Just quick background: First person to go to college in my family (and I did it alone, my parents had no real clue so it was all on me). I went the route of Community College for 2 years, then to a 4 year college to end up with a double major. Now I have my first child who is a senior this year, about to apply (so this is also a learning curve).
My child is in my opinion a solid student, but I understand not an amazing student. Strong school system, 3.6 GPA (would be higher, but she takes all honors and AP classes to challenge herself, so the net result is a mix of As and Bs, not straight As. She scored 1300 on the SAT, and while not Ivy, it’s a decent number. Her ECs are probably average. Clubs, selected to Agriscience program and takes UCONN ECE courses. A job. Some volunteering.
Knowing she isn’t getting into the elite schools, she has targeted schools where her GPA (again, challenging course and a better high school) is within the low end of the range, and her SATs tend to be in the high end. For whatever reason, the norm seems to be for schools with a 1100-1300 SAT score, the GPA is between 3.5 and 4.0, where as she is a 3.6 and a 1300. Which feels like it’s good enough to be accepted to plenty of places, but not good enough to get merit aid, or win scholarships, etc.
But we live in the Northeast, and she does not want to be too far from home (driving distance), and the schools around here are expensive. We bring in over 200k for income, but have nothing in college savings (was never a possibility where we live, it appears we’re going to be badly dinged for living in a very high cost of living area. Our salary goes a long way in this country, just not around here). We’re seen as rich, but I drive a beat up Honda with 200K miles. We’ve maxed our 401k, but that’s all we could afford.
We are applying to UCONN (our state school), along with every other kid in the entire state. It’s not easy to get in these days. It’s not her top choice in terms of were she wants to go, but the price is 15K for tuition, vs 35-40K going anywhere out of state that is equivalent. If she does not get into UCONN, that is where it gets tricky for us. We can send her to subpar schools and hope for some merit. Or we can send her to a school she deserves to be in, but I can’t see how we can afford it. We can afford some, but I can’t imagine trying to come up with 30K per year. Maybe 15-20 tops if we make a lot of life sacrifices. Examples are UVM ($55K for out of state), UDenver ($60K), and so forth.
It saddens me a bit as a parent if we have to tell her that “no, you cannot go to the schools you have earned your way into, because we cannot afford them”. It is what it is, I guess.
She also tends to like the larger schools, for a few reasons. (A) more options in terms of majors, (B) more options in terms of social groups, clubs, © often better facilities and (D) she is dead set on studying abroad in Asia at some point, and there are more schools with strong programs there that are larger.
I’m open to any and all suggestions. And as luck would have it, in addition to this 2019 college entry, I also have another ready to off to college in 2021, and another in 2024.