College costs appear the same? also home equity

Paying for College
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<p>Can you PAY $25,000 per year for your son to attend college? If not, he needs to look for schools where he would garner GUARANTEED merit aid that would bring the cost down to something you CAN afford.</p>

<p>The $25k family contribution will be an expectation unless your child happens to get a merit award that encompasses that amount.</p>

<p>I agree with the poster upstream who wonders why OOS publics are acceptable (with costs that will likely be double, and with little potential for need based aid) than your own instate public universities. Many instate publics have honors colleges with competitive admission. Hopefully your son’s three part SAT is well above 1800 because an 1800 would likely NOT make the cut for those honors college programs (or acceptance into an Ivy school,in my opinion).</p>

<p>Division III schools cannot give athletic scholarships. A good chunk of the most competitive D-III schools also give only need based aid. You would be expected to pay that $25k family contribution. Also, many of those schools also have a student contribution in addition.</p>

<p>Division I schools would require a mighty strong player to be a recruited athlete. It’s possible, but there is no guarantee, as you know. Plus, if the school costs $50,000, and your kiddo gets a half athletic scholarship, you are still facing the same $25,000 payment out of pocket.</p>

<p>You need to figure out what you can afford. Can you really afford a $50,000 or $60,000 college, when you are saying you cannot afford to pay $25,000 a year? </p>

<p>If your kiddo really has competitive stats for an Ivy applicant, look to places where he could get guaranteed significant merit aid based on the SAT/ACT score and GPA.</p>

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<p>P.S. at this point, here is what you need to do. Your son will be taking the PSAT this fall as a HS junior. THAT score is what is used to determine eligibility for NMS consideration. He needs to do VERY well.</p>

<p>He then needs to take the SAT and/or ACT in spring of his junior year. If his scores aren’t where here he would like them, he can retake in the fall of his senior year.</p>

<p>In addition, he needs to get tippy top grades in school. His GPA needs to be as high as possible.</p>

<p>The combination of SAT/ACT and GPA will determine his eligibility for academic scholarships…as well as college acceptances.</p>

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<p>OP, you should be aware that many D1 schools either give you financial aid or give you athletic aid, but not both. Many coaches want to do financial aid pre-reads for this reason. If you qualify for financial aid, then they will save the athletic scholarship for someone who does not. We have heard this from many coaches and one told us that the only one that would stack aid is Stanford.</p>