@Dadoroc
If money is an issue and your household income is less than 125k, take the free tuition at SUNY Purchase which has a great theatre program. This way, if you can pay the fees room and board, your D can graduate debt free (as you start putting away some money for your 12 year old).
This will be the greatest gift that you can give her as she is choosing a career path with an uncertain income stream.
Remember, she can only borrow $5.5k. any additional loans will have to be taken by you (not a good move given that you are 62 with another child coming down the pike) or co-signed by you (again, not a good move if your D cannot afford to make the payment).
Remember you are setting a precedent; If you are not willing to do this same thing again in 6 years when the youngest goes to college, it could set up some resentment that may change the dynamics of your whole family.
politeperson: Thank you for the very good thoughts. You were right! I had done most of my analysis with FAFSA and other anecdotal comparisons. I reran my info with their NPC (didn’t realize it existed), which clearly takes into account my retirement assets (pretty much the majority of what we have now as we are living on non-retirement assets)…and sure enough, that brought the expected aid way down to the range they are in! So at least now I understand what was going on and why there was a disconnect.
For those that have recommended Purchase…I wholly agree! She had 6 schools to apply to…received acceptance to Pace early and felt she would want to go there more than Purchase and 2 others (in love with NYC), so she didn’t apply to those. Now it is down to Pace and Fordham and the liberal arts quality of Fordham is winning us over (albeit for more $). If I was doing it all over again, I would have pushed harder for Purchase…a great program and VERY economical (for our situation).
Will make our decision in the next 2 days and do our best to make it work.
Thanks to all again for the helpful comments and feedback.
I have worked a few years at a performing arts high school in Lincoln center blocks from Fordham. I know plenty of parents and colleagues whose children attended LaGuardia High school (across the street from my former school) for the performing arts in Lincoln Center.
I will admit perhaps it was proximity as kids wanted to leave the neighborhood, but none of them; the kids from my school or the kids from LaGuardia went to Fordham after graduation. They either went to Tisch or they went to Purchase, which is the theatre school if you are going to SUNY.
There is nothing about Fordham other than NYC, your D would actually be able to do a lighting design concentration at purchase (something that Fordham does not have).
If it is not financially feasible you may have to bite the bullet and let her know now (you still have another child yo put through college). She may need a gap year while applying for an affordable option.
See if she can still apply to Purchase. Save the money for her to do internships in NYC or to launch her in NYC after graduation.
Pace in NYC is at the foot of Brooklyn Bridge close to one Police Plaza and City hall. Other than saying you are in NYC, there is absolutely **nothing **there for a young college student. The area is literally a ghost town after 6pm when people leave work.
@Dadoroc
Given your situation, the only choices (unless you want to be in a lot of debt, which obviously is a terrible option at the moment) are SUNY or a college that meets 100% of demonstrated need. It seems that your D did not apply to any schools that meet 100% of financial need, so the only financially responsible choice is a SUNY. If she’s majoring in an area of theater, SUNY Purchase is excellent!
The only other option is take a gap year and reapply to colleges that meet full financial need.
FWIW, Fordham is not a college at the top of the list of financial strength. Its endowment per student is $<50k, which puts it at a rank of 329. For comparison, the #1-ranked endowment per student is Princeton, at $3M. Another Catholic college, for comparison, Boston College, has an endowment per student of $204k, with a rank of 92. George Washington U, to compare another big-city college, is at $86k and a rank of 197.
Fordham’s peers on the measure of endowment per student are Converse College (South Carolina), Central Methodist University of Liberal Arts (Missouri), and University of St. Thomas (Minnesota). Those are the three just above Fordham in the endowment/student rankings.
Ah, OK. Then they have no affordable options. Given the current pandemic situation, perhaps a gap year is best. If she’s majoring in theater, wouldn’t that be a difficult major to do online?
@Dadoroc - Do encourage her to check out the CCs with articulation agreements for Purchase. No one wants to say it out loud, but college theaters are going to be dark through the fall semester. She can pick up her random gen eds online, and do exploratory Theater for Zoom work with her pals while she waits for conventional college theater to re-start some time in 2021.