<p>I am looking for advice from other parents that do not qualify for any need based financial aid although I would be happy to hear all opinions.</p>
<p>My son has been accepted at USNA but has medical issues that my prevent him from attending. If he gets them worked out he will attend USNA. If not, he has been accepted at Case Western as well as Hamilton College. He likes both schools and the football coaches at both schools have been recruiting him for football (Div 3-no scholarships). He fits into both schools defensive scheme well and should be a good football fit there. If he does not go to USNA he wants to play college football. It is important to him and I think that if he goes to a school other than USNA and does not play football he will be extremely unhappy with his life.</p>
<p>In general, Hamilton is a more prestigious school. However CWRU may be better for his intended major (Economics). Plus CWRU offered him enough money in merit based aid that it will wind up costing us twice as much to send him to Hamilton. He is leaning towards CWRU and we think that it is also the better option for him.</p>
<p>I think fit is important, to a point, but I don’t think you are missing anything. You can spend what you can spend and I don’t think any school anywhere is worth paying extra for if you have a significantly lower cost option. Put those dollar figures into 4 years vs 1 year and it becomes more obvious what the right path may be. Also, while D3 schools don’t give athletic scholarships, if they want your son badly enough, they seem to “find” money for athletes…</p>
<p>He liked both schools. They are different and each had things that he really liked. However, the cost difference is staggering. CWRU graduates have higher starting salaries and higher mid career salaries compared with Hamilton despite Hamilton’s higher academic ranking.</p>
<p>He would not have to take any loans to go to CWRU. We would be able to pay the full amount owed. He would have to work in the summers to have some money but he could graduate without loans. That would not be true for Hamilton. To me, that is a big deal.</p>
<p>We usually have this kind of discussion around this time of year. I do not think cheap is always good. It is four years of kid’s life, probably 4 most important years. If it is not the right school for him then he just wasted 4 very precious years of his life.</p>
<p>In your son’s case, I don’t think I would pay twice as much to go to Hamilton.</p>
<p>I agree with Oldfort. I wouldn’t pay twice the cost. One thing to temper the salary discussion, though: CWRU has engineering which brings up starting salaries significantly. Unless you can compare like majors, take that info with a grain of salt.</p>
<p>It all comes down to individual situations. Some parents are in a precarious enough financial situations that they are insane to pay the EFC or more than they have to for college. THey probably should not even be paying for college and the kids should be out there working to help get the family out of the dire financial state. In the old days, that’s what often was done. But instead by forestalling other obligations, turning a blind eye, taking out loans, etc, etc, they come up with enough for their kids to go their first choice schools. In such cases, there is no question what is the best thing to do.</p>
<p>Then you have famiilies for which it comes down to comfort. Can’t buy that second home that Dad’s been eying for years and is now at bargain rates. No going around the world with fellow alums, and you gotta stick with the old car for the next 4 years. No theater subscriptions, no fancy restaraunts, a lot of belt tightening. For families like that, it is a life styles decision, and as far as I’m concerned, you might as well put it into the school your kid prefers. I have no problems with making this decision.</p>
<p>But as you go in to the many gradations in between, it becomes more and more difficult to make that decision. My friend whose adult daughter needed a heart transplant and had to come up with 1/3 the cost to get on the list had no problems nixxing any school that wasn’t a full ride for her son. That priority was ever so clear. But when it iisn’t that black and white, that is when it comes down to an individual decision. Sometimes we miss.</p>
<p>I know kids who have graduated from both schools and are happy and successful. I know kids who bombed out of both. Hamilton is more the country club atmosphere, not being predominently a tech school and with its more out of the way locale. The kids there tend to me more homogenous and from upscale familes. It’s a lot more intense at Case. How much more does your son like one school than the other? How clear is the the preference? How much of a dent does the money differential make for you? </p>
<p>In my personal case, I feel I screwed up paying full freight for my oldest to go to his top school when he would have been happy with less expensive choices that just weren’t ranked as high his want list. I paid for increments of desire. I think paying full freight (which, fortunately I did not have to do) would have been worth it for my third who not only had a burning desire to go to one certain school and some unique solid reasons for it. With my last child still in high school, hopefully DH and I will be in a situation where the financial sting will be just that, not a gauge or something that could cause real damage, as we have plans for our next stage in life and not have obligations of other kids hanging over our heads.</p>
<p>Proudpatriot–sounds like a no-brainer decision to me. He likes the school, you can afford the school, he graduates with no debt. The starting salary and mid-level salaries, while useful, really shouldn’t be used as a yardstick. There are just WAY too many variables that influence those numbers. Sure, a Harvard Grad may make $10,000/year on average more than say someone from a small Iowa LAC, however, if that grad is living and working in Boston, their COL is double or more than some kid living and working in Des Moines, IA-so who is really “making” more?</p>
<p>One thing to consider: Do you have other children? Because if you disregard cost for one, you will most likely end up doing it for the next child, too.</p>
<p>I will be paying $ to NYU for 8 consecutive years. Older D got $11k off per year at NYU–but we had told her (when she was deciding between NYU and Barnard) that she could choose the school of her choice and not go to the schools that gave her the most money (American and Muhlenberg.)</p>
<p>With that in mind–knowing that we had decided to go for fit and not the most aid with her older sister–we threw in the towel with younger D and let her apply to NYU ED. What was the point of collecting merit scholarships at schools she didn’t really want to attend, if in the end we were going to let her go to NYU anyway? ED gave her application a boost and the likelihood of her even getting as much as older sister in talent aid was slim since NYU was cutting back on true merit aid anyway. By allowing her to apply ED we knew in advance that she would not get any talent $ since it is only given out to RD students (if at all).</p>
<p>I guess I don’t understand the question. He prefers a school you find to be a better fit and is more financially feasible. I highly doubt anyone would think less of someone for going to Case Western. </p>
<p>How successful you are after college will be more a testament of what kind of worker you are then where you graduated.</p>
<p>We were fortunate that finances wasn’t what drove the decision. In the end his top two choices couldn’t have been more different - in state public vs oos private. I just didn’t think the experiences could compare and he’ll be in the private school in the fall.</p>
<p>My son had a similar decision last year. He liked both of his final two but chose the school that was also going to allow him to graduate debt-free. The COA difference is around $20K a year to start-but the school he chose gave him a scholarship in tuition not dollars so there is no price increase to factor in while the other school goes up about 3-5% a year. </p>
<p>The school he picked is lower ranked but still an excellent school although very different. He is attending Northeastern and loves it. The school he also loved was U Rochester and one of his best friends is going there and loves it too. I am sure he would have been happy either place but he is thrilled that when he graduates he is free and clear-at UR he would have ended up with about 50K in debt.</p>
<p>These are both good colleges and your kiddo LIKED them both. If finances are an issue, then you need to discuss this with him. If you can truly afford both schools and don’t care one way or another, let him choose (we were in a similar situation five years ago).</p>
<p>Yes I agree but we did run amortization schedules on what his monthly payment would be-he got a real shock when he saw what it would mean to his lifestyle.</p>
<p>DS chose slightly lower ranked larger tech school w/ merit over higher ranked smaller school. When it came time to purchase a car for work we pointed out to him that in his first semester, due to his decision and by working hard enough (he worked his patooty off) to keep his aid package, he had already covered the cost of that car. He got it. He already kind of did in his initial decision but he really got it then. Now that he’s a junior, he says you can make your college experience great or not great at any institution based on how you decide to make it. We made the right decision. Has it been perfect? Heh. Nope. But it was a good decision.</p>
<p>I think it is a no brainer. Since both colleges are good enough, pay less and let him play football. Enjoy the money you save. The incremental diffence between theses colleges is not enough to pay the difference imo. He will get a good education at either college.</p>
<p>I agree with momof3greatgirls, but I want to add that if Hamilton had been his top choice, you should definitely attempt to negotiate the financial aid package there. I have no direct experience with Hamilton, but I know of other comparable schools that, when presented with a more favorable aid package from a school that they considered a peer, they matched the package, or at least sweetened their offer, especially if the student made clear that money was the only thing that stood between them and an acceptance of the offer of admission.</p>
<p>If the effect on your family finances is as cptofthehouse describes here:</p>
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<p>…let your son choose. If he likes CWRU, there is no reason for him not to go there. It’s not as if he is choosing an obscure, no-name school. He will do perfectly well with a degree from CWRU. But unless the family finances make it impossible, let him choose it.</p>
<p>First of all, best of luck for good news from USNA which would render this discussion a moot point:)
If USNA doesn’t work out, Case seems like the obvious choice to me.
My S1 is a young Navy officer and is so glad he graduated debt free.</p>
<p>I think you are mistaken that Hamilton is an obviously more prestigious school (and I speak as a somewhat biased Easterner with New England roots.) I think this is a no brainer - save your money!</p>