<p>And another FYI…some law schools require the parent info on the FAFSA for law school aid consideration too…even though the student would otherwise be considered independent for financial aid purposes.</p>
<p>I gave some outdated or incorrect info. Just checked Cal State info, and getting $5-10K in merit money is a pipe dream from the stats they report. My friend’s DD graduated from Chico State 10 years ago, and either I am mistaken about what awards she got or things have changed a lot Curmudgeon’s DD got the Bellingrath or Hyde’s awards, and it appears that those awards have been cut a lot too. I know that 10-15 years ago UPitt gave out lots of full awards and auto honors college admittance at a 1350 SAT. No more. The number of such awards have been cut drastically, they are no longer automatic and the threshold for consideration for such awards is higher than what the auto accept numbers were. </p>
<p>So to stay current, I can honestly say that there are some colleges out there where the OP’s DD could get free tuition or enough of a reduction in it so that the cost would be about $20K or less, but the trick is to find some that the OP and his DD consider “as good as” or “Better” than the Cal States. Beating that price for a "name: school would be tough. </p>
<p>We set a dollar limit as to what we could pay for current college son. He could go to any off our state publics and even room/board there. He could commute to any number of schools, though he’d have to borrow and get a part time job for the priciest publics, but, yes, doable. He could go to the lower priced OOS publics that have not jacked up OOS premiums yet. He could only go away to private schools, if they gave sufficient merit money to bring the cost down where our contribution could make it possible with the possibility of the Stafford student loans ($5500-7500 per yr over the 4 years) and student work summers and part time made the numbers work So it is going to be with the OP’s DD.</p>
<p>Unless Grandparents makes the commitment to her to pay the difference, OP stays out of it and DD decides to take the chance. She isn’t going to get the financial aid to bring the cost down to Cal States, and getting merit down to that level is going to mean trade offs as to whether the Cal State is preferable.</p>
<p>Looking at Rhodes College, the upper 25% of the SAT1 (Math and CR) scores are at 1380, which is higher than what the OP 's DD is posting. Still Rhodes does give merit money to more than 40% of the kids going ther, but the average award is $16K. Let’s say the OP’s DD gets $20K in merit money from Rhodes. That still leaves a cost of over $30K for her to go there. To bring that cost down to $25K, she’d need to get about $27-30K in scholarships. I don’t know how many Cambridge, Morse , Bellingraths are given out, but I don’t think that a 1350 SAT or even a 1400 SAT is going to get those awards. </p>
<p>Curmdgeon’s DD had top stats. She was accepted to Yale University, and yet looking for awards that were way up there in dollar amounts was a challenging odyssey. It can be done, absolutely, but there are a lot of trade offs that have to be made. This is what the OP has to consider. If he and DD are thinking about schools where even admissions is a cross your finger thing, even if there is merit aid, getting substantial amounts of it is highly unlikely. She needs to look where her test scores are among the highest, and where the schools are even giving out large amount of merit money.</p>
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<p>If she truly plans to choose one of these majors and go to law school, then her choice for undergrad won’t matter much. She needs to keep costs and debt as low as possible, since she may have to take on debt for law school.</p>
<p>^^^</p>
<p>Very true. She will have debt for law school since it doesn’t sound like the OP and Wife #2 will be able to pay for law school, while the younger Ds are going thru undergrad.</p>
<p>Hey!! Maybe the grands will pay for law school!!! </p>
<p>Curmudgeon’s DD got the Bellingrath or Hyde’s awards, and it appears that those awards have been cut a lot too. I</p>
<p>Bummer.</p>
<p>That happens. Be careful when you hear that someone got a big scholarship from X school. Scholarship offers can change, so something that was offered a couple of years ago may not exist or be a smaller offer now.</p>
<p>That said, check out Bob Wallace’s assured full tuition scholarship list. He keeps that up to date. If your D can get a free tuition scholarship somewhere and then you contribute $10k-15k, and then she borrows about $5k, then she have more choices.</p>
<p>look at post # 264 on this link
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1348012-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships-14.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1348012-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships-14.html</a></p>
<p>Cal State Chico ( my friend’s DD, by the way, loved her time there, and is now gainfully employed and happy about where she went to college as is her family. They consider it a great experience and great deal with great return on investment) costs about $24K, which is typical of a Cal State. If one is local to OP, commuting would bring that cost down to half, $12K, and with some part time/summer jobs and the Stafford loans, the cost would be about about a third of that. Very affordable, IMO. How much better can one get than that? And the Cal State are good schools.</p>
<p>But getting scholarship money from them would not be likely. Only 3% got merit and the average award was about $1500. Top 25% of SAT is about 1120 (2part), so OP would probably be in the top 10% of the kids there, test score wise</p>
<p>UCs would cost about $5-7K more, would they not?</p>
<p>Re: CSUs and scholarships</p>
<p>CSULB has a competitive President’s Scholars program for valedictorians or National Merit type semifinalists or finalists who are California residents. This covers in-state tuition and residence hall costs (National Merit type semifinalists or finalists also get a meal plan).</p>
<p>[President’s</a> Scholars Program, CSULB](<a href=“http://www.csulb.edu/divisions/students/presidents_scholars/]President’s”>http://www.csulb.edu/divisions/students/presidents_scholars/)</p>
<p>If she plans for law school and if law schools are primarily numbers driven, a small LAC, if affordable, could allow her to thrive, especially if she is in the top 25%.</p>
<p>Some in-state costs of attendance for state universities in the OP’s area:</p>
<p>SJSU: [Financial</a> Aid and Scholarship Office | Cost of Attendance | San Jose State University](<a href=“http://www.sjsu.edu/faso/Applying/Cost_of_Attendance/]Financial”>http://www.sjsu.edu/faso/Applying/Cost_of_Attendance/)</p>
<p>Commuter living with parents: $16,428
Residence hall: $24,209
Off-campus housing: $24,628</p>
<p>SFSU: [Financial</a> Aid - at San Francisco State University](<a href=“Office of Student Financial Aid | Office of Student Financial Aid”>Office of Student Financial Aid | Office of Student Financial Aid)</p>
<p>Commuter living with parents: $17,366
Residence hall or off-campus housing: $25,380</p>
<p>Berkeley: [UC</a> Berkeley Financial Aid and Scholarships Office » Cost of Attendance](<a href=“http://students.berkeley.edu/finaid/home/cost.htm]UC”>http://students.berkeley.edu/finaid/home/cost.htm)</p>
<p>Commuter living with parents: $24,294
Residence hall: $33,522
Off-campus housing: $29,060</p>
<p>UCSC: [Undergraduate</a> Student Costs](<a href=“http://financialaid.ucsc.edu/costs/undergraduate-costs.html]Undergraduate”>http://financialaid.ucsc.edu/costs/undergraduate-costs.html)</p>
<p>Commuter living with parents: $24,348
Residence hall: $32,748
Off-campus housing: $29,487</p>
<p>UC Davis: [Undergraduate</a> Student Expense Budgets](<a href=“http://financialaid.ucdavis.edu/undergraduate/cost/UGBudgets.html]Undergraduate”>Cost of Attendance)</p>
<p>Commuter living with parents: $25,333
Residence hall: $33,133
Off-campus housing: $28,494</p>
<p>ucbalumnus – Thanks for the details. Like I said, in-state sleep-away school is like $30k. That seems to be the magic number. We MIGHT be able to find an OOS state U out there that might give her some merit aid, maybe bringing down the COA with travel to $20k-25k. But wouldn’t it be worth the extra $5k-10k for a name school like UCLA or Cal?</p>
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<p>Not if you can’t afford it and someone has to borrow it. This is particularly so if she goes to law school.</p>
<p>ucbalumnus – Thanks for the details. Like I said, in-state sleep-away school is like $30k. That seems to be the magic number. We MIGHT be able to find an OOS state U out there that might give her some merit aid, maybe bringing down the COA with travel to $20k-25k. But wouldn’t it be worth the extra $5k-10k for a name school like UCLA or Cal?</p>
<p>You probably can get an OOS cost down to $15-17k or so. Paying an extra $10k-13k per year may not be worth it IF it means you have to take on more debt and/or this interferes with affording college for the other Ds AND it annoys your current wife.</p>
<p>My recommendation would be for her to look at local options to which she could commute. Both your DD and your stepDD. If your DD"s grandparents want to cough up money for her to get a room and board there, let them work it out with her. That way if they pull the financial rug out from under her, the damage is minimal as she can continue to go to school but commute. So the local UC or Cal state would be the logical pick. With summer and part time jobs plus the basic Stafford loans, both girls could commute to school and cost you $10-15K a year, maybe even less. If grandparents kick in for your daughter to board and maybe a little more, that’s that much more gravy for everyone else.</p>
<p>The problem is that the cost is for four years and you have your stepdaughter’s education running concurrently. Then you have two more kids to get through college and if your DD is going to go to law school, she might still need some financial help. Cal and UCLA is going to cost you about $35K, and even if she can come up with $10K with loans and work, it means more than $2K a month just to pay for her. Remember, you still have another tuition here, and equity is important in this household. Plus you have two more to go.</p>
<p>I can also tell you that it always ends up costing a bit more. Things happen and they cost. I’m sitting here trying to make numbers work for next year with mine, something I’ve been doing for 15 years now, and still have not mastered. It would have made things so much easier, had my son taken the free tuiton scholarship and commuted or even lived at the school.</p>
<p>UCLA and Cal are great schools…but NOT if you can’t afford to pay the costs to,attend. You have been saying over and over that you cannot afford the costs. That being the case, look for schools you CAN afford.</p>
<p>Do not make a financial decision that will jeopardize yours or your child’s future. Having debt when leaving college…and law school could well exceed $200,000. There is precious little aid for law school. Most students are full pay…and it isn’t cheap when you add in both tuition and housing/living expenses. Most law school students cannot work while attending law school full time…at least for the first two years.</p>
<p>Keep your undergrad debt to a bare minimum if law school is planned.</p>
<p>D of good friends of ours got one of the big awards at Chico. Had 2080 SAT, salutatorian, 3.9. Is about to graduate and has been getting lots of interviews. She has been very happy with her experience. Turned down Berkeley and Davis - not enough FA.</p>
<p>One of my nieces is at UGA. Not her first choice, but with the Hope Scholarship, Zell Miller and an additional award (and her custodial parent seriously underemployed), it was her best option. She also works on campus. 34 ACT, salutatorian, 4.0 UW.</p>
<p>Tufts and Georgetown do not offer merit $$ per se. There are a few merit awards wrapped in financial need. Glad to hear your D recognizes that those schools are reaches (and they are for pretty much everyone these days).</p>
<p>You really just have to stop obsessing over the “name school” issue. If you don’t want to listen to all of the reasonable posters here (:)), do your own research. Make a list of undergraduate institutions that you can afford and that your daughter might get merit aid from, then find the sections of their websites that discuss student outcomes. Look at where their graduates go to grad school or what jobs they get with a bachelor’s degree.</p>
<p>By contrast, you can also look at law schools and see where their students came from. Harvard last year had 161 undergraduate institutions represented. They are by no means all “name” schools.</p>
<p>[Undergraduate</a> Colleges](<a href=“http://www.law.harvard.edu/prospective/jd/apply/undergrads.html]Undergraduate”>http://www.law.harvard.edu/prospective/jd/apply/undergrads.html)</p>
<p>OP- make sure and have D1 take the ACT if she hasn’t already. Some kids, my son included do much better on the ACT than the SAT. It could make a difference in D1’s Merit aid offers.</p>
<p>Ok…on another thread the OP says his daughter has won $16,000 in scholarships. So OP…is this per year…or spread over four years?</p>
<p>If not being at home is a requirement, look at WUE. They aren’t GT but there are good schools that may be less than California state schools. Some out of state WUE schools cost less for us than in state Washington schools.</p>