<p>I love the whole holistic aspect of US higher education admissions, but I think a combination of that and the European method of subsidizing would be ideal.</p>
<p>College costs, like healthcare costs, have separated the consumer from the payer. With so much financial aid, scholarships and grants the true cost of college has been blurred. I believe colleges both public and private have calculated what it costs to educate everyone they decide to accept, determine how many will be able to pay how much, and then come up with a tuition rate which reflects the cost, not to send an individual student to school but the cost to send that student and then subsidize others who will not have the ability to pay. This results in much higher published tuition rates and unfortunately the middle and upper middle class, who previous could afford to save for the true cost of college are now priced out of the system. In the past far fewer people applied to college, and those who did most likely paid full fair as scholarships were rare. The cost of college more likely reflected the cost of actually educating a student. I do not have a solution to the dilemma. I make a modest income and save, however, I at best can cover the cost of our EFC. It makes no sense for us to ruin ourselves financially to pay full fare for even a state school. My child is bright and should be eligible for merit aid, but I feel it’s unfortunate that I will be unable to send her to college without it. Good luck everyone.</p>
<p>College costs, like healthcare cost, have separated the consumer from the payer. With so much financial aid, scholarships and grants the true cost of college has been blurred. I believe colleges both public and private have calculated what it costs to educate everyone they decide to accept, determine how many will be able to pay how much, and then come up with a tuition rate which reflects the cost, not to send an individual student to school but the cost to send that student and then subsidize others who will not have the ability to pay. This results in much higher published tuition rates and unfortunately the middle and upper middle class, who previous could afford to save for the (true cost) of college are now priced out of the system. In the past far fewer people applied to college, and those who did most likely paid full fair as scholarships were rare. The cost of college more likely reflected the cost of actually educating a student. I do not have a solution to the dilemma. I make a modest income and save, however, I at best can cover the cost of our EFC. It makes no sense for us to ruin ourselves financially to pay full fare for even a state school. My child is bright and should be eligible for merit aid, but I feel it’s unfortunate that I will be unable to send her to college without it. Good luck everyone.</p>
<p>Count me in with those who say yes, cost is a factor. It drove both my kids’ applications, and D got the better end of the deal than S. Both kids had high ACT scores and high GPAs. Sometimes you win the merit lottery, other times you don’t … and you can’t “expect” you will, or you may be very disappointed. D couldn’t go to her first choice, because although they meet 100% of need, the combination of aid used contained too much in loans. Her first school was affordable through merit - the school she transferred to was affordable at first through need based aid and then through some amazing endowed scholarships that had a component of need. S got merit offers, but none were all that much. He went to the school with the combination of the best program for the best price. Was it his first choice? No, but that’s life.</p>
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<p>Unless they have money. Then they can send their kids who didn’t get into the good U in their home country here to the US where many colleges will be glad to take them on as full-pay international students.</p>
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<p>Very true, though there’s certainly a healthy dash of luck/fate in there too.</p>
<p>FWIW, money is a HUGE factor in S’ school choice. Only not THE factor within a pretty small range of cost.</p>
<p>Count me in with those who say yes, cost is a factor. It drove both my kids’ applications, and D got the better end of the deal than S. Both kids had high ACT scores and high GPAs. Sometimes you win the merit lottery, other times you don’t </p>
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<p>As for the merit aid lottery… It can largely depend on whether you also apply to some schools with known assured merit for stats…then it’s not a lottery…it’s a sure thing. </p>
<p>But, yes, if you’re applying to schools that only give competitive merit, then it is a lottery and the amount awarded can’t be predicted…especially if you don’t have some hook.</p>
<p>Just to remind everyone that the low EFC kids do have a rough time coming up with their $4-5000 after the federally funded loans and fin aid. Older son has a good friend who worked 2 jobs and babysat over the winter break so she could go back to her state school this Spring! Her parents have a large family and are not able to help her at all. It is a dose of reality to see how hard she works to go to school!</p>
<p>In response to one of the questions asked, my parents told me they would pay for most of college as long as I did well in high school/university (and I far exceeded their expectations, one of the reasons why cost is the main issue). Also, my stats and EC’s will net me around 20,000-30,000 in scholarship and grants over the next 4 years… but that’s nowhere close to covering EFC for even one year.</p>
<p>Just to remind everyone that the low EFC kids do have a rough time coming up with their $4-5000 after the federally funded loans and fin aid.</p>
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<p>Yes, it is rough. Kids in this situation need to start working/saving the entire summer before school starts…and work part-time during the school year… It’s nearly impossible to earn that much to put towards college while actually in school or over winter break. </p>
<p>However, I don’t know what you mean by earning “their $4-5k”…I don’t think many schools that that high of a student contribution…unless you’re talking about a gap in funding or parents who aren’t paying their EFC. </p>
<p>That said, since it is hard to come up with $4k-5k or more for college, most kids in that situation don’t go away to school…they commute to a local CC or state univ.</p>
<p>Well costs of American colleges are very high, but be aware that those money serve something. Here in Europe, even though universities are cheaper, American so-so high school has much more facilities and is much mbetter equipped than the best university here…</p>
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<p>Um… you really think that podunk high school is better equipped than places like Oxford, Cambridge, etc? </p>
<p>You’re living in a dream world.</p>
<p>ETA: According to <a href=“Explore the World's Top Universities”>Explore the World's Top Universities; at least 30+ universities in the top 100 (that’s all I made it through) are in Europe. There are many, many fine European universities.</p>
<p>Note that Oxbridge is rather an exception than a standard and I’m not talking about academics.</p>
<p>Cost was definitely a factor for DS. We are not full pay at FAFSA only schools, but profile schools may be too high due to self employment. </p>
<p>He applied to 4 schools where he was assured of good merit aid, and has received an average of 16,000 at each. He is interviewing for a full tuition scholarship at one of them next week. The three ivies will not give us enough even if he gets in, so he was told if he wins the lottery and we win the lottery he can go there. The last school we still have not heard from, and he should receive merit, but not enough to compensate for full tuition somewhere else.</p>
<p>So he knows he has to settle, and seems comfortable with it but I worry that down the road he will regret not going to a more prestigious school. Hopefully, he will realize that having no loans when he gets out is better.</p>
<p>We are fortunate in that we could afford to send our D to any of the schools where she applied. She didn’t have a “dream” school; there were no reaches on her list and she applied to 5 schools, 3 of which I would consider safeties for her. She has a full tuition merit scholarship to one of her schools (a safety), and that’s the one she just chose. Although I’m sure she did give consideration to the money she would be saving us, I wouldn’t say that she made the decision based on costs - she chose the school she liked the best and the money was a bonus.</p>
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<p>When most white collar jobs require you to have a college education to secure even an entry level position, higher education should not be a “luxury.” At a minimum, community colleges and state schools need to be within reach of average- and low-income students. Otherwise, we perpetuate the current plutocracy where the poor stay poor, and children of the rich get even richer due in part to their easy access to “brand name” universities. I for one would rather have system where kids get “tracked” according to grades and merit rather than parental income!</p>
<p>That said, OP, price does need to be a factor in your decision making, but I don’t think it should be the only one. We are not sending our D to her very pricey dream school because we can’t afford it. However, she has several other great choices that – due to merit aid – promise to be within our budget. We have told her to consider academic and research programs, internship possibilities, and “goodness of fit” at each school, as well as the price tag.</p>
<p>kpgriswold, I completely agree with you. college, even a sleep away school should not be a luxury afforded only by the wealthy. Yes, cost should be in the decision making, but not the only one. My daughter has been accepted to many wonderful schools of her choice and they are much more reasonably priced after her merit scholarships. A students hard work should be congratulated and rewarded. I’ve always told my kids that any merit money they receive is like a paycheck for all their hard work during high school.</p>
<p>kpgriswold:
Community colleges and state universities ARE within reach. The community college nearest my home lists the 2011-2012 tuition as being slightly more than $2300. I realize that books and transportation costs would add to that figure, but a “poor” kid (even with mediocre high-school grades) could live at home and still afford those costs because they would qualify for a Pell Grant! Hard-working poor kids with good grades can earn enough with institutional merit scholarships, private merit scholarships, Pell Grants, work-study, etc. to attend a state university without having to max out on student loans. I know this because I have 3 kids currently attending university under these circumstances.</p>
<p>My Quote:
Going to college (especially a sleep-away and/or private) is a LUXURY…just like buying a pricey car.</p>
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kpgriswold quote: When most white collar jobs require you to have a college education to secure even an entry level position, higher education should not be a “luxury.” At a minimum, community colleges and state schools need to be within reach of average- and low-income students. Otherwise, we perpetuate the current plutocracy where the poor stay poor, and children of the rich get even richer due in part to their easy access to “brand name” universities. I for one would rather have system where kids get “tracked” according to grades and merit rather than parental income!"</p>
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<p>Did you misread my quote? I didn’t say that going to college is a luxury. I say going to a “sleep away” college is a luxury…and it is. </p>
<p>Many students (maybe most) live within commuting distance of a public univ and CC. </p>
<p>It is not reasonable to expect tax-payers to pay for room and board…especially when these kids could commute from home to a local school. If you think that kids who graduate from local state schools can’t be successful, then that is certainly not true.</p>
<p>If someone wants to take out student loans and work over the summer to pay for room and board, then fine. If so, they may quickly determine that their local school will serve just fine.</p>
<p>Actually, you DID say going to college is a luxury. You said ESPECIALLY sleep-away or private. That means that ALL college is a luxury but ESPECIALLY those two.</p>
<p>If college wasn’t a luxury, everyone would have a college degree, and the college degree would be useless. There would still be the same number of available blue-collar and white-collar jobs. Just sayin’. We can’t ALL go to college.</p>