@MotherOfDragons fortunately my kids have their college funding set aside for them. With the older son we’ve told him to find a school that will suit his needs/wants, and he is more picky. We told him to find schools that offer a decent ROI, according to recent data. He is looking at a couple of schools and 1 of them might give him some merit $ to attend, a small amount, but it brings the cost of attendance down. We talked to him about the value of saving cash NOW. We talked about the impact of earning potential LATER. We discussed the state flagship and how much money would be saved, but he would have to deal with possibly not being happy for 4 years and maybe not having as specialized education there. He’s decided the state school is out, too big, just not a fan. But he knows we end paying more to go elsewhere. It is nice not having to worry about the $$, just the fit.
With the younger son he might end up with better grades/stats and wants to study engineering so we’ll have to decide what the best financial/educatioal choice is. Totally different scenario.
@carachel2 maybe Miami does not send stuff to kids they already know are significantly interested? Seems weird. We’ve not expressed any interest at all. Mounds of stuff.
@MotherOfDragons I would have to say that having that amount in a trust would not change my DD’s decisions, but she wouldn’t have to worry about that magic number “32” She is a pretty bright kid who would rather have money in the bank for her future and not be at a $65K a year school.
@MotherOfDragons We have close friends with class of 2016 twins. $500k was put away for their college. Really bright kids who were offered a tremendous amount of merit aid and some very good schools. In the end, none of the merit-aid schools had the right “feel/fit.” They each decided to attend full pay schools. Who am I to judge, but it seems silly to me to forgo $200k or $300k in scholarship money for a better “feel.” In fact, the $250k set aside for each will probably fall short in their senior year.
A trust fund might change it, to a point. There is a $$ amount annually that I feel is too high, regardless of the school. But breathing room wouldn’t hurt.
A trust can be an amazing thing. My grandmother left a very small one by today’s standards ($100K for 4 kids/25 each) that had some very odd rules around it but it could be used for room and board for college…until I turned 21. No tuition or anything else but room and board qualified. So did spring break but that’s a whole different story lol. That trust helped put 3 kids through college and for all of us meant downpayments on housing as it was a plan slowly doled out until 30. It was well managed and went a lot further than that initial 25k. I would love to do something like that for my grandkids.
My parents were not in a dissimilar spot to what we find ourselves in today. They too made too much to qualify for any aid and I do think, that for at least myself and some of my siblings, that “having” to work to go to college added quite a bit to the value of our education. My parents were able to help the younger ones more as time went on but I was responsible for tuition and all extra expenses, my parents covered books as long as I made a 3.0. Were it not for the trust I am really not sure how things would have played out for any of us. My step children do not have to work and their approach, and appreciation to be honest, is different than of the younger two, who will have to work. It’s a different funding source but for me, it reinforces that a little skin in the game is not at all a bad thing. Not to the point of paralyzing debt mind you but…a little is quite motivational!
I couldn’t agree with you more @eandesmom! I think it is so important to have at least some “skin in the game”. Too many kids today are so darn entitled and I think it is going to be a huge problem for our society in the next 20 some odd years.
BTW, my kids went back to school yesterday. It is so quiet and I am in heaven! If only someone would come and clean and organize for me, I would be all set! Now that D’s applications are in, I don’t know what to do with all of this extra time. She did add a UGA to the mix, 4 and done!
@motherofdragons - As far as BF being able to use the HOPE scholarship. I wouldn’t count on it. There was something in the news recently about Hope paying out more than the lottery takes in… Once the new calculations for Hope GPA calculations for STEM college students starts next year(a lot of STEM classes will get a .5 bump so all kids with B’s in say engineering classes will get a 3.5 instead of a 3.0 for the calculation) there will be a bunch of kids that get to keep the ZELL(3.3) that currently lose it because of too many B’s… Anyway I think they will revisit the income requirements and if they do they will not grandfather the current kids in…Which is one reason I am not looking into many Georgia schools for DS19 the scholarship at UA is guaranteed… Hope is not.
First college app is in! D’s school has an app day for seniors. They hand out the application to the state flagship and EVERYBODY applies. It’s very simple, although if their stats qualify for scholarships or honors, there is a second application.
The rest of the day was spent working on the common app and each student met with a GC to evaluate their common app essay. D’s was approved with no changes! She started working on her supplements, her teacher recommendations are in process, and the main remaining hurdle is the ACT on Saturday. I am in total agreement with @STEM2017 - if I had to do this all over again, I’d have the tests out of the way in fall of junior year. Having this hang over her head is no fun. She does have good SAT scores in hand, but practice tests suggest that she’ll do better on the ACT.
@MotherOfDragons Better to meddle than to regret. I have been helping friends with college planning and I am continually surprised about the resources, or lack thereof, that people have to devote to college. Erring on the side of caution is never bad, IMO.
As for the 500 or 600K imaginary lottery - would I say “full pay all the way”? Probably not. Is any school worth 250-300K for four years? I don’t know, ask me in March or April. I would say to the kids - OK, we have this windfall - you can blow it all on your undergrad degree or you can budget to allow for grad or professional school tuition or a down payment on a house or a larger inheritance down the line. What do you think makes sense? They are good kids that have some sense of the value of a dollar. I doubt either of them would spend it all down for their undergraduate education.
Oh, and by the way, some of this cash will be spent by mom and dad for some fun travel. Live with it, kids.
Yes my DD has Presidential and Engineering (and another scholarship) at UA. NM scholarship also will stack with engineering and any other scholarship. We also have Pre-paid College through the State of Alabama, and any excess gets refunded to us (DD is living off campus after freshman year).
UA is the fastest growing flagship in the country for a reason. Certainly it is not a fit for someone that wants a small, private college, but it offers so much for high stat students. One can see by incoming students (2015 statistics, 150 NM freshmen, 36% of freshman class ACT 30+) that there is a healthy pool of students with a lot of potential. I believe part of the reason for the growth is students/parents in other states are finding it as a cost-effective option to gain a great UG education.
I was poking around the ApplyTexas website and it seems that the student has to submit application before initiating Transcript and LOR requests. Thus, LOR and Transcript requests cannot be sent. [-(
Schools have their own portal/document upload systems outside of ApplyTexas.
Keeping track of different usernames (school generated ones) and passwords on CommonApp and School portals is going to be a nightmare. ~X( :-&
@payn4ward What we’ve done is add a desktop icon for each school’s check status page to a folder for submitted apps and use autofill. It’s working well so far.
Another thing to consider for high stat student that is looking for 4 years housing in addition to full tuition scholarship, UAHuntsville offers this to students 4.0+ with ACT 34-36. Look at their web site for details. It is a smaller school but does have the ABET accredited engineering programs and depending on student’s major, may be a financial fit for some who are looking with a very tight budget.
It likely would have affected D15’s choice. She wanted a small LAC and absolutely was chasing merit aid. She ended up in a great academic fit school, but probably not the best social fit school. Being able to pay even half of the tuition at one of these schools may have put her in a better fit social environment. But she is happy and thriving, so I am probably second guessing myself. S17 is much more laid back and will thrive in a school that gives great NMF scholarship money. If we had no financial constraints, he probably would be applying to some schools like some of the UCs (CA), U of WA, U of CO, and perhaps some privates. But alas, I don’t think these great flagships are worth the cost for OOS students, particularly when they may need 5 years to finish up at bachelor degree.
S wasn’t able to submit his first app yet. He is changing a class, and needs the finalized schedule to submit. Soon, I can feel it!
Edited to add that S is working hard to finish his CA essay because he likely can use the same essay for the NMSF app, which is due very soon. That is a definite benefit!!
S was finally notified he’s NMSF. We knew his SI was high enough all along but its such a huge relief to have it officially official! Now hopefully he’s been working on apps :-?
She is a pretty bright kid who would rather have money in the bank for her future and not be at a $65K a year school.