<p>I can't help but snicker at the ridiculousness of higher education costs. Both my parents and I (I'm their oldest) knew that cost was going to be an issue for me, because all the schools I was interested in were either public ivies or expensive private U's. </p>
<p>In the end, the ultimate deciding factor in my choice if university was the price tag.</p>
<p>I'm curious, is the price the deciding factor for a lot of people? For me, price was everything, because my middle-class family's EFC is so bafflingly high.</p>
<p>I really don't think cost should be the deciding factor, any thoughts?</p>
<p>I have yet to receive decisions and FA packages, but cost will likely be the biggest factor in my choice. It was what drove most of applications to schools, because college is only affordable for me if I get into a top school. And yes, I don’t believe it should be the deciding factor.</p>
<p>There is a myth many buy into that they’ll be able to go to any college. That there’s financial aid for all. But as iron Maiden says, college is just another consumer product in America, you buy what you can afford. And yes, costs are downright ridiculous. Increasing numbers have to start part time and work their way through.</p>
<p>In the end, the ultimate deciding factor in my choice if university was the price tag.</p>
<p>I’m curious, is the price the deciding factor for a lot of people? For me, price was everything, because my middle-class family’s EFC is so bafflingly high.</p>
<p>I really don’t think cost should be the deciding factor, any thoughts?</p>
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<p>Well, of course cost needs to be a deciding factor. Who is supposed to pay? If college education (for publics and privates) were free, that would require a heavy subsidy from gov’ts…which means more taxes for everyone. Why should a person without kids or someone who isn’t going to go to college heavily subsidize others’ college educations? They already subsidize K-12. </p>
<p>Most people do have to consider cost about EVERYTHING…the home they buy, the cars they buy, etc. </p>
<p>Going to college (especially a sleep-away and/or private) is a LUXURY…just like buying a pricey car.</p>
<p>I’m scratching my head wondering WHO you think should pay for kids to go to the school of their choice?</p>
<p>Cost is always the reason for those that don’t have the money. We had a very high EFC too and we just set the price to what our state flagship cost. Our EFC is almost double what the cost of a state college coa but it does not matter. We don’t have the money to send 3 kids to private college no matter what the government says we can spend. We have only been making the amount of money we make for a few years so didn’t have the 18 years to save like the government thinks we did. I love how the govenment thinks the height of you earning potential is a good means to determine past, present and future spending we are suppose to support.</p>
<p>With your stats, you had some good merit scholarship options.</p>
<p>In another post, it sounds like your parents are willing to pay up to about $25k…is that still true?</p>
<p>With your stats, you could have had several merit options that would have cost your parents less than $20k.</p>
<p>You’re lucky…not only are your parents willing to spend a good amount of money, but you have good stats. The kids that are really in deep do-do are the ones with modest stats and have parents who won’t/can’t pay. They have the fewest options.</p>
<p>This is exactly the mindset of a highfalutin society that places too much emphasis on business. In other nations in Europe and East Asia college is open to everyone without cost being a major factor as tuition is significantly cheaper. The students who get admitted go through rigorous years of studying and their fate is literally decided by a final test. There is no ability to apply to ten different colleges or have a backup plan. Going to university is a much higher priority than making money in other countries so why should America (the richest nation in the world) monopolize on higher education? </p>
<p>In other nations in Europe and East Asia college is open to everyone without cost being a major factor as tuition is significantly cheaper.</p>
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<p>Uh no…college is NOT open to “everyone” in other countries. Many/most/all of those countries weed out kids early on thru testing, etc, put them into “tracks”, and THAT’S what decides WHO can go to college. Thankfully, the US doesn’t do that.</p>
<p>Yeah colleges in other countries are limiting their costs by preventing a large number of their citizens from gaining an education. We let kids with 1.8 high school GPA and 1000 combined SAT start college. Even on tax payers dimes so that we can feel like we still have the American dream. I personally feel we need to meet in the middle. I really do believe the cost of college would come down if we limited to some extent the qualifications necessary to be accepted to our universities. State flagships and honor colleges should not have to offer remedial course work. It is more costly to attend an university than a CC. Often these students don’t graduate at all or on time. There are other less costly methods for students to get ready for college.</p>
<p>This was such a hard time for us. Like many people have mentioned here, we too, had a high EFC. I was a bit shocked nonetheless. I just couldn’t imagaine how anyone thought I could come up with the full price of college. Not having any saving and living in an area where my real estate taxes have doubled into double digits and my husbands salary hasn’t increased since 9/11, it just made no sense. My cars were 10 years old plus, I live in a moderate home, with moderate amenities. Unlike many of my neigbors and friends I wasn’t putting in 100K kitchens and bathrooms during the boom period etc. So the bottomline was that we lived within our means and I never over extended my credit. Ha! Ha! So the joke was on me because now I have great credit with great borrowing abilities. So I’m footing the bill. I don’t have a problem paying for my bills. I just have a problem when others don’t pay for theirs. They are over extended and foreclosing, because they couldn’t live within their means. Now their kid is going off to college and there is plenty of help for them. Great! Poor choices are rewarded. :(</p>
<p>Okay so I’m sorry that I got off topic a bit. Back to the original question. Yes, cost is important. However, after we were hit with the reality that there really was no money out there for us. I sat down and started to really look at my finances. Like I mentioned we never over extended ourselves and there were areas that we could cut back on. Silly things like when we would go to the mall on the weekend we always ate out for lunch. When I say we ate out, I mean we grabbed a slice of pizza. But that adds up. I started cutting back on all those frivolous things and so far we are able to afford college. We will definitely come out with debt by the time we are done with both kids but thats life and you only live once. Its been very hard but once we gave S the option to look at the privates we felt like he should have the option to go if he wanted. He is very happy at school and at the end of the day thats what was most important to us. It was the best place for him and we have no regrets.</p>
<p>“They are over extended and foreclosing, because they couldn’t live within their means. Now their kid is going off to college and there is plenty of help for them. Great! Poor choices are rewarded.”</p>
<p>Unless those kids have incredible stats, chances are that they aren’t being “rewarded”. And if they had incredible stats, they likely would have been “rewarded” anyway no matter how much money their parents had. There just isn’t all that much aid out there. Most kids without good stats are left with nothing more than an unsubsidized Stafford loan and a sign pointing them to the local community college. Parents who have money available to give their kids options other than debt and/or a community college start should be delighted with themselves! Hell, I know I would have been!</p>
<p>Of course you’re correct when you say that it only pertains to kids with great stats. But let me correct you when you say that good stats would get you money regardless, because thats simply not true. This I know from experience.</p>
<p>I suppose like anything else it all depends. However, I was extremely surprised at how few schools gave anything…And when money was given it was literally pennies. Certainly nothing that would even begin to make a dent in the bill.</p>
<p>One school that gave lots was TULANE. In case anyone is interested in that school. They are extremely generous. Other than that out of 13 schools my S applied to he received nothing!!!</p>
<p>When it came to merit awards, my D got everything from 100k (over 4 years) to zero. Same kid, same stats, same (high!) EFC. It really depends on the college, it has nothing to do with EFC–and everything to do with how the high-stats applicant fits into their admissions pool.</p>
<p>To the OP’s question–yes, for us, money was a key deciding factor. My D was fortunate to have a few choices all costing what we could afford, because we researched to find places that would be likely to reward her for her stats, ECs, and study interests. </p>
<p>And while having a high EFC means little/no aid–I wouldn’t trade it for being a low/zero EFC family. I know way too many of them and their kids, except the ones with amazing stats, either can’t afford to go to school at all or are scraping to go to community college. I know several high-stat low EFC kids who couldn’t come up with 4,000-5,000/year to attend top privates–and whose parents wouldn’t or couldn’t take loans due to bad credit or low income.</p>
<p>“Good stats will get a student money regardless of their EFC. Just maybe not at their first choice school.”</p>
<p>This is very, very true. The student/parents just need to be pro-active and find which schools will give lots of merit for that child’s strong stats. </p>
<p>The students who have it rough are the ones with “nice stats” that aren’t high enough for big merit (if big merit is needed to make college affordable).</p>
<p>We are a full-pay family, so we knew going in to the process with D1 that she wouldn’t receive any money at schools that only award need-based aid. She was a NMF with good stats, so we also knew that there would be some big merit awards at some schools. Her final list of schools was a mix–some where we’d be footing the entire bill, others where we reasonably expected her to get $5-$20k a year off of rack rate. </p>
<p>Her list could have easily been made up entirely of expensive no-merit-aid schools, in which case there’d have been pretty much no aid offered. If we placed firm budget limits, then her list would have been entirely schools that buy high stats kids with big merit. Then I’d be talking about how schools just seem to throw money at their accepted students. :)</p>
<p>Applying for college when you’re also looking for scholarship money is like painting a room–the final outcome depends heavily on the prep work. :D</p>
<p>My wife and I are both teachers. It took us a while to reach an income level where we would now be regarded as upper income as it relates to financial aid. My son has very high stats and is a NMF. I am quite sure that IF he applied to the tippy top schools he would have been admitted to at least a couple of them. We knew going in, however, that we did not want to stretch ourselves to pay for an “elite” school. After many family discussions he fully understood that he could apply only to schools that would most likely offer at least full tuition scholarships. To some this may seem restrictive. My dad would simply say, “Who do you think I am Rockefeller?”.</p>
<p>He is, by the way, very pleased with the end result. He will be attending a great though not elite school and mom and dad will still have money left over to spoil him rotten in other ways.</p>
Its been very hard but once we gave S the option to look at the privates we felt like he should have the option to go if he wanted. He is very happy at school and at the end of the day thats what was most important to us. It was the best place for him and we have no regrets.</p>