@CJMac02
If finances are a concern, you need to make affordability your top priority in the college selection process. Having your parents and you go into a lot of debt for a college degree is a poor decision and most likely very unnecessary. ($5500 is the max loan you can take out yourself as a freshman. Anything beyond that your parents will have to pay or cosign.)
We have 8 children, 4 have graduated from high school (1 is a special needs adult who at this point is still completely dependent on us.) The other three have all managed to attend schools pursuing their desired careers at either a very low cost or completely on scholarship. We do not have a college fund for our kids and we have limited $$ for college. They have all managed to attend without any of us taking out loans.
Schools are the best source of scholarship $$. If you don’t qualify for university scholarships, do your qualify for the HOPE? By staying instate, you have an automatic source if you qualify. There is also a list of low cost schools on this forum. Small outside scholarships are not really helpful. For some schools, they just reduce FA and leave your net cost exactly the same.
It is one thing to take your position if it is an affordable one for your family. But it is a poor choice if it means assuming debt. That is where we are as a family. I am anti-standardized testing. We homeschool bc we have very different definitions and methodologies for academic achievement and success than those within the ps system. (My kids have excelled at the university level. My older 2 graduated with honors. My college freshman is taking 400 level thermal physics and has a very high A. Proud momma moment!) But when it came to applying to colleges, testing was our bow to the system. We can’t afford to not jump through the hoop. So, they jump.
Standing on principle is tough decision. It is one we take in terms of our entire educational philosophy for our children. But drawing a line means being well- equipped for that choice and ensuring that long-term that choice is superior. Living off one income and my educating our children at home has met both criteria. Financially we are stable and educationally their educations have been superior to their local options. Not taking standardized tests does not meet the criteria for drawing a line in the sand bc the financial consequences would devastate our family…a long- term consequence we cannot justify for a few Saturday mornings with no real serious long-term negative. If we were wealthy, I would gladly jump aboard the no testing band wagon. But we aren’t, so we succumb to the system at that breaking point.
If it is a decision you feel that strongly about, run financial calculators so you understand loan payments, how they stack, how the interest will be accummulating, etc so that your decision is made 100% fully informed. Create a spreadsheet calculating your very real costs for each and every school you intend to apply to. Don’t apply based on thoughts and estimates. Apply with full knowledge based on facts. Do your research now so that 6 yrs from now you can look back satisfied with your line in the sand and not look back with regret.
At the end of the day, it’s not “pointless.” The point is to get you into college.
You can take the moral stand that it’s not necessary, or that it shouldn’t be, or that the test is flawed.
But at the end of the day, admissions counselors don’t know the reason for your choice, and they don’t care. They don’t know you. All they see is the applications that land on their desk.
Opting out will limit your choices. Significantly. If you can live with that, then skip the tests.
Life is about getting judged. Getting judged on a history exam. Getting judged in the dating pool. Getting judged in the job market. Getting judged by your in-laws. Getting judged for a promotion. Get over it.
If you don’t want to hear feedback you don’t agree with, then you shouldn’t be on a web forum soliciting it.
@ucbalumnus - The equivalent of four 3 semester hour courses (often referred to as “two years of credit”) in that foreign language. Sorry. I should have specified. She would have placed out of both the 100 and 200 series at her college had she wished to continue.
@CJMac02 Put a financial value on not taking the test. Is it worth 40K, 60K, 100K? Determine your total loans required and loan payment based on that. Then determine your expected future salary and see if that is practical.
Will your parents take on the amount of loans you’ll need to attend college OOS? You can only borrow $5500 as a freshman, $6500 as a soph, and $7500/year each as a junior and senior. That’s not enough to pay for OOS schools. The best aid comes from colleges, and most of the ones I’ve researched (including some test optional schools) award merit aid based on SAT scores and GPA.
We’re home schoolers. I may not like standardized tests, but if I don’t want to limit my children’s options then I don’t have much choice. We don’t qualify for need based aid, so we need either low cost schools or lots of merit aid. Unfortunately, the merit aid my eldest was offered was only enough to bring the cost of OOS and private schools down to the cost of our in-state schools (the sleep away cost), but was still too high to pay without taking out PLUS loans on top of the max student loans. My son decided he’d rather commute to our local 4-year college so he can graduate without debt. (He understands that PLUS loans aren’t an option and he wanted to limit the amount of money he has to borrow too.) However, the local SUNY requires standardized test scores. Unless students can attend the local community college (they don’t require standardized test scores) then transfer in to the 4-year as a junior (or cost isn’t an issue), I think they’re better off having the test scores. I know some parents who are planning for their children to go to the local cc so they’re skipping the standardized tests, but I’m not sure what they’ll do if the cc doesn’t have the major their child wants. What you plan for and the reality that you get can be very different. If you take the test and end up never needing it, that’s good. It could end up being a major problem if you need test scores but don’t have them.
And you could also view taking the test as a job. You can earn 20K an hour rather than having 20 years of debt. You could be earning a future freedom which will greatly alter you and your families’ life.
This is the stupidity of being tolerant of everything and not being judged that the media constantly presses on us. Now we have OP possibly making a decision she will regret for rest of her life. Facepalm
***If you did so well on PSAT Junior year, shouldn’t you get national merit, and not have to worry about finances. There are plenty of schools that accept NMSF only on full tuition, disregarding need for SAT and ACT.