I just learned one of the colleges that D18 really likes has a very poor financial rating from Forbes. I expected it wouldn’t be great, but it’s at the level of another school that just announced it is closing. It’s very unnerving.
When we visited the first time I told D she should see a couple of other colleges that are similar if she liked that college. And I’m glad I did because those are much more financially stable. We are scheduled to visit them.
My oldest attended a college with a C financial rating from Forbes and I don’t think I’d hesitate to send D18 there if she likes it.
But a D rating makes me nervous now that I’ve heard stories of colleges closing with with very little warning.
Does anyone else have concerns about college financials?
I have been using a system to narrow choices between different colleges. I ask myself if the same education and experience could be had at a lower price or at a closer distance. Now I’m thinking if I need to incorporate the financial stability question, like if two schools are otherwise similar, do you choose the one with a better financial picture?
But I worked out this system when D18 wasn’t as interested or motivated. Now she is.
Good luck to everyone making it through the series of “lasts.” In my experience, the anticipation of the lasts was worse than the lasts themselves. Thinking about how the marching band would end the halftime show on senior night always brought a tear to my eye. That night was fine. Your kids likely view them less as lasts than as nexts.
The “lasts” are bittersweet. Our “last” marching band event took us by surprise when they didn’t make it to state. I felt bad for D because she didn’t know her last practice was her LAST practice and same with performance. I guess in the long run it made it easier because we didn’t have that build up of emotions thinking about it being the last. She moves on to cheer season now. That last is going to be a tough one. Last year our cheer travel friend was a senior and her mom was always reminding us that this was her last this or that. I’m generally not the type to do that, but it will be there in the back of my mind. I’m just going to try and enjoy every minute because none of really know when something will be the last.
I think this last is feeling particularly hard because it is my youngest kiddo. Last is truly last. I made it through the senior night last week all smiles though, while there were Moms all around in tears.
Re local/outside scholarships, with all the EA, music school admission, scholarship and honors college essays and apps S18 is already doing, if I suggested he apply to anything else I think he would lock me in a closet (W/O access to CC) and that would be the last you’d hear from me!
@rhandco , that’s a tough one and a very personal decision as to whether to send your autism spectrum kiddo far from home. I know a couple that sent their autism spectrum child from Louisiana to USC in L.A. I thought they were crazy at first, but he is doing great. Perhaps your visit will give you both a better idea of whether he can handle going far away, even if it is not to that particular school?
@Texas1820 , what a poignant moment for you and your family! I hope you are able to savor every second of it!
S18 is definitely applying for outside scholarships because we don’t qualify for any need-based aid at all. He has applied for a few big name scholarships, but mostly $500-$1000 local stuff. I’m hoping he gets at least a couple thousand in outside scholarships so it will reduce our payment by a bit.
@MACmiracle, I never even knew Forbes rated college financial stability…guess where I’m going to research now? Only for idle curiosity though, because UTD seems to be well supported by the state in its mission to increase its prestige.
@rhandco, is it possible to delay today’s trip and agree to reschedule the visit if your S is accepted to this school? If he doesn’t get in you can save the time, and if he does get in there’s time to see the campus before he has to decide if he wants to go there.
@traveler98 I didn’t see any public schools in the list, so I wouldn’t worry about UTD. I think public unis are in a different category. Some of the Pa schools are in a weak financial position but there is a lot of public discussion about it.
@MACmiracle Yes, I’ve looked at the Forbes list more than once, and I worry about schools’ financial health. My S attended a K-8 that suddenly and unexpectedly shut down due to financial reasons. We really don’t ever want to relive that experience. I wonder at what grade assigned by Forbes (C? D?) one has to worry and how one can find out more.
@MACmiracle, I saw that it seems to be only private schools in those ratings. I’m going to look around and see if Forbes also rates the financial health of publics, because there certainly can be issues with public schools too. Illinois has had trouble, OU has had to cut back on merit scholarships due to budget issues, I think there was some concern about whether New Mexico was going to be able to fully fund its universities although I believe in the end that turned out all right. Anyway, although the ranking criteria might be different for publics it would be handy to have a similar list for publics.
@rhandco if you don’t feel comfortable with your S being so far away, you’re in good company with lots of other parents who have put geographic limitations on where your child can go to college. A common number I’ve heard is two to three hours as the max. If you are unsure how firmly you feel about this in general, and are more concerned because your S is on the spectrum, maybe researching the school’s support services and services available in the area around the school would help you make a decision one way or the other.
For us, these are the only ones that make sense (beside those from the schools themselves). It seems like a longshot that D would win one of these large national ones. We aren’t going to be getting need-based aid. There are several local scholarships $500-$1000 that D is going to try for. At least one she is almost a shoe-in because of her participation in the organization.
Fortunately, these local scholarships for us aren’t due until March. So she can wait to think about them until after all the college apps are in in January.
Also, I’ve told her that whatever local stuff she gets she should apply to books/living expenses. I think that will be more motivating for her vs taking off of tuition.
@MACmiracle I think you’re justified to worry about a school’s finances. Obvious drawbacks are your D needing to transfer if they close while she is there, and if they close after she graduates, the issue of getting transcripts/recommendations if she needs them in the future for grad school/jobs. I also think it devalues her degree. One thing a professor friend at a struggling school had told me is that the profs were under a lot of pressure from the administration to give out good grades even when they were absolutely undeserved, because they needed to keep the paying parents happy and needed to keep the kids matriculated and graduated within 6 years. My friend was not allowed to fail a couple of students who clearly did not understand the subject matter (hard to when they didn’t come to class or buy the book) and my friend was worried that this would devalue the degree for the classmates that were studying and doing well.
We had our senior football game for the marching band last week. I was a nice day and I only teared up during senior tributes. The junior class members can say a few words about a senior band member as a tribute. One guy had a lot of really nice things to say about my DS and how he had been a mentor for him and when the guy started choking up I couldn’t keep the tears at bay.
Tonight is our last regular season game but alas, our team is really good and we usually go deep into the playoffs. We won’t know which game will be the last game until we are in it. They were only one game shy of the state game last year so we could theoretically go all the way until… Christmas weekend. I’m not sure I want to hold on to marching season that long!
We don’t qualify for need based FA either. D16 applied for several outside scholarships and it has really helped us out. though figuring the taxes was a PITA. Scholarships applied to living expenses are taxed to the student at the parents’ tax rate. If your kids go OOS and earn taxable scholarship money from their school they have to file that state’s income tax too.
S18 will be applying to fewer scholarships than his sister, one big named scholarship program from the school - done, an international one from dh’s employer (early January deadline) will work on over Thanksgiving and submit before Christmas break and 3 local ones (Feb-March deadlines) he’ll work on those over Christmas Break and submit in January.
You have to look at the scholarships carefully, the one from dh’s employer can only be used on tuition and books so if he gets the full ride from the school he’ll decline the employee scholarship if it’s awarded to him. If he gets National Merit and the employee scholarship he can use the employee scholarship to cover summer school tuition and books.
CSS Profile users: anyone know what this IDOC stuff is and if it’s normal for me to see a red message saying “Your IDOC dashboard is being prepared, please check back in a few hours” at 12:35pm ET even though I submitted the CSS Profile last night?