There is a $500 credit for dependents. My final college student makes me a HOH for tax purposes so I don’t want to give her up yet. 2019 will be a sad, sad time when I file taxes and return to single status.
OP may not make $200k and may still be eligible for the AOTC. Maybe he is lower income but has a lot of assets to make his EFC jump.
here is the link with more specifics about the Gateway Scholarship at Ursinus College:
Your daughter would likely get around $30K at Allegheny (and an invite to the Honors program which provides funding for study abroad). They have an Asian Studies minor, and they have a strong environmental science program. Nice school, great people (students, administration, and profs) Tuition there beat UConn for us. You could also check out Susuquehanna, where she’d get about the same and also an invite into the Honors Program. My daughter was looking at bio for a major there - we were impressed with the facilities and the profs and students - so I’m not familiar with the ES major. They also have an Asian Studies minor, and studying abroad is a requirement.
The OP has some concerns as does his daughter…about being further than a drive away from college. Some of these suggestions are excellent ones…but they are not a few hours drive away.
Although…maybe the distance thing needs to be the criteria that is “relaxed”.
@twoinanddone in the OP the OP says the have no “college” savings. If they have other savings then they could be using that for college expenses. Right? But that doesn’t seem to be what @HankCT is saying.
I agree with looking at Colleges That Change Lives. Some are not all that far away from southern CT, and many are hidden jewels where this kiddo might get merit aid that would make the college affordable.
Have you considered any Canadian schools? Depending on major can be a more affordable option for US students.
OP stated in the very first post “We bring in over 200k for income, but have nothing in college savings”
@Twoin18 right…says they don’t have college savings. But what we don’t know is if they have OTHER savings. Or a rental property or some investments or something.
Visit UMaine. She may find she likes it.
I missed the part where he said he earns $200k, so most likely wouldn’t be able to take the AOTC. Most people still aren’t willing to send their kids to Utah (or Missouri) to establish residency and become truly independent for tax purposes. Glad it is an option for those who want to do it, but it is not automatic to become a resident and get that reduced tuition and it takes some planning.
Please don’t send her far off, if she’s dealing wth her own issues. Consider how long it really takes to get to Utah, from your door to hers, any flight transfers/layovers, weather considerations, and more.
This sounds awesome. Not sure if it’s within striking distance however. For starters, it’s 12-13 hours drive (no traffic, so really it’s either a flight, which means $$$ and a day of travel, or an entire 15-16 hours of driving). But my wife seems to be adamantly against her going more than a few hours away, not because she selfishly wants her child close, but we both worry that with her anxiety (which flares up), not being reasonably close could really present an issue. I lean toward the “she has to grow up some day, this will prepare her” side of things, my wife leans the other way. For example, my daughter’s first choice is to go to Colorado/Denver, but wife said firm no chance because of the distance.
Thanks so much for showing this to me, however. These UCONN match and/or in-state qualifyer for out of state student things seem like an ideal fit, if we can find one that has the things we need and isn’t too far away.
This is certainly a common and prudent way to do this. I myself went to a community college first, and out of “anger and embarassment” at not being in a 4-year school, I got straight A’s and was able to transfer. We also know others who have actually chosen to go to a state school even though they were accepted to UCONN simply because the branch offered merit (uconn branch schools offer up to 10K I think in merit, which almost wipes out tuition entirely), and then transferred after 2 years to Uconn, just to save the 20K. This is a genius move financially … but it requires a very mature child to handle it. To turn down the excitement of going to a big top ranked state school with an amazing campus, great sports, and the entire freshman experience (meet new friends, etc). It’s easy for me as a 43 year old parent to look at college PURELY as a business decision, but that isn’t the case for kids (and I am not sure it should be).
Like myself at 17, I’m not sure if my daughter is “hungry” enough right now. By the time I was 19, I was on a mission to defeat the system (I transferred and then double majored for the price of one major), but when I was a junior, senior in HS and even first year+ of college, I wasn’t ready. I was depressed about the lack of social life, sports, a cool campus. I almost didn’t make it past that, almost dropped out like a number of my friends. That’s my worry for my daughter. Part of me thinks if she does get to go to the big school, she might really flourish.
ECSU has an active social scene, some of its own sports teams, and a very nice campus. I know your daughter found it “depressing” but I would suggest a revisit in the spring.
What exactly did she find “depressing”? We have been to that campus a number of times and thought it was nice.
@thumper1 - We took her to ECSU as a first stop, and we did an AM tour. I was personally impressed, thought it was nicer than I was expecting. This was the first school we ever looked at. Later that day, we went to UCONN, and that one sort of blew her away. The next few we visited were UVM and Champlain, then she hit Umass Amherst. We did UDel and George Mason next. Quinnipiac in CT. I can ask for more detail about ECSU from her, those were her words “kind of depressing”. It was an early Saturday morning, and I can say the few kids we saw were in zombie form (looked hungover going to breakfast). I didn’t think it was bad. My wife and I went to Keene State, it reminded me of that (although I think Keene was nicer).
Really what I want is for her to be around smart kids, who are good character kids, and have her feel like she fits in. We don’t want a party school, we don’t want her to feel stupid among peers, or much smarter than her peers. More like a good fit somewhere.
Have you considered Keene State for your daughter?
There are smart kids at EVERY college…and there are also party folks and those who don’t party at every college. Every kid can find their group at any college.
I would suggest a weekday visit back to Eastern in the spring. If possible, try to arrange for her to sit in on a class.
On a Saturday morning…what did she expect to see? Lots of cheery folks who were not tired?
I was just at Wheaton College in Norton, MA. We’d looked at it about 9 years ago and I was impressed by how it has upgraded, how pretty. We were there for a wonderful art exhibit and the hung out with students in a campus cafe. All we met were lovely, bright. We were impressed.
Merit. Looks like her stats are in range. 2.5 hours from, say, Fairfield. Norton is a nice area.
Asian studies, enviro studies, study abroad.
You have to decide if being at a ‘slightly depressing’ college that is near you is better than being at a school she really wants to be at that is farther away. I had a friend from CT whose daughter went to UVM. It was expensive (even with FA and merit aid) and 5 hours away. There are flights that are 4 hours from Denver to Hartford/Providence. Yep, a day of travel either way.
@thumper1 It was her first school visit. Not sure what she was expecting, maybe she was expecting paradise, something like a TV advertisement. In either case, we will surely go for another visit, it’s an hour away.
@lookingforward Thanks. I had listed Wheaton on our list originally, but when she “weeded out” schools to pare it down, she removed it. I think she said because it lacked the study abroad and Asian studies components. I will check on that, since it’s conveniently located. The merit would have to be mind-blowing, since the school is 64K per year, to compete with other options. You said you think she would qualify for merit. Does a 3.55 gpa (AP/Honors classes) and a 1300 SAT generally qualify for merit? I would think it was on the bubble, i.e. less merit if any.
Edit: One of the challenges with Wheaton is that it has 1600 students. That is about 75% the size of her HS, and I know she wants a large spectrum of students to try to find groups to fit in with. Wife and I went to Keene and it was 4,000, and we both felt that made it feel terribly small for a college. 1600 sounds like a very small number in your class and in your major to find people you get along with. Very hit or miss.
To those asking on this front … although I don’t really want to get into a “you should budget better!” holier than-thou debate. We make well over 200K in income, but a very large percentage of the income is annual bonus. As much as 35% … and I work in an industry where firms close virtually overnight, and people can be let go even if they are excellent performers. I’ve had two firms close down with 2 weeks notice on us due to SEC investigations on a single idiot who blew up the company for the 300 others. It has happened to us twice now where we got zip/nada those years and it was crippling because we sort of counted on it.
We bought a home in 2006, right before the housing market collapsed. We were left underwater, and decided for better or worse (mostly because we were house poor at that point and couldnt even afford to move, plus my fear or destroying our credit) we stayed. So we now have a 3500K per month mortgage with insurances. Over the last 12 years we’ve had to sink an additional 100K into the house, for sewer hookups, new roof, siding, deck, kitchen work, basement drainage system, the list goes on). We live in Fairfield County, where everything is double what it is outside of that. We get no break on federal taxes or college aid for that, however. We’re seen as the 1% … but we live normal middle class lifestyle. No McMansion, no fancy cars. Most of my money goes to insurances (LTD, health, auto, home), mortgages, some debt low interest from sewer assessments and home repairs. Groceries around here are outrageous for a family with 3 teens.
We have a large amount in the IRA/401k. Almost all of our savings is there. If the bonus is good this year (and actually happens), it would cover a year worth of school for sure. But we have two more younger kiddos coming down the pike as well and I know one year it wont come through, so we will be stuck with a kid mid college and no way to pay it.
Like I said, I don’t want to get too deep into our personal finances, but trying to give some perspective.
I think we could easily scrounge 2k per month from our budget. Thats 24k per year there, and maybe even a little more. Then there is loans and maybe merit.
and to answer the original question, we do not have anything else. No other property, no rental property (both things we would die to have, but haven’t gotten there yet). We both come from families with no money, so there was no help there and will never be (we know a couple who have grandparents that are going to pay for their kids colleges, must be nice!). To give a final picture, one of the questions was “Do you currently have less than 11K in assets not including your home equity and retirement”, and my answer was “Yes”, although earlier in the year it would have been No.
One last thing. The income was much lower a few years ago. Last few years I started commuting 5 hours round trip per day to nyc to make a big chunk more. So we haven’t had this income for a long time to save up. Of course with my luck, FAFSA is based on 2017 so it showed the higher take.