accepted ed - now what?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
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<p>There are tons of discussions on CC about ED. Basically it nets out to being a bad choice if you want to compare different offers. (This gets repeated a lot, in case it helps people CC it next year.) </p>

<p>But lots of folks don’t find CC advise until later in the game. They were told of the option to opt out if ED package is unaffordable. But they were not warned of the conundrum of now knowing whether all packages will be dismal. So let’s do what we can to help these potential RPI parents sort through the decisions. </p>

<p>Idea1 - Check with RPI to find out what the package will be in future years with another student in college. Different colleges factor that differently. </p>

<p>Idea2 - Check with RPI to find out what the package will be in future years as your savings get depleted. The formulas are heavily weighted on income, so not sure if it will matter much. </p>

<p>Idea3 - Check with RPI to find out how quick the turnaround would be if a parent becomes unemployed (ie is there a safetynet, w/o waiting for another fafsa/css cycle). And if you find an answer, please post it here :wink: </p>

<p>Idea4 - Check with RPI about availability summer internships in your neighborhood. They might pay big bucks. </p>

<p>Idea5- Check with the other colleges … unless they are EA/ED, you might not hear til March. But maybe they could give generalized “not more than x” info that would help you.</p>

<p>GOOD LUCK</p>

22

<p>Idea6 (not so appealing, I know) - Look into your community college options, so you can have financial aid for years with overlapping sibling college. </p>

<p>My husband attended Hudson Valley CC before attending Clarkson. He took some RPI classes while at Hudson Valley too. He feels HV had very strong classes, and it had arrangements with other colleges for transfer programs. I was lucky enough to attend all 4 years at Clarkson (although that was mostly due to loophole of divorcing parents), and I liked that experience of 4 years at the same school very much. I’m just adding this idea on the chance it helps somebody this year or next trying to plan for the huge expenses of multiple kids in college. Obviously you’ll want to do careful research/planning if you go this route so that no credits are lost at Transfer.</p>