OP, how much learning about fin aid have you actually done? Sorry, but this keeps cycling back to what the 17 year old wants. So maybe you’re willing to pay 6% of that 560k/year? 33k, plus or minus a student loan? 132k out of the 400k cash. Maybe some kicked in by Grandma, maybe not all you need. Because she wants out of FL next September? And the NE.
I don’t think you want that financial bite, but that’s how it seems your interests point. Posters asked about the qualifiers for the ‘simplified needs’ to help figure if you can avoid reporting assets. I think it’s borderline, at best.
Many of the posters here have seen how this often turns out on CC, the real burdens, for four years.
Plus, in a “brokerage account,” that 400k is not protected, is up for grabs.
Many of the suggestions you are getting (U Mass Lowell for example) may meet your stated criteria but lose big time on the common sense test. Heading to U Mass Lowell because you can swing the finances, it’s in Massachusetts, and Lowell is technically a city, when there are better academic options in-state seems crazy to me.
If it were my kid I’d start with a sit-down. There would be two agenda items on my list- first- the purpose of a college education and how a university fits that purpose. And second- our financial constraints and what that means in terms of a college list.
Many of the schools on your original list are just a waste of an application fee.
And the cold, hard truth- the travel costs even if your kid won the merit award lottery at one of her top choices (which I think is doubtful since many of them don’t award merit at all, and some of them are likely to award you 5K which barely puts a dent in your need) are going to render the northeast schools unaffordable. Unless you are prepared to tell your D that she gets to decide if she’s coming home for Xmas or Spring break but not both, and that she’s moving herself into her dorm Freshman year and needs to find a friend who lives close by to store her stuff over the summer.
Seriously-- you are going to spend down retirement assets flying her back and forth multiple times a year and for move-in and move out? No.
Have a sit down. She will be 22 when she graduates from college and can get a job in NY or DC or Boston or Burlington VT or anywhere she wants. But at that point she’s off your payroll.
And grandma helping? Boy, I’d want that in writing- or at least know that grandma has $100K in an UGMA account which can’t be tapped in case grandma ends up in a rehab facility a year from now.
@Pamelamk Is she a NMSF at this point? Fordham might offer a full tuition scholarship if she is a NMF. Costs outside of tuition are going to be at least $20,000. (I don’t think Fordham’s NMF scholarship is automatic bc my dd contacted them before she applied. She didn’t apply until RD and asked if she would still be considered and the response said that she would be, but her receiving the scholarship was not guaranteed. That said, she was awarded it. But, she was awarded competitive merit from multiple schools, so guaranteed or not…I don’t really know.)
None of the schools you have listed are going to be high merit schools. Tulane, maybe, but it is going to depend on the holistic view of her application. Does she have major accomplishments outside of her basic stats? That is what is going to drive merit.
You say, “Im sure she will get some kind of merit scholarships, but I couldn’t afford sticker price 70K per year, her choices are Columbia, Boston College, Boston University, Northeastern, University of Miami, Tulane.” What makes you so sure she will get some kind of merit? I have gone through this process with multiple children, a couple with pretty amazing accomplishments, and I never enter the college merit application process with the mentality that I am sure they will get some kind of merit UNLESS it is the automatic kind. Merit is as unpredictable as elite competitive admissions. You can make an educated guess as to whether or not a student is competitive, but as to whether or not they will be the actual recipient?? No way. They fill their need according to their needs. What they do to form a class is not easily definable.
The best application strategy is affordable first and foremost. Guaranteed merit is definitely one option for that approach. But what is absolutely vital is finding a school you know they will be happy to attend and that you know you can afford so that no matter what other outcomes they receive in the spring, they have a school they can attend. Nothing is worse than reading about the students who focus all of their applications on schools they cannot afford and then post how angry and upset they are bc their only affordable option is a school they do not want to attend. If she doesn’t want to attend UF, then she needs to find a school that she will be happy to attend that is NOT an unaffordable Profile school.
She might get some merit aid at Marist in Poughkeepsie. Is she willing to apply to women’s colleges? If so, have her look at Mt. Holyoke.
The competitive colleges on the Northeast are not good places to look for big merit scholarships. Some don’t give merit aid…at all. Many cost upward of $60,000 a year…so your DD would need at least a $30,000 merit award, and those aren’t plentiful either in the northeast.
She may need to make some compromises…if cost is a significant consideration, than that needs to rise to the top of the list. The SUNY colleges might be in range if she gets a merit award…but as an OOS student…that would NOT be a guarantee. At all.
Those outside scholarships…check carefully…because MANY are one time awards for freshman year only. So then what? Without those in subsequent years, would she need to leave the college?
I would strongly suggest she look at the characteristics of colleges…and go from there…and saying “northeast” solid not be her only criterion.
Look at Miami University in Oxford Ohio…that might be a possibility. No, not northeast…but they do give merit awards to OOS students.
What about University of Delaware? Again…more northeast than Florida…and they give merit aid to OOS students.
I can’t like @Blossom’s post enough. I think the entire premise behind this thread is out of whack, but it is your $$ to spend however you want. But as the parent of kids who have entered college taking 400 level classes due to their level of achievement as high schoolers, I cannot emphasize enough that her affordable instate options are not going to hamper her future at all. You do not need to jeopardize your (or your parent’s!!!) financial security to fund a high schooler’s uneducated pronounced dream about where she wants to go to college. There are fabulous educations and opportunities to be had at a fraction of the cost. Even for high achieving students.
Ok, that brings up another point: Poughkeepsie? Lowell? Neither are destination cities, with years of city pleasures. Are you even familiar with what NE post industrial cities are really like?
The mid-Mass consortium? Sure, sometimes MHC and Smith come up with good money and you get to take classes at Amherst, but what’s the city, Springfield? It’s 20 minutes away, but Boston is 2 hours by car and much longer by public transp.
I feel like college names are being tossed out that hit some bullets, not all.
Canada? Imagine getting home.
Maybe the simple answer is, get a Fiske Guide and some financial aid guide.
SUNY Binghamton and Stonybrook are world class research universities in some areas.
But again- a kid who is in love with Northeastern (a quick walk to several fun neighborhoods in downtown Boston and a quick T ride away from over a dozen other universities) is going to need a pretty good reason to fall in love with either B or S.
The money? Yes- if if the finances add up. But having the kid fall in love with Binghamton only to discover the money doesn’t work seems to me like a continued exercise in frustration.
Why not find a public U in Florida- which you can afford and she can get accepted to- and then build out from there?
We can all come up with lists of colleges you’ve probably never heard of where the finances might work (Truman? Juniatia? One of the Canadian small universities) but again- plane tickets, travel time???
Start within a days drive of you. Then we can help you with some more “exotic” options.
@jym626 YES I know. I asked two times before getting an answer. I had mentioned Lowell for tech specifically while waiting for an answer. That is probably your lowest cost engineering option and a great value for that in the NE.
*asked two times about her major before getting an answer
And I brought up the Poughkeepsie schools…because you know…they are decent schools that might be affordable for this student.
The family needs to FIRST and foremost do a financial reality check woth this student. If a college is totally unaffordable…this student needs to know this BEFORE she applies. She needs to understand that if mineynisnt forthcoming…an acceptance will need to be declined.
Sometimes life is about compromises. This student right now…or the parent…seems to want it all. Great school in the northeast, in major metro area, with some pretty significant merit aid. Something might have to “give” here. Getting all of these things in Boston or NYC or Philly just might not be possible.
I’ll toss one other out there…and yes…I know it’s not in the northeast, but it’s a good school where this kid MIGHT get some merit aid…American University.
So…maybe the location will need to be a compromise. Maybe the family will need to come up woth $50,000 instead of $30,000. Maybe the kid will need to apply to colleges that are NOT $60,000 plus a year schools. Maybe the kid will need to look at some lower ranked schools where costs are less, and merit aid is possible.
As noted above…finish undergrad. Maybe apply for internships in Boston, etc. Maybe think about grad school or jobs in that neck of the woods. Boston isn’t going to fall into the Atlantic Ocean. Neither is the rest of the northeast. Lots of ways and time to see and live in the northeast.
Oh…and BTW…it’s not exactly a bargain to live in the Boston metro area…so it would be a nice benefit to have NO debt if the plan is to work there after college.
@jym626 I completely agree and have suggested that oodles of times to no avail. You could have study abroad for a whole year and put aside money for grad school. If she went to free/low cost undergrad, maybe grandma would help pay for a grad degree.
Other expenses to consider when going from FL to New England are the cost of winter clothes. What passes for winter attire in FL will not cut it in Boston and the general cost of living in the NE is much higher than in FL. Just going to the movies or getting cup of coffee will more expensive.
A day trip to NYC from Marist is about $50 round trip starting with a $10 cab ride each way from campus to the metro north station. Then what is she going to do once she gets to grand central. Same with stony brook coming from LI to Penn Statiob
This day trip could easily cost $100 and will get real old real fast. Bing is a couple of hours from NYC. Again cost add up real quick real fast
Save the money, have her go to school in Florida. Since she wants to do marketing and communication, perhaps you can subsidize her housing to do a few summer internships in Miami.
She has a combination of majors where it will be important to have internship experience (major city) in order to get a major city job after graduation.
My kid went to college on Boston. He worked every term, and he earned far more than $3000 a year…and he still had PLENTY of free time.
In addition, he and his buddies got very good at finding free, and reduced things for college students. Boston is full of such things. Really one can occupy their time at a pretty low cost if they are willing to look around. NO he didn’t go to Red Sox games all the time…or eat out dinners at fancy expensive restaurants. But he never felt deprived in anyway…he was very careful with how he spent his money…a good life skill to learn.
What did he do? He ushered for the BSO at Symphony Hall. Money was good, and it also meant he could see 1/2 of every concert he worked. No cost. As a music major…it was a terrific job. They also understood that many of their ushers were students…and did work with them on schedules.
But I have to add…our kid got a pretty substantial at the time music performance award. Our family contribution was in excess of the cost of attendance, but we fully expected to be full pay for our kids in college.
If our budget had been 1/2 the cost of Boston University, our kid would NOT have been able to attend. But we were prepared to pay the full cost…so in our case…that merit award was a huge bonus.
In the OPs case, they NEED very significant merit aid to even consider an offer of acceptance at a $60,000 plus a year school. That is very different…and they need to understand the financial limitations they have.
Well hopefully if OP’s daughter goes to Boston, she is lucky enough to get a high paying fun job like that. I don’t think all work study jobs are so luxe. Shelving books and clerical work
And have a look a that at that brokerage re the tax issue, is none of it protected in any kind of retirement vehicle? You don’t have a 401K, any IRAs? Nor Roth? Nothing?