a financial aid offer was insufficient to make the school affordable . . . which is simply not the case for your family.</p>
<p>Regarding mythmom’s post above (#6) - I agree that it might prove helpful to explain that you made this commitment based on false assurances from the HS guidance counselor. But I would also expect that this would almost certainly have a significant adverse impact on ED acceptances for this HS in the future. Just something to consider . . .</p>
<p>You seemed to have a number in mind that you thought the school would cost. The actual number is higher and you get to decide if that is affordable. If it is not affordable for your family then decline. I personally would not pay full price on a school if there were merit options available. Engaged students can get good educations at most schools.</p>
<p>Another thought, also, I assume the OP is the parent. What about the student? This is supposedly the student’s one and only in and I’m going option (which is what ED is about). Is the student willing to go to a flagship or OSS public with guaranteed tuition discounts or does the student know of privates where the scholarship deadlines haven’t passed? Remember the likelihood of getting financial aid is probably nill, if the ED school did not give financial aid so I have to presume you are searching for guaranteed merit money. Are you perhaps having a touch of buyer’s remorse after agreeing to ED and realizing that means full price?</p>
<p>First–why would you go just on the word of the GC at your high school and not talk with the admissions people at the college for the likelihood of merit aid? When you visited this school did they go over their merit aid options for your child? Where were his test scores and GPA in relation to those merit awards? Are you positive you won’t get ANY aid? Have you run the net price calculator on the college website? You may be surprised. Quite honestly, we didn’t expect any merit aid either but most of the kids’ schools offered some, not a lot but some-outside of loans (which you will qualify for no matter what). Most schools don’t give merit aid “sweeteners”. They typically have a very defined method for awarding that aid-generally unweighted GPA and test scores, sometimes class rank, sometimes NMSF. If your child doesn’t meet those, the merit aid just isn’t there.</p>
<p>As for how far to go down in the ranks–who cares about rankings in the first place. Find a school that is a good fit for your child and your budget and go with that.</p>
<p>ED decisions are made with a full knowledge of out of pocket expectations and if there was a doubt, the application should not have been submitted. However, the school cant force you to pay money you can’t afford and so you do want to back out. </p>
<p>There are a lot of cheaper options with state schools once you cross 50. Is there any other cheaper school that is a second choice?</p>
<p>Issue isn’t how far down one would go . . . </p>
<p>there are a number of schools in top 30 USN&WR colleges and universities that offer substantial enough aid so that the Net cost is much less than the list cost</p>
<p>Examples:
Brown need-based financial aid examples include 5 figure aid for a family with 2 kids in college and income of 180k per year
Wellesley is still “need-blind” for admissions
Davidson is also need blind and meets need w/o loans
Macalester gives substantial merit money
Oberlin gives substantial merit money
Washington U in St. Louis gives substantial merit money
public universities like UNC, UCB, UM have lower tuition for in-states</p>
<p>These examples are just from the Top 30 of Universities and LACs, and don’t include the service academies</p>
<p>Plenty of affordable choices that give great education out there</p>
<p>I am with sylvan, way back in post #2. As I read the original post, I am getting that you can pay retail for the ED school, but you don’t want to. </p>
<p>Completely understandable. Unfortunately, you agreed to something quite different when you signed the ED agreement. You agreed that your kid would enroll if admitted.</p>
<p>I fear that if you renege on that agreement, many other colleges and universities will not accept him because you’ve gone back on the agreement. I think you need to contact the ED school pronto and ask whether they’ll release you from the ED agreement, or resolve to pay the sticker price. If they do release you from the ED agreement, they’ll be doing you a favor, the the price of that favor will be that your kid won’t be going there at all.</p>
<p>For your sake, I would be happy to be wrong about this.</p>
The thing is, if you applied binding ED then you were already saying the S would go there. No need for them to try to lure him in with “sweetners” if he’s already agreeing to come regardless. Why not save that money for someone else?</p>
<p>Here are some lists that may be useful for families that expect not to get significant need-based financial aid, but are not enthusiastic about paying $50,000-$60,000 per year. (Of course, in-state and regional-tuition-discount publics should also be considered.)</p>
<p>But, isn’t ED supposed to be a commitment to attend if admitted? Should an ED application even have been made if uncertainty with financial aid and scholarships were a significant concern?</p>
<p>The OP has been around longer than you have ucbalumnus, and yet managed to miss the whole “No ED if you want to compare packages” talk. Clearly, we have failed somehow.</p>
<p>I can attest, speaking from personal experience; “need blind” and other semantics are a farce! Pay attention to the different methods of calculating “need” There’s the FAFSA and then there’s the “Institutional Method” and they vary greatly!</p>
<p>One of your examples (Brown) among others (ahem, NU) that claim to be blind? have very high thresholds before qualifying for any kind of aid. We were full pay at both, and make substantially less than 180k year</p>
<p>I agree with with mini (post #15) & sylvan (post #2). ED is a binding agreement.
With respect to lowest ranked full pay school to attend, this is subjective & based on family finances, whether or not student intends to get a graduate degree, & programs/majors targeted.
Personally, I can think of just 4 or 5 universities & two programs (at different universities) that might justify paying full cost. No LACs are that enticing, however.</p>