@Gatormama if it were me, in your case, I’d run them in the worst case scenario. Simply being that if you run it as a situation where no need based aid will show up, it should show merit. Some schools have the auto merit shown in the scholarship areas but not all and I’ve found that the NPC is a accurate predictor of actual awards. A few have just a scholarship predictor but most make you run the whole thing.
Oh Boy! Do I need help!
DD looks like she will be an auto admit to Texas, but we know that things could change. DH has been dead set on her attending since before she was born. I’m pretty sure we will need other options. … I’ve run the EFC and NPC’s for a few places and it looks like we’re full pay. We’ve got the 529 well stocked for instate 5+years attendance, plus more in savings…it’s just the horror of forking over those hard earned dollars on private/out of state tuition for places that don’t “feel” like a good ROI. She’s our only child.
Help me adjust my mindset! I would love for her to go off on her own adventure. I suspect she’ll be in the 30 ACT range. Where do I begin to look?
You mean you’ll need other options because she won’t want to go to Texas? How’s DH gonna feel about that?
It sounds like you can find a bunch of great options with your nest egg for her. (Congrats!)
What is she leaning toward doing?
@2019hope I wouldn’t worry about any of that now, it’s far far too early. In my humble opinion you could spend hours of work researching stuff that won’t at all match where her head is at in 18 months. Get through this year. See what the grades are like at the end of the year. Take the tests in the fall (ACT and SAT) and then you’ll know what your initial baseline is. Not to mention what she is interested in herself. That can change wildly over the course of a year.
Just received an email , a phone blast and a text from our school for rising Jrs and Srs for a meeting tomorrow to discuss FA and scholarships, college apps etc . I can guarantee turn out will be limited and that people will complain that the GCs never give them the assist or info that they need. That’s my pet peeve. Take some responsibility in the process . Ok rant over.
Our high school held a financial aid information night back in October for all grades - I estimate there were about 30 parents there. School is small - 300 or so overall - but still pretty dismal, especially when you consider that almost everyone there was part of a couple. So really, only 15 sets of parents.
@Gatormama I think she’ll want to go to Texas if she can get in and get her major, but those aren’t guarantees. We’re trying to wrap our head around $60k+ per year instead of $25k. Plus, I’d like her to fly the coop, in theory.
@eandesmom good advice! I’ll need more where that came from!
Well, you can always put up the $25k and tell her the rest is up to her & her grades. I mean, with great stats, chances are good she can get $30-40k lopped off a high-cost private out of state college, and that’d bring y’all close to Texas COA, methinks.
@Gatormama #1825, it depends on where the students are intending to go to college, though. My kids’ high school, the majority of those that go to college go to one of the in-state publics after applying only to there, and we have the lowest or second-lowest (depending on the details of how you calculate it) in-state cost of attendance in the nation. Basically, the FAFSA (for guaranteed loans and for a very few Pell Grants) is all they actually need to know about.
@2019hope @Gatormama I would caution very very much against that kind of thinking.
Not so much that the budget is 25K and anything else is up to her. That is reasonable to establish as a budget, if in fact that is what the budget is. But the reality is that there are very very very few schools that will chop of 30-40k.
It is less about what the scholarship amount is, than it is about what the starting sticker price is.
Alabama will give full tuition (27k) for a 32+ ACT and a 3.5 or greater. Its total cost of attendance is about 47. It is the single most popular option for CC kids looking for the best financial deal. A 30 will get you 2/3 tuition. There are not a lot of Bama’s out there offering up that kind of deal. There is a list in the financial section with a lot of outdated info but the bigger players are mentioned there (Bama, Kentucky, Iowa maybe, Wyoming, there are other parents here who probably have a more extensive list off the top of their head). There are some, and they do exist. For some they may be in locations their child will not consider, or that they (the parent) will not consider. Or a possibly large state school is not the right fit for the student. For others, they are perfect fits and it is good to know that there are options out there.
That said. The vast majority of OOS schools do not offer big money to OOS students and if they do they are competitive scholarships. The vast majority of privates have very high sticker prices (55-69). Some may offer large merit monies, generally they will be less competitive schools. The more competitive the school, the lower the merit monies, the more competitive they are, if offered at all. Large merit at a 69K sticker price school is still going to leave you with a pretty hefty bill. I’ve not personally seen anything coming close to 40K awarded at the privates but again, it’s all about what the sticker price is to begin with. My S17 currently has a 15K offer from one school and a 24K offer from another but the net price for those 2 schools is equal after the merit awards. He has a 24K offer at another school that has a lower sticker price than the first and so that 24K goes quite a bit further there. If your child will consider less popular locations (midwest, some of the south) then getting things down into the 25 range with a 30ACT could be possible. More likely though you are looking at 30-40 price tags after merit. Travel $ is also a huge variable for many of these schools.
This is at todays prices and today’s merit awards. My point is that it is way too soon to go down this road you will make yourself crazy if you aren’t careful. Tuition increases and merit offerings change dramatically. The class of 2016 and early had some great merit options at Pitt and Temple for example, that are not offered this year and there are some very bummed out 2017 kids.
In state publics will almost always be the cheapest option for all students.
“n state publics will almost always be the cheapest option for all students.”
…except for me in PA, @eandesmom
You’re right, of course, and I was too scattershot in saying 30-40 merit. It seems like $25k will go far out of state, combined with great stats, and it does from my perspective, where it doesn’t come CLOSE to covering in-state PSU costs, and so ANY merit out of the state or at private colleges will likely end up lowering our costs.
But those in sane, less regressive states, should not approach it the same way.
I started out this research last year with dreams of schools like Vassar and Wesleyan – hah! – now I’m down to schools like West Chester U. and Slippery Rock, where the COA is $25k or thereabouts and virtually no aid is given. That’s the COA level of our cheapest in-state option, barring community college.
I can tell you in SC $25,000 will not go far unless you have excellent stats and GPA at publics or privates.
If merit and need based aid is combined, Allegheny, Juniata, UScranton, Duquesne are some possibilities to get a price of at or under $25k (depending on family EFC) in PA.
The PASSHE schools run about $20k for tuition/R&B
Some kids go to Ohio for merit, like Kent State, OSU (Buckeye scholarship $12.5k), Toledo, Cincinnati.
Some go to WVU.
Yes, many took advantage of automatic free tuition at Temple in the past, but now merit is competitive, same as Pitt.
Where you can somewhat save money, is if you attend PSU branch/main for 2+2, especially if you can commute to the branch. Then your tuition/fees is about $14k the first two years, and then maybe $19k plus apartment/food cost the last two years.
@Gatormama my point is that there really aren’t a ton of 4 year schools out there for 25k. At least not the schools many on CC focus on. Period. Those that come in at that price tag or under fall into certain categories.
- In state public. And yes, in many states (CA, PA, others) 25K may only happen at a regional/directional university, not the flagship or land grant or other "name" school.
- OOS public through a regional exchange program if your kid has stats high enough to qualify for certain tuition discounts. It really varies but for some this can be truly great and come close to in state prices. In our case, the exchange schools are not ones that work for my kids for a variety of reasons so it's kind of worthless to us.
- OOS public in a less desireable/popular location. They exist, there is not a huge list of them though. Maine. Wyoming. Kentucky. Alabama. Iowa. Solid schools, great options, just not for everyone.
- Less selective private schools and more importantly less selective schools in less popular locations for the best bang for the buck.
The general rule is that for big money your student should be in the upper quartile of the stats. However if it is a selective school, they don’t need to pay for those kids to come so that money is only handed out if the student really adds something to that school. Your own in state schools rarely offer merit monies (or not much), the discount is already in the in-state price.
Yes. Some kids with tippy top stats can find a lot of options for 25k or under. Bama is one of the few that has options for less than tippy tops. The vast vast majority of kids will have to compromise, or pay more.
I can tell you from personal experience with my mid stats S17…there is nothing out of state that he could find for 25k that beats or is even equal his in state safety which is a strong regional school. Our flagship is more than 25K as well with everything else running 20-25. Anything that came close to that price tag was either in a location he could not tolerate, did not offer his program or was not nearly as good of a school. Quite frankly I expected that S19 who will have better stats would have more options and based on a few quick NPC’s…he’s going to be in a similar boat. It will be a different school list but he’s not going to have a huge selection in his price range either. To be fair they are being picky on location and school type and I am letting them as long as they have one financial safety. Many folks do not give their kids that option or just force the in state financial safety but I think to go into this process thinking there are tons of options nationally at a price tag of 25K unless you have an extremely high stats kid (and arguably even then) is a very dangerous idea that can lead to large disappointment for you and your student unless both are willing to be very flexible on location and type of school.
27K is my budget. Anything beyond that and my kids have to have skin in the game including finding merit money, federal loans up to their max, working summers and during the school year. They’ve known this since they were 5. So if they don’t want to compromise on a school that comes in under that…it is on them. I’ll kick in some extra to match their federal loan but that’s basically the ceiling. And that means they have limited options. But they do have options. I’m still confident they’ll have a great education. The idea of paying a quarter of a million dollars for undergrad is ridiculous, I don’t care how fabulous the school is.
Emphasis added:
Easily solved: Stop focusing on the schools many on CC focus on.
And that may come across as snark, but it isn’t. It’s dead serious. CC is a weird little bubble that gets you to forget that the majority of degrees in this country are granted by non- and minimally-competitive-entry institutions (even when you ignore the predatory for-profits), and the graduates of those colleges end up generally doing fine (again, ignoring the predatory for-profits).
The CC prestige game is fine for those for whom the CC prestige game is fine. The CC prestige game doesn’t even enter into consciousness for most of the collegiate world, though.
Thanks for clarifying that @dfbdfb . Too often great schools are disregarded because they’re not selective enough or prestigious enough, or they’re in the South , blah,blah,blah
A little off topic but…
I’m starting to plan our spring break and of course I’m late to the game. Most warm places we would like to go have super expensive flights attached to them, so I’m thinking we would maybe bag the beach idea and mix fun with college visits. We’ve been to DC two times with the kids but not in a few years. I’m thinking about going there for break and seeing American, GW, and University of Richmond which is 90 minutes south. We don’t need to visit UVA. He’s already visited Wisconsin during a summer XC camp and thinks a big state school isn’t his thing. Thoughts? Has anyone out there done a college trip to DC?
I’m picking these schools because they are possibilities since I know he loves DC. I understand they differ in what they offer and how selective they are. I pretty much know how much they would cost us. The visits wouldn’t take over all of our time since we would probably be there six days. Basically, it’s a cool town to visit for break and we could just start the process of looking at schools.
I feel like it might be too soon but I also think we have other trips we will want to make with him. Weirdly, even though he’s only a sophomore, I feel like we could run out of time for visits. He thinks he wants to see some schools in the NE (Middlebury, Tufts) but we need to wait to see SAT scores in the fall before we decide if that’s worth it. I definitely want him to see Davidson and Wake which is another trip. I think Davidson and Wake are likely better matches for him than the DC schools so I want to wait until junior year for him to see them. Most other schools he wants to see can be seen on long weekends and we can drive from home.
I know some will say that you don’t have to visit before you apply. I know that’s true, but I feel like we could eliminate schools easier if he sees more. Plus, that dreaded “showing interest” part of the application is kind of haunting me. I feel like he could write his essays a lot easier if he spent time on the campuses of the schools when there are kids in session. Anyone else doing college visits sophomore year?
@Gatormama The regional exchange tuition programs (post above #1833) exist for some counties (not states) in MD for areas in southwestern PA. I know Frostburg was discussed in another forum as having this type of program. If you are somewhere else like us (we are east, near Philly), the program would not apply.
@homerdog, we are taking our April vacation and looking at 5 schools (making it a family event). I waited until Junior year with my 1st child, and then we ran out of time! Trying to visit schools into our already busy lives was definitely a challenge. I’d rather start now (we have already seen two with my sophomore), then have that same mistake happen again.
@homerdog, also after visiting a few schools and listening to the information they give prospective students, I honestly think they are targeted towards younger HS students- it is almost a motivational guide of what they could do while in HS to help get into colleges. Kinda hard to make big changes (classes, clubs, committees, grades, volunteer work, etc…) during your junior/senior year.