Absolutely. Both kids ended up choosing the same school (though they won’t be in together.) Private LAC with awesome financial packages. Beautiful campus. I do wish they chose to be closer to home but I fully understand the appeal of a new state, climate and experience.
@eb23282 One approach could have been asking you about do you like big versus small or does it not matter?..something like that. Non judgmental; just make sure they are thinking through tradeoffs. But you have tread carefully and not provide opinions. It’s hard.
Yeah - dad was pretty quiet with me as I am with my D. However, I did expose her to a variety of sizes and settings so she could narrow her choices to environments she thinks she’ll like. She’s decided on small, and who am I to disagree?
No but I tried very hard not to overly influence her decision. She is at that school and it is a great fit for her (even though I’m still not thrilled). I am happy that she is happy.
I loved ShawSon’s choice. In fact, I suggested adding it to the pool. It worked out very well.
ShawD’s chose her school in part because of the feeling and spirit. It was a very good school but I was concerned it wasn’t a great fit. Large school with grades largely determined by an exam or two – didn’t seem like a great fit for her. She only applied to two schools and was admitted to both. The other school was smaller and more personalized – the president already knew her and had recruited her – and would have fit her well, but she is actively Jewish and the student body had a very low percentage of Jewish students. In any case, in the first week of school, she discovered that one could study nursing and wanted to switch to nursing from science/biology. She was told she’d need to reapply for next year as she was admitted in the Faculty of Science and not the Faculty of Nursing. In that semester, she also discovered that she didn’t really like the big class/test system of the school. So, she applied to transfer (to only one school) and was admitted for the next semester to a nursing program that offered a five year joint BSN/MSN program (automatic admission to MSN program if her GPA was high enough). The program was perfect for her and better than studying nursing at her first school as at the new school, she had her clinicals in Harvard, Tufts and BU teaching hospital and worked for a couple of years at a Partners hospital. Socially, I’m not sure it was so great for her, but she was president of Hillel for two years and generally happy with the Jewish scene in Boston. She’s now working as a Nurse Practitioner doing primary care and loves her work. In her second job, she joined a practice which was losing a GP and has taken over the doctor’s panel of patients.
S1, big state U, his first choice and his only app since he was an auto-admit.
D, same big state U, applied more broadly but chose it as her #1 in a beauty contest after admissions.
S2, highly ranked private but meets 100% need and was his #1 when applying. He loved his first year.
Three kids go to their #1 choice, affordable with aid, all love their experience. What’s not to like?
Yes. I’m thrilled with the opportunities available to her and the experiences she is having (all on their dime). 
Its not perfect, but it is a really good fit.
Yes. In his junior year my oldest had a list of around a dozen schools that he picked out of the air. Most were thousands of miles away from home and my husband and I referred to them as “Hollywood schools.” Well, senior year rolled around and he ended up applying to only three schools (one reach, one match, and a safety). He chose the match - a large, urban, state college not far from home. He has a great GPA, has grown up a bit, and made some good friends. It worked out well.
Yes with both kids and even with my daughter’s decision to transfer. We are spending @ProfessorPlum168 $35,000 though… But with my daughter’s transfers her merit money actually went up $20,000-to $38,000 
@Knowsstuff hahaha…unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) all the money is tied to his 529. Furtheremore if everything goes right he’ll graduate in 3 years. Seriously, what does one do with excess 529 monies? I guess it could be used for our D for law school? but my wife said that I didn’t have to worry about it, she’ll take care of her side of the family.
We were happy with the choice S made, but more than that we were happy with the process he used. He basically followed what most CC’ers recommend. He came up with a list of reach, match, and safeties. He researched each one and let us know why they were on his list. His goal was to love his list and not an individual school. He toured several on his list and dropped one after his tour. So, we liked his choice, but loved his approach.
@ProfessorPlum168 same issue with us but he might do a 5 year bs/ms… He is targeted for 3.5years now. Since he is going to be a sophomore we are looking into this. He might do a minor or double major and /study abroad. Lots of positive decision to make.
You can transfer to your daughter. If there is any left over I think you pay a small penalty but can cash it out. Transfer to Ira for them. Remember I think like computers etc for school you can use it also.
Just read they can use it if they set up a business entity in college. They can use for expenses for it. Will have to talk to the accountant about this one… Hmm
@Knowsstuff “If there is any left over I think you pay a small penalty but can cash it out”
Correct, but keep in mind a few things in cashing out the 529 plan, you pay a 10% penalty on the gains plus any state and federal income tax on those gains, however the principle (contribution) is not taxed since the plan was funded with after-tax dollars on the federal level (some states may allow annual state tax deductions for 529 contributions up to a certain amount whereas you would owe additional back taxes on a cashout).
I could see some families paying more than 50% tax/penalties on their gains if they cash out their excess 529 plan. For example, 100K cashout (50% principle/50% gains), This family would net 75K after paying 25K in Federal & State taxes/Penalties.
Hmm…
We won’t have that kind of money left over if anything at all… We have been looking into this to plan ahead. The idea was if anything left over it will go for graduate school costs
I visited our D’s top three college choices with her when she was a high school senior. I agreed with her top choice (her dream school which she applied for ED), and we are very thankful she was offered admission to that highly selective LAC. She’s now a rising senior there and we are still very pleased with her choice.
@socaldad2002 @Knowsstuff yeah it would be around $130K-ish excess. I wonder if that car that he needs to transport himself from off-campus housing to school could be purchased via this money… (I’m only half-kidding about this hehe).