<p>I am a single mom with three children. We are looking at colleges in the next 6 years, and education is extremely important to me. I regret throwing away my chance for higher education, my ex was in tech school and is barely employable. My son is already looking at MIT or Cal Tech, my daughter wants to be a veterinarian with an emphasis on Equine practices, and my youngest is looking Ivy league. I am extremely proud of my kids. Also, my son is on the autism spectrum and has an IQ of 187 but has difficulty applying himself. What are the steps I can take to ensure that when we are ready to cross that bridge, the fat envelope comes rather then the small one? Activities? When do grades come into play? Any advice would be great!</p>
<p>I wish I had understood the financial aspects of college sooner. I didn’t realize until my daughter was a freshman that top schools give very little or no merit aid,
That the "free ride " that you hear people talk about is often exaggerated or non-exsistient</p>
<p>Ivy’s are incredibly hard to get into -not matter what kind of child you have -so you need a back up or a “safety” a school that you are reasonably sure that your child can get into and that you can afford.</p>
<p>If your kids are good test -takers -read up on the National Merit Scholarship.</p>
<p>Read this board and learn from others mistakes.</p>
<p>Use the Search function for ‘autism’, I’m sure you’ll find informative past threads.</p>
<p>The Ivy league is a sports conference, do not encourage your youngest’s interest in name brands over schools that fit her needs. Fine to be proud, but include practical and realistic as well. </p>
<p>While the fat envelope is wonderful, it only works if you can afford the cost. Educate yourself now about need based FA and Institutional merit scholarships. I like the website finaid.org for FA and scholarship information. Also, all colleges have a FA calculator on their website, so you can get a baseline idea of what you might pay. Caveat: these are only estimates and will vary in accuracy from school to school and depending on how complex your financial situation is.</p>
<p>Along with this website, there are many good books about college admissions and financing college, some are available at your public library. Take what friends, relatives, and even sometimes HS GCs, say with a grain of salt; always verify anything you hear.</p>
<p>As far as your kids looking good to colleges, they do need to have a few activities they participate in and if they can, they should work up to being a leader in something, although my youngest was never a leader and she is happy to be going to her college so they’ll still get in. </p>
<p>All high school grades are important since they will impact the overall GPA. Also, if you are looking at schools that give credit for AP or IB classes, you will need to be steering your kids in the direction of those types of classes. My kids’ HS offered AP classes beginning sophomore year (and earlier if the students was advanced in math).</p>
<p>The biggest thing, as others have mentioned, is being able to pay for college. Someone just created a database and posted it on CC that allows you to enter GPA and test scores and it will return a list of schools with generous merit scholarships that the student qualifies for. They aren’t necessarily the cream of the crop schools but they are free or tuition-free. Go look at the cost of the schools your kids are interested in and run their financial aid calculators just to get an idea of the costs. If your kids will be in college at the same time, your expected family contribution (EFC) will be split between the kids (depending on the students’ savings).</p>
<p>My youngest D is not a tippy-top student but she’s not a middle-of-the-road one either. She applied to a few private schools and received enough merit and financial aid that the schools were affordable (and cheaper than our state flagship). She knew if she didn’t receive good aid though, she wouldn’t be able to attend. She was very happy she was able to include those schools in her decision-making process.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>i always found visiting colleges -even ones you have no interest in - that are either close to your home or towns you travel to. it gives you a basis to compare when you are serious about schools. eat ice cream in the student union and take all the kids along, look around at the students. are they serious? happy? talking with others? also read the add boards.</p>
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<p>The top few sticky threads in the financial aid section of these forums include a link to that web site, as well as lists of automatic and competitive full tuition to full ride scholarships:</p>
<p>[Financial</a> Aid & Scholarships - College Confidential](<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/]Financial”>Financial Aid and Scholarships - College Confidential Forums)</p>
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An IQ of 187?! That is one of the highest IQs ever recorded. There are only ~5 living people in the world that have been verified that high. If this is real and not age adjusted from a young age, then I doubt that your son will have trouble being accepted at colleges.</p>
<p>I echo entomom’s sentiment about brand name schools. Be willing to look at schools off the beaten path. Even fourth-tier no-names have pockets of excellence. Depending on the child’s interests and major, he or she could get a first class education at a school recognized by people who hire in the industry, if not necessarily everyone on CC. My S1 attends a school better known for the worst disaster in sports history then the school itself overall, but is a national leader in his major and inexpensive too.</p>