Budget and college choice - please share your thoughts

College Search & Selection
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Hi @Gumbymom , thanks, he has no AP credits. And just to clarify, he is undecided on major, preferring math and science classes, but that could take him who knows where.

@lookingforward , the affordability we’re talking about only includes some merit money at most of the schools (not in state publics, that we’ve seen) and our contribution. I’m looking at total cost of attendance, minus his scholarship money only. And yes, OMG, I am concerned about the summers…it’s end of May, and still no job apps in…then he’s home, and it second week of June, and still no job. Ugh, what would we do. I do not want to be in that position. I think we need a plan for that. And yeah, the dilemma right now, in terms of not even having visited, is about if we should visit. He wants to, and I’m reluctant to visit a school that we can’t make work. One of his friends might go there, and another, a good friend and teammate, might play football there.

I hope this discussion is as helpful to others as it is for me. Again, thank you everyone.

22

Is this hypothetical or what? Has he never had a summer job? He should be able to make close to $3,000 in the summer just at a fast food joint and it should be a condition of his attending the higher priced college. And you should be prepared to require him to transfer if he doesn’t keep up his end of the bargain.

He DEFINITELY needs to be fully employed the summer before college, no waiting around to see if he will or won’t get a work-study job…I would also require him to work at least 5 hours a week work-study either to add to the pot or to cover spending money.

If U of MT is a good price, maybe visit that along with CSU, never know, he might like it too. It’s like a holy grail to many OOS students. I’m thinking it may be too late for Montana State? Or at least if you were hoping for any OOS merit, not sure, check it out, easy drive between Missoula and Bozeman, maybe visit both.

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I think it’s hard to make a decision without visiting. I’m sure there’s a danger you could visit Colorado state and he could fall in love. San Jose seems like it could use another visit now as a prospective student. My son is going to NAU and truthfully just fell in love with flagstaff, the university, everything. If it’s under budget that could definitely be worth a look as well as Montana state if he could still apply. As far as WUE schools go, Boise state is among the least expensive and definitely looks like it would provide that big college experience.

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This increases the risk of needing extra semesters.

a. An undecided student needs to carefully plan his/her frosh year to take courses that will allow going into any of the majors of interest without being delayed. For example, if physics is a possible major, the student needs to take physics for physics majors, not physics for biology majors.

b. Some majors may be impacted and require college GPA or grades higher than 2.0 or C to get into. It is best if his list of majors of interest include some that are not impacted, or at least not heavily impacted. SJSU lists what thresholds are needed for frosh and transfers (see http://www.sjsu.edu/admissions/impaction/impactionresultsfreshmen/index.html and http://www.sjsu.edu/admissions/impaction/impactionresultstransfer/index.html ); these may not directly translate to how difficult current students find it to declare majors, but can give at least a hint of which are more heavily impacted.

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VERY helpful, @ucbalumnus

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I can’t tag you back because of your apostrophe but yes I imagine engineering students in general are the ones who drag those 4-yr graduation rates down.

San Jose has a 57% 6 yr graduation rate and And Colorado State had a 68% 6-yr graduation rate

27

I think the answer is fairly obvious:

If he wants to go to one of the schools that are outside the budget, he will have to take out the $5500 loan and work for the balance. And that might still leave you hanging for travel expenses.

I think some of the under-budget options are decent, especially:

For home-state convenience: SFSU or SJSU. Obviously if UCSB or UCR admit him, those are strong options too.

For the high-country experience: U of Montana or NAU

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Brief update: we had the family meeting, and he decided for himself - after I read to him this thread - that it doesn’t make sense to take on debt for a school that is not a better education!!! He actually said that! The kid can pull it together when you take him out for breakfast and force him to focus. LOL So, he has let go of the idea of CSU. He has now also applied to Montana State, and we’re trying to figure out when we can visit all of the schools so as to not interfere with his Spring Break and Coachella. (Help me. LOL)

Thanks again all. I hope you can see how valuable your posts were.

29

OK, you all, I hope you’re still around and eager to continue helping us. Don’t make me tag you. :slight_smile:

We’ve now visited some schools, received more admissions, and diagnosed some ambivalence. Here’s where we’re at. I would love to hear any thoughts on any of these issues, and any opinions on best choices.

  1. After visiting Reno, despite really liking it, the kid is not feeling the out of state thing unless for a school he really wanted to go to, like U of A and CSU, both of which are out of budget. Son decided we won’t even visit Montana schools.

2)That leaves San Jose State and San Francisco State. Son felt like SFSU was more his style, but that SJSU is a “better” school, and so his preference. He said he wants to put in the housing deposit at both; still can’t decide what he wants to do.

  1. Cal Poly Pomona and UC Riverside are also options, but they are both within 1.5 hours of home. I don’t think those are good options because I fear Son will have one foot in school, and one foot still at home, with home friends, friends still in high school, etc., and not get the more immersive experience of being further away from home. It will also be too easy for him to come home if he’s not connecting easily at school, which will make it harder to connect at school. This seems clear to me, BUT they are both, I think, “the best” schools he got into. Not sure if that overshadows the cons.

4)Son still wonders if he should “just” go to CC, but this alternates with “I’m not going to CC.” (He associates it with kids in his class that can only go there.) He could do the honors program, and get priority review at some good schools when ready to transfer. He’s a good student and could have a shot at UCB, UCLA, CalPoly SLO, or others. I understand there is a downside to transferring, less connection with profs, etc. once at 4 year, etc… Is there any real benefit (besides financially) to going to CC and then going to a “better” school, over going to a supposed less good school for four years?

  1. Bottom line, I think Son is nervous to go away. He says he knows he could do it, but that he is nervous. He really is all over the place in his thoughts. I think he’s kind of hoping to make no decision, which, in effect, though, is a decision. I assume many kids must feel this way. Does a parent urge the kid to choose, and, well, if it doesn’t work out, they can always come home, or does a parent just have them go with the CC choice. In CA public, there are no Sophomore transfers, so a decision to attend CC is a big commitment, and a loss of all the merit scholarships he’s offered (at the OOS and private schools not mentioned), and admissions he already earned with hard work in high school.

[Other acceptances: options: U of Montana, Carrol College, Northern Arizona U, U of Nevada Reno; over budget: U of Arizona, Colorado State U, U of the Pacific, Florida Institute of Technology, Montana State (just got that acceptance, not enough $$);

Reminder, Son is undecided in major, excels at math and science, but may go the business route. Goal: make a lot of money. Interested in grad school if indicated for ultimate major/career choice. FWIW: GPA 3.66 ACT 25, no AP’s, 2 honors classes. Jock, party-ish kid, driven, but not always with right priorities.

Thank you for any thoughts you care to share. This is soooo hard for us.

30

You said U of Montana and Carrol are in budget. Why not visit? It sounds like you’re the one nudging him to go a little further from home anyways

31

UCR is more residential than SFSU, SJSU, or CPP. Percentage of frosh living in the dorms (a proxy for non-commuter students):

73% UCR
56% SJSU
49% SFSU
48% CPP

A resident at a more residential campus may connect with the school and other students better than a resident at a commuter-heavy campus. Also, 1.5 hours away is not that convenient to come home frequently.

Of course, if he has extracurricular interests, the availability of such in the nearby areas can also affect how well he likes being there.

If he is admitted to each school as undeclared, check into how competitive all of his possible majors are to get into at each school.

32

@philbegas, I am nudging him to not be in coming home on the weekends distance, that is true. He said he didn’t want to visit Montana now. We are willing to make the trip, but if he really has no interest in going, I don’t want to throw away the money. He says it’s “so random” to go to Montana. He is unfortunately greatly influenced by friends who say stupid things like, “Why are you in Reno. No one goes to Reno.” And “A degree from Reno will be worth $$it.” These comments are coming from kids who don’t know anything about any of this, except college football teams, and most of whom will not be going to college at all. So, he thinks too much about brand and name recognition, and thinks going to Montana is “random.” I will remind him that he will have a more traditional college experience at one of those is that’s part of what he wants. I’m unsure about Carroll College. If you have any thoughts on it, I started a thread in Carroll College section with some questions.

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@ucbalumnus, what do you think about the schools themselves?

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I agree with ucb about the residential vs commuter factor. That’s a big gap that UCR has over the others and could be important to how well he settles.

I’m not sure I agree with you about the effects of being relatively close to home. It seems to me that if he’s nervous about going away, 1-1.5 hours is just about perfect. That’s the distance/time I had to travel, way back when, and it worked out well for both parties. It’s just close enough for some weekend attention or home cooking, or to ease parental anxiety. And it’s just far enough to allow for several excuses about not making it for a visit. It’s a distance that gives both sides ample freedom to come and go, or to keep the space when needed.

There are kids from Sacramento attending Davis, for example, that have all kinds of problems with disengaging from their high school environment (and/or from parents). Conversely, a student that’s 4 hours away, if he’s not adjusting well, either doesn’t get home enough or ends up not wanting to go back to school.

Also, the CC option is a bird-in-hand type thing. What if he doesn’t perform as expected? Those top schools you mentioned would require some serious grinding, and if he feels bummed about his CC decision at some point, or if he realizes how random it was!, his gpa could suffer.

35

These are helpful things I’ve been discussing with my son. We’re going to head to UCR’s thingamajig this weekend. (Not exactly an admitted student day, but that kind of thing.) Thankfully it’s not sunny at the beach, so precious won’t be torn about missing his last Saturday of his “Last Spring Break of high school” at the beach. :wink:

36

What majors is he most interested in?

In terms of enrollment numbers, SFSU is relatively small in engineering, math, and physical sciences, but relatively large in biological sciences. SJSU is relatively large in engineering, but relatively small in math and sciences. UCR has relatively large engineering, biological sciences, and math enrollment. Larger enrollment may mean larger classes but also more higher level courses offered, but that should be checked directly in the catalogs and schedules.

CSUs generally tend to have a higher proportion of students in pre-professional majors (e.g. business, nursing, engineering, etc.) than liberal arts majors (science, humanities, social studies).

37

@jesse’sgirl

i vote UCR, and if the biggest negative is “1.5 hours is too close” then i will double down on it. that reason is getting very close to inventing something to worry about, or finding a problem when there really isn’t one to be found.

the 3 hour round trip will get old soon enough and once he starts enjoying college life he will spend more time on campus. and if he still comes home a little too often, what difference does it make as long as he keeps his grades up?

if UCR is the one of the two best schools on your list, is under-budget, and is close enough to minimize travel expenses and just be more convenient in case something comes up – i don’t know, it seems like you might be making this choice harder than it needs to be.

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Thanks @Wien2NC. While I don’t agree with your first assertions (inventing something to worry about), I really appreciate your perspective on the situation. It’s helpful to see it it this way.

“…it seems like you might be making this choice harder than it needs to be.” Who me??? Never! :wink:

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@ucbalumnus Aaaa, it’s so complex! And @Wien2NC wants to make it out like it’s things are so simple. :slight_smile:

I appreciate these things to think about. We’ll be out at Riverside tomorrow, and ask lots of questions. Thanks again.

40

hey, that’s what i do … minimize and dismiss the valid concerns of others!

give us the scoop after the UCR visit