<p>My deepest sympathies on the sudden and unexpected loss of your dad. I can only imagine how difficult it is to think straight this week. I hesitate to tell you my thoughts on your Q, since I am a little queasy about spending other people’s money. Still, my bias here is for “the school of her heart” experience if that is manageable over time, and it seems that may be the case. I have to agree with Chevda in that I have always seen college as a time to experience far more than the accomplishment of one’s career goals. In my mind, it is the total experience, both social and emotional as well as academic that needs to be considered - you can’t always put a price tag on that. Sometimes finances can and will dictate the choice - in this case, there are some tradeoffs either way. </p>
<p>Good luck with your decision and best wishes to your family during this difficult time.</p>
<p>I think making this choice at this particular time may not be the best route to go as well. There are several weeks before this decision needs to be engraved in granit - May 1st deadline is a ways away - and under the circumstances - it may be best to put this decision on the back burner for another couple of weeks - a much clearer picture will be able to be seen at that time. Now is the time to concentrate on the things at hand - sadly - my condolences to all of you.</p>
<p>Oh, sweetie, I’m <em>so</em> sorry to hear about the loss of your father in this unexpected way…and in the midst of this already stressful and uncertain time for you and your family. {{{{{{{gentle hugs}}}}}}} to all of you–and prayers for peace and comfort in your future. </p>
<p>Helping my son to make a decision was hard enough for me two years ago, so I hesitate to offer an opinion, but I CAN tell you that we went with the “dream school” option with no regrets so far. That it was such a stretch for us makes it all the more precious to him, and he’s capitalized on all of the opportunities available to him. Sometimes, if you take the path with greater risks, the payoffs are that much greater as well. </p>
<p>Again, I’m so very sorry for the sudden loss of your dad. Healing thoughts from our family to yours.</p>
<p>IF school two is in NJ …couple of thoughts. First, does it offer enough to be worth the loans? Best if she can follow through with the programs that would reduce her loans through teaching.
Second, my cousin went to that school back in the stone age. She researched every single teacher and class. She then took the hardest classes over the summer, which were less tough with grading. She graduated with a very high GPA, and I think in 3 years instead of 4, near the top of the class.
Third, call their FA office and discuss your concerns, see if there is a way to get a bit more money.
I don’t know your state school’s rep. the school I am thinking of was a bit of a commuter school, making big effort to change that. It’s in a safe, pretty location not far from all my relatives. That of course is a plus. (g) But no anthropology, so DD didn’t apply.</p>
<p>First, my condolences on the death of your father. I lost mine two years ago, and I still want to call him on the phone all the time.</p>
<p>I want to touch on a different aspect of the situation that others have not brought up. </p>
<p>Does your father’s death change your family’s financial situation in any way, and should that be taken into account in your daughter’s college choice? If you will be inheriting anything or if your daughter will, that might change the financial picture significantly.</p>
<p>I mention this because my father’s death did change the financial situation for my family, both because of money he left to me and money he left directly to my children.</p>
<p>I think that if you use the numbers from this year’s FAFSA, but plug in 2 students in college, you’ll get a ballpark idea of what your EFC would be with 2 kids in college next year – you’ll have to extrapolate for future years. </p>
<p>What I think you’ll find is that each student’s EFC will be about 60% of the total EFC for your family. So, if your current EFC is around $45K, it may go up to around $54K with two in college. These are very rough numbers, but my point is that you may have a more favorable situation when both daughters are in college than you think.</p>
<p>Thank you all again. I’m going to check out the calculator because that’s all new to me. ZG has now complicated things even further: LAC has several really interesting biology majors that aren’t biochemistry in disguise, but she is adamant in wanting a biology and not education degree. Shoot me now!</p>
<p>Zoosergal is checking out all of her options - as she should - better now than later - even with a bio degree - if she chooses to she can always do an education degree/masters later - the choices she has are both great - but the one for her will win the race. </p>
<p>May 1st is a ways away - she really does have time to work thru all of this :)</p>
<p>It couldn’t hurt to talk to the LAC to find out if there are departmental scholarships and other opportunities that your D would be a good candidate for after freshman year, so her total debt load might end up lower than projected from her freshman debt.</p>
<p>Fwiw, I think that for undergrad, a bio degree has a lot broader marketability than an education degree. I hesitate to say this, if only because I dislike so much of the crass careerism that so many students exhibit before they’ve even set foot upon a college campus for orientation, but while I deplore careerism neither do I recommend ignoring career considerations.</p>
<p>Why has no one brouight up the big possibility that ZG may want to change her mind about teaching? I’ve been told less that half of college kids stay with their original major. You see so many new opportunities when you get out there, what if ZG doesn’t end up wanting to be a teacher in your state? .</p>
<p>Sorry to hear about the loss of your father.</p>
<p>suze does bring up a good point about what happens should she decide that she does not want to teach? I agree that having a bio degree vs having an eduction degree will give her more flexibility.</p>
<p>Even at the LAC I am sure that she could probably take ED courses (as elective credit) and get certified to teach. She could always file for reciprocity to teach in NYC (as a bio major, she would get reciprocity to teach 7-12 bio, then do what she needs to do for permanent certification- work, get a masters, pass the CST, etc.). As a science major, she could swing getting her masters paid for by the city (admissions to most masters teaching program does not require gre’s, so she won’t have to worry about testing to get into grad school).</p>
<p>If she is willing to teach at a chapter one school she would be eligible for teach for tomorrow where she would get $3500 (cash) to pay toward her student loans over the course of 4 years, then $5000 from sallie mae.</p>
<p>I think that it is great that you have realistically sat down and had the money talk. It sounds like zoosergal is willing to be an active participant in helping to finance her dream. If she is willing to work and earn 4k a year over the cost of 4 years that is $16k, and if she is willing to take out the minimum amount of debt in her name (19k in stafford) she will be taking on 35k of her cost of attendance over 4 years. Who knows she may even be able to pick up some outside scholarships, tutoring money, etc.</p>
<p>Did you get the financial aid package from the school? (is there any more $$ coming or is the scholarship it?.</p>
<p>We haven’t actually gotten the financial aid package from the school yet, just the scholarship awards. The school agrees to meet need and the merit money is more than our need, so we think that’s it. Sybbie, we had no idea that she didn’t need to test in to teaching master’s programs. That’s a huge, huge deal to her (she’s the girl who always carries barf bags to major tests). I think she needs to find out exactly what is required to get certified in NYC. We looked together at the DOE website and with talk of all the “pathways” it became quite confusing.</p>
<p>I spoke with her last night and she really wants to go to the LAC but she doesn’t want to struggle and worry so much, so we’ve decided to visit the school again because it was the first school she ever visited and then sit down with her GC. I know that she wants to go to the LAC, but she also loves the idea of getting out of school at 22 with a bachelor’s in biology, a master’s in education and zero debt. She pointed out to me that if she doesn’t want to teach now she would be in a perfect position to get a second master’s in an environmental field and do something else because she would have the time and money to do so, but would still be certified to teach should that ever fit her needs down the road. </p>
<p>We’re going to take a road trip together and ask lots of tough questions and then make a final decision. Thank you all so much for your patience and wisdom.</p>
<p>ZM, one thing that I’d want to surface eventually in a conversation with ZG is the issue of debt: not all debt is created equal. There is dumb debt and smart debt. Debt on the scale we’re talking about here and for the purpose is smart debt…it’s not like a like amount of debt racked up in clothes, cars, meals, trips. (TheMom looks at debt as to whether or not it’s a capital expenditure.)</p>
<p>Graduating debt free is nice but imo it should not be an obsession that distorts the overall view.</p>
<p>“Graduating debt free is nice but imo it should not be an obsession that distorts the overall view.”</p>
<p>As always, you’ve really hit on something. This is something of an obsession with her. May I add that she is the most risk-adverse person I know which factors in. I have to figure out how to present all the options in writing and make sure it’s accurate and clear. It’s kind of tough since hubby and I have never been through this and it’s our first kid.</p>
<p>ZM, you might want to take a debt amount, look at the interest rate, and calculate what the monthly payments would be in black-and-white. And then compare to what ZG’s monthly salary with her BA or BS might be. </p>
<p>E.g., $20K in loans paid back over 15 years at 6.5 percent is $175 per month. Not insignificant but not back-breaking either, particularly for someone who has a Bio degree.</p>
<p>$175/month relative to some salary (even $2500-$3000/month) may seem a lot less scary to ZG than the ominous figure $20K.</p>
<p>If you do the calculation that TheDad suggested (and I think it is a good one) look up the salaries for your local public school system on their website. Our county started newly certified teachers at $44,000 last year. They have a very difficult time hiring qualified high school math and science teachers but I am sure that is a problem in most school systems.</p>