<p>The financial aid calculators say that we can afford 45K per college year but with 6 kids ages 7-16, I can not imagine paying that much and many LAC cost even more these days. I sat in on a Middlebury College session today and thought my d would probably love being there but she could also study international relations at a state school with a flagship language program and get a huge merit scholarship. Are LAC really worth the $$$$? If there is a good program of study, does the learning environment really matter that much?</p>
<p>My DD went to financial safety state college. We do not regret the decision. Even with being unemployed a few months this did not interrupt a thing and DD can still do a study abroad next year or this summer. Never could have happened otherwise.</p>
<p>I’m in a very similar situation!
I love Smith college, but UAlabama is offering full tuition.
I honestly don’t think one education will be better than the other, but you have to make sure that your D can thrive in a bigger environment(i can)…if she can, i really don’t see LACs as worth so much more money</p>
<p>No regret at all. My son is happy at where he is and doing well.</p>
<p>Both of my sons are at their financial safeties. They haven’t regretted it at all, and we’re very happy, too. :)</p>
<p>Both are at The University of Alabama. DS1 got the National Merit Scholarship, and DS2 got the Presidential scholarship PLUS the Engineering scholarship. They’re both in the Honors College. DS1 is also in Computer-Based Honors. </p>
<p>I think they’re getting the best of both worlds - the benefits of a big college (and all they can offer), with the benefits of an honors college (small college feel within a big college). </p>
<p>I think another benefit to a larger college is this: Often more than one prof is teaching the same class. Therefore if you don’t “like” a particular prof, you can often avoid taking his/her class. That is often impossible to do at a small college. Plus, larger colleges can offer a wider range of majors and specializations. Larger colleges typically can offer a greater variety of on-campus eating venues.</p>
<p>I know that female students sometimes complain that “mean girl” stuff can still go on at smaller colleges (almost like an extension of high school). I guess these girls have a certain power at a small school that they can’t/won’t have at a larger school. So, some girls want to avoid that nonsense. </p>
<p>My sons are having a great time and doing very well academically. Today, DS1 (who has senior standing now) got an invitation for Phi Beta Kappa :)</p>
<p>I am confident that both boys are getting a very good education. DS1 will either go on to grad school or law school. DS2 will go to med school.</p>
<p>That said, I do think the “learning environment” does count for something. I wouldn’t want my kids to go away to a financial safety only to find out that it’s a “commuter school” with little campus life. I like that my kids are getting the full “campus experience” of academics and campus life.</p>
<p>The whole point of a financial safety or any safety is that it’s a place where you would be happy if you had to go there for practical reasons. If you’re choosing a school you don’t really like for a safety school, you are setting yourself up for trouble</p>
<p>A student is supposed to end up at a financial safety as a last resort, so regret shouldn’t be a factor. Most students end up quite happy wherever they attend.</p>
<p>I’m a middle aged guy and I went to a state school which was a financial safety. Things worked out fine in the long run. I went to an excellent grad school and I’ve had a great career. And my kids will have plenty of money to go anywhere they can get in with no need based aid. </p>
<p>Still, I think there was a lot of luck involved in my career and I didn’t get the same education that I would have received if I had gone to a better school. If I had to do it over again I’d say I’d risk the career breaks and go for the better education.</p>
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<p>I agree; students should like their financial safeties… :)</p>
<p>If money is an issue for a family, I think it’s a good idea for a student to have more than one financial safety and this is why…</p>
<p>1) A financial safety that is “liked” in the fall may become “disliked” in the spring (the same happens with top choices - we’ve heard it here on CC in the past). So, it’s nice to have 2 or 3 financial safeties.</p>
<p>2) If all of your top choices are not feasible (either because of rejections or because of cost), then a student still has some choices left. :)</p>
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<p>the above is why I don’t think a student should have just one financial safety (if money is an issue). Any child that has to give up his top choices and is only left with one safety is going to feel “railroaded” into his safety - even if it was a desirable school to the student at one time.</p>
<p>A girl at my son’s high school applied to several reaches (all expensive) and one financial safety. She wasn’t accepted to a few of her reaches, and the few she was accepted to were unaffordable. She was left with her one lonely financial safety - no choice. She kept sadly referring to it as the “consolation prize”. If she had had 2 or 3 financial safeties, I think she would have felt less powerless at that point.</p>
<p>Even though I wrote above that my kids are at their financial safety school. Alabama was not their only financial safety school. They each had at least 3.</p>
<p>My D ended up at her financial safety, a school she originally thought would be too big (U Buffalo), and is very happy with the school and her choice. It was not a “last resort” situation, but an honest evaluation of the pros and cons of each of 7 schools, their programs, fit, and of course, costs. </p>
<p>She’s extending the time she thought she would spend there by a year to take other courses of interest and it’s not a problem at all. With scholarships, she can basically do four years there for the same net cost as one year at her “dream school”. She thought she was a small school type but found that a big school offers so many activities and opportunities that it’s hard to imagine outgrowing the school, a complaint that I have heard from upperclassmen at small LAC’s. We found that having her sign up for a LLC provided a nice, small living atmosphere and helped with the transition to college.</p>
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<p>Exactly the reason we have required son to apply to 3 in-state schools (by virtue of merit money he qualifies for in state, all three would be financial safeties and he’s assured of getting in).</p>
<p>We can afford to send him to his reach and match schools, so it’s not so much that money is an issue but it made sense to me to leave the door open with a few financial safeties. Especially, since they are schools a number of his classmates are likely to attend. Honestly, at this age, some kids will change their minds over and over again before settling on ‘the’ school. I can see my son doing that. I’ve seen many students adamant they weren’t interested in going to the financial safety their parents required them to apply to, only to change their mind in the spring and end up loving the safety school. Why not leave yourself some room for choice?</p>
<p>we didn’t really plan for a financial safety and sent our son full pay to a top ten college of his dreams…we only have two children. During the recession we had to borrow on our home equity to finish and we were much more cautious next round for second son who happily accepted a merit scholarship at a very fine college that was not initially his first choice. (We were graduates of a good liberal arts college and leaned towards the merits of small classes, small labs, and strong access to faculty offered in LACs…and we also toured Middlebury and some of its peers.)</p>
<p>Two mistakes made re paying full freight: failing to recognize that the home equity is a bank plan would tank in a major recession (housing values falling here) and failing to factor in the costs of graduate school education…which are much much steeper than in our era. Our flagship public college has many grad school tracks that would require both our FAFSAs until our children are 28 (!! huge surprise to us) and our contributions because they are priced at private school rates. We were too caught up in undergrad to really think about this…and we didn’t take money from parents for grad school. But you have to think about the debt load on recent grads from professional schools and today’s job poor market. Not everyone can afford to graduate from say a law school now in 150 grand in debt. This is not an issue so much if your son or daughter is a graduate of a hard core science track who might land a graduate position in a science professional grad school.<br>
We have excellent state colleges (Virginia) and went private. I won’t say we regret it yet because son number one had a world class experience at Duke…but we do caution you to consider state honors programs plus the pursuit of merit for some or all of your children if they also have professional education post undergrad in mind.</p>
<p>A financial safety can mean different things to different families. In our state many students call UConn their financial safety, others Central CT, a cheaper state school (but not ranked as well) For some it is a private school where they have much higher stats and a great scholarship. For some community college and then a private school. My son was happy, needing a smaller college to fit his learning style, he got an initial scholarship that was cheaper than our state school. But he would have gone and made the best of it, if he had to go.
I have talked to many people the last few months and they all have different experiences. Some HATED the intellecutal environment at their safety and wished they had more motivated students. Others found a nice group and had excellent professors and opportunities and they weren’t competing with a large pool. Busniess majors and students that knew they were going to grad school seemed to tolerate and compensate the most. I read about one female student at a lower tier Catholic college that got 3/4 tuiton paid and spent a year at Oxford, included in her merit aid…she was very happy with her choice. An MRI specialist told me 2 years at a community college and 2 years at a top 20 college had him save thousands and gave him an opportunity to buy a home earlier.
You will find many scenerios in outcomes, but some of it is luck, some where you live, and a lot of it is attitude.</p>
<p>A financial safety can mean different things to different families. In our state many students call UConn their financial safety, others Central CT, a cheaper state school (but not ranked as well) … I read about one female student at a lower tier Catholic college that got 3/4 tuiton paid and spent a year at Oxford, included in her merit aid…she was very happy with her choice. </p>
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<p>Just thought of another reason to have more than one financial safety. :)</p>
<p>Typically, a student’s financial safety is his nearby state school. Naturally, that is also the financial safety of his classmates. Many kids don’t want to go the school that “everyone else” is going to. So, again, by having 2-3 financial safeties, a student still will have a choice if his top choices don’t work out.</p>
<p>and…Faline is right…there is still graduate school, law school, med school, etc to consider now that parents’ income is being considered for some of those, too. </p>
<p>I copied the mention of the student “at a lower tier Catholic college that got 3/4 tuiton paid and spent a year at Oxford, included in her merit aid,” for this reason… Once kids are at college, if the parents are so financially stretched to cover college costs or their EFC, what happens when the student wants to do a “study abroad” (which many, many students are doing these days)? </p>
<p>Choosing a financial safety often gives families that freedom to say, “Yes, you can spend a semester in Rome,” because your college costs aren’t breaking the bank. :)</p>
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<p>We’ve told son that we would like him to go to graduate school and we would be in a better position to pay for that if he keeps his undergraduate costs down. If we have to pay $200,000 for undergrad we would be much less likely to pay for grad school. Got to draw the line somewhere.</p>
<p>He’s beginning to see the wisdom in this as many of his friend’s parents are saying the same thing. If he gets into his ‘dream’ school and still feels strongly about going there, we would happily pay the $50,000 yr but if he doesn’t get accepted, then we would like him to consider one of the less expensive options (which will hopefully include some merit aid offers).</p>
<p>You really do need to plan this out for the long haul. It’s not only about undergrad. Is your child likely to go to grad school, law school, med school? If so, are you going to pay for it or require your child to take out loans? If, like us, your goal is for your child to graduate without any loans, then you and your child have to carefully weigh the options. Many times people decide the high priced, ‘name-brand’ school isn’t worth the cost.</p>
<p>I went to my financial safety. Hated it, transferred after 2 years. I do regret it. However even still I wouldn’t go to a college I wouldn’t be able to afford (parents don’t pay for college).</p>
<p>With 6 kids spread out over 10 years I would definitely go for the financial safety and as some have suggested, have more than one in mind. I’d rather guarantee a debt free education for all 6. I can’t opine on the regrets part because, after agonizing over the choice for about 2 months, we went with the more expensive choice. We only have 2 children 3 years apart and so far we’ve been fortunate to be able to pay the college expenses from current salary, merit scholarship, pre-paid college plan, and student’s summer savings (63, 27, 7, and 3% respectively). The understanding here is that S’s ultimate educational goal is a PhD and that graduate school would be free (plus stipend). So far, as a second year, he continues on that track. If you want lots of opinions look up related posts by Taxguy.</p>
<p>Mom2Collegekids, I really listened when I heard stories about study abroad. We rarely traveled, always just making ends meet, partly because of choices we made which was fine. I was surprised how including aid for study abroad varied college to college. It didn’t matter what tier or rank, small or large, they all varied. Having the aid follow you just leaves air fare and all the other expenses you would have to pay, but doesn’t put it out of reach. For instance, in 3 trips we made recently, Providence doesn’t let a student use any merit aid or endowed scholarships to go abroad, but Stonehill and Holy Cross did. Some safties like Assumption had students going to Oxford and Italy and some of the business students seemed to get very good jobs at graduation.
What you can tolerate and your personality will make or break certain places but you should keep an open mind.
I also agree about “everyone going there” …one of my daughter’s said the other day, I would like to go to “blank” because I KNOW most of the kids at my school wont be there. Why she feels like that is another thread, but a good point.</p>
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I don’t understand this at all. Could you elaborate?</p>
<p>^^^^I wouldn’t put it that way. Where to go is a decision with multiple shades and for many people the “last resort” might be the best long term resort.</p>