<p>Our son decided to attend Linfield after 3 years of college visits and soccer recruiting. He has been there one semester and does not like one thing about it and is coming home at Christmas. </p>
<p>He was hoping to attend U. of Arizona in January but no merit aid was given unless a first time freshman right out of HS so now he is looking at in-state schools. I can’t get any information so far from admissions about if he can come in the fall as a freshman or has to wait until Jr. year? </p>
<p>Also, isn’t there a program where some public schools out of state match our in-state tuition? Can’t remember the name of it.</p>
<p>So…what is your son’s plan? Did he have a plan in mind when he decided to ditch the current school? I would tell my S that part of that decision to leave would be to have done some research and have some new plan in action - to work a semester (and secure that job), to attend CC to get a couple gen eds out of the way, to contact UofArizona before making the decision to drop…???</p>
<p>His plan was to attend U. of AZ in January and he was accepted. We asked the question to Fin Aid dept and Admissions about merit aid and no one said he would not get any until after the fact. Had he know he would have applied before the deadline to a few other choices.
Now his plan is to come home and go to CC and take a few classes and work but now he has to decide where to apply for the fall. I don’t know if they take kids who have some credits at UC’s before Jr. year or at state schools. So far can’t get anyone to even answer the phone or emails.</p>
<p>Id press him on what is so horrible that he has to leave after one semester instead of finishing out the year.
What changed from his three years of visits?</p>
<p>Western Undergraduate Exchange is what you are looking for. Just know that there may be restrictions on the number of kids taken and the majors available. Read the fine print.</p>
<p>If one of the reasons he hated Linfield was that he was homesick, then it might make sense for him to stay local. </p>
<p>Were there any local schools (Redlands? Point Loma?) that made his final cut or offered him money? Sometimes those schools will be happy to take someone who chose another school but things didn’t turn out as planned.</p>
<p>He is not homesick he just is bored and it’s too small. </p>
<p>No there weren’t any local schools and I suggested he go back to some of the schools who gave him good merit aid and see if they will take him. He now has decided he wants the “whole college experience - football games, etc.” The other D3 schools are all small too. </p>
<p>Looked at the WUE and no schools with his major look at all like what he’d want.</p>
<p>“You’ll still need to meet the same minimum admissions requirements as we have for California community college students, and plan to do as much preparation for your major as possible.” [Minimum admissions requirement of 60 units]</p>
<p>On the other hand, the S of a friend was accepted as a transfer student from Cal Poly SLO to UC Davis after one semester at SLO. He decided not to transfer after all, but I was surprised that he was accepted as a transfer student at all. I thought that you either came in as a freshman or as a junior when it came to the UCs. Obviously, there is some squish room, at least in this one case (no special circumstances, like parent dying, etc.).</p>
<p>If your S’s decision to leave his current school is going to cost you big bucks down the road, I’d insist on a well-thought-out plan and application strategy, and additional skin in the game on his part. No sense in asking you to fork out OOS/private school tuition if he’s not SURE it’s where he wants to be and if credits will transfer, FA/merit $$ works out, etc. Taking courses at the CC while he makes a considered decision about where to transfer is a good idea. He needs to be aware that the next school really needs to stick, or he’s going to have trouble graduating in four years. He should also be aware that finishing this semester strong, with good grades, is important for transfer options.</p>
<p>Schools tend to use merit $$ to raise yield and therefore direct it to incoming freshmen. This is clearly less important when it comes to transfer admissions. </p>
<p>I remember your thread from last spring. If you’re footing the bill, you have a right to expect some mature decisionmaking on your son’s part before dropping more $$$. <em>Especially</em> if this transfer is costing you lost scholarship $$, better FA, etc.</p>
<p>His best bet to have the “college experience” would probably be to find a CC with an articulation agreement with a school he is interested in. Spending the rest of this year and next at CC in order to transfer to a UC or other large university wouldn’t be tragic (and would save $$), but if he’s resistant to be bored, yikes! I feel for you— you thought you had him launched and now this! </p>
<p>It is much harder to get scholarships as a transfer, but financial aid is still a possibility if you qualify. </p>
<p>Yes he is interested in-state but I still can’t get info if he can apply or has to wait until Jr. year. He only has about 12 credits (not sure exactly) now. </p>
<p>Hopefully I can reach a live person today as so far I have tried and sent emails and they just send back a link that doesn’t answer the question.</p>
<p>Check out something like Boise State–college football frenzy and the costs are cheaper than University of Arizona ($20K out of state tuition at BSU vs. $35K out of state tuition at U of A). </p>
<p>That’s like a $15K scholarship right out of the chute.</p>
<p>The UC application is due the end of this month. From all our research two years ago the UC’s and many of the Cal states only take junior transfers. Also the UC’s the past few years have been closed to winter and spring transfers. Granted I have heard in a few cases of kids transfering earlier but they must have had some special circumstances and were able to get around the online application.
WUE is the tuition exchange program. Some schools offer the exchange for transfers some do not. Also the SAT scores required for WUE seem to have gone way up since I last looked into it 4 yrs ago.</p>
<p>I will just have to reach someone today as I was told by U. of AZ that he would still be considered a freshman and due to the low number of units they waived his Linfield transcripts.</p>
<p>*He was hoping to attend U. of Arizona in January but no merit aid was given unless a first time freshman right out of HS so now he is looking at in-state schools. I can’t get any information so far from admissions about if he can come in the fall as a freshman or has to wait until Jr. year?</p>
<p>Also, isn’t there a program where some public schools out of state match our in-state tuition? Can’t remember the name of it.*</p>
<p>Oh wow…after all the work and visits you did!.</p>
<p>I think the program you’re thinking of is WUE…but I don’t think it “matches” …it’s 150% of instate I think.</p>
<p>You might look at…</p>
<p>Northern Arizona University
U New Mexico…has some kind of “good neighbor” drop in rates.
U South Dakota</p>
<p>Miss State sometimes lets one semester frosh get scholarships - contact them.</p>
<p>Also, contact any of the schools that were his 2nd / 3rd choices and see if they’ll reactivate the $$ offer.</p>
<p>So, is soccer out of the equation?</p>
<p>Remind us again how much you’re willing to spend each year? How much is Linfield costing you?</p>
<p>Also…tell us what your son didn’t like about his current school so we can avoid suggesting schools with similar issues.</p>
<p>I remember you previous threads, including the one about when a child picks a school you don’t like (that was dealing with a different school).</p>
<p>*we don’t really want to spend another $15K when he can go to the local CC for next to nothing in comparison. *</p>
<p>If you will pay $25-30k per year (was that your budget?) and your son does a student loan, there are “big college experience football schools” that will accept him.</p>
<p>It looks like you were spending $30k per year for Linfield.</p>