<p>@northwesty: “Isn’t it 30% full payors? 1609 students, minus 600 who had need and got something, minus 596 who had no need but got something, minus 37 athletic scholarships. So 486 full payors out of 1609?”</p>
<p>1609-600-596-37=376
376/1609=23%</p>
<p>(Actually I use the number 605 in H2d instead of 600 in H2e, for it makes more sense; however, the minute difference does not affect the percentage of full-pay students.)</p>
<p>“The fanciest schools do zero merit aid and all need based aid. If you are reasonably poor and very smart, Duke is cheaper than community college. If you are middle income-ish, Duke is very expensive. So Vandy (a bit lower down the ladder) tries to steal full pay Duke admits by offering some merit deals. And Tulane tries to steal Vandy admits by offering some merit deals. And so on and so on.”</p>
<p>Well-said! This is the game of college admission. </p>
<p>The way we’ve been managing it is telling DS as we visit these “lovely expensive” schools, is that if he does not get at least half the cost covered by merit scholarships, it’s not going to happen. PERIOD.</p>
<p>@northwesty: “Kids can still pay for college with a summer job. If you have a summer job robbing banks…”</p>
<p>Great idea! I will suggest to S. If he is successful, I don’t have to pay full price. And if he goes to jail, I don’t have to pay at all. Why didn’t I think of this?</p>
<p>OP, am crossing my fingers for you that as your other kids go to college, your EFC goes down. Does your next child enter college while your first is still an undergrad?</p>
<p>We are all doing our best to help our kids get into great schools that they love…it is so crazy.</p>
<p>One good thing to focus on is how much you learn from the first time around. Hopefully the learning curve is the steepest on the first round and subsequent college searches are at least more informed, if not easier.</p>
I would say both the vast majority of the time, unless your kids are very different academically. Applying to the most selective schools is a different world than applying to less competitive schools. But no question you learn a lot the first time around, especially as concerns the FA aspect of the game.</p>
<p>I would like to chime in: OP, you know what, my Son has had the financial help from Higgs and Boson… opppps not really but by doing research and the last research is now with Low Temperature Condensed Matter Physics . This REU (Research Experience in Undergraduate) pays $4K. and as y’all know that Tulane is a member of AAU and in fact the Dean of Engineering now is the chairman or head of AAU. So, for OP, if your Son is majoring in Science and Engineering, he certainly can get money by doing research. I believe other majors also have their own kind of REU…Check it out with his advisor or talk to anyone in his major dept.</p>
<p>@Kidsarefun - Higgs and Boson, heh, heh. Clever, but I don’t think we are talking Godly financial help here. For those of you that don’t keep up with science, the Higg’s Boson, also sometimes called the God Particle, has been theorized for many years as the quantum level entity that gives matter mass, and proving its existence is considered a critical piece of supporting the most accepted model of physics as we currently understand it. It was recently confirmed (at least I think it is now official) from experiments done at the Large Hadron Collider in Europe. I am sure more replications are hoped for to really cement the findings.</p>
<p>Anyway, that is a nice idea regarding the REU or something similar. Every little bit helps, although it is sad that $4,000 seems like a “little bit”. Also, just a small correction. While Tulane is indeed one of approximately 60 members of the AAU, it was Scott Cowen, Tulane’s president until just a few weeks ago when he retired from the position, that was just the president of the AAU as well. I think he is now the immediate past president. Dean Altiero is currently serving as president of the American Society for Engineering Education, the ASEE. Here is the link from when he was president-elect. <a href=“http://tulane.edu/news/releases/pr04102013.cfm”>http://tulane.edu/news/releases/pr04102013.cfm</a></p>
<p>Getting a clue - Your daughter sounds like she’s in the perfect position! A strong but not phenomenal GPA, which will have her applying to schools maybe in the 40-80 USN range. But then, the kicker - a HUGE SAT. You get accepted on your grades/rigor - you get the merit aid on your test scores. To most families, that is critical.
Plus, I really like how she is comfortable with herself, and not just worried about a prestige name.</p>