<p>LasMa brings up a good point. If D1 accepts the Grands offer, she may be exposing herself to a lifetime of “we did this for you so…”.</p>
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<p>Yes, but our instate med school isn’t as awesomely priced as yours. 
COA is about $45k-50k per year. Still cheaper than his 2nd choice private option of $75k per year. yikes!</p>
<p>DGDzDad -</p>
<p>Now that you have run some of the Net Price Calculators, and have a guesstimate for your FAFSA EFC, you and Mrs. DGDzDad need to sit down and define what you really do believe you can pay each year. Then, you and your entire family should start living as though you were indeed shelling out that much for educational expenses, and you should stash the amount that you have earmarked for those expenses in a separate savings vehicle. For example, if you believe that you can spend $36,000 each year, put $3,000 into a 12 month CD on the first of June, and cut $3,000 out of your regular monthly expenses for June. Repeat each month. Your family will quickly determine whether or not the austerity measures needed to slice $3,000 out each month are acceptable. Maybe they will be in a “we’re all living through the blitz together” sort of way. Or maybe they won’t. The sooner you know how much austerity your family can accept, the better. </p>
<p>If you find that $3,000 each month isn’t doable, try $2,000. If $3,000 is doable, try upping it to $4,000. Every penny that your family can learn to live without now, is a penny they won’t have to learn to live without in the future - and also will be a penny (plus maybe some interest) that will be sitting in the bank waiting to help pay down the rather ginormous costs of educating these four daughters.</p>
<p>I just checked back in and I see that I have many more great tips. This board has been a real educational experience and an eye opener. Thank you all for your input.</p>
<p>Having done some more research last night and this morning, I’m feeling a lot less panic-stricken today. I was feeling pretty low and desperate yesterday with the reality of it all hitting me in the face. Here are some facts:</p>
<p>UCLA tuition/room/board: @$28,000
Cal Poly SLO: @20,000</p>
<p>Cal Poly is less than I thought. I never even considered Cal Poly for D1 because most people think of it as a science/engineering school, as do I, and that is not D1’s track. However, they do have a poli sci dept. and a mock trial team. While it is highly competitive for the science/eng types, it is much less so (based on what I saw on the 2013 admissions thread) for social sciences (you have to declare a major on your app and they state on their website that they factor this into admissions).</p>
<p>If we spread D1’s outside scholarship money over years 1 and 2, that would bring down the cost of UCLA to $20,000/year and Cal Poly to $12,000/year. The $20,000 is maybe pushing my limits, but the $12,000 seems like a downright bargain. I don’t know if anyone could ever call Cal Poly a “safety” but it should be well within D1’s reach with her stats if she declares a poli sci major. I think I may have identified our “financial safety.”</p>
<p>I also discovered that UMass Amherst apparently has a scholarship program for high-achieving OOS students which waives the OOS tuition. You pay the in-state rate. This appears to be entirely based on merit, not need. I started a thread on the UMass board. I could not find this program on the UMass website, but a couple of CC posters have mentioned it. Maybe UMass does not brag about it to keep the peace with MA residents/taxpayers. Looks like D1’s stats would put her in contention for this program. I will need to confirm details with their admissions/FA office. If this program indeed exists and D1 qualifies, then</p>
<p>UMass-Amherst tuition/room/board: $23,000</p>
<p>That’s more than Cal Poly (not by much), and significantly less than UCLA. Spreading her scholarship money over two years would reduce the cost to $15,000/year for years 1 and 2. Not beyond reach. UMass has an Honors College for which D1 meets qualifications and just built a brand new Honors College complex with new classrooms, dorms, etc. that opens this fall. UMass also has a mock trial team and competes with Harvard, Tufts, Brandeis, and all the local bigs. So if you can’t join 'em, beat 'em. So if D1 really wants the east coast college experience, where better than in a great college town like Amherst. This might not only be attractive to D1, but an affordable option that costs less than a UC!</p>
<p>Side note on SD: For those who are worried about SD getting fair treatment and a chance to attend a 4-year right away (I’m sure she would appreciate it), she has made her own bed. Her GPA and coursework do not even qualify her for a CSU at this point. Her only viable option is to go to a CC, prove herself, and transfer to a CSU after two years.</p>
<p>p.s. for those who advised D1 to take the ACT, she is already registered to take it on June 8.</p>
<p>For those who recommend a student work, the best paying “job” some HS students can get is to really work on SATs/ACTs. Do every practice test, review answers, etc. It can open up doors.</p>
<p>OP - I’m wondering maybe SD should not have a job Senior year and instead “work” on her grades like your D1 has been doing. Perhaps by doing that she could bring her gpa up which would allow her more options?</p>
<p>I would rank SLO above some of the UCs. Maybe check and see if there is any merit at SLO. You never know especially as she is looking to poli sci or history. And if she gets in and decides to go, she could always look for some campus employment. To further defray costs, and give her some more skin in the game.</p>
<p>We are huge fans of SLO!! HUGE! And the longer you look and research the more you will find. And it works as great prep for your younger daughters as well. Well at least it did for my family.</p>
<p>See, not so terrible!</p>
<p>Kat</p>
<p>SLO is a great school in a great area, too. And I bet they would really prize getting some star social scientist type students, too.</p>
<p>Zig where everyone zags is a great strategy, imho.</p>
<p>MichiganGeorgia - Ah, if only it were that easy! We have tried everything with SD. Sent her to a magnet school for the arts her freshman year because she was into photography. She bombed. Pulled her out of there and back into mainstream HS where she promptly connected with the wrong crowd and started smoking a lot of weed. It has been a roller-coaster ride with SD. Smart girl when she applies herself, but those times are few and far between. With all the college talk starting around my house, W took SD to visit a few local CSU’s to try to hold out a carrot and get her excited about her future. We’ll see if it takes. Her part-time job is mostly on weekends, so it does not really interfere with school. She loves her job and has a great work ethic from all accounts, so I would hate to take away a real positive in her life. I also fear that if we told her to give up the job and focus on school, she’d just fritter away the extra time.</p>
<p>Don’t take her job. A lot of kids who don’t love school are really great at work. I’ve seen it with my own kids’ friends. That’s where they got their esteem, from work and how good they were at it, and the sense of being supporting of themselves.</p>
<p>Not every kid is a great student. Not every kid has to be.</p>
<p>DGDzDad, now you’re talking! You are developing some really good ideas. One thing you might not know about UMass that would be wonderful for your daughter is that kids there can take classes at the other four schools in the five-school consortium–Smith, Mt. Holyoke, Hampshire and Amherst College.</p>
<p>Is she still into photography or some other art? Being in a blended family where there is another “star” especially one the same age is probably difficult. I only ask because I too have some slow starters that really like to surprise me.</p>
<p>My oldest attended SLO until we moved and she transfered to the NC undergrad with the vet school, worked out great for her. Hence my love for SLO!</p>
<p>We all here on CC believe there is a school for everyone. Just takes time and work to find it. And sometimes the school isn’t on the 4 year track immediately after high school. Our jobs as parents is to give them the time and room to grow and discover this. Often “time” is the greatest gift we can give our children.</p>
<p>My five all took very different paths to educate and “find” themselves. Some did it at our local CC, out-of-state publics, in-state public, LACS, military service academies and an ivy. All worked out but we had to be open and sometimes think outside the box.</p>
<p>Middle daughter end up at UNM, as a classics major as a D1 athlete who graduated magna cum laude as a pre-med. She learned to cliff dive, flamenco dance, went to the balloon races, attended tribal dances, changed her sport and went to nationals in her new sport and took Navajo has another foreign language in addition to her Latin and Greek minor. She manage to carve out a “boutique” program in a very unlikely locale. Rivaled her brothers ivy Helenic studies certificate. Maybe even better! Her employment was at the school’s med center for all 4 years and she ended up publishing.</p>
<p>She turned down Penn for the above opportunity. She is still happy she did so. Penn wasn’t happy when they were turned down by her brother a year later as well!</p>
<p>Again, crafting an education takes time, a willingness to explore and look outside the box. The student really grows when they are outside their comfort zone. And if the money becomes one of the limiting factors then so be it. In your step daughter’s case right now its the money AND her stats. Again another challenge, but not impossible.</p>
<p>Kat</p>
<p>It’s kind of too late for SD to fix any issues. Senior grades don’t make much/any difference for qualifying for Calif publics that mostly use grades from 10 & 11. A CC is probably best for to fix any issues. Besides, I don’t think this family really needs to add another univ-bound student to the mix at this point.</p>
<p>On the other hand, D1 and any other Ds that are old enough can certainly work a bit to pay for their own pocket money/expences. A few hours on a Saturday &/or Sunday can cover cosmetics and other purchases.</p>
<p>Sorry to hear SD has not yet found herself, many CC kids know themselves and their passion and are self-directed and successful in HS, other apparently successful HS kids can be just doing what they are told with no inner feelings for it all, sometimes they implode away at school. If your SD is getting kudos at work that can help her gain some self confidence to feel better about herself and find what is meaningful to her.</p>
<p>Maybe when D1 goes away (SLO could be a wonderful choice, I know so many great kids who have gone there and loved it) SD will not feel she is competing (I am not saying you are making it a competition, kids do that to themselves) and hopefully SD can find her own successes. It may be too late for successful start at a 4 year, but it is not too late for a good transfer plan. I would be very careful to make sure she is truly ready to succeed, if she blows off these classes, she may blow that chance, too. </p>
<p>There are often threads from people wondering if their kid is ready, often boys, and no one wants to see a kid NOT in college, just hanging out, but better to take a gap year and do something else than squander the next chance. There are always some stories of kids coming home after one term or one year, not a good situation.</p>
<p>I think it’s important to define success in many ways, and a kid who is doing well at a job is successful. </p>
<p>At least one of the kids my oldest went to high school with got a certificate from a CC and is very successful already. He has a job some of the newly minted college grads can’t hope to have for two more years, if that.</p>
<p>The kid is an amazing salesman, add that on top of his CC tech certificate and he is happy as can be, fully self-supporting with no debt, engaged to his high school sweetheart who is about to start medical school. Can’t beat that.</p>
<p>Success comes in a lot of different wrappers.</p>
<p>DGdz…glad to see you looking at some other options. You might want to look at a couple of the SUNY schools, particularly Binghamton and Stonybrook. Both are well regarded and the cost for OOS students is in your range. I do not know if either school offers mock trial.</p>
<p>Ooh. And don’t forget geneseo of the SUNY. Great public lac. Good idea thumper</p>
<p>katwkittens said: “Maybe check and see if there is any merit at SLO.”</p>
<p>When I applied to Cal Poly, I did receive a merit award. I was completely surprised by this since I was an OOS applicant without financial need. I would like to believe that California also awards merit to their more-deserving instate applicants as well.</p>
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<p>Consider the risk that SD will need extra time in college. If she does not have the minimum a-g course requirements for UC/CSU, she is likely to be unprepared for college and will likely need remedial courses. She may also have difficulty handling a full course load at college. Fortunately, CC is cheap that extra time there to take remedial courses won’t be too big a drain. However, if she has difficulty with full course loads, you may be looking at five or more semesters (or seven or more quarters) at UC/CSU for her after transfer, rather than four semesters (or six quarters).</p>
<p>StepD may find herself at a CC. She can explore a few majors and find her fit.</p>
<p>Will StepD need her own car to drive to her CC?</p>