There is a thread from 2023 - ‘Loving Your Safety School’. Perhaps reading it would give you some comfort/insight. The quote below is from there. I hope this helps!
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Ford just announced employee pricing on all their vehicles, for everyone.
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That whole ivy or you’ll be worthless narrative really burns me to be honest. It’s highly prevalent here in the DMV
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Cold comfort right now but it does seem with my D23 that by Thanksgiving a few things happened.
- No one cared about prestige anymore.
- Horrible “friends” were dropped-never to be seen again.
- Most kids are happy BUT if they’re starting to think about transferring, it has nothing to do with the prestige of the school and way more to do with either social issues or how far away from home they are. Or maybe because they decided they want to become a nurse or something that their current school doesn’t offer.
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I think this is one of S25s biggest issues with VA Tech. If he were looking at the school and program without all of this peer pressure in the back of his head, I think it would be much higher on his mental list.
Sigh.
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Yep, somehow (probably football) Clemson became one of the “cool” schools.
The year after VT’s football team did really well, their enrollment spiked big time, so I would 100% agree that sports can make a difference. As a parent, it helps to see that Clemson has put some time and effort into upping their academic game from back in the stone ages when I was looking at colleges.
The financial piece of all of these decisions is very hard and I appreciate the stress we are all under to make these decisions. FWIW my oldest went across the country to Clemson without knowing anyone and before the football had taken off and it’s honestly a special place. He has lifelong friends and a love of the south. He bleeds orange and his job opportunities have been wonderful, several from to the connection of Clemson.
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My husband and I both have degrees from Clemson (him undergrad and me grad). He has been hired because of his Clemson degree, no doubt about it. But Clemson wasn’t nationally in the same position it is in now until the Dabo effect took hold.
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Well, football (as others have said) plus a lot of targeting of higher-stats students by shifting money away from need-based aid to merit-based aid, as documented in this (paywalled) Chronicle of Higher Education article, in an effort to move higher up the USNWR rankings. (Though, it should be stressed, Clemson hasn’t nearly been alone in such efforts.)
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There are schools ranked higher than Clemson that don’t have the buzz of Clemson, for example: UC Riverside, Michigan State, U Mass Amherst, Rutgers…
It will mean nothing to anyone here, but I disliked my time at Clemson. I did very well academically, but it was not a fit for me.
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Unrelated to literally everything else going on here, I have to share a random work story. So I started at my job in September and, basically, all of done since January is deliver hard news and try to manage and lead through a lot of anxiety and confusion, all while still trying to learn my totally new organization and new colleagues.
Today I left my office for an hour for a meeting and when I came back I found this in my desk (photo). I laughed so hard people came to see what was going on. I have no idea who left this and no one will own up to it, but it totally made my day and made me think that I guess I’m doing something right. And also? These people get me and my sense of humor.
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That is so fun! And also looks like quite a few people were involved 
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I am catching up on all of this after a long work day. I agree with all of this. I am trying not to say anything to the kid, but I am a processer and a planner so there is alot buzzing around my head. I am probably driving other people around me a little crazy, so I find this forum comforting and reassuring. I have a couple of great “mom friends” who I can vent some to, but mostly at this stage in the game it can be awkward because we are all in different places with acceptances/rejections, decision-making, and finances. This feels like a safe place and it makes me feel less alone.
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I get this. We did not realize how important prestige was to our kid until the rejections came. Sure his top 2 were highly rejective SLACs, but at one point he loved a pretty low ranked safety. His stress about rejections was really about how he now will not get into a good law school and a good job after. Felt like it came out of nowhere, we did not say that and we have valued fit most of all for him. But I feel like this is the messaging they get from somewhere or with each other, and we don’t even live in a district where a ton of kids are going to highly selective schools. The colleges benefit from this because it makes people feel we have to break the bank to make these things work. I can’t even say we wouldn’t have stretched if he got in to one of his top two, so I am not immune I guess!
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OK. I’m a little further down the road than some of y’all. (C25 has committed, and we’re now starting to figure out “how/when to get there” to get the plane tix at a reasonable price.)
So, do you buy the kid a one-way ticket for the first leg out, and then round trips for future things? Or do you try to buy a round trip, and just keep rescheduling the return portion? Or do you lock in the Xmas trip now, and then have the same issue with the random hanging return for summer? I… I am not sure what the best plan is, and I haven’t had to buy plane tickets for anything but a rare family vacation for the last 20 years, so I don’t know how to game the system to bring those costs down… (At least it’s only one person flying most of the time, so it’s not a “see ticket price, mentally multiply by 4” like it’s been for those family vacations…)
I almost feel like I should get an actual travel agent to help me with this, but I’m sure I can figure it out eventually.
Will schools re-negotiate merit and or financial aid if you loose your job? I have about 1 month until I go from a high income earner to having no job unless I want to relocate.
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I fly quite a bit- domestic and international-
and I can’t remember the last time I booked a RT flight. Always book one ways. Unless you live in a place with limited flights you’ll want to keep your options open for best prices and it’s easier to change a one way itinerary if necessary . I usually don’t book with the same airline there and back either unless it’s the best deal.
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I’m going to find out tomorrow. Going to the financial aid office and will ask.
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I believe most will. On our phone call with American they very specifically said that that is one of the few situations where they would re-negotiate.
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