<p>Thanks again for the posts. Lots of intersting ideas here. To answer some questions…</p>
<p>The net cost of the schools we are looking at range from 2K (full ride) up to private schools above my EFC (22K). I have already told him the aid piece is on him, whatever it is. The incentive would only kick in for those situations where the cost was below EFC. Primarily those options are OOS schools offering scholarship (most are tuition only) and public schools. He has a 3K private scholarship already and hopes to find more. </p>
<p>He isnt very excited about attending the schools offering scholarships, so my goal was to share the savings with him if he choses those options. </p>
<p>So to use the most extreme example, if he attends full ride school he would get 25% of 20K=4K which would exceed his 3K responsiblity…id be paying him to go to college. </p>
<p>At the other extreme, if he chooses a private school he has to take on whatever loans their aid package requires plus pay 3k. He woud get back 25% of his private scholarship assuming he can use that (25% of 3k = $750).</p>
<p>*So to use the most extreme example, if he attends full ride school he would get 25% of 20K=4K which would exceed his 3K responsiblity…id be paying him to go to college. *</p>
<p>If you can afford it, I think I would sweeten that offer or at least make it seem like more up front. If I understand this correctly, you’d be paying your child $1k and he wouldn’t have loans. I don’t know if that is really meaningful for an 18 year old. He may think loans are no big deal and that $1k isn’t enough to sway him from what he thinks is a dream school.</p>
<p>if your son takes the full ride, then he’s saving you a whole lot of money. Your offer seems “cheap”. (sorry, but it does considering that you’re willing to spend a whole lot more for another school if I understand this correctly). </p>
<p>I think that if your son takes the full ride then the minimum you should be giving him is one year’s worth of that scholarship…$20k. I’d take him to a car lot and tell him to pick a car. (lol, that’s what we did, so I should be upfront about that.) </p>
<p>I just think that your formula doesn’t work well with the full ride offer. It may be fine for partial offers, but not for the full ride.</p>
<p>Or maybe I’m just not understanding.</p>
<p>I agree with mom2collegekids. It seems like a more generous offer would have more of an impact. We are thinking that next year we will probably make some sort of similar offer to our S, currently a HS jr., though he has already informed us he would much rather have the cash than a new car. He reminded me that many of today’s kids do most of their traveling and exploring through the Internet, not through using the highways, so he would rather spend the money on an expensive computer and accessories and other electronic equipment rather than on a set of wheels. Things have changed!</p>