<p>When our college freshman got his acceptances, he had a wide array of choices and costs. If he stayed at home and commuted he could go for free to a private school. He got a very nice scholarship to a local private. If he went away to a state school, we could afford to pay his whole way there as we did for his brother. No loans for anyone. The full price privates that we knew would be long shot in terms of merit money, went off the table immediately as they just weren’t doable without putting us in a bad place, where we already are and working our way out of as we paid full price for a private for our first son. </p>
<p>Some nice surprises too when you apply to a varied hand. A surprise merit award put a private that he was sure would be off the table into the running.</p>
<p>I think the young lady in the article has her bases covered well. She did select a number of schools that are low cost and commuter as well as some schools that might come up with merit money. Surprising that she was not accepted to the Baruch program. It looks like a lot more kids are going for the low cost, high quality of this commuter option.</p>