Affording Olin?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Olin College
1

<p>As incredible and unique as Olin sounds, I am starting to think we shouldn't even visit and get our S14's hopes up because I don't see how we can afford it.</p>

<p>Our FAFSA EFC is on the order of 35K. We can afford/are willing to pay about 20K per kid per year. </p>

<p>Olin's COA is over 60K (and only includes 300/year for books -- is that anywhere near realistic for engineers?!?) The automatic half-tuition scholarship brings that down to 40K, leaving us 5K of official need. I looked at Olin's net price calculator and it looks like they would meet that with 1500 in grants and 3500 in loans (presumably subsidized staffords). That allows him the option of taking out another 2K of unsub stafford loans to use toward EFC. They did not include any federal w/s (even when I put in 2 in college, for the one year we'll have overlap and our EFC per child will be much less) so I assume that they don't have FWS jobs on campus. Are there regular jobs available on campus in sufficient number that those who want/need jobs can get them?</p>

<p>I imagine he can make ~2.5K in the summer (perhaps more once he's been in school and can qualify for more lucrative internships?) and ~1K during the school year, and and can contribute ~1K his first year from savings, to be replaced by better summer earnings thereafter.</p>

<p>so that leaves us at:
Parent contribution from all sources: 20K
Student contribution from income and savings: 4.5K</p>

<h2>Student contribution from unsub staffords: 2K</h2>

<p>Available funds to go toward EFC: 26.5K
leaving a gap of 8.5K</p>

<p>Is there something I'm missing here, or is this simply a case of a school we can't afford and should move on from? We might be able to go up a bit from the 20K mark, but not as far as 28.5 for sure. It looks like they estimate low on the unbilled charges ($300 for books and supplies, $1500 for travel and incidentals) so not much, if anything, to be saved there. First year COA includes 2500 for laptop purchase that presumably won't be repeated, but we figure tuition increases will more than compensate.</p>

2

<p>A few thoughts:</p>

<p>-From everything I hear, the book expenses really are that cheap. Lots of profs seem to provide their own materials, texts are available at the library, etc. I talked to a senior who estimated she had only spent about $600 on books the entire time she was there. Kind of amazing, but it seems to be a byproduct of the Olin curriculum.</p>

<p>-Travel shouldn’t be a big hit for you if your username is an accurate reflection of your locale.</p>

<p>-You’re right that the laptop expense is a one-shot deal. I think Olin makes itself look more expensive than they need to by including it in the annual cost.</p>

<p>-There are some fees in the total cost estimate that you may well not need to pay, such at the ~$950 for health insurance if you currently have a family health plan and intend to keep it. We found that doing an apples-to-apples comparison of only tuition+room+board (+laptop/4), Olin is right in line with other top private schools (that is to say, extremely costly :eek:).</p>

<p>-Schools that provide enough total aid to bring you closer to your desired $26.5K of family contribution may do so with more loans, so that’s something to watch. You know for sure that $20K of the total cost of Olin attendance is coming in the form of a grant.</p>

<p>-Talented kids who make the effort to pursue a lot of outside scholarship money can make some significant headway in defraying the cost of attendance, but it does take time and perhaps a bit of luck.</p>

<p>-Are you planning to limit your search to places where the total out-of-pocket expenses are < $26.5K after merit and need-based aid? That’s a perfectly reasonable position, but does rule out lots of private schools, and many public ones, not just Olin (sorry, that’s probably stating the obvious).</p>

<p>Anyway, I feel your pain. Many colleges and universities are extremely expensive these days, and many a family has stared in disbelief at the mystical EFC number that emerges from their fafsa form. Best of luck with your search and your calculations.</p>

3

<p>We’re on our second kid, so I’m not in shock over the whole thing anymore, just trying to work out the details. And yes, in general we’re limiting our search to schools where the total out of pocket is (or at least could be – often you don’t really know until you get the acceptance package, of course) under 25K. Of course it rules out a lot of schools, but there are plenty of schools (mainly private) where a student can get merit aid to get into that range. One can’t apply to every school in the country anyhow, so you need to start ruling them out for one reason or another to hone it down to a manageable list. </p>

<p>But… Olin is “different” and we had originally set our sights on it some time ago when tuition was free. It’s feeling harder to let go of than any other random dime-a-dozen private school that costs too much.</p>

<p>With a 35K EFC, the majority of schools that are going to bring us close to our desired 25K range are schools that offer significant merit (in which case it doesn’t involve any loans). There are also the super-reach schools that offer more generous need-based aid, and yes, those do involve more loans. </p>

<p>Is it typical for Olin students to be able to get well-paid internships after their freshman year?</p>

<p>Is there work available for students on campus? </p>

<p>Can students save a substantial amount after first year by living off-campus? Is this something a lot of students do?</p>

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<p>I thought this was true before we started the process with S1, but I no longer think this is really so. Particularly not for someone who is not in any way under-represented in his field of interest.</p>

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<p>I know at least one Olin family that had good results with a relentless pursuit of scholarships, but I can’t speak from personal experience. I had been under the impression, like you, that it’s tough to move the dial much with that route, but some apparently do.</p>

<p>As far as merit money, I guess my view has been colored by the schools we happened to focus on, where those that offered any merit money at all didn’t generally supply it in great quantity (typically less than $20K, which made them no better on that front than Olin). But the universe of colleges extends far wider than the schools we considered, of course. Again, hope things work out well for you and your son, one way or the other.</p>

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<p>mathmomvt - Many families have been down your path of discovery, after being hooked in the free tuition days. But you are fairly early in the cycle and have time to ponder the options and tailor your list. The kids that get accepted at Olin have a great shot at merit $ elsewhere. </p>

<p>Originally we had no full-pay colleges on “the list”. My MIT grad friend talked me into letting DS apply to keep the options open. Frankly I was relieved when DS’s MIT interest waned after a Feb visit (it paled compared to CW). If he had been accepted at MIT and loved it… walking away would have been painful. So I understand your concern about adding Olin if unaffordable.</p>

<p>There are some big scholarships out there. But the odds of getting them are slim. And some don’t get announced until after the May 1 decision date.</p>

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<p>The big “outside scholarships” are almost universally looking for “leadership” and “community service” which are only so-so for my kid. He’s not going to win a big scholarship where those are a big component. Of course for the same reason, he might not get into a school like Olin that is super-competitive and looks for many of the same things. </p>

<p>We are lucky that MIT seems to compute the family contribution in a somewhat more advantageous way for our family (based on their NPC a while back) so if one of my boys were to happen to get in there, it would probably be doable if he were willing to take loans. We have a kid a Cornell on similar need-based aid that computes a lower family contribution for us than our FAFSA EFC. They do package in his federal loans plus some of their own for a total of $7500/year, so his loans are not available toward the family contribution, but because it is less than our FAFSA EFC by a fair bit, it’s doable (though only barely).</p>

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<p>We’ve asked about books, also. We’re told that the professors announce the books the first day of class. There’s no bookstore on campus. Kids order the books they need, often from Amazon. Books are also on reserve in the library.</p>

<p>The computer’s a 1 time expense and the payment is split into 2 parts – fall and spring of freshman year.</p>

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<p>I’m curious, is the student a white or Asian male? There is certainly money out there for women in engineering, and for URMs, but my impression after looking pretty hard for S1 is that they just aren’t out there without that “under-represented” piece (at least nationally). What’s available locally may depend on how affluent the local area the student comes from is.</p>

10

<p>Hopefully someone can provide more up to date numbers for some of this since I graduated in 2006. Olin paid $8/hr for freshmen, $8.50/hr for sophomores, $9/hr for juniors and $9.50/hr for seniors. I worked in the library my junior/senior years about 10 hours per week. It’s hard to do more than that with all your homework. You really wouldn’t want to work on campus freshman year if you can help it. It’s just too much. </p>

<p>I can’t remember for sure but I think this is how my internships went:
Summer after Partner year - $8/hr working for city engineers
Summer after Freshman year - $14/hr working for State Farm Insurance
Summer after Sophomore year - $4000 lump sum + housing working for heart surgeon
Summer after Junior year - $18/hr + Housing for Lockheed Martin
Summer after Senior year - $20/hr + Housing for Boeing</p>

<p>It should be easier to get internships now because more companies have actually heard of Olin and want to hire Olin students.</p>

<p>Back then, I had full tution + housing. My parents couldn’t help even though my FAFSA said they could. Through internships and on campus jobs I was able to pay for my laptop, books (which were a lot more money back then because every class was being taught for the first time and I’m not sure amazon existed…I think I paid $200-600 per semester), food, spending money.</p>

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<p>joyjoy thanks for the data points. What is “Partner Year”?</p>

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<p>2001-2002 30 students worked with the 15 or so profs to design the curriculum and test out courses. Our 2nd year we were freshman along with 45 new students. Here’s a bit I found describing it.</p>

<p>"Then, since these new methods and materials were untried, a special year of testing was undertaken (the Olin Partner Year) in which a group of 30 recent high school graduates (the Olin Partners) were recruited nationally to spend the 2001-02 academic year as partners with the faculty in testing the assumptions behind the new pedagogy and helping develop and refine the learning materials and approaches. The Olin Partners consisted of 15 boys and 15 girls and they lived in temporary modular housing units on the soccer field while the campus was under construction.</p>

<p>During the Olin Partner Year, many unusual tests were performed. For example, we tested the hypothesis that young engineering students need about two years of preparation in calculus and physics before they are able to undertake the design and construction of a significant engineering device or system. In this experiment, we assigned five recent high school graduates—none of whom had any college courses—the task of designing and building a pulse oximeter, with a time limit of five weeks. In this exercise, the students were first referred to patent literature in the library for a basic schematic diagram and explanation of the purpose and function of the device. They were told that various faculty members may provide advice if asked and otherwise were expected to chart their own course to building the device. The five week time limit was envisioned as providing a convenient reason to end the experiment in the event that the students failed to complete the task, before a post-mortem could be performed.</p>

<p>However, we were surprised to find that the students did not fail as expected, but instead built a functioning device that performed well against a hospital version of the device brought in for calibration at the end of the experiment. We learned two things from this experiment. First, students are indeed capable of completing independent projects of this type with no formal preparation at all in science or math. However, we also observed that the pedagogical effects of this project on the students appeared to be profound. They experienced a sense of exhilaration at exceeding their own expectations and building a device that performed well. This “can do attitude” appears to be an important side effect of the pedagogy of unstructured design projects. It resulted in strong motivation and commitment to completing the educational program and becoming an engineer. From this experiment we developed the sense that, in general, (1) we may be significantly under-estimating the ability of students to learn independently, and (2) this type of student engagement can result in significant changes in attitudes, behaviors, and motivations which are an important outcome in themselves."
<a href=“http://www.olin.edu/about_olin/pdfs/Union%20College_From%20the%20Group%20Up.pdf[/url]”>http://www.olin.edu/about_olin/pdfs/Union%20College_From%20the%20Group%20Up.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>joyjoy that sounds like an incredible year!</p>

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<p>I think the common data set shows 98% of students live on campus.
Note that it’s hard to economize on room and board. There’s only one meal plan. Freshmen have no choice on dorm.</p>

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<p>That’s a shame because room & board is well above average at Olin.</p>

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<p>This thread is producing thorough and timely discussion of what is an immense consideration for many students and families as they approach the college search process. And unfortunately, the complexities of need-based financial aid in our nation don’t make such considerations any easier.</p>

<p>I encourage those of you with questions or concerns about being able to afford attending Olin to contact our Financial Aid Office. You can reach our Director, Jean Ricker, at <a href=“mailto:Jean.Ricker@olin.edu”>Jean.Ricker@olin.edu</a> or 781.292.2343.</p>

<p>And just to clarify, Olin does require all students to live on campus while in attendance at Olin. The residential experience is vital to the collaborative learning environment Olin offers.</p>

<p>Hope that helps!</p>

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<p>I don’t suppose there’s any chance that Olin will be moving back to full tuition scholarships, or even 3/4 tuition, anytime soon?</p>

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<p>Unfortunately not. It’s a common topic of discussion but a return to a full-tuition scholarship is not likely to happen in a time-frame that will impact your son.</p>

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<p>Thanks for the reply. I had assumed as much, unfortunately.</p>

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<p>mathmomvt - You’ve been wise to investigate financial aspects early. Each spring the CC threads include tales of woe from families that did not do so. Good luck as you sort through options.</p>