<p>Hello folks. I’m a parent (Dad) who has lurked on
CC for about 6 months. My daughter is a Junior @
a Central Florida High School. We are studying
possible colleges.</p>
<p>Daughter has two brothers, one who just graduated
from the University of Central Flordia while the other
is a Junior at Florida State.</p>
<p>We are searching for the “perfect” school. We shall
see. The daughter prefers an institution in the NEast.</p>
<p>I happen to be a professor @ a State university in
Florida. </p>
<p>Welcome to CC. Are finances a consideration for your daughter’s college choice? If so, I’m not sure anything will top Bright Futures and a Florida college (if she qualifies). Do you happen to have Tuition Exchange as a benefit of your job (I don’t think most public U’s do…but thought I’d ask)? </p>
<p>What sorts of things is your daughter interested in? What size school? Location…urban, suburban, rural? Private/public? Lots of questions.</p>
<p>But most important the finances. Are her SAT/ACT scores and GPA sufficient enough that she might garner merit aid someplace? That is another thing to consider. What exactly is luring her to a college in the Northeast?</p>
<p>Welcome bn12gg! You should be a veteran in the college search process by now. My wife ia also a college professor, we also live in a “sunny” state (CA) and we have a daughter going to school in the Northeast (Boston College majoring in Accounting).</p>
<p>Lots to consider with this one. First off, as asked, are finances are consideration? Not only will you probably pay more in tuition but there is the cost of flights, shipping stuff, having to buy things that you would get from home if it were closer, etc. Believe me it adds up.
My oldest son just graduated from a school in Boston. We are in CA. He did receive a nice merit scholarship that made the tuition the same as a CA public. (That would be one tip I have…seek out schools where your DD is at the top of the applicant pool or schools that are trying to increase their out of New England presence).<br>
One other comment: when DS graduated he found that all of his job contacts and resources were now in Boston. He came back to CA briefly for a job that wasn’t a good fit. Hung around another month looking for something here. Finally picked up the phone, made a few calls and started a job in Boston two days later (yikes!).<br>
I would definitely talk with DD about whether she wants to be in New England permanently…of course, some of the career stuff may depend on major.
Another young girl I know graduated from UNC Chapel Hill last year. Came home to CA…same story. She ended up eventually moving to Austin but most of her classmates stayed in Chapel Hill. The contacts were there.</p>
<p>Folks-- Thanks for all the nice replies. The oldest completed his
UCF education largely on a Florida Pre Paid while the 2nd son is
using his Florida Pre Paid at FSU. Both guys worked while going
to school so that has helped.</p>
<p>While the boys are bright, they both under achieve somewhat.
Daughter is knocking it out of the park --she is quite the
academic. She is interested in Biology and/or Chemistry as
a science major. She’s the real deal–from a numbers perspective
she can compete with the best, ie., GPA, rank, and SAT 1.</p>
<p>The financial issues of going up into the NEast private take my
breath away. $52K+ My biggest problem is that I’m 62 years
old and I’d like to back off and retire some day. I wonder if one’s
age is considered when these aid packages are computed. ?</p>
<p>Anyway, thanks for the welcome. How about your kids???</p>
<p>I’d love to tell you that your age will be considered with regard to financial aid…it sort of is in the FAFSA formula in that you have more asset protection and there is a consideration for your closeness to retirement. BUT the FAFSA is used for determining the awarding of federally funded need based aid primarily and that is a DROP IN THE BUCKET for those $52K per year schools. </p>
<p>Your family contribution for these pricey schools will more be based on the CSS Profile information than on the FAFSA. </p>
<p>Some of these very generous and competitive schools do offer need based aid to families with AGI of up to $180,000. You would need to check the specifics of Harvard and the like to see their specifics in terms of their need based awarding policies…but they are more generous than many places. </p>
<p>It sounds like your daughter has much to offer many colleges. She should consider looking at schools that might garner her some merit aid (Ivies, as you know, do not offer merit aid). A school like Vanderbilt (I know that isn’t in the NE), for example, has merit aid which can be generous for a very good student. Schools like Lafayette, Lehigh, Villanova might also be worth a look see. If she is a VERY strong applicant, she might consider applying for the Trustees Scholarship at Boston University. It pays full tuition, I believe. </p>
<p>I’m wondering if this thread might be better placed in the Parents Forum since it’s really about college choices.</p>
<p>Thumper1-- thank you for the suggestions. Question- what
is the CSS profile? </p>
<p>We do have a Florida Pre Paid plus one year dorm for her. I
sort of wish she would fall in love with the University of Florida.
Not likely. Actually, I spoke with the Florida Pre Paid people
and they will give us $17K for it. It was purchased for her
when she was less than a year old. Ha, I’m scratching my
head right now! I felt it was fine insurance at the time plus
her grandmother paid for it.</p>
<p>I suspect I’ll just keep on working until I drop dead. The good
news is that I enjoy my students. </p>
<p>Two comments for what they’re worth. (1) You already know that there is no one perfect school. Your daughter could be happy/successful at any number of colleges. (2) A tippy-top school where you’d be full pay vs. one slightly below that where your daughter might get substantial merit aid is something to consider.</p>
<p>I’ve related this story before–I know a number of the faculty at our local State Flagship’s Envi Sci department. One day they were standing around talking about their educational backgrounds. They had all ended up in about the same place professionally, but had come from Ivies, large publics, LACs, community colleges, . . . Really the whole spectrum. Particularly if your daughter is interested in science, she’ll likely be headed for grad school, no? Where she goes for her undergraduate degree is far less important than what she does there.</p>
<p>(BTW–I’m interested to read the comments from others re: where their kids go to college impacting where they might eventually get a job. DS#2 is a hs senior, and lately DH has been wondering if health of the economy in the state the school is shouldn’t be a consideration. E.g., he’s wondering if it wouldn’t be smarter to send a kid to school in NC rather than OH, thinking the NC economy is much better for a job post-graduation.)</p>
<p>I’m not totally versed in Bright Futures but wouldn’t the OPs daughter be eligible for THAT too. That and her prepaid plan should make college at a Florida public university very affordable.</p>
<p>The CSS Profile is a financial application form administered through the College Board. It is used by about 300 universities, mostly private and expensive ones (a couple of publics use it…UMich is one). All of the Ivy League schools except Princeton use it…so do MIT, BU, and a number of other private universities in the Northeast. It delves more thoroughly into your finances…asking questions about things like primary home equity, for example, which some schools do assess for financial aid calculation purposes. If you go to the College Board website, you should be able to get more info about it.</p>
<p>Many, if not most, of the private, highly competitive universities and colleges in the Northeast require this form.</p>
<p>Thumper1- Thanks for the response to CSS question.
Yes, she would be eligible for Bright Futures- if it remains
available. I could probably make money if she went to UF!</p>
<p>ingerp- Your point regarding the end game profession being
attainable from various institutions is well taken. This has
crossed my mind. Years ago I was in a similar situation–
The Ohio State University or Northwestern. I firmly believe
going to Northwestern was very important to my eventual
success – in fact it sort of assured it. Of course, I did
my part. Yes, I would expect the daughter to continue
on beyond the BA/BS level.</p>
<p>Even though we have two boys attending Florida SUS schools,
going thru this search with the daughter is very different. It
sort of automatically jumped out of their mouths, this is what
I want to do. FSU and UCF. </p>
<p>Your D has lots of options with her stats, but needs to start to decide on what type of school she’d like to spend the next 4 years. Time to start visiting if you haven’t already. Only through visits do they really start to get a sense of whether they will be most happy in a smaller school environment or larger school, LAC vs. big 10, etc. Will she be a National Merit Semifinalist by chance? Not that it makes a difference with the Ivy’s or top tier LAC’s, but there are still some great offers available for Finalists and sometimes it’s worth it to take advantage of the full-ride NMF offers (or half tuition) for undergrad if your child plans to head to grad school (sounds like she probably will and should save money or loans for that). I would make a large list of schools strong in the physical sciences and work from there. There is a list of schools known for NMF on CC as well. If her PSAT’s were into the 200’s, it’s a possibility but the scores vary by region (for instance, areas of Ohio a score of 208 is NMF, but in northern VA, it’s closer to a 220 -more competative area). Good luck with the search!</p>
<p>jkiwmom-- Thanks for the info. PSAT 200+ 97ile in Florida, just missed.
First SAT 2100+ , IB never a B. Rank top 1%. SATII soon plus SAT1 again
to tweek the Math and Reading just abit. Writing not tweekable, 800. </p>
<p>We have visited some of the usual suspects HYP, Northwestern, Wellesley,
Brown. Barnard this summer. She seems to like the small student to faculty
ratios found in LAC’s. Through the high school she has interviewed with
some of the LAC’s in Western Mass. </p>
<p>The plan “today” is to pick one early action – applying RD to six, with one
being UF. We will see what sticks! Plenty of strong kids out there, no sure
things. And, then there are the finances.</p>
<p>It’s early, be flexible. As others have said, with your daughters stats, merit money at a slightly less than tippy top school is a possibility. She may get some very good merit offers and she may have to apply to a bunch to find that out.</p>
<p>I’d agree with ^^^ posters that possible applying to more schools where she is in the top of the pool, and which give good financial/merit aid may give her a wider choice. My D was not the top of the heap either gpa or ACT but did really well with the merit at some less rigorous schools. Your D with her stats could find some great schools (just below the Ivies and top tier LACs) that might send her significant merit aid. There is a thread on CC re schools with good merit aid so you might want to check it out. Good luck.</p>
<p>She interviewed essentially with one of the Admissions people from
Mt. Holyoke on their trip to Florida. My daughter was the only junior
to sign up. Daughter and the Admissions person had a nice conversation.
They have exchanged a note or two since talking at the high school.</p>
<p>We may add Mt. Holyoke to the list. Why does this school have “merit”
money while others simply use a “need based” approach? I know very
little about Smith, but they seem to have “merit” money as well. Is this
a recruitment angle as they go up against other LAC’s?</p>
<p>I note Wellesley has no “merit” money program of their own.</p>
<p>She should be eligible for some nice merit aid at UMiami. It has strong science programs, is much smaller than the FL publics and she could use BF and FL Prepaid there. It might be a good option should she decide that she wants to stay closer to home. There really is no reason not to apply EA (not ED) to any schools that offer it.</p>
<p>My-3-Sons-- I thought “SCEA” meant you could only apply to one school Early
Action. In other words, if the schools policy is Single Choice you would violate
it by applying to a handful who offered EA in addition to them. </p>
<p>The idea on the University of Miami is interesting. Packaging merit money with
Bright Futures and her Pre Paid sounds like it should be looked into. I suspect
the Pre Paid tuitition would not cover all basic tuition but might be a better deal
than cashing it out. Daughter is interested in Medicine at a professional level
post a biology/chemistry major as an undergrad. If I’m not mistaken the University
of Miami has some sort of joint BA/BS- Med program. </p>
<p>I will mention your thoughts to the Daughter and Wife.</p>