We’re prepared to pay four years. When we started the college search we made a point to look at schools with high four year graduation rates. We didn’t really anticipate at the beginning of this that we’d end up sending our daughter to a private college, but we decided that it was worth it to pay a bit more for the private and finish in four than attend a public and hopefully finish in four. She qualifies for enough merit aid and a generous renewable scholarship that make attending a private school cost slightly more than a state school. Hopefully it will all go well.
I did it in 4 and DH did a 5 year degree in 4. Our DS gets 4 years for undergrad.
Hmmm, I did not make use of much advising when I was in college, though I graduated in 4 years when the overall 4 year graduation rate was under 40%. But I did carefully read the handbook for my major (which listed degree requirements and had a handy directed graph of the prerequisite structure), and generally favored choosing courses which were the important ones in prerequisite sequences, in order to have the most flexibility later.
However, it may be that most students are not as careful at reading the written documentation about degree requirements and prerequisite sequences, so having good advising could help them. But some advisers may not give out good advice, such as the common advice to always repeat one’s AP credit (rather than suggesting that the student try the old final exams of the course that may be skipped before deciding), which can reduce the student’s future schedule flexibility. Students undecided in their majors may be particularly difficult to give good advising to, since they need to choose courses that will put them on track for all of the majors that they might decide to declare.
Perhaps academic advising can be likened to solving [critical path](Critical path method - Wikipedia) problems.
Think about taking a summer evening class at CC. That is what my D is doing. It costs only a few hundreds and not affected any work schedule at all.
@nycparent12 My D’s adviser has already marked up all the major course requirement for the future semesters till she graduate. She still has room to fill in any electives she wants. Some of the ChemE courses only offer in Fall or Winter but not both, are need to be taken in specific sequence. So it is very critical to lay out and follow the schedule as soon as possible. Even the school list out the course sequence and pre-requisite requirement, you may need to find out if the course is offered in both semesters ahead of time. Otherwise, missing one class may lead to a whole year delay in graduation. This is particularly common for those who declare major late (i.e. after the first semester of sophomore).
True – when required courses for the major or important prerequisite sequences are not offered every semester, that is another factor that must be considered when solving the critical path problems of schedule planning to ensure timely graduation.
Your son needs to know his flowchart, be familiar with his upcoming classes, and be aware of what’s expected of him GPA wise. I know my flowchart, what concentration electives are offered, the general timing of courses, and the rough prerequisites for my courses, and when I plan on taking them. This kind of familiarity helps prevent being blind-sided by not having a prerequisite or being three credits short on a requirement.
Like noted before, it really helps if you’re able to speak with your advisor. They’re there to help you. Professors can help, as well. Once you get into your higher major courses it makes a difference sometimes with your course loads and such.
My mom isn’t really involved with knowing my degree requirements. I’m not sure she even knows how many credits my degree requires, but she knows I’m on track and doing what I need to do. It’s a system that works for us. She checks on me while I’m taking the classes ensuring that I’m getting help when I need it, rather than after the fact when a course has already been completed.
UCB, I read the handbook too when I was going through college. Kid#1 never read hers but I think she was aware that some courses were only offered yearly. I never heard kid #2 mentioned advisor, I need to ask her more specific questions when she gets home, but I think part of her reason for not be able to graduate in 4 years is not to take too many demanding courses per quarter. But all the easy GEs are almost done so she has to buckle down hard. But luckily, she has finished all the prereqs for her major, she can take a lot more electives but maybe not the one she wants.
We will assist with 4-ish years, to allow for unusual circumstances. Both Ds are in engineering and had a lot of AP credit. They are both self-driven students and work closely with their advisors on schedule planning. They are at different universities.
D1 is graduating this month in only 3 years, with a BS in ChemE and a minor in Spanish. She crafted her 3-year plan with her advisor in her first semester and stuck to it. (She did “overload” by 1-2 credits several quarters with her advisor’s consent. We actually pushed her to look at lightening up a little!) She is staying her fourth year to get a MS but has fellowships and stipends to cover the majority of the cost. Most of her friends (almost all engineers) will graduate in four years with a handful graduating with her a year early.
D2 just finished her first year, pursuing double degrees (BS in engineering and BM in music performance). We agreed to help her with a fifth year if she sticks with both degrees and makes good progress. She is doing very well and, per the plan worked with her engineering and music advisors, may be able to graduate in 4.5 years. (Also overloading by 1-2 credits occasionally. Again, we are challenging to make sure she stays healthy and sane even if it means an extra semester.)
^^ And your D2 is taking a couple summer classes at a CC too. 
@Niquii77, thank you! I will gently remind him about the flowchart from time to time.
My kids depend at least in part on their scholarships, which last for 8 semesters. If they do co-ops or internships, I think they can extend the time but not the 8 semesters of merit money. While some students might have AP or dual enrollment credits, mine don’t (well, one has 3 credits she got for one class). The engineer has 16-18 credits scheduled almost every semester, but that’s how the program is set up. The chemE’s have 18 almost every semester.
It’s not that I don’t want to pay for more than 8 semesters, it’s just that it will be way more expensive for a 5th year because a good portion of the tuition assistance will be gone.
We have made it clear to our daughter that we expect her to complete her degree in four years because that is how long her scholarship will last. Because she got a great scholarship and we are only responsible for room and board, we have offered to continue to help with room and board expenses if she ends up going to graduate school as she plans if she stays on track.
Every family is different. We plan NOT to pay for college, D. opted to apply to colleges that we knew would offer her great Merit awards. She did not apply outside of this group. We would have paid the balance, but ended up paying only for her living expenses, the tuition was covered by Merit scholarships. That plan took many years, actually the first step took place when D. was 5 y o. I told her that the school is her most important thing and if she wants to continue with all the fun activities (she had many, including competitive sport, her favorite), she better do the homework first and do it very well. This stuck with her all thru graduating from college.
In appreciation for her hard work and wise decision choosing UG, we paid for her Med. School. So, she has graduated from Med. School 2 days ago debt free. She mentioned yet again, that some in her Med. School class who decided to attend at Ivy / Elite for UG, regret this decision that in most cases resulted in large student loan (after Med. School in may be in $200k - $300k easily)
So, at the end, I may say, that we actually planned to pay for 4 years, but they were not D’s college years.
We are in the “we have saved $x” camp. Whatever it pays for, is what it pays for. If DC add to it with scholarships they have more schools to choose from.
Oh please. On other threads you claimed you paid $25,000 a year for living expenses for your daughter. She had. Full tuition scholarship which saved you about $7000 a year…which is terrific…but college was hit free.
In addition, you had the resources to fully fund her medical school costs which were in excess of $200,000…and it’s not because of the $28,000 total you saved in undergrad tuition costs.
Tell the whole story, please.
@MiamiDap - If you are saying that parents aren’t paying for college just because of a tuition scholarship then a ton parents in Georgia are not paying for college because of the Hope/Zell scholarship.And UA is the same way with it’s free tuition. Trust me I feel I am paying for college when I writing that check for housing. I’m pretty sure most parents whose kids have a tuition scholarship feel the same.
$25,000 a year for living expenses seems to be about right. At least this amount is close to the non-tuitions-related budget DS’s school has decided for the next academic year.
When the student does not know what he wants to pursue for his future career in high school, the parents may prefer him to attend a college where he may have a variety of “good” choices. The parents and the child himself should assume that the BS or BA degree may be his terminal degree. After all, it seems the majority of students, even at a top college, choose not to attend a grad or professional school after college.
MichiganGeorgia,
I believe that here we are asked about OUR PERSONAL story/opinion.
I apologize for believing differently than you do.
mcat2,
yes, I agree “$25,000 a year for living expenses seems to be about right.” However, it is based on our D’s Grad. school experience, not UG and also she was living in one of the cheapest places in the country. For somebody in NYC or LA, I imagine that living expenses are nuch higher. We include everthing in this category, like clothes, car insurance,…etc.
So, we are looking at about $2k added to our monthly income starting in July. YEYEYE, D. got her first MD badge for her first year residency, starting on July 1, and first time in her life it says “resident”, not “medical student”
Tuition is just part of the CoA. Having a scholarship(s) is nice, but what is critical is the remaining cost. In my D’s case, her tuition at an in state flagship is pretty much covered by scholarships and grants. The remaining R&B and living expenses in CoA is around $13k-$15k a year (no travel cost). I would not count other living expenses that are not additional due to attending school. So there is little incentive to graduate one semester early as her major is not possible to graduate in 3 years due to class schedule. On the other hand, each semester after the 4th year would cost us ~$16k. So graduating in 5 years would increase the cost by near 60%. Aiming at merit aid is a good strategy, but it would not replace careful planning in other aspects also (e.g. choice of school, area, AP/IB/DE credits, major, etc).