Help – with the search of safeties… and the top heavy list of a stubborn daughter and her increasing

Of course, it is entirely possible that a student has no suitable safeties, if his/her preferences do not include any school that s/he is sure of admission to and sure of being able to afford. School-prestige-obsessed students are likely to be in this group, since anything that could possibly be a safety for admission will be seen as being “beneath” him/her, or a “waste of all of his/her effort in high school”.

@MYOS1634 actually quite a bit has been going on on several fronts

Harvard, UPenn and Dartmouth are out, Northeastern is in. I kind of like NE - 1.it is not a safety, but at least it is at least a match. 2.The NPC puts us under 18K (my new affordability target as per post #116). So that is good!

UWisc - Madison - I have always found it the better education alternative to UIUC, but for my D, ever since her childhood visits to W Dells, it has been “just 3 exits city in the middle of no where… in the Midwest”. Anyway as OOS it has a price tag for us at 25K+, so I will not gonna fight for it.

Miami U of Ohio - It turned out to be very very expensive for us.

Tried to start a research on the Canadian options - McGill in particular. The problem I ran into was - they do not really have NPCs. If we have to pay the whole sticker price this will be no go. They do have financial aid but this is very general - It can be for income as low as Pell Grant incomes (which run out at what 5300 EFC or so). My search to find any more concrete info turned out nothing…
BTW if someone can share link or other info where one can see what really their financial aid looks like for given incomes etc, This will be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!!!

Kelley - D knew the program and commented - “It is pretty good!”, but here is me being concerned. IU is way overpriced for us as OOS (Do not remember the exact number but I believe it was north of 30K). And while full rides do exist for the school - my question is - Is a full ride scholarship there really more likely than acceptance in an ivy? I doubt it is easier, but first hand knowledge/input will be appreciated.

D loved what she researched about - essec bba - The tuition itself seems manageable. What we need to do is research more other cost associated with attending - housing costs, meals etc. Knowing Euro seams to not come cheap this can break the deal.

Her opinion of the LAC’s seems to be unchanged - “Those small, overpriced schools , that no one has heard of???”. This comes partially from her desire to either study and live, but at least eventually live in Europe. So, I partially agree - while not everybody there might know UA or UIUC - at least they know the state itself…

And the best IMHO news last - she seems to be worming up on Bama by the day. What helped I think is her best friend having a list basically being - BC, Northeastern , UIUC, Alabama.

Then it’s up to her to fix that problem by shifting the focus of her list. It’s not OP’s problem if the daughter has been admitted to an affordable school but refuses to attend – that’s the daughter’s problem. She always has the option of getting a job if she doesn’t like any of her college choices come August.

I understand the OP’s parental angst – but there is a limit to what parents can and should do for their kids. Assuring that there is a safety is one thing – controlling how the student feels about the safety is quite another, and will only create more conflict between parent and child. This shouldn’t turn into a battle of wills between father and daughter. It should be a matter of daughter having the ability to choose among available options at the appropriate time.

The father can pay $X toward school, and has identified a school that appears affordable. In May (assuming that the Duke ED thing doesn’t work out) – the daughter will have one or more affordable options. I think the father is right to guide and encourage the daughter to take measures to make the “more” into a reality – but I don’t think it’s his obligation to make it happen.

The kid can take Stafford loans and/or work study. My kids paid their own meals, books, and incidentals in college (except for the first year when overpriced meal plans were obligatory). If Alabama is tuition-free, then the rest is doable.

The $11,500 (±) consisted of just under $4000 per year from the grandparents, $2000 from summer employment, and the $5500 Stafford loan the first year. This way the father does not have to deplete his $45,000 savings.

LOL – that will do it!

Dad’s opinion means nothing. Peer – everything.

You are very, very lucky that your daughter has a practical minded friend – or at least a friend with practical-minded parents!

Northeastern may or may not work out – they don’t guarantee to meet full need, but they do offer merit money – so if the NPC seems favorable and if your daughter’s goals fit within NE’s majors, it is certainly a reasonable addition to the list, though far from being a financial safety.

The UA website says December 15
http://scholarships.ua.edu/types/out-of-state.php

@calmom

Northeastern DOES guarantee to meet full need. That changed a couple of years ago. They were moving in that direction…and actually achieved that goal,ahead of their projected schedule. So NEU DOES meet full need.

Another advantage to NEU is their co-OP program.

On IU Kelley School of Business, the date for automatic merit awards has passed, it was Nov 1 – that ship has sailed as cost of attendance will be more than $25,000.

Ohio University has a good business program and is accredited by AACSB for business and accounting.

She could probably get merit at other schools on the AACSB list, such as UAkron, UToledo, Kent State, Ball State, Eastern Illinois.

https://datadirect.aacsb.edu/public/profiles/search.cfm#results

Doesn’t sound like she wants a midwestern school or a school that has no name recognition in Europe*^^^^^

“On IU Kelley School of Business, the date for automatic merit awards has passed, it was Nov 1 – that ship has sailed as cost of attendance will be more than $25,000.”
The date has passed, but Dec 15th seems good enough for direct admission (after appeal).
The question still remains though - is this highly competitive scholarship anyway more achievable than an admission to an ivy.

There are gobs of kids who have graduated from LACs who live and work in Europe. Snobbery is her enemy in this process. But the NPCs would have to work.

Anyway
after a long 4 h “collage talk” tonight.

My daughter might be as close to a “no collage loans/sound financial choices education proponent” as it gets!

The progress is more then astonishing… it should have started 2 years ago…but the late start is totally my fault!!!

“There are gobs of kids who have graduated from LACs who live and work in Europe. Snobbery is her enemy in this process. But the NPCs would have to work.”
I do not know how you can manege to put the word “snob” in any way shape or form in relation to our situation…but if you have succeeded I will file it under “the best twists of reality… ever”

If she thinks Madison is just a hick town, why is she looking at Dartmouth, Duke, Notre Dame, Syracuse, Rochester, or Virginia?

Well, you get all kinds of opinions on this board, but if she isn’t interested in an LAC for whatever reason, I wouldn’t push it. LAC’s offer a smaller and more personal educational environment… but can also feel limiting and constraining to students who are looking for the environment and resources of a larger university.

@twoinanddone
"why is she looking at Dartmouth, Duke, Notre Dame, Syracuse "
I honestly do not know. Believe me I am not a teenager nor a girl.
But all those not being in the Midwest (well Notre Dame might appeal to her ‘not yet truly found Christianity or something’ ) might give you some clue(s)…

Not being able to edit your posts after 15 min is the feature I like the most on CC

My current naughty boy warning expires in 2 days… let see if this post adds to this or not…

Well I once was a teenage girl, and I’ve also raised one – so I can tell you. She’s a 17 year old girl who doesn’t have a clue of where she wants to be next year, but she knows she wants to go to a good school (because who wouldn’t?) But then again, she really has no clue as to exactly what distinguishes a “good” school from any other.

And she knows that she wants to go away to to a 4 year college… because she thinks that living with one’s parents and attending a local community college is really lame.

She doesn’t want a college list filled with names that she would be embarrassed to share with friends-- which is why she started out with a list of prestige schools, and it is so very important to her now that her best friend has obviously decided that Northeastern and Alabama are acceptable schools and worthy of consideration.