<p>simpkin, It will work out. Just take a leap of faith.<br>
Your S sounds very much like my S2. I spent a lot of time pushing,pulling, prodding him along through sch. Middle school was esp. bad.<br>
A four year h.s. football player who valued hanging w/ friends and whatever important pursuits they had at the moment over school,he barely squeaked into the top third of his senior class in large public h.s. He took mostly honors and 2 AP’s (didn’t pass either exam) and made B’s and C’s plus one F in Spanish…ugh. Took the SAT once, did poorly, refused to retake. Took two dual enrollment CC classes as a sr. mainly so he could get out of sch. early every day. </p>
<p>DH and I thought S2 would be going to CC. In fall of sr. year S2 decided he would apply to colleges. We limited him to instate publics. We didn’t have private sch. money and def. were not going to borrow money for a kid with his track record. To be honest, we had slim hopes for success. So he applied to two directional state u’s (one fairly small,about 9,000 students and one large with 28,000). He was accepted to both. DH and I decided to let him give it a try.
He chose the larger univ. He had friends going there also and roomed w/ one of them. </p>
<p>The school’s freshman retention rate is 81%. Transfer out rate 17%. Four year grad. rate 29%. Six year grad rate is 57%…not stellar</p>
<p>S’s first sem. was bad (F’s and D’s) resulting in Academic Probation. He went back for spring sem., repeated some classes and pulled a 2.5 in the spring, got off probation and has been on the Honor Roll ever since earning 3.0 or above every semester. He’ll graduate (in four years plus some summer sch. classes) on May 4!!!
Even though it’s a “branch” college that doesn’t have impressive stats or garner a lot of respect, S2 has really matured and learned a lot both inside and outside the classroom and also had great time that he’ll remember the rest of his life. It will always be the place where he proved he could do it. We don’t regret sending sending him there. Now if he can just find a job.</p>
<p>I am also thankful for these inspirational stories. :)</p>
<p>Simpkin, I know that McDaniel College is on your son’s list, too. Have you seen this video of the college president’s speech? Definitely worth a look-see.</p>
<p>[McDaniel</a> College Opening Convocation for the Class of 2014 - Part 1 - YouTube](<a href=“- YouTube”>- YouTube)</p>
<p>Chaos: This is a thread about GPA. For those of us whose children have less than stellar GPA’s, it is a comfort to know that highly successful people had average GPA’s in high school. Steve Jobs drug use is another issue.</p>
<p>I felt reassured reading these types of threads too. My son struggled so much in 10th grade. Not doing homework… Or doing it and not bothering to hand it in. All he had to do for one class was gather classwork in a folder and hand it in. He didn’t do it and lost 100 points. Grade dropped from B to C. He just couldn’t see far enough down the road to care that his gpa mattered for college choices. We were so frustrated and worried. He made up several grades on-line at our insistence.</p>
<p>Fast forward 2 years. He’s grad hs in June & was accepted to 4 or 5 universities. (We found several ideas on the “Western 3.0” thread.) He still hasn’t heard back from some CA schools, but he’s thrilled to be going to NAU (Northern AZ University) in Flagstaff. It has everything he wants. It’s a good fit for where he is at. He’ll be graduating hs with likely 3.0-3.3. I hope his maturity and focus holds as he goes off to college. I think it will since the choice was his and he’s going where he wants to go. A year ago, I’d never even heard of this school…</p>
<p>Doame: That’s great news that your S has already decided where he wants to go and had some pretty good choices. I too have depended a lot on this forum to keep up my spirits when disheartened and to widen his options. It helps too to be able cheer others on!</p>
<p>I’ll ask this here because I don’t know where else to ask—any upper midwest colleges that “accept everyone”? Family situation–I have 2 nieces that need to go to college but college in the sense that they need to go to gain skills they didn’t get in high school, not for a lack of smarts but a lack of opportunity. They need to have a dorm available otherwise a community college would work. Apartment living, at least at first is not an option. Any specific recommendations you may know of?</p>
<p>The geography might be a bit off but Cottey College in Missouri is a 2 year, all female residential college. Admmissions looks for 2.6 GPA and at least a 21 on the ACT or 950 on SAT.</p>
<p>Rockford College in Illinois is a coed, 4 year school with similar requirements.</p>
<p>reeinaz-those stats might be pushing it even. I know the oldest has not taken any tests, ACT/SAT and I really doubt she could get a 21 even. The other one is still in high school and we will talk to her about possibly staying in school for one more year but it’s a little late in the game to suggest that now if she has her heart set on graduating. I will talk to the school personnel about having her take the ACT but I doubt she is ready to do that. The problem is, the older girl is in her early 20’s and has never really gone to school. The younger girl is in school for the first time this year. They were “homeschooled” before this. My sister didn’t allow them to learn what they needed to learn because she was incapable of teaching them and because “why do they need to learn algebra” attitude. It’s a very sad situation that now we have some ability to help where we didn’t before.</p>
<p>I would suggest UW-Whitewater. They say 20-24 ACT, but I know kids have gotten in with less. We see all kinds of students go there, including non-traditional older students, kids with LD, and also kids who are plenty smart and capable. It manages to serve them all and also have a coherent college feel, a nice campus, lots of activities, sports, arts, etc. Nice enough college town, and pretty close to Madison and Milwaukee.</p>
<p>I think it would be a great nurturing place for someone who is ready to blossom. It also has pretty low COA compared to privates, and I would guess MN residents get a good break on tuition.</p>
<p>Emmy–thanks, I will look into Whitewater. They live in Wisconsin so that is even better for costs. They have no money, paying for college isn’t really going to be an issue because they will qualify for full financial aid. Living off campus would be an issue because they have no money and need to be in dorms with meal plans, etc. The oldest most certainly would qualify for independent status even at age 23, not sure how they would treat the 18 year old but even so, they have no money.</p>
<p>I hope they like Whitewater. It has very nice dorms, including living/learning communities for the kids who are “refining” (ahem) their general education credits. They also have apartment-style dorm living, which might appeal to the older sister. I believe their FA is pretty good (but we’re talking instate cost, already). They are well-known for lots of accommodations; they are the school of choice for kids with physical disabilities in WI, for example - with a kick-butt wheelchair basketball team.</p>
<p>I hope that works out, I’ve learned that many schools are unable or unwilling to meet full need. If the college is less than Pell + Stafford loans ($11K or so if they have a 0 EFC), then that might work. But after that it gets dicey, especially with state schools, at least in Ohio. Many just expect parents to pay the gap or take out loans of their own.</p>
<p>If not being able to pay anything is a major factor, I’d look carefully at what schools have come up with in the past, at a site like this one:</p>
<p>Well, I hope UW-Whitewater works for them … for in-state, tuition + R&B is about $12K. Sometimes on these threads we forget just how much LESS public schools cost. On the other hand, it’s important to remember that some private schools have wonderful merit aid - my D2 has a scholarship at a private university that brought her COA below the cost of the public U she was also considering.</p>
<p>Please let us know what these girls figure out! Now I’m very curious how things will go for them. Best wishes!</p>
<p>^^ I wish we lived in WI! In OH the cheapest state school including R&B is around $15K and most have in-state tuition of $10K or even $20K, plus R&B of $8-11K.</p>
