I can't afford to send my kid to a good uni in the USA, so are European universities alternatives?

Parents Forum
1

Hello. We are a homeschooling family living the USA. I was born in Slovakia, and my wife is from Mexico. My kid is in 11th grade, and is pretty committed to school. She does half virtual school, and half homeschool curriculum. She prefers online. Anyways, we are one of those families that make too much for financial aid but too little to actually pay for college. Even the local public college costs around $18,000 a year. It is around 40 minutes away (we live in a rural-ish area.) I have a pretty high income (compared to the area we live in, it is pretty poor.) But almost all that income goes back into my business that I am starting. I can’t spend 15k a year on college.

We can afford the local community college (it’s pretty cheap, around $3,000) but I want something better for my daughter. She is very outgoing and would love to to go to a uni away from home, but she is fine with going to a uni here. She found a good university with my mother lives (in Slovaka) and brought it up asking if that is even a possibility. She would live with my mom in Slovakia, and the tuition is pretty minimal.

I am a bit worried. Can she get a job in the USA if she has a foreign degree? She wants to become an immigration lawyer. If she majors in something like History or Psychology, can she come back to the USA with a foreign degree and go to law school? Is going to a European university a good idea?

2

What are her stats like? What state are you in?
Slovakia is pretty specific. “Europe” is not, but really you are looking just at Slovakia, right?

3

If she can do well on the Oct PSAT she can get some full ride scholarships at some state schools.

4

Doesn’t she speak the language fluently? Or do they teach college courses in English?

5

I think you are right to be concerned about her job prospects. Agree that she should take the PSAT next month – get on that right away, and get her a prep book. Here is a link:

https://collegereadiness.collegeboard.org/psat-nmsqt-psat-10/taking-the-tests/home-schooled

If a 4 year school doesn’t work out, she can do 2 years at community college and then 2 at the 4 year college.

6

We are in Tennessee. We are open to all of Europe, but we see Slovakia as a better option because I feel like accommodation in Europe would be expensive. She has a 4.0, no AP courses because she will be in Mexico around May. All her online courses are honors. She took the PSAT as a 10th grader, and she got 1300. She is going to take the SATs this year in December, and the PSATs in October.

7

They teach courses in English! She speaks Slovak, but she doesn’t know how to write essays in Slovak. Like, she can speak and a have a conversation, but she will have a hard time writing in Slovak. There are English courses.

8

A few questions.

Is your D a Slovakian citizen?

If not, a quick google search indicates she will have to apply for a temporary residence visa and to get one of these, she has to be able to demonstrate fluency in the language. Can she?

If she isn’t a citizen, are you sure the minimal fees for the university are available to non-citizens? If she is a citizen, are they available to citizens who have not lived in the country before applying?

I think you need to answer these questions before you worry about law school admissions.

Maybe you’ve already figured all this out. I’m writing just in case you haven’t.

Here’s some general info. https://www.educations.com/study-guides/europe/study-in-slovakia/

9

I wouldn’t discount community colleges right away.

Many of them offer the lower level classes at a cheaper rate and with smaller classes that your daughter could benefit from. She could transfer to a 4-year after 2 or even one year.

Socially, there would be a big difference between European and US colleges and in the fact that she would be coming back to the states after college.

Could she go part time at one of the schools in your state?

10

I would not recommend studying outside the USA if she wants to continue studies here, very surely she needs to homologate the European university title and it is very certain that they will not be worth many subjects and will have to repeat them to receive their degree.

Totally agree with @3scoutsmom
The solution is apply to State University looking for a full ride.

11

If she does well enough on the PSAT for National Merit, there may be some full ride scholarship opportunities based on that:
http://nmfscholarships.yolasite.com/ (verify on school web sites)

There may be other full ride scholarship opportunities (not National Merit based) to look into (again verify on school web sites):
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/20798968/#Comment_20798968
http://competitivefulltuition.yolasite.com/

12

https://bannerssb.utk.edu/kbanpr/utk_trans_course_eqv.P_State_Inst indicates that community colleges in Tennessee may offer courses that transfer to the University of Tennessee, so 2 years at community college followed by 2 years at a four year school may be doable and less expensive than 4 years at a four year school.

13

Isn’t community college free in Tennessee? (Thought I remembered this, but not sure what “free” really means – maybe you are counting books, transportation, etc. to get to that $3,000 number).

14

Some states allow Law graduates from other countries to sit the bar. Investigate that route.

15

Would she qualify for HOPE in Tenn? If you add HOPE to some merit at a Tenn school, it could be affordable with a fed student loan and some money from you.

16

First, have you run the net price calculators on a few schools to make sure that you do not qualify for financial aid? Try a few state campuses and maybe a generous private school like Vandy. It’s pretty likely you’re correct since the formulas aren’t particularly generous with business owners, but run the numbers to make sure. Every college website is required to have a net price calculator somewhere so use the search function if it is not obvious.

And, once you have her PSAT and SAT test scores, you can look into merit aid as others have suggested.

If paying for an undergraduate degree is difficult, paying for law school may be even more so. Perhaps you should encourage her to explore other ways to serve the immigrant community besides as a lawyer?

17

First, run the NPC on Vanderbilt and Rhodes (plus, depending on your daughter’s strengths and interests, RPI, St Olaf, Dickinson, Williams, Macalester, Bryn Mawr, WashU, St Louis U, Hendrix).
Are any results affordable?

Then, run the NPC on UT Knoxville and UT Chattanooga. Look up merit scholarships.

Finally, have her study very hard for her PSAT.

Is it that you don’t want to pay 15k (because the costs seem too high compared to what you’d like to pay, “sticker shock” because you just discovered college costs in the us, or because it’s more than what you consider it’s worth…) or is it that you cannot pay 15k (IE, you make less than 90k, have seven children, etc.)? Do you qualify for PELL?
You don’t have to answer on this forum, but answers to this will guide the college strategy. For instance, many top colleges offer full tuition to full ride scholarships if you make less than 75k for a family of 4 or 5. (They are, of course, very hard to get into). Some private colleges have financial aid even for families making 150-180k and many offer scholarships for stats (IE., high SAT or ACT scores).
Your own instate Universities will be greatly discounted already and scholarships are available to residents with excellent SAT scores. CCs are free but the last two years would be full pay or near full pay, so for strong students it’s better to apply early (by November 1 senior year) to compete for scholarships. Both UTK and UTC have good scholarship packages and UT K’s Honors college is not bad at all for a strong student.

You’re going to have two issues with European Universities: many don’t recognize homeschooling and most want AP scores.
Can the trip to Mexico be moved to June? She’d really need to have 2-3 AP scores in order to apply to European Universities. (Scores of 5 for the best Universities).
Another issue is recognition : what university is that? Is it an old, respected university that’s very hard to get into for Slovakian students? If not, it’ll be that much harder to get into a graduate school (it’s harder already since she’ll have no support and no career center).
Another issue is that, if it doesn’t work, she’s lost her freshman status in the us and can’t get the good scholarships at UT mentioned above.
One way to mitigate that would be to take a gap year and enroll in a good 12th grade near her grandmother’s. She’d become fluent and could decide if she wants to stay for college or come back to the us, and she’d have more choices without jeopardizing her freshman status. She’d also make friends, which would help her socially - most European Universities are commuter based so it’s hard to meet people and make friends.
(Also, check: Is the full history program in English or only one class here and there? Or is it an English language program?)

18

If she has a degree from Slovakia, going to law school in the US will be difficult. Her transcript will have to be assessed by LSAC and they will give it a score which is descriptive, not numerical. eg superior, above average, average etc. Even with a superior score, a degree from Slovakia will make it very difficult to gain admission to a US law school.

In addition law school is just as expensive as an undergraduate degree (around $300K by the time she goes). However, there are large scholarships, including full rides available for students that the institution deems desirable. Again, those free rides are going to be difficult to get with a degree from Slovakia. If she goes to Slovakia, she will be hampering her ability to get in and pay for law school.

If she gets a law degree from Slovakia and wishes to return to the US and practice law, she will have to pass the bar in her US state. Passing the bar without the instruction in US law will be difficult. But, there are other administrative hoops to jump through as well, which can take a lot of time. She may have a great degree of difficulty getting hired with a non-US degree.

19

About law school debt: https://abovethelaw.com/2017/09/will-you-ever-be-able-to-pay-off-your-law-school-debt/?rf=1

20

I read that as she’d do undergrad in Eur but then return to the US for law school. That’s fine if the Eur college is accredited and she can be admitted to a US law school.