<p>Ack! :eek: My brain is tired and my thoughts are tired of churning around and around in my head - so I’m going to try to clear them by writing this out. </p>
<p>My DS would like to attend Rice. We just got the Financial aid package and it looks fairly good; he will graduate with $14,525 in loans. His freshman package includes a small workstudy ($1800) and perkins loan of $2625 and lots of grants, since we will have two in college next year. The EFC figure they used is a little lower than the IM method calculator, but $1600 more than our FASA figure. My DD is also at Rice and loves it and thinks it would be a good fit for DS. Her Rice packages have been FAFSA numbers exactly, w/no loans or workstudy (since she has merit scholarships).</p>
<p>So what’s the problem? I’ve tried running the calculators for the subsequent years, with only 3 in the family and one in college, and there are just so many variables that I can’t get a good number. The numbers that I have got, especially including home equity, are downright scary, and I don’t know what the wisest thing to do is with his UTMA account (about $4500. Cash it all out at once, and pay it towards tuition? Cash out some of it each year?)</p>
<p>And then there is our state flagship, UT-Austin, highly regarded in his major choice, which he could attend w/ $4000 merit scholarship. Fool to turn it down, my head sometimes says.</p>
<p>And then Texas Tech, which he could attend for FREE with perks, but not where his heart is, and without the high regard of the other two. (which he does seem to care about…) But totally worry free financially!</p>
<p>And… I’m just tired of thinking about it! I wish I could get a definitive - “This is how much you will pay next year, and the year after and the year after”. Does anyone out there have a globe with the answers???<br>
I want my son to be happy and have a good and fulfilling college experience - and from what I’ve read and heard from others over the past 5 years, that can happen at many different colleges. It’s just very hard to turn my back on things that I KNOW we can afford, for the scary something that we might only be able to afford with loans. I am loan-a-phobic!<br>
Okay, I feel better writing this all down.
(edit: and I know that this is not really my decision, but a joint one. It’s just that DS and DH are out-of-town and were not here when the F.A. info came…)</p>
<p>Anxiousmom, I wish I had some way to help. There have been some good threads here about how home equity, second child in college, are calculated, etc. But I think the real problem we all have is that the college admissions/financing process is so out of our control and unpredictable when it comes to knowing what will happen to one specific person.</p>
<p>But my thought is this: if the first year is affordable and the main problem is whether you can afford the following years, I would go to the first choice school the first year. </p>
<p>After freshman year, there might be a possibility of departmental scholarship, working as a RA, etc. And I like to think that for a student who is already in the school, FA officers would use whatever limited discretion they have to help him be able to stay. And if worse comes to worse, you can always look at transfer options. But it might not be so easy to transfer into the first choice school if it turns out to be more affordable than you thought.</p>
<p>:) Weenie. That’s way too many choices! At least DS only applied to 5, and he has a definite preference, albeit the most expensive one! Writing this out did help me figure out a few things - and make a few decisions. I was able to cancel our plane tickets to visit to the “free” school - thus saving $500 which I suppose can go towards the more expensive school. And we can still go visit it if doubts creep in again before the decision deadline. (But, darn it, the “free” school has an APRIL 1st deadline to get a full housing deposit refund back. That’s not playing fair! All the other schools give until May 1st to get a refund.)</p>
<p>Anxiousmom, I think the FAFSA is a pretty good number to work with. Your son’s FA may use a slightly higher number because your older daughter has merit aid – wouldn’t Rice take that into consideration? If you can afford the FAFSA number, it will probably stay the same for subsequent years. Would you be able to get ballpark figures from Rice regarding FA for the rest of his college years?</p>
<p>Calmom, or someone else who is really up on the FA issues, might be a good person to PM. As far as the UTMA account goes, I think that if you cash it in all at once, it will count as income for 2007 and will reduce your FA award for the 2008-2009 school year. You might check with your accountant, but it might make more sense to use 1/4 of it each year.</p>
<p>Another consideration is that if your S is an engineering major (based on his choices, I’m sort of expecting) that he will have internship $ probably after Sophomore year.</p>
<p>It looks like they are using somewhere between the FAFSA and the IM for my son. (Daughter definitely got “preferential packaging”, which we are extremely grateful for!) We’ve been able to afford the FAFSA numbers so far out of pocket - but IM will be more, and we will have one less in the household (at least officially; we will no longer be supporting my D after she graduates) - but I’ve run the calculators various ways, and there are too many possibilities. I should definitely quit my kvetching, though! Rice meets doesn’t gap, meets all “defined” need, caps student loans below $15,000 (and less or none with low income), and doesn’t do that despicable thing of putting PLUS loans into the package and pretending they are offering aid. So - it’s more just that the uncertainty of it wears on me - and I LOVE the clean certainty of a merit aid or an affordable state college. I know what we are getting into there!
Deb - that’s true. If he sticks with engineering (and who knows, with 17-year-olds) there are some very nice and well-paying internship options available. :)</p>
<p>Is there a chance the Rice FA office would give you an idea of what the following years expected contribution will be…all things being equal…except that another child won’t be in college? I’m sure they won’t commit to anything…but they would hopefully be willing to give you an idea of how their package will change.</p>
<p>(Of course…all things are not likely to be equal in the subsequent years…but it might give you a better idea of what to expect.)</p>
<p>I’d take a careful look at any merit aid offered to an engineering major. It is difficult for many of those kids to maintain a high GPA, and if it affects merit aid there could be an unpleasant surprise. If the merit package requires a GPA over 3.0 in engineering, I’d be very cautious.</p>
<p>AM – let me say this very gently, and if it’s out of line, then slap me silly, but I myself would feel very uncomfortable not assuring one kid who got into the great school he wants to go to that I would make it happen, since I did for his big sister at the same school. It’s true that family size has gone down, but it seems unfair to hold that against him for being the younger.</p>
<p>I realize that every family dynamic is different, and you can only do what you can do, so I’m just throwing it out because I know it would be a big consideration for me.</p>
<p>I really agree with the above poster. Your son has worked very hard to get into a competitive school that seems to be his dream. If his older sister goes there and he is not allowed to go due to a moderate difference in price, things may not be cheerful down the road. If anything, give him the option of taking out loans to make up the difference - then it will be more in his hands.</p>
<p>:) Garland, No slaps from me!! Definitely that is an issue - and a very valid one. My loved ones have been off at the ranch for the last few days, so I’ve been left alone with my own thoughts and worries - but I’ve reached a decision in the last few hours, (thanks CC!), and that is that if my son is willing to take on the student loans (and agree to a few terms -financial and educational), we will be willing to do what we need to to insure that he can
attend his first choice school. Yeah! Thanks everyone! I need to go look up some bread and bean recipes. I’ve grown accustomed to convenience, but it looks like that will be over soon.</p>
<p>P.S. I penned an agreement for him to read and sign, which says, among other things, that he will seriously limit his computer game usage and get out there and SEIZE the opportunites that we will be supporting. ;)</p>
<p>AM–congrats! Sounds like you found yourself where you needed to be.</p>
<p>We didn’t have an actual contract, but I did make very clear to S that there was to be no hiding in his room playing computer games (a big consideration since he had a single as a frosh.) I still think that he could make more use of his resources, but overall he’s done okay.</p>
<p>AM: I think you are smartest to cash out and use ALL of the UGTM $ first year.</p>
<p>Also, I would definitely call Rice FA- ask them if D attends grad school (possible?) will she still count as one in college? Even though she is independent for FAFSA, some schools allow you to count her in hte # in college for UG FAFSA! UCs do, UVA does not. Ask Rice.</p>
<p>Also, I cannot see any reason why you could not ask them to tell you what the package would look like this year if you only had one in school and only 3 in the family. They should understand the seriousness of this decision and be willing to help you make it wisely.</p>
<p>It does sound like you have reached a decision, but you can still follow up with fin aid to protect yourself and plan best.</p>
<p>Congrats on making a decision. From the moment that your S’s big sis said he would fit there, I was rooting for Rice. To me the fact that big sis is willing to have him there, and feels he would fit - that seemed to weight the decision.</p>
<p>We had a similar talk with our oldest. We showed him the numbers of the state school vs. his first choice, and had him agree to accept his portion of debt. We also said we wanted our money’s worth, and would like him to consider what he wanted out of college. If the things he was going to spend his time with were excessively of the party, social, club, activity end of it, then we encouraged him to consider going state, and saving us some money. We felt the biggest draw for the big money school was the education (and all that entails). We actually had that conversation a couple more times over the 4 years, when we saw him getting sucked more and more into busy-ness, at the expense of grades. It never had to be a “deep” conversation, because he was already aware of it. He had one bad semester Junior year that we didn’t have to say a word about, because he voluntarily rearranged his priorities and schedule.</p>
<p>Anyway, happy that you’ve come to terms with your options!</p>
