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<p>But if Michigan really would be a great match for your son, you shouldn’t rule it out just yet. All of my kids ruled it out early-on for various reasons, so I don’t know that much about it – other than it’s a really great, highly-ranked public that is strong in engineering and music, amongst other things. I’ve never really explored its scholarship potential.</p>
<p>If it has good potential for scholarships, and if your son could reasonably be a contender for those scholarships, and if it’s a great “fit” for him, you probably shouldn’t rule it out just yet, regardless of the fact that its “asking price” is higher than most publics. All you should care about at this early stage of the game is what it might (realistically) cost in the end.</p>
<p>USC, for example, is WAY too expensive for us. My son liked it a lot on paper; it seemed like a great match. Even though its asking price is way above my budget, he applied – because they do offer full-tuition scholarships and half-tuition, stackable scholarships. He decided not to visit (to save money) unless they invited him to interview for one of their big scholarships. Well, he was lucky enough to earn an interview for their half-tuition scholarship, the Presidential. Upon visiting in March of senior year (because of the scholarship interview invite), he ended up falling in love with that school! He really, really, REALLY wanted to go there. It suddenly rose above all other choices, with just one visit. I’ve never seen him love any school so much!!</p>
<p>He was hoping beyond hope that he would get bumped up to a full-tuition award, which sometimes happens. If he got the full-tuition award, he decided he would attend. We’d pay just room and board, which was in the realm of "affordable,” with some loans.</p>
<p>He wasn’t bumped up, but he did get the half-tuition award for which he interviewed. Over time, other stackable awards were mysteriously, gradually added, plus some need-based grants! In the end, he had merit scholarships totaling more than 70% tuition! With the added need-based grants, they were dipping into his EFC! (Admittedly, it was USC’s computed EFC, which was a little higher than our FAFSA EFC.)</p>
<p>It was a VERY generous offer from a school that we would definitely NOT consider “affordable,” looking only at their published asking price. The final offer was VERY hard to turn down. But, with his other considerably cheaper COA schools, he ultimately decided he liked them enough to make what was a financially practical decision. He let USC go.</p>
<p>Your son, or someone else in a situation like yours (ie, you think you can afford your son’s EFC), or someone else who valued their love for a school more than they valued a debt-free education, may well have chosen to attend USC if they were in my son’s shoes – and they would have gotten an EXCELLENT VALUE! A fantastic education for a reasonable cost!</p>
<p>That is why, imo, any school that is a great fit that even approaches “financially affordable” due to potential scholarships, warrants further research. My son COULD have ultimately gone to a school that he came to absolutely love (like no other, and we’ve visited A LOT). I told him I would have somehow made it happen after USC added all that extra stuff (though it would have been a painful 4 years), but my son ultimately (thankfully) chose his cheapest COA school, which he also liked a lot all along.</p>
<p>A year from now, your son may well be in a similar position, with the option to attend his “USC,” but not if he rules it out as unaffordable from the start!</p>
<p>(Btw, on a different, but related, topic … you may find that some schools offer your son amazing need-based grants that far exceed your EFC. One elite school offered my son $50k in need-based aid on a $54k published price of attendance! That was enormously beyond our EFC! It would have cost us $4k the first year for him to attend this awesome school! But, for us, that was the clincher – “the first year.” When this son’s siblings graduated from college, who knows what that same university would do to his need-based aid? He needed a “sure thing.” So he declined that school as well. For us, money has weighed heavily on the process. It pretty much has to, unfortunately.)</p>