My crystal ball shows Dartmouth to be among the school of acceptances. He will be fine.
The varying DU experiences just show that different kids can experience a place in different ways. This kid was not a non-drinker and felt like there was too much temptation to party at DU. He was a skier, in the business school and had pledged a frat. If you completely steer clear of that scene it may be completely different.
D’s bf went to Laf, just to add to another great experience. In fact, he, his sister and his dad are all alums.
Unless a super high percentage of students participate in ‘partying’ I would not eliminate it at this point. For example, even Sewanee’s President says drinking (i.e. binge drinking) is a problem at his school. IMHO if a student likes many things about the school, they can look the other way about some of this kind of activity. If you steer clear of party crowd and find a tribe.
Hope DS gets a little breather, get what he needs to get done on apps/essays, and can get a good start on finishing senior year. He will land somewhere good. UAH is a good option - lots of great students there and a good learning env’t.
nehc97, yes, it’s tricky, isn’t it? That’s great that you’ve gotten some good merit aid! Congratulations!
My son’s gotten merit from 3/5 schools to which he’s been admitted (not sure when Purdue releases that info), but none of it is enough. So far the “cheapest” school is UTD, but with only 6K a year, it’s more than we can afford without some significant loan (probably at least 5K a year), and for UTD, not sure it’s worth it. Missouri S&T gave the most scholarship, something like 15K a year and he applied for two more school scholarships, but the cost would still be 19K, so it’s unaffordable at the moment. SDSMT gave minimum of 3K a year and says there might be more, but unaffordable at the moment. He still needs to fill out the scholarship app for UCCS.
April will be the time to take stock and see where it all lands. My son is confident that he’ll get into at least one college that he/we can afford. He said even if it’s not a favorite, he’ll go anyways. Good kid.
However, a small school where the party crowd is dominant may not have much of a tribe of non-party students, and if it is in an isolated rural area, there may be fewer other activities available or accessible. So doing more investigation specifically on what the social life is like for a non-drinker would be warranted here.
It’s sounds like he has essentially no financial resources and does not want debt. That’s what the California Community College system is designed for.
To answer your question… my non-superstar, white, unhooked, middle income son (along with a few of his friends) is considering our state university under their degree partnership program. This is a more affordable option that combines the state u experience with the local community college. Students are formally admitted to the state U under their admission requirements and also to the cc concurrently. Lower div classes can be taken at the cc, for half the tuition as the state u., but the students still live on the state u campus and have access to all the state u. facilities. This option will save us about $10,000. The university even has a bus that travels between campuses every 15 minutes. I don’t know if CA offers a similar program, but I would ask, because the program here in Oregon is not widely known (high school counselors were unaware).
Florida also has jr/community colleges next to the large flagships,and the students share some facilities, including dorms. Some go for the costs but others go because they play a sport at the smaller school or because they need to up their grades before starting at the flagship. They get to go away to college with their friends, sometimes even live with them,but are saving money and at the appropriate school
Here where we live, no, there is nothing like that. You can go to the CC and try to transfer, or apply to the local colleges. California colleges are tremendously impacted; everyone wants to go. So it sounds a bit different than what you’re describing. And yes, my son applied to the two state schools in our city. They would be affordable if he gets in, but the admit rate for each is 30%, so it’s not a given.
Ther are California CCs with dorms somewhere in Southern California. LA City College next to UCLA, I seem to remember, but that’s a guess.
Also, California state universities and colleges take a lot of transfers from CCs. A good CC student will have no trouble transferring.
Wow, Cardinal Fang, I have never heard of dorms for a CC in California. Very interesting.
And of course, didn’t the bill pass that is going to allow our CCs to start granting four year degrees? Times are a changin’!
http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2014/09/29/the-10-000-community-college-ba
The article says that “The new pilot program would include areas such as dental hygiene, industrial technology, allied health technology, emergency medical technicians and other fields that increasingly require bachelor’s degrees.”
sjdorlo: I assume your son got into UTD’s McDermott Scholars. In that case, it’s totally worth it. If total costs are $6,000 a year… wouldn’t you spend that much just on food and transportation (gas, tire wear, other repairs…) if he attended a local college? I think I read that a college student living at home “costs” $8,000…
$6,000 may mean 10 hours of work per week, plus a job in the summer, plus the subsidized part of the federal loans. Definitely not too much debt.
And McDermott Scholars is a fantastic program - especially considering his interests.
Hi MYOS1634,
He has just recently submitted his app for the McDermott Scholars. They announce finalists at the end of the month. Honestly, I am not thinking he’ll make finalist based on the small amount of AES Scholarship he got. So to clarify-he got $6000 worth of AES Scholarship. I had hoped, based on his SAT score, GPA, activities, etc., he would have gotten the full tuition scholarship; then, even if he didn’t make it as a finalist for McDermott, it would still be affordable, particularly if he could bring in outside scholarships. But the billed amount minus 6K is still between 13 and 14K. Add flights to Dallas (a more expensive hub), and it is not worth the debt.
I agree about the McDermott. My oldest was offered the scholarship. We had a great time at finalist weekend, and the people in the program are very nice (and there’s an amazing amount of money flowing there, truly). It was hard to turn down, but he made the absolute right choice.
Upstream, didn’t the OP mention an EFC of $8500? Just be alerted…need based aid at any school is not going to cover the EFC. The family is expected to pay that amount. If the Direct Loan is not packaged in the financial aid offer, the student CAN take that loan. But this family says they want no loans.
A place like Dartmouth would be great…but they might not come in at the price point this family is expecting. Dartmouth also has a student contribution…and that increases annually.
sjdorlo: Oh, sorry. :s I agree with you, forget what I said.
Dickinson has a 2/1 deadline and is very strong in the sciences (not sure about digital arts), Lafayette is 1/15. Both have merit and need-based aid.