@4kids2graduate Luckily, my D is pretty frugal. So we sat down and spent time discussing costs of her top 4 schools. It is very obvious which place is not a good bargain–that happens to be her favorite (not sure why I’m being so obscure–it is Tulane). We explained what sacrifices she would have to make to go there (loans, school year job, much different summer opportunities). Right now, I think she will not choose it. But no final decision yet. We eliminated Grinnell because of cost (and she decided she wanted somewhere bigger, which made that easier). I’m finding this much harder than anticipated though. It is hard to be a parent sometimes.
We have the opposite issue–there is a S18 at our house, and so no idea how him going to school might affect $s. But it is a concern.
@Booajo Tulane was my daughter’s runner up school, primarily because of finances. Sure NO is great and the campus is pretty, but is it worth $20/yr more than Pitt? It just didn’t make sense for us. She also would have had to make sacrifices if she chose Tulane, while at Pitt the extras would have been more easily affordable. Also, from what I understand, it is very hard to get a part time job at Tulane. The area around the school doesn’t have many businesses to employ students and all the on campus jobs except RA are reserved for workstudy. This also factored into it for us. Not only was it more expensive, but the ability to have D help out was more limited.
@me29034 Wow, sounds exactly like our situation. We estimate Tulane will cost us 100k more than Pitt (which is her 2nd choice right now). Saw your commitment there yesterday.
Congrats to @carolinamom2boys and @me29034! We also sent in our housing contract yesterday. Still a lot to do, but I am excited for the road ahead!
Pretty sure Mizzou has something where they go through the pillars on campus as freshman and then pass through the same pillars at graduation. One upside of this decision is the availability of Mizzou gear everywhere here. Most retail stores have it and last week I found a clearance rack and my younger kids are all ready for family weekend.
@4kids2graduate I think we will need the dartboard, too. We’ve had a lovely visit at UC Santa Cruz and yet it is not a slam dunk. We also may not know about scholarships for two weeks! Having the same difficulty justifying tens of thousands more a year for Tulane. UMass Amherst would be a clear winner if it weren’t so cold and in a small town.
Congrats to all who have made decisions! This is a long and challenging road (and will continue to be) but our kids are fortunate to have parents who care deeply and can prioritize education. I wish all the children in the world had the same.
Our S is frugal, and would have picked the almost full ride in Mississippi if the prejudices of my wife’s parents hadn’t pushed them to make up the difference between there and his first choice. While their motives are questionable, he’s willing to take advantage of his grandparents’ prejudice toward the deep south.
My D16 is heading for a school that does not appear to have any traditional sororities, which is fine with her. It does have more female students than male, however, along with a large commuter/suitcase student population. So, she figures she’ll get her tribal connection through the honors floor (as long as she can stay 3.5 GPA or above). She also hopes to land an RA job for junior and senior years.
For years DD said she was not interested in Greek. Surprisingly, one of the schools on her short list has a Greek system. She is curious to see what is sorority of nerdy girls looks like, but still thinks it is too time consuming and she will not participate.
D16 is heading for Nola and Tulane at the moment. It is one of her final three though the biggest financial stretch and would mean loans for her. In her words it has to completely knock her out to want to spend the extra money, so it has a puncher’s chance at least. She is also checking out their med school on a side trip planning for the future already. It is with our budget thanks to her merit award, but competing with two full ride offers it will really have to knock all of our socks off.
No Greek life for D16 other than service/professional ones. The more prominent Greek life was at a school the less she tended to like it, with some exceptions.
S also swore off Greek life and is now signed up for formal recruitment, which is a three day process in the summer. He had to submit his transcript and a picture!! He has a friend in a house and is planning to join that one. I checked around online and it apparently has a ‘nerd’ reputation. I’m totally ok with that. However, funny story, we were at a Mother Son dance last night and I see this kid being lifted up by the crowd of boys and passed around and S says ‘that’s the guy I’m going to recruitment with.’ Oh no…
Uh oh @CAMidwestMom . Although I’m very impressed that you got your son to attend a mother /son dance. My son won’t even go to prom, I know he wouldn’t go to a mother / son dance especially considering how much I love to dance. DS19 on the other hand is a different child.
No greek for DS. (One of his 2 choices has no system/ the other is rather large but he wants no part of it…)
DS’s computer broke last night & it is bad timing as he needs it for a competition next week. So, I just spent over an hour at Costco while he searched (picked apart) in detail the specs of 3 computers for sale. Was clicking on files, into files, into files on the control panel/etc. to make the best choice. If nothing else he was thorough! Guess I also don’t have to worry about picking out his grad present now either! =D>
