@JBSeattle I am really sorry about UVM. I would not have her withdraw. It’s the EA round and they do give merit at RD. You have nothing to lose by letting it sit.
We know really happy kids at San Diego State and I would agree it’s a tougher admit so it must have something to do with the college or major she applied to. For a California state school it is a very good deal though admittedly significantly more than Western. I would probably put the pressure on your deed to sell you and your wife on why San Diego State is a better fit for her than Western for the cost difference. We were in a very similar situation with western being the second choice as well and that was the question I posed to my son.
Since you’re planning on waiting on Cal Poly anyways I would just ride it out and see what happens.
FAFSA only schools will be better with a high EFC in my experience.
Are there other options she’s at all interested in? What about WUE schools like Colorado State or Noethern Arizona?
@JBSeattle - So sorry…college added to holiday tension is definitely not a fun mix. I agree with @eandesmom It feels late in the game b/c so many of us went EA/ED, but in reality there is time to scout and apply to other options and then once you hear the final answers from UVM and Cal Poly, you will have other offers to consider.
What is her intended major? I’ve forgotten. There have to be other schools where you can use your location as a geographical bump too. Since you aren’t limited to the northwest, that gives a lot of flexibility for some small Pennsylvania schools, or Quinnipiac, Grinnell, Allegheny? Florida schools. There is still time to add schools based on merit aid potential.
Do you have to accept your college choice before placing the dorm room deposit? My D still deciding between her top 3 schools but we want to at least secure a decent dorm room at her 1st choice which opens soon.
@TwinMom2023 and @eandesmom
Good point eandesmom about having my D say why she would prefer SDSU. I actually asked her the question yesterday and I don’t think she even really prefers it necessarily. My wife is just being difficult because she thinks I should have forced my D into considering only within budget options that were certain. She only wanted to apply to Western in state and did not want to “be in the middle of nowhere”, not apply to any WUE schools so that eliminated a lot.
The problem with Qunnipiac, Grinell, Allegheny is that we would be counting on a lot of merit aid and I think they would not yield enough merit given she would be accepted. I might suggest Duquesne to my Daughter as they might give more merit but think she will probably turn up her nose at going to college in Pittsburgh.
@JBSeattle I’ve heard Pittsburgh has become a cool and somewhat trendy and hip college town lately. I have not been to Pittsburgh in a long time, but I’ve read it’s undergoing a big revitalization.
Good luck to your family, you’ll figure this all out, you’ve got plenty of time and there are lots of affordable options.
@JBSeattle pardon me for jumping in after not being active on this thread (I was a member of the 2017 3.0-3.4 board), but I would think your D would get some excellent merit from Allegheny (not sure where that is in your/your D’s preference). They are very generous and IIRC, your D’s stats are better than my D17’s and she got an offer 2 years ago that put COA right around $30K (I think the offer will be similar to what you would get from Ohio Wesleyan–or put COA at something comparable). We are also waiting for an EA decision from Allegheny for my D19–her stats aren’t quite as good as her older sister’s, and we didn’t manage a visit before applying, so not sure what to expect.
@JBSeattle One thing you did know prior to applications is that the California public schools would offer no need based aid at all, and very little merit aid. If you apply as an OOS student to a California public, you have to be ready to pay full COA.
I think Western Washington is a great school. There are WUE schools that aren’t in the middle of nowhere. Colorado State is in Ft Collins, which is a fairly nice sized town and only an hour from Denver.
@twoinanddone
True, but I just wanted her to have options and it was not 100% guaranteed she would get into Western. Plus when I prepared a detailed spreadsheet and corollary with all the schools, my wife did not say anything. I just think at the end of the day Cal Poly might be worth the extra cost while SDSU not so much.
My D thought about Colorado St but her numbers are not high enough to get WUE plus I think she was not fond of the majors. Other WUE schools were eliminated due to location, quality of school or major choices.
@JBSeattle Allegheny would give good merit but is in the middle of nowhere.
However, Flagstaff, AZ and Fort Collins CO are not and are great great college towns, and Fort Collins is very close to Denver. I’d relook. I’d put either up against Bellingham or Burlington.
With WUE they will be less than SDSU and NUA fixes tuition for all 4 years.
Room deposits now are only needed if it impacts housing priority. I don’t believe it does at western.
@JBSeattle did you check Rocky Mountain scholars? There are OOS auto merit amounts that are lower than the WUE amount but still something. My S17 would not have qualified for WUE there either but would have gotten 5 or 6 for Rocky Mountain I think.
@eandesmom
Thank you but I know my D is not interested in either of those. I may gently bring up in a week. I brought up Allegheny and Duquesne and now my D is also mad at me because the sticker prices are too high on those schools. I think her confidence is low since these other schools did not give aid.
I think she feels like she needs to go to Western and has no choice which is what I was trying to avoid.
@JBSeattle Funny how the instate options, no matter how good, never seem as appealing as the out of state ones. My daughter would have loved to be able to go to Western Washington but OOS cost was way above what we could afford. She had to “settle” for one of our instate schools, but is happy now at her school and being less than 2 hours from home.
Yeah, I like Western Washington and I think my D is ok with it. It is more my wife’s reaction and shutting me down then my D being angry that has me on edge. I just saw a kid post that they received a large scholarship from Manhattan College (slightly better stats but huge scholarship) so that gives me some hope.
