@LinguistPunk I do think you need to have the money talk with your parents. See if you can find out how much they can and will contribute to your college costs annually.
Also, there are net price calculators on all the college websites. Sit with your parents and do some for the colleges you are interested in. And let your family see the net costs you will probably come close to needing to pay at each college.
You need to do the NPCs for each college separately as formulas and results will vary.
Let’s try to narrow your search a bit. Obviously there are schools of differing sizes, in different settings, and in different states/regions throughout the US that offer Linguistics.
To that end:
Those will help us form a sieve that will sift out the chaff and only admit the wheat.
Regarding majors, costume design as a standalone bachelor’s degree major is uncommon. College Navigator - Search Results lists only 18 public or private non-profit colleges with it. There will be even fewer with costume design and linguistics.
However, studio art is significantly more common, so studio art would be much less of a constraint in looking for colleges.
But not in manhattan. The NYU dorms ended up cheaper than living in anything remotely decent off-campus. D19 was in dorms till end of junior year.
Thank you for all this information, everyone, and apologies for not giving you all the info in advance.
Here are my answers to the template:
And just since my initial post might be lost, looking for somewhere with a good hardcore/punk music/art scene and a strong on-campus vibe/community. Hopefully this helps. Really appreciate all of the feedback so far!
hi thanks! I added answers to this below.
That’s helpful. A question to ask is if they will be able to provide additional support in addition to your 529 plan…which will cover about $30,000 a year.
Will they contribute anything beyond the 529 account amount, or is $125k their limit?
If $125k is their limit, that is about $31k per year. University of Oregon in-state is $35-40k per year if you get no financial aid or scholarships. Note that federal loans without needing a cosigner are limited to $5.5k first year.
Western Washington University WUE is a competitive merit scholarship. Getting it would result in a net price of about $32-37k, but it would be about $47-52k without WUE.
UC-Santa Cruz is likely to run $75-80k/year as an out-of-state student and they don’t give meaningful merit aid. I would consider eliminating it.
I would also have your family run the Net Price Calculator (NPC) at Princeton. If your family doesn’t qualify for any need-based aid there, they are unlikely to qualify for it anywhere. But some schools are very generous in defining need, including for families with incomes of $200k/year or more.
One school I’d suggest checking out is U. at Buffalo, already mentioned by @dfbdfb. I think there’s a decent chance you could get it to be within the 529 budget, or at least close-ish to it. It has about 20k undergrads, seems to have a pretty robust linguistics department, and you can be part of the crews in the theater department without being a major while earning course credit (source), and it’s definitely students who are designing the costumes:
And it seems that Buffalo has at least something of a punk culture there:
thank you!
I saw @thumper1 noted UMASS. Rutgers too.
How about UVM, Rutgers, or Reed?
I do think you need to get ahold of your budget.
I know you don’t want to discount anything but at some point you’ll want to knock out schools not affordable.
You have a lot of CSUs that will be affordable via WUE as well as UNM and WWU.
I think you have to think about where you want to be - lots of states have lenient cultures but maybe not state laws. Many of these states have businesses that no longer have M and W bathrooms but dual sex bathrooms - so they are inclusive. In TN, that’s how they get around the laws - anyone can use any restrooms - but states have healthcare rules and more that might impact where you look.
Do you want to be far from home, etc. That’s another thing to look at.
Good luck.
What does that look like in your mind?
Most college towns don’t have what I’d call a “punk scene.” (My view is based on having been a part of one in a major city decades ago). Many college towns barely have any music scene, and you have to drive a couple of hours to go to concerts.
I think this is your most restrictive criterion, so if you’re going to prioritize it, I suggest starting here to make a list. Or rethink it, and just be ok with not having a serious punk scene right there, and be ok with driving to a major metro once in a while.
But there are cities - LA, Chicago, Seattle, Minneapolis, Philly, Richmond, and more with a punk scene. But you don’t know what you’ll get and when. I do agree it’s quits a difficult thing to match and definitely to assure.
Just a reminder that if you take full advantage of AP, dual enrollment, and CLEP exams, it is entirely possible that a flagship state U would award you a year’s college credit or even more, thus stretching your 125K 529 account to allow you to finish up debt-free.
Clark, Oberlin, Goucher. Grinnell (maybe), Skidmore (maybe).
I’m not sure about Mac or Brandeis for a hardcore punk scene.
I would, again, be wary of schools in states that are not trans friendly. No one is going to spend 4 years within the confines of campus so state laws matter. (We drove past Grinnell the other day. It’s not a location I’d be happy for my trans student to go regardless of the college itself.)
UVM comes to mind. Do you have some sense of how you’d like to combine linguistics and costume design?
UVM is LGBT friendly and Burlington has a good music scene. There are also performance options beyond the university.
I know a successful UVM graduate with a BA in Theater and a distinction in Dramaturgy, which I’m assuming leans into linguistics. She had great opportunities at UVM and her final project was a well supported production at the Flynn Theater.
I wouldn’t count on honors, with no test score yet. Is the gpa unweighted? UMASS is one of two universities my kids did not get into honors, out of 20ish. The other was Rutgers. It’s a hard admit.
UVM could be a good option but would probably only work financially with max merit (similar to UMass). This is not out of reach for OP, but they’re going to need a good test score.
I would also advise OP to keep travel costs in mind. My son travels to Burlington several times a year for work. Flights are expensive and complicated (generally no direct flights) especially with OP residing on the west coast.
With a limited budget, be aware that certain OOS schools will be much less expensive with respect to travel.