You don’t fill out the financial aid forms and many ask if you will be full pay. We are full pay and I’m sure it helped, as well as strong test scores. But the full pay bucket, especially when combined with ED or EA can help tip the balance if you are on the line (it won’t get an unqualified kid in). I was surprised at being full pay how much merit my S was offered. Our situation was a little different as two of my son’s safety schools were great and he felt a bit bad when he declined after getting into his top choice. For U of Chicago, a friend’s daughter with higher stats was also deferred but eventually got in at the last moment. Didn’t get into Vanderbilt even though she was a legacy, so it is hard to predict! Good luck.
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That’s great to know! Hopefully it will help others and I’ll be sure to tell my friends with younger kids, too.
On CSS - according to my daughter, Vanderbilt and one other school I can’t remember right now required it. She did most of the RD applications on her own, I wasn’t looking over her shoulder (I’m a single mom with another, younger kid also and an often crazy busy job so I’m unfortunately failing in the app process on this too). But I did tell her we’re not eligible for need-based aid, I’m pretty sure she would not select that.
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I missed this the first time I read your post - wow! Definitely worth talking to the kiddo about it, and checking if the deadline hasn’t passed yet. Thank you so much! 
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You cannot look at tuition only. You have another $12-15k room and board. But Arizona, Alabama, UAH would be $3k tuition. So yes cheaper
Schools like Arkansas…small city, nature…booming area….cheap but lots of Texans. The point is you still can apply.
I have no issue with any school. I’m a money/value guy. And for a psych degree and more schooling after…only reason I said something.
You said you can pay but wouldn’t necessarily if not the big name. That tells me you have doubt.
One more thing. All schools have partying but all schools also have non partiers. My kid at one large public. school hikes all the team. At the other at a mid size public is spending her free time creating a club (which takes a lot of work). As they say you can make a big school small but not vice versa.
Not telling you to change your list. If she gets into Tufts then awesome. Then you have a decision.
You already have many great affordable options from Mizzou to Hawaii. I was just trying to show you potential budget disparities. Tufts is $330-340k and there’s inflation.
I promise you she can be very happy at many schools. Tufts may be better. It’s just a question of do you want to pay for it?
I buy a nice car I house. I know what I’m getting.
A college is unknown so I’m cautious. But your values are what matters, not mine.
Good luck.
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Types of Aid: Incoming First-Year and Transfer Tuition Scholarship Awards | Office of Scholarships & Financial Aid says $35,000 for non-residents with 4.0 HS GPA. Cost: Incoming First-Year and Transfer | Office of Scholarships & Financial Aid lists non-resident tuition at $37,200, with total non-resident cost including living expenses etc. at $53,100 to $55,650. So tuition-only would be $2,200 after the scholarship, and total cost would be $18,100 to $20,650 after the scholarship.
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Thank you for this! I wonder if I can contact fin aid and just clarify for them?
If you self pay, does that mean you don’t do fed loans through the school either?
I don’t have any advice, olga, but i’ve been reading the texas thread tonight as we have a slight connection; i am in shock at some of the outcomes. It’s unbelievable! had no idea Texas was so intense. After reading that, all i can say is good job with acceptances so far, well done with the merit; and good luck to your kiddo. you are actually in a good spot.
like read this one:
Son didn’t get into EE (1st) or Mechanical (2nd), put into Liberal Arts. Auto Admit, NMSF, 11th out of 819 (top 2%), 5.37 (W)/3.97 (UW) GPA, 35 ACT & 1560 SAT. Heavy involvement in ECs and has a job. We are stunned.
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So you have a younger child…that’s more $$ ahead. And you’re hoping not to have to cash flow tuition. So you are taking out loans to cover which means interest.
And your daughter is majoring in Paych (not a money maker) and going to grad school (more money, potentially at the same time your next is in school.
That’s all I need to hear. Save yourself financial stress and strain. What if you lost your job or the markets whipsaw around like they are now?
You cannot afford Tufts or Mid. Sorry. Scratch them. It’ll be the smartest thing you ever did. I promise. That’s not my place to say that but I had to say it 
You don’t want loans…especially for a psych degree with no income from the schooling until after grad school. You incur more expenses through interest.
So CSS is required by high end schools like tufts and Vandy. So if you did that you requested need based aid. Doesn’t mean you’ll get it. In fact if your EFC is too high…you won’t. Some schools have a 3rd step called IDOC. Tufts, Middlebury and Vandy all do. This is where you upload tax returns, W2s, brokerage statements etc so the schools can validate what you’ve told them. If you did all three steps…FAFSA, CSS, and IDOC, you applied for aid. Some schools like Mizzou just use FAFSA. It never hurts to apply. If you don’t get you don’t get. Some schools you can make $200k a year and get…you never know.
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Hey there, your daughter sounds like an excellent student. I’m sure she will have some great choices.
I’m in North Carolina. UNC- Wilmington is an oddball on this list. I see UVA is on her list. Are you sure she didn’t want to apply to UNC- Chapel Hill? UNC-Chapel Hill and UVA are peer schools although both are very hard admits from out of state.
UNCW is quite a few steps down the ladder. It’s pretty Southern, too. Wilmington is more Deep South in NC than, say a school like Appalachian State in the mountains. I think AppState is a better school, too, although the national rankings may not say that. And UNC-W is not bad. AppState has a much more attractive campus, to me, too. I guess it’s mountains vs beach, but UNC-W is not at right on the beach and App State is right in the mountains with places to hike right on campus. You need a car to get around Wilmington and out the beaches.
My D22 was not a fan of UNC-W when we visited. She didn’t apply to AppState either, but that’s mainly because she knew too many people going there. Either of those school would be an easy admit for someone with your daughter’s stats.
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I think the only problem here was lack of research I think (not to be rude in any way). I mean that in the sense that I think there are more amazing target schools that you guys could have applied for (ugh i know those app fees all too well though I feel you) and I would recommend anyone applying anywhere that you apply somewhere you will actually want to go because you never know. My college decisions have been its own whirlwind, but I ended up with a great school despite a not so great gpa.
If cost is something you worry about, I advise looking for either rolling admission colleges or institutes that still have their Regular Decision applications open because she has a great chance at getting a full ride or at least a good chunk of money at mid-tier schools (which is still awesome!), If money isn’t a concern, then I recommend just sticking it out and seeing the chances she has at UMich and her reaches which is still a good chance!
Your daughter has amazing stats regardless and any school would be lucky to have her!!(crossing my fingers on UChicago for you guys! what a great institute). Good luck!
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Got it - no, never uploaded tax returns or anything that involved! And my girls are a LOT of years apart, so they won’t be in either college or grad school at the same time, thank goodness (younger one is in elementary). But I’m still not crazy about investing the equivalent of a VERY nice house downpayment into a college undergrad degree, afford it or not.
But at the same time, I always went to college and grad school for free/cheap, having to turn down the elite schools I got into because I needed a full ride and international students didn’t get need-based, only merit aid. In the end I got where I needed to be, but it was much, much harder for me with my state school education than for my peers from Harvard/Stanford/etc. I don’t really want that for my kids. What was the point of me working this hard then?
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Thank you for great insider info! We discussed UNC-CH too (great psych program) but she ultimately decided not to apply because it wouldn’t truly count as a safety. And she liked UNCW because it has a child development psych program that allows students work as RAs starting with their Sophomore year. But yes, very Southern, slightly offset by being close to the beach, which she loves (which is why UHawaii is on the list, in addition to D3 track).
To me, both were kind of larks and I just let her go with it.
I understand she wants to go out of state, but Trinity with the $$ and plan to do grad school out of state, saving money over the next 4 years, may be the best bet. It is really hard to get money from public universities when you are out of state.
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I’m glad you got involved. Sounds like your daughter was running the show.
So Olga - you are AMAZING.
You know how I know - because you made it. You are a single mom raising two girls and you will be full pay at Tufts!!
So I’m not sure what you missed by going to the state school.
People are successful based on themselves. Their effort, persistence, adaptability. And ok it doesn’t hurt to have a big name. But it’s also not a guarantee. There are many a low or middle income person or flameout from elite schools. And there are elite students at nearly every state flagship. The Honors colleges weee added for these kids.
Your daughter is a great student. But she’s not elite. She’s not a gimme for each of these schools. And she’s likely not going to be Olga financially because I’m guessing you work in oil or tech or something generating a significant income. Child psych won’t. And her undergrad institution will carry less weight than her grad school. And that’s a better place for the higher expense. A strong GPA and high GRE will likely get your daughter into a top grad school.
Again it’s your money and if this is your dream I get it. But you did write some things that caused me pause and just in general this is a huge expense that you are unlikely to see a great payoff.
But that’s an outside view and only your view matters.
But the way I see it is you back my argument. You went to school for cheap, what you deem a lesser school, and you’re working side by side with people that went to elite schools.
If it were today your counterparts might have spent $300k +.
I’d rather save the $$ and bet on Olga’s heart, dedication and hunger.
I come from a different place. My son goes to Bama for engineering. Yep $3k a year. Jewish Northerners although we now live in the South going to school in the South but the school is anything but southern as it’s more than half OOS.
The parallel to your situation. My son got into Purdue engineering with merit. Purdue is like Tufts/Middlebury in that it’s not the top of the top but it’s close. He chose Alabama. Btw he interned at an auto plant last summer. His two teammates and Airbnb roomies go to Ga tech. That is arguably. the Harvard of engineering. One of the three kids was invited back for the summer. It wasn’t the elite Ga Tech kids. It’s the person…not the school…that makes success.
My daughter got into 17 colleges. Goes to the 16th ranked one of those 17. Her choice. Btw one of her new bffs she met in college got into Rice. My daughter into Washington & Lee, Florida, Miami and other great schools. But she chose College of Charleston. She chose it but dad reaps the financial rewards. I trust my daughter will find success. I’ll find out in 4 years but she’s a go getter !! And that’s more important than the school she attends.
Ok I sound like a broken record. I’ll stop now
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I would highly discourage taking out loans for your daughter’s higher education. Firstly, there are many, many examples of successful people who did not attend a T50. In fact, the vast majority of them did not attend a T50 school. There are also many benefits to being a “big fish in a small pond” where she’s among the university’s top students and gets offered lots of extra opportunities that the majority of other students don’t get. Additionally, in what way would attending a T50 school help make your daughter’s life easier in child psychology/development? It’s unlikely to have much impact, but the money expended (hundred of thousands of dollars) could be spent on a house, your younger child’s education, your retirement. And as others have noted, child development is not exactly a lucrative field.
If you feel comfortable sharing, what budget would you feel comfortable paying for without taking loans? People on these boards can probably help come up with numerous institutions where your daughter can have a wonderful education and a great time at college, all at significant savings over the current reaches.
ETA: I totally agree with @tsbna44 that you are amazing. Your daughter has great accomplishments. She doesn’t need to go to a fancy college to be as amazing as her mom.
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Hmmm. Most schools sophomores can become RAs and UNCW is D1.
Wow, I’m absolutely amazed by this community- you guys are incredible! 
thank you from the bottom of my heart for your time and thoughts and advice and encouragement.
I’m okay with $25K per semester in cash at the most, would need loans for anything over that. Less is better of course!
And I know her major isn’t going to make her money, but I changed mine twice in college, and have friends who did it more than that. What she wants to do is as much a business idea as it is psychology (as, in, she ultimately wants to develop a program, not to teach/counsel), so being at a school that has strong prifessors and strong students and a lot of support for ideas will matter.
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Oh wow, good to know, I’ll tell her not to fixate on that then! In my undergrad that was definitely uncommon- for psychology anyway, working with subjects directly kind of work. But that was looooong ago 
And my daughter didn’t find many schools that had undergrads listed on research teams in the psych department. It was mostly grad students. But UNCW isn’t really a serious choice I don’t think.
And yes, it’s D1 - I just meant UHawaii is D3 and near the beach and that’s how we ended up with that on our list too.
My view is all confused and stressed right now, not to mention out of perspective! I really appreciate yours.
Parenting is hard. Especially when our kids are different humans from who we were at their age.
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So if you can only afford $25k, why do you think you’re full pay ? Or what made you think that ?
I’d say since your daughter did CSS, for whichever she did that requires IDOC you should do the IDOC. Maybe you’ll surprise yourself.
If you can only pay $50k that means you applied to some schools you can’t go to because you cannot borrow enough to make that happen unless you take high interest loans at $30k a year. The federal loan is only $27k over four years. You’d need more than that in year one.
Just trying to help you cull your list so it’s more manageable.
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