My son was very fortunate to be accepted to several good universities, including BU, BC, and Brandeis. However we would have to pay full price for BU and BC, and almost full price for Brandeis (<$10,000 scholarship/year). Lewis and Clark College, on the other hand, was very generous to offer a good financial aid package. We are struggling to make a decision between BU/BC/Brandeis and L&C College. Here are somethings to consider:
My son does not intend to go to graduate schools. He will be majoring in a science major.
He is not the most academically focused and likes to socialize.
Our family's annual income is around $80,000 and we live in one of the mountain west states.
To make things more complicated, he was also accepted to Wesleyan University with a better offer than that of Brandeis. We are planning to visit these schools in the coming weeks.
BU and BC cost about what your annual income is. How do you plan to pay for it? If all loans, first, I don’t know that you’d be able to get approved for that much. And it would totally NOT be worth it.
If your income is 80K, how can you afford full price at any of these schools? Did you not apply for financial aid? Do you have savings to cover tuition or a trust or something?
I would not let your son take out more than the federal loan limits. I would not cosign for larger loans for an undergrad degree.
My D2 is a proud graduate of L&C. She received a fantastic education (majoring in Math with two minors). The top Bio grad her year went on to a direct PhD at UC Berkeley.
L&C a great school. But my question is like those upthread: how are you planning to pay for the three B schools? Do you have savings designated for your son’s college? Do you have grandparents who are going to pay a big chunk of it? If that is the case, your son is going to be of the age where he can decide where to use those funds for college. But if it involves loans, digging into your retirement funds, refinancing the house, etc etc, I cannot see how that is a good idea.
Your son has a great school as a choice. Assuming he is living there too. So it’s not like he has to go to a stay at home part time local school vs going away to college. That’s a reality many families face when the numbers finally are on the table.
Your son’s NESCAC option is the only school from those listed with an admission yield above 30%. I honestly think this says something about Wesleyan’s overall quality. Of the colleges at which it might be fairly expensive for your son to attend, I’d recommend he strongly consider Wesleyan.
Can you even cover the non-tuition costs at Lewis and Clark? Start with that. The goal you and your kid should be aiming for is to finish college with no debt. Failing that, the debt should be no more than the standard federal student loans.
Annual income is just one of the factors that many schools consider need-based grants. They usually consider a typical saving of $100,000 to $200,000 for a family. We are quite frugal and have saved up more than that in the past. So in other words, we are able to afford the expense with our savings and some loans, but it is really hard to pass this good offer from L&C.
Right now your son is not considering graduate school. However, as a science major, at least for many science degrees he might end up wanting one down the road. Both of my science major daughters are currently expecting that a bachelor’s degree is not the last degree that they will need or want.
How long did it take you to build up your savings? To me it does not seem to be worth it to blow out more than a decade of savings to attend a very expensive good university when you have a much more affordable very good LAC as an option.
I currently have a daughter at a relatively small school. I am becoming a big fan. She is getting a great education, has found a very good internship for the summer, and is IMHO being well prepared for whatever comes after graduation. Having smaller classes is a big win in many ways.
Why do you mention the Wesleyan offer as an afterthought? To me it sounds like this should be a question of L&C vs. Wesleyan. I would certainly not full-pay for BU or BC, especially for a student who’s not expected to be singleminded about wringing the maximum value out of his academics. (I’m a BU grad myself, and I cross-registered for some BC classes while there - both fine schools, but not worth full-pay over your other options IMHO.) Between Brandeis and Wesleyan, I would take the “better offer” at Wesleyan unless there were some very specific reason to prefer Brandeis. So to me, Wesleyan emerges as the challenger to L&C.
What kind of science major interests your son? Since he doesn’t want grad school, what programs are available to him at an undergrad level at each school - is there a difference in his ability to acquire a marketable skill-set, or in the availability of internships?
To offer one example of a distinction between the two, I would say that Wesleyan is stronger in computer-related fields, and also offers more minor and certificate options in these fields than L&C does. For a student seeking employment with a science BA/BS, an enhancement like Wesleyan’s Data Analysis minor or its Informatics and Modeling certificate could really help him to stand out in the vast sea of former-premeds and others with general undergrad science degrees. Would he take advantage of those options, or would that really not be his kind of thing?
Does he have any strong ideas about where he’d like to end up working after college? L&C, Brandeis, and Wesleyan are all more likely to connect him with job opportunities in their own region than on the other coast. Of the three, Wesleyan has the most geographically diverse student population and likely the broadest geographic reach in terms of alumni network. (Just based on a quick search, in College Factual’s ranking of geographic diversity, Wesleyan is #37; Lewis & Clark is #60, and Brandeis is #92).
What is the cost difference between L&C and Wesleyan?
What’s Wesleyan’s cost? It’s your strongest choice and the most prestigious but I assume it’s quite costly.
I wouldn’t consider BU or BC full pay in any case when you have Wesleyan and L&C!
Lewis and Clark is a strong LAC overall, especially well-known for Science.
Really the choice is Wesleyan v. L&C.
BC meets full need but it’s formula considers full equity. Bu doesn’t meet need.
Don’t forget tuition rises at BU and BC at least 3% per year, plus other expenses (books, game tickets and other indirect fees) and let’s not forget social life… I went to BU for a visit over thanksgiving was shocked how Boston is expensive compared to when I went to BU
I would usually reply with a mild recommendation to this kind of question, but in this case it seems the answer pretty clear - Lewis and Clark! Fabulous school, great price, and not punishing you for being good savers. What’s not to like?
No, I think it says something about Wesleyan’s heavy use of binding Early Decision.
Early Decision Admits as Percentage of Freshman Class
50.6% Wesleyan (down from 58% in 2017-18)
37.2% Brandeis
35.1% Boston U
6.9% Lewis & Clark
0% Boston College
Lewis & Clark is a great school in a cool city. What’s not to like? If he’s interested in the life sciences, I calculated research expenditures in the life sciences from 2006 to 2015, and only four LACs with undergraduate-only science programs spent more on biological research than L&C (Bowdoin, Haverford, Amherst, and Reed).
Thank you all for your thoughtful inputs and it really helped us! @“Erin’s Dad” Your daughter is amazing. Apparently L&C gave her a wonderful education. @aquapt We will take a more serious look at Wesleyan.
“Undergraduate only” being the operative phrase here. Wesleyan has about 100 doctoral students, about half of which are in the life sciences. Between 2006 and 2015, Wesleyan averaged $3,000,000.00 a year in life sciences expenditures.