<p>I think it’s a great plan but caution that your child may have a different opinion of living at home after graduation. As long as my kids are being productive, they are more than welcome here and would be encouraged to live here for awhile to save money. But none of them did.</p>
<p>My D also went to an NJ public magnet (MCVSD). Her GC told us that kids who scored 650 or above on both the M and CR sections of the SAT and had a 3.7 GPA would get money from NJ four-year publics. So that’s something to shoot for. Also, to give you hope, my D’s GPA was a shade under 3.7 and she got merit money from Rutgers and admission to the Honors School NB. The NJ publics recognize the rigor of the county magnets, want kids from them, and are willing to bend a little to get them.</p>
<p>I would not make financial plans based upon the assumption that your D will graduate with a lucrative major. Many kids change their minds, wash out, etc.; the economy changes and what looked like a golden go four years ago is no longer such a sure thing. Don’t let your D take on a lot of debt, regardless of her major. Also, if she goes to CC and wants engineering, be sure it will not slow her down. Many engineering kids from the magnets have already taken all the math courses that a CC would offer, and they can’t continue with engineering requirements unless they go to a 4-year school. This is something your D should discuss with her GC.</p>
<p>Also, you might want to investigate smaller privates in PA or MD that give lots of merit money. I know several cash-strapped families in your boat (kid is a good student, family is not eligible for need-based aid but can’t write check for 50K a year) who have send their kids to Susquehanna, Ursinus, McDaniel, etc. and were very happy with their student’s experience and the financial reasonability. I don’t know if these colleges offer engineering but it’s something to think about. Drexel has engineering and also offers good merit.</p>
<p>When it comes to merit awards, consider applying to STEM-centric schools that are eager to get more female applicants to improve their male/female ratio. They can often be extra generous with merit in order to attract the best candidates. Examples, RPI, WPI, RIT, etc. </p>
<p>I agree with the suggestion to try the ACT. My engineering school son found it easier. Test scores do play a role in merit awards. </p>
<p>My son’s observation is that engineering internships are hard to come by after your first year, but the prospects are good after sophomore year when you have had more courses in your major.</p>
<p>NJSue, Drexel does offer good merit but the student needs to maintain a GPA over 3.2 which could be hard to do some semesters in engineering and overall, it is not an inexpensive school to go to.</p>
<p>Thanks for the info BeanTownGirl about finding internships more easily after Jr yr in engineering.</p>
<p>I still would not overdo the loans. These plans, while they are great if they work out, might not. A lot of kids marry right out of college, or get jobs far away. Any of these situations would prevent her from moving home. I went to college. After college, I worked for a couple years and then returned for grad school. I met my husband there. I got pregnant at a point before graduating. My son end up in the NICU. I never went to work as a result. Of course, even if I could have moved back in with my parents at that point, I couldn’t have. Plus, my job in the time between, I did not earn enough to consider touching my loans. I could not even make ends meet (thus the reason I went on to grad school). And I was several states away. I LOVED my job, but, yeah, we are in our 40’s and still paying off our own student loans. We are actually debt free except the student loans, but still paying them off.</p>
<p>*Of the colleges ucbalumnus mentioned, prairie view, Howard, Florida A & M, and Jackson State are historically black. Not sure about Alabama Birmingham. *</p>
<p>UA-Birmingham is not a HBSC. It’s mostly white but has good diversity. It is very good for Pre-health (premed, predental, etc) majors and business majors. It also has some good other programs. It has a well-ranked med school and dental school on campus.</p>
<p>UAB has very generous merit scholarships. Right now, OOS students with an ACT 28 or SAT equivalent are given nearly full tuition scholarships. Higher stats often get more money.</p>
<p>The University of Alabama gives big scholarships for Eng’g majors with an ACT 30+ (or SAT 1330+ m+cr)…full tuition PLUS 2500 per year. Remaining costs are rather easily covered with student loan, small parent contribution, and maybe some summer earnings. Gorgeous campus, and brand new mega-sized Science and Eng’g Complex.</p>
<p>As for living at home after grad. People just can’t predict that. No one knows where any particular person will be employed 4 years from now.</p>
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<p>Is that such a big deal? Even if the OP’s daughter is non-black, there are non-black students at HB schools, and plenty of students attend schools where they are members of minority groups (including black students attending non-HB schools).</p>
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<p>Graduation rates generally have more to do with the student than the school. The top scholarship winners are likely to have much better graduation rates than the overall students at the same schools. The top scholarship winners are more likely to be able to handle full course loads, not need remedial courses, have some freshman level requirements fulfilled with AP credit, etc…</p>
<p>However, if risk of delayed graduation (beyond the length of financial aid and scholarships) is a concern, take note of the (out of state) list prices of the schools (as it turns out, the public ones on this list have out of state list prices in the $30,000 per year range, while (private) Howard is more like $40,000 per year).</p>
<p>Yes, as others have mentioned, there are competitive large merit scholarships elsewhere. But competitive large merit scholarships cannot be counted on for safety schools, unlike guaranteed-for-stats large merit scholarships.</p>
<p>I would not recommend community college ~</p>
<p>A student with the OP D’s stats attending a rigorous magnet HS should be looking at attending a 4-yr college, not a CC, in my opinion. My D, with similar stats, was offered a merit scholarship at Ramapo, although it doesn’t offer engineering. Rutgers, TCNJ, and Rowan are all good instate public options for engineering. It is also possible that she might be able to get good merit aid out of state at less selective schools. </p>
<p>Moving back home after college is certainly an option to keep in mind, but it is very far in the future so that it can’t really be planned upon now.</p>
<p>Ucb,
Yes, I think it does matter if a school is a Hbcu. Yes, there are students of all races at hbcu’s, but many students, both black and white will not consider hbcu’s, just as many women won’t consider an all women’s college. </p>
<p>As far as grad rates, Prairie View’s four year is 11.5%. I’m not sure what there 6 year is. If I had other options, I wouldn’t want my kid going to a school with such a low grad rate. Other people may be OK with that. To each his own.</p>
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<p>Given the OP’s uncertain cost constraints, the student cannot be too picky when finding safeties which are for sure affordable and have ABET-accredited engineering degree programs.</p>
<p>It is also interesting that people on these forums will often recommend that Asian applicants apply to predominantly white LACs with few Asian students, but that suggesting that a (possibly) non-black student apply to HB schools that otherwise fit the student’s constraints (like cost and major) is more likely to get a negative reaction.</p>
<p>On-time graduation has a lot more to do with the student than the school.</p>
<p>You have several good in-state options for engineering. In NJ, your D will also have NJClass loans - yes, she can take out more loans than staffords, and you do not have to cosign for them. It isn’t a great option, but it is an option, and one that many families elect…</p>
<p>NJClass loans are fine but they should be used as a substitute for parent PLUS loans, not to supplement Staffords. Also, NJClass loans can be used by any NJ student attending a college out of state as well as in-state; but they are subject to credit rating and are getting harder to obtain. A student who has already borrowed Staffords will not be likely to be able to borrow much more on NJCLass without a parent-cosigner.</p>
<p>Hi everyone, thanks so much for all the replies! I haven’t gotten through them all yet, but I did want to clarify that my daughter is white.</p>
<p>Also, a couple of very kind posters sent me helpful PMs, which I read and would like to reply to. But it seems I don’t have enough posts yet. I get this message: </p>
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<p>So I guess I won’t be able to reply to you till I can figure out how to post 15 times on one of the other boards. :)</p>
<p>Sugarski- have your D retake her SAT or try ACT. As others have said there are many good merit options for kids with stats like your D’s or a little higher. Cast a wide net for schools she is interested in and see what pans out.</p>
<p>That said, NJ does have great instate public options but in comparison to other states’ publics they are really expensive and getting more so.
We are in NJ and know kids that have done the NJSTARS route; it can work.
Our son started at TCNJ and finished at Rutgers for undergrad. He has about 18K in stafford loans and we took a small NJCLASS loan in our name.
He returned home for one year after grad program then moved in with roommates.
Gainfully employed and loving life. His Stafford loans are not a burden. We discouraged him from options that would have meant larger debt.</p>
<p>Good luck in your search, it WILL work out.</p>
<p>Have you done the numbers as to what it will cost to go to Rutgers, TCNJ and other instate options? How much can you, the parents pay of that bottom line cost? Can your daughter work this summer and does she have some money saved to put towards college? </p>
<p>She can take out $5500 in Stafford loans in her name freshman year, with relative ease, but beyond that there are conditions. You can maybe borrow from PLUS for what you feel is a manageable amount to stretch the college payments over 10-14 years. But with younger ones, you do have to watch it, as you will owe those amounts as they are going to college. </p>
<p>You can look for schools where her stats make her a stand out and that have nice merit awards, and she can try her luck at some of those. Some of those schools will be ones that there is not a lot of info on, so you will have to do your homework to make sure that they can provide what your DD needs and wants. Ask the GC if some local schools have traditionally been generous to kids from that high school in terms of scholarship money. My son got a nice full tuition award from a local Catholic school, completely unexpected, and has come to find out that a number of Catholic prep school grads are offered this award.</p>
<p>Hello everyone, I wanted to update the thread to say my husband and I did do our taxes and then tried the Net Price Calculator on the Rutgers website. On it, it estimates our EFC as $24k and change. Yikes.</p>
<p>We have a meeting scheduled later this week with an accountant/planner guy… his business is called Complete College Planning Solutions, not sure if anyone here is familiar with him, but he’s billed as an expert in this stuff. The meeting is free and I hope it will be helpful.</p>
<p>Thanks SteveMA- I will take your advice to “cast a wide net” to heart! Wondering how many colleges I should have her apply to; with the Common App, I sort of feel like there’s no reason not to apply to, like, 15 schools. In fact, when I read advice to apply to fewer schools… it seems like that advice usually comes from college admissions folks who have their own reasons to discourage that many apps. Or am I way off on that?</p>
<p>My daughter took a practice ACT last weekend and I will have her take the real test next month. Should have the results of her SAT by 3/28. :)</p>
<p>Thanks, mom2collegekids… no, I don’t think CC will be the best route for us. Regarding plans for the future, my daughter completely understands that she may have to adjust her expectations in order to get a college education. She is open to commuting to Rutgers from home, and I know if we take on large debt for her to go to school, she is willing to do whatever she needs to do to pay us back. In terms of going where her future job may be… one thing that is fortunate is that we have a large, very loving and close-knit family scattered over several states. I am certain that she would have a free place to live with family members in CT, RI, MA, PA, or NY if that became necessary.</p>
<p>As long as you have a few options that are sure things, then the rest is all gravy. If you daughter does graduate college with an engineering type degree, yes, it is highly likely that she will find a job that will let her be on her own and still pay off the debt, or if she finds something local in terms of work and lives at home, put a hefty dent in it. </p>
<p>The problem with these plans lie in the number of students who change their majors after they go to college. And the exodus from the STEM majors top the list. I already know a half dozen kids, all top students with the math and physics down pat who have switched out of engineering to psychology, philosophy or political science. And you know, the stats are not so good for kids with those majors getting high paying jobs after college. So you can’t count on this programs working out with any given kid. They are just 18 and to expect a commitment to such a discipline at that age is really asking too much. Counting on it is not a wise thing to do.</p>