Where did your white, unhooked, non-super star, lower middle income son attend college?

Parents Forum
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Ideally, I would love to have the billed amount 10K or under, so close to EFC. Not that we have that, but I think getting close to the EFC would insure a lower amount of loan. My dh did start his new, lower pay job, so as of now, our income will drop about 10K this year. However, I will be trying to make up the difference and he will try to get overtime (not supposed to be available to him, but he’s going to pressure them).

We have about 6-7K left in my son’s 529 account after paying for this spring’s college classes and books. So I figure the first year of college will be covered. After that, I have no idea how it will work. Thus, I think we really need to look at schools where the billed amount that we owe is as close to our EFC as we can get it, since we don’t have many other sources of college costs, though I guess we could use home equity. We bought our house in the early 90s. While it’s a small, old, falling apart house (1100 square feet), it’s in California, and worth more than we owe on it.

At any rate, we’ll just have to see. I think my son is just so done with apps. Not sure he do the last few scholarship apps. But I think I am able to start eliminating schools based on initial offers. And actually, SDSMT is still a possibility, as they say they have up to 9K a year as a possible scholarship, which would bring billed costs around 7-8K. Possibly worth it. Hard to say. My son would love a dorm experience like his brother has had. Might not be possible. Kind of fun and scary to see how it plays out.

Thanks again, all.

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Make sure the income drop is noted in FA paperwork.

Have to say, through this thread, your affection for your son, and your belief in him, come through. I like your balanced look for what may work best for him. :slight_smile:

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sbjdorlo, we’re keeping our fingers crossed for you and your son!

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You are very kind. Thank you so much!

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Have you double-checked with the UTD financial aid office yet? (Again, only 6K considering his stats just seems off to me.)

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sb - Do make sure you look closely at all the various paperwork on FA when it arrives. My understanding is that at most schools EFC is what is left AFTER aid and scholarships. In other words, they give loans to fill “need” beyond EFC.

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I believe my son emailed them, but it was during the break, so we’ll see if he hears back this week or not. I honestly don’t understand, either, though I know he has some “dings”-no AP scores, a homeschooler, only had 14.5 units of college at the time of applying (has 13 more units), no big national awards. They said they didn’t consider SAT II scores, and he didn’t have them at the time, but I don’t know if that was a part of it or not.

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" no big national awards. " - Don’t fret too much over that. We hear about them on CC threads, but in the real wold I think they are pretty rare.

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Just closing out a couple of threads I started.

In the end, son appealed UTD and actually got the full tuition scholarship (so this is something good for people to know; it’s possible to appeal some schools’ scholarships). Had he heard sooner, he might have really considered UTD, but it came about April 20th.

My son ended up somehow getting into UPenn (was rejected by 4 top schools, waitlisted by 3, and got into 16 schools including two UCs and four Cal States). He also amazingly got a Special Corporate National Merit Scholarship which will be for four years and got one other outside scholarship. He’ll attend after a gap year, and will likely pay only a few thousand a year after all is said and done.

We are super, super grateful. It will be hard academically and lots of health stuff to work out, but the finances have turned out better than we could have ever imagined.

I guess the take away was to cast a wide net.

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Penn? Very nice, but I’m not surprised. Based on your original post, he sounds like an intelligent boy with many interests and talents. I know that plane fares will be a concern, so I was wondering if you will have more free time now that you won’t be homeschooling. If so, I bet you could find work as a tutor since you now have bragging rights that you taught two sons who got into MIT and Penn. In my neck of the woods, tutors can make up to 200 dollars an hour. Something to think about.

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Well, @citymama9, I still have a 10 year old dyslexic at home that I’m schooling, so I’m in it for the long haul. I also have an 88 year old father that needs me to be available for doctor’s appointments, etc., so no full time outside work yet. Further, I confess I have no high level tutoring skills. I outsource all high school level education. (I’m an ex elementary deaf-education teacher) I can teach ASL and dance…and my own through middle school. That’s it!

I do work very part time as an educational consultant, mostly with friends and a few random homeschoolers, but I’m not sure I want to continue since my youngest son’s educational needs are what I most want to focus on.

$200. Wow. My skills aren’t worth that kind of money. I’m very inexpensive compared to that! LOL

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sbjdorlo has your 10-yr old done the Barton program for Dyslexia? I would highly recommend it as one of the best ones out there. My wife has been a tutor for 9 years, if you have any q’s feel free to ping me.

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To digress from the thread, ha-ha, yes, I have heard of the Barton method and am going to take the plunge this summer and buy the first level, train myself, and work with my son. His reading is above grade level, but spelling and writing are very weak. I also suspect a mild language disorder, so I am on the hunt for a way to get an assessment covered by insurance. He’s had the advantage of having a one on one teacher, but I need to further equip myself to help him just as I did with my middle son. It took a community of doctors, professors, professionals, etc. in addition to me, the facilitator, who tracked them down, in order for my middle son to have accomplished what seemed impossible 2-3 years ago. This son brings fewer natural abilities to the table, but I am still hopeful we’ll continue to see improvements over the years; slow and steady is fine with me. Each of my kids had different needs, and we try to meet those individual needs.

Grateful for College Confidential as one of the “helps” along the way.

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I never saw this thread until today, but if your kid got into Penn, he’s probably not an “unhooked, non-super star!”

Congrats!

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@sbjdorlo, congratulations on your son’s results. (Around here, tutors get more like $25 per hour.)

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Thanks, @Consolation and @ReadyToRoll! I think tutors around here charge between $25 and $70. I charge $30 for new clients and $25 for existing clients (but I do more free “consulting” than paid work, by far because I’m a contact for several homeschooling groups) I would like to charge more, but I don’t feel I can unless I get more education, specifically in the area of college consulting.

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Congratulations! M very happy for you and your son. So glad Penn could see what an exceptional young man heis. :slight_smile:

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Thank you, @MYOS1634!

Somehow Penn was able to see something unique in my son. I really do think that admissions try to build a class that is the right fit/match. People have told me that my son was a “breath of fresh air” at Penn, but also that, had he applied to other majors (and the beauty of Penn is that you can change majors obviously) such as DMD, CS or English, there’s no way he would have gotten in. But because of applying to Fine Arts, and perhaps because of the two Arts Supplements that seemed to really align with is interests, he got in…I guess. Who knows, for sure!

I can see how this played out in how he did overall.

Of the three schools with 10% or under admit rates to which he applied, he only got into Penn, and it makes total sense as he was clearly out of his league for the other two in terms of “match” of majors/academics.

Interestingly, of the five schools with admit rates between 11-20% to which he applied, he wasn’t admitted to any.

Vanderbilt-denied (Applied for film major and was clearly not the right match at all)
WUSTL-Waitlist (Also applied as a film major/not the right match)
Dartmouth-denied (Kept flip-floping on major with admissions and never got his peer rec in; was not the right match)
UCLA-Waitlist (Definitely not the right match as an Electrical Engineering major)
Cal Poly SLO-Waitlist (Definitely not the right school or major, Mechanical Engineering)

He was admitted to all the other schools, including the schools in the 20-30% admit rate (guessing at admit rates here)

Northeastern-Game Design (right major/right fit, though my son didn’t like the school when he visited)
UCSD- Interdisciplinary Computing and the Arts (right major in the school’s eyes, but too theoretical for my son)
UCI-Computer Game Science (right fit)
University of Rochester-Digital Media Studies (right fit, but the major wasn’t “game design-y” enough for my son)

The ones with higher admit rates where he was admitted for engineering, I suppose his general stats were high enough to overcome the general “mis-match” of weaker course work and grades in math.

Surprisingly, as he finishes up the semester, he’s thinking about taking a calculus-based physics class during his gap year (Penn will allow non-matriculated classes at the local community college) rather than animation. He may indeed end up in Digital Media Design, which is a full fledged engineering degree, but it’s heavy in programming and the arts. Yes, it’s also heavy in math, but if he can stay on top of his calculus skills during the gap year, he might do ok.