<p>Here is my next question: does grad school qualify as having 2 kids in college?</p>
<p>twogirls-
Cornell’s NYS tuition discount applies only to the land grant school majors [Cornell</a> University: Tuition Rates and Fees](<a href=“Tuition Rates and Fees | Cornell University Division of Financial Affairs”>Tuition Rates and Fees | Cornell University Division of Financial Affairs) [Cornell</a> | Land Grant | Colleges Established by New York State](<a href=“http://www.cornell.edu/land-grant/nys-established-colleges.cfm]Cornell”>http://www.cornell.edu/land-grant/nys-established-colleges.cfm) If your child plans to major in the Arts and sciences or Hotel Management, etc, the tuition is higher.</p>
<p>As for the EFC with one in grad school, I believe it depends on the school and whether your grad student is considered a dependent or is independent. I think it won’t qualify for FAFSA but might for the Profile schools, depending onthe school.</p>
<p>Yes my daughter’s major falls under the land grant school, which brings the tuition down to $43,000. When my older one is in grad school she will still be a dependent. I guess I will check it out by calling the schools and asking. For some reason I do not think that Cornell is as generous with their FA, but it’s still worth checking out. My younger one is thinking med school, which means that we have to keep the undergrad costs as low as possible. There are at least two schools on her list where she has an excellent chance of getting a full scholarship ( full at one, tuition at the other).</p>
<p>Brings the tuition down to $43K? Recheck your numbers, That sounds like a total room and board price. Tuition for instate land grant majors is $29K/yr</p>
<p>What schools are you targeting that she has a good chance of a full tuition or full ride?</p>
<p>That’s what I meant- 43,000 is the total cost. We will be targeting Pittsburgh and Buffalo for scholarships. Binghamton does not give $$ anymore, but you can’t beat the in-state cost at $20,000.</p>
<p>twogirls, I think it is pretty clear that you need to stop making assumptions and cast a wide net; in your case, probably a mix of need-based and merit schools, well-priced in-state options, and possibly “guaranteed $$ for stats” schools. You’ve already got a good financial safety list going, but if your D turns out to be a legitimate candidate at the Ivy-type school with extremely generous FA, it would be a shame not to put at least one on her list if she finds it attractive. If you do this, while making it clear to your D that where she can go depends upon how the $$ work out–preferably with some target figure that is the upper limit of what you will pay–she should have optimum choices. Of course, running the online calculators is part of the picture. As is discouraging “dream school” thinking on your D’s part.</p>
<p>Another thing you need to consider is the degree to which “merit” money is used as an yield management tool, especially at LACs below the very highest level. It is cheaper for a school to give 2 full-pay students with acceptable stats a $5K or $10K discount than to accept and fund one more highly qualified student who needs a full ride, and those 2 are more likely to attend because they are flattered by this discount framed as “merit,” thus boosting yield. (They are likely to accept the high-stats kid, but “gap” him or her.)</p>
<p>In our case, we knew that our S had a legitimate shot at the lottery schools, and that even really substantial merit awards would not be enough ($30K off of a COA of $50K, for example). So we aimed strictly at schools with genuinely deep pockets. It sounds like you can adopt a more flexible strategy. Just remember that there is more than one way to arrive at the goal.</p>
<p>I make no assumptions. My daughter has visited our in state schools twice and knows that one of these schools may be the one she attends. She is fine with that. She will be casting a huge net up and down the east coast, and perhaps slightly west ( keep in mind that for us, Buffalo is west LOL). When all is said and done she will put all of her options on the table and decide. We have already discussed with her what we can pay without taking out loans. If she wants to apply to a few Ivy or Ivy- like schools, that is fine. It’s her choice. She already knows that she would need some money in order to attend, if she happens to get in. Right now she is not even sure if she wants to apply to an Ivy.</p>
<p>I was talking about your apparent assumption that you would get no money at the Ivies. 
But it sounds like you are on the right track. Good luck.</p>
<p>Oh LOL ! If she happens to get money from an Ivy I will do a happy dance! Now I kind of hope she does choose to apply…</p>
<p>Your dau is a sophomore, twogirls? Are you referring to your older or younger dau?</p>
<p>Younger. Yes she is only a sophomore but has already been contacted by the Ivys.</p>
<p>“Contacted by the ivys”? Is she a recruited athlete or is she getting marketing mailings because she marked the box on her PSATs or something?</p>
<p>Again, I realize that these tippy top schools are a crapshoot and when all is said and done she may not even want to apply. She has such a huge list that we decided to start this process a little earlier than we did for my older one.</p>
<p>If she is just a sophomore, that list will change a million times between now and app time. And again, if she is getting marketing mailings (often happens after a student takes standardized tests and marked the box on the form to send the scores to schools, and did well on the tests) that means nothing. Sorry.</p>
<p>Not a recruited athlete at all and has not checked a box on a PSAT. I am taking this all with a " grain of salt." She is also on the University of Chicago’s mailing list. Again, I know lots of kids are on these lists and get mailings and emails all the time. I am not taking them too seriously at this point. Right now we are just thinking about what is out there and we are starting to make a few visits.</p>
<p>Can you clarify what you mean by the statement that she has been “contacted by the ivys”?</p>
<p>Since a previous poster brought this issue up, I really think the Ivy’s should reconsider contacting students based on the PSAT and SAT score unless they are near perfect. Adults understand the game of increasing apps to produce lower acceptances rates, but teenagers do not - even when you tell them. All they know (or want to know) is that they were contacted by an Ivy League institution expressing interest. Really kind of bothers me and it makes my job of managing expectations all the more difficult.</p>
<p>She gets lots of emails and post cards. This means nothing and I am not paying much attention at this point. I have two friends who do interviews at Ivy League schools ( different schools) and they both told me that she will most likely get past the first round of decisions, if she decides to apply. Personally, I am not sure that she will get past the second round. Although her EC’s are good and she shows leadership, there are many many kids out there who really blow me away. The EC’s that my friends tell me about are just crazy, and there is no way that my daughter will ever be on that level. Again, she is just checking things out right now. We are not taking things too seriously at this point in time.</p>
<p>It is unfortunate that many students confuse a marketing mailing with a “we really want YOU”, especially when the marketing materials are written in a way that it sounds like they are implying that.</p>
<p>Ok, now what does " she will most likely get past the first round of decisions" mean? Does that simply mean the app readers won’t immediately put her app in file 13?? I do alum interviews for my top 20 LAC, and I would direct anyone asking to look at the common data set and Naviance to see how their student appears. In the 10th grade, especially with no standardized test scores, its simply premature to conjecture, even if based on GPA alone. Is there something superlative your dd has to offer that would make her a targeted candidate?</p>