<p>I will be hearing back from the schools that I have applied to on the Common App (UChicago, NYU, and UVA) at the end of March or in early April, but I'd like to have some clarity on this issue before I get to that point in time.</p>
<p>I am a senior in high school, and I've already been accepted to the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. Since I'm in-state and have a 30 on my ACT and 3.9 GPA, I'm eligible for every state scholarship, and I've already received a $3000 per year scholarship from UTK. With all my scholarships combined, my cost for going to UTK is going to be considerably smaller (around $10,000 a year) so financially, that is a very strong option for me right now.</p>
<p>On the other hand, I would really like to get into one of my dream schools, specifically UVA. However, the costs for all three of these schools are basically $50,000 a year. I am not saying that I am sure that I'm getting in to these because I am very nervous about all of them actually, but in the event that I did, I can't decide whether I'd rather pick a lesser undergrad school for a cheaper price or a great institution like UVA but be swamped in costs.</p>
<p>I guess this question is more directed towards anyone on here that is already in college or has graduated that has been in a similar situation; I'd like to know how the financial aspect affected your decision?</p>
<p>Some families can pay 50k each year for four years, and are delighted to be able to do so for their children. However, most families can’t. Sit your parents down now, and talk with them about the money situation so that you know what their limits are. Then when you do have all of your aid packages on the table, run the numbers here [FinAid</a> | Calculators | Award Letter Comparison Tool](<a href=“Your Guide for College Financial Aid - Finaid”>Award Letter Requirements - Finaid) That will help you figure out which ones are affordable for you.</p>
<p>UVA will run you around $9-10K per yr less than NYU and UChicago once all is said and done. It’ll still be expensive (around $47K/yr), but not quite as bad as the privates. If you qualify for F/A, it could be less (same with NYU and UChicago). Will you be in an honors program at TN?</p>
<p>Like happymom says, have that money talk. If the money talk runs along the lines of …go ahead and pile on as much debt as you like if it makes you happy…come back here and we’ll get a lot more specific about the trade-offs.</p>
<p>Happymomof1: Thank you for that cost calculator! I’ll be sure to use it once I’ve gathered all of my finances.</p>
<p>Erin’s Dad: The reason that I am worried about UVA is that I am an upper-middle-class white male so I doubt that I will be able to get any school aid from them.</p>
<p>Jc40: Yeah I’ve found that overall is the UVA is the least expensive, but a $3000 or so difference between it and the other two is still not a huge benefit for me. I’ve also done the FAFSA, and I won’t be able to qualify for any OOS federal aid. Sadly, I won’t be in the Honors Program at UTK, but I’ve slashed my costs there by around $10,000 so I don’t really care too much.</p>
<p>M’s Mom: My parents have told me that they are willing to support me financially, and I supposedly have a large amount of money saved up for paying for college, but my issue is that I don’t think I will be able to pay for college after my second year. Recently, they’ve kind of been more open to the idea of me going to UTK for undergrad and then going to a nice grad school. Is that a more cost-effective idea?</p>
As uncomfortable as it could be, you need specifics. Is the large amount you supposedly have saved up > $200K? If so, go for it! If it’s $20K, which is also a “large amount”, then you’d better go for cheap. Are your parents <em>able</em> as well as willing to pay $55K / year for four years? How likely are you to go to grad school?</p>
<p>I’m the parent in this exact situation. We have nothing saved. We live in CA, middle income Asian parents. Both parents are college educated. For us its almost all the money talk, with some subjectivity for quality. We are willing to go into debt but the idea of breaking $60-75k after four years makes our stomach go in knots.</p>
<p>Depends on what they have saved. The tier 2 school discussion made some really good points. Will you be challenged if you went to UTK? How much will be the difference over four years less the savings from your parents. You should look at the big picture not the first and second year. Over four years how much would you owe. Are you 100% sure you’re going to grad school. Stuff like that.</p>
<p>What is your EFC? What can your parents pay? I’m confused because you said that they would “support you financially” but you were worried that you could only pay for one year. If they are able to pay for all four years, why don’t they?</p>
<p>If you have a high EFC that your parents can’t really pay (not uncommon situation), then you will have to look at cheaper options than 50K+ schools. You will not get financial aid and you will only be allowed to borrow about 30K via Stafford loans over four years (that’s not every year). That’s the amount that the federal government thinks it’s prudent to allow undergraduates to borrow for the whole four years! If you do borrow more via private loans, that’s very foolish and it can destroy your life. Don’t do it. No school is worth it. UTK is a fine option.</p>
<p>What is your EFC? What can your parents pay? I’m confused because you said that they would “support you financially” but you were worried that you could only pay for one year. If they are able to pay for all four years, why don’t they?</p>
<p>=======</p>
<p>Oh wow…I missed that. </p>
<p>Do you really think that they will ONLY PAY FOR ONE YEAR??? Why is that?</p>
<p>Anyway…if there’s ANY possibility that your parents will NOT pay for all 4 years, then you really have no choice but to go to UT-K. YOU cannot bbrrow enough by yourself to pay for those dream schools if your parents stop paying.</p>
<p>YOU can borrow the following…</p>
<p>5500 frosh
6500 soph
7500 jr
7500 sr</p>
<p>To borrow more would require co-signers AND could likely be a very dangerous risk.</p>
Two years can be paid for, but the issue still exists. If that’s the case then it might be better to start at a CC and transfer after two years there.</p>
<p>Sorry for responding so sporadically. I’ll try to hit the main points of your questions:</p>
<p>-The large amount of money that I am referring to is somewhere between $100-150K.</p>
<p>-I believe that UTK will be somewhat challenging, but not very. I’ve attended an academic magnet school since 5th grade and am used to a rigorous schedule. UTK isn’t a top 100 overall school so I don’t expect it to be too difficult once I’ve gotten into the rhythm of collegiate life. </p>
<p>-I could pay for UTK and still have a lot of money left over by the time that I finish undergrad studies. On the flip side, in the chance that I got into one of my dream schools and went to one of them, I would probably be a good $50-75K in debt.</p>
<p>-My parents are willing to help me pay for as much money as they can give, but I also have three younger siblings that they’ll need to pay for, and my dad is also at a point in his career where he is moving towards retirement and making considerably less than he did 5 years ago.</p>
<p>-Grad school is still very far away for me, and though I’ve enrolled as a Communications major, I have a really strong feeling that will change. In all honesty, I am not sure whether or not I want to go to grad school, but I feel like in our current job market, it’s extremely beneficial to have gone to it. That is why the idea of going to UTK for undergrad is appealing. I feel like if I cut costs now, I’ll be able to afford a nice grad school, maybe even at UVA, in the event that I decide to go.</p>
<p>There is a big difference between a 100K college war chest and a 150K war chest (although both are nice), and you still are unsure, really, of how much your parents can afford. You really need to nail down these numbers more exactly. Encourage your parents to tell you exactly how much money they can give you, given their other financial obligations. Frankly, if your parents have 4 children to educate, they probably do have some fairly tight limits.</p>
<p>Did you apply anywhere else besides Chicago, NYU, and Virginia? If you are a credible candidate for admission in those places, your stats would be high enough for you to get merit aid at a lot of other places besides UTK. There is a lot of “space” in the rankings between your three favorites and your safety.</p>
<p>If you are really not happy with UTK and you cannot afford Chicago/NYU/Virginia, you might consider taking a gap year and reapplying at places that would give you merit aid (although not as much as your instate option). Merit aid does not depend on your family’s ability to pay.</p>
<p>On the other hand, you should also do more research into UTK. Have you visited departments, attended prospective students’ day, etc. or are you just evaluating it according to hearsay? Many people look down on the local option (familiarity breeds contempt and all that), but you may find that UTK has far more to offer than you think. And if you take the right classes and seek out the right peers, I highly doubt that you will be unchallenged academically. Does UTK have an honors college you could participate in?</p>
<p>-The large amount of money that I am referring to is somewhere between $100-150K.</p>
<hr>
<p>You need to find out exactly how much you have for YOU (and not your siblings). If the number is closer to 100k, then you only have enough for two years.</p>
<p>If there are four kids in the family, does that mean that your parents have about 500k saved just for college…in addition to regular family savings/investments? Or does it mean that your parents still need to be contributing to your younger siblings’ accts, even though your dad has suffered a loss of income. if so, it doesn’t sound like they’ll be able to be adding much to your acct.</p>
<p>It sounds like your family wil not qualify for FA. It sounds like your family has good income, high assets, but needs to start preparing for retirement.</p>
<p>If that’s the case, then you will run out of money. Did you apply anywhere else that might award you some merit to help stretch your college savings acct?</p>
<p>What is your major and likely career? There really aren’t very many majors or careers that could justify paying full freight at a pricey school.</p>
College is as challenging as YOU make it to be. You have the option of taking challenging courses outside your major, becoming involved in student activities, working… Going to NYU or UVA will not automatically make it more challenging than UTK.</p>
<p>For the record, I do know exactly how much I have. I was just using a range for the sake of some confidentiality.
They are the only three colleges that I’ve applied to aside from UTK. My stats are not high enough to get merit-based scholarships at any of them however. (30 is average for UVA and NYU and at the lower end of the scale for UChicago.)
Like I’ve said before, I’ve applied as a Communications major, but I feel like that is very subject to change. I’m hoping that being in General Studies for a year will give me some time to survey what kinds of majors are available and appealing to me.
I wasn’t trying to say that UTK is inferior to UVA. The thing with UTK is that it is a massive school (30,000 undergrad or so). Some classroom sizes can be 300 people which I feel like would make the classes a lot less engaging and less focused on one’s actual understanding, whereas UVA’s class sizes are supposedly very small which leads me to believe that the work is more comprehensive and therefore more challenging.
Also I believe that I have the most saved up out of my siblings, and I also believe that the money will probably stop flowing into my account once I actually get into college. Aghh the more I think about it, the more I feel like UTK is my most viable option!</p>
<p>I do get it about the big classes, I really do. I had the luxury of graduating from a small cozy LAC where my largest lecture class was about 50 people. Then I made a career change, and ended up at my home-state public U in intro-level classes of 200 and up. Yes, the experience is different. But guess what? At the big U there probably are discussion sections (sometimes “required” sometimes “optional”) that are led by grad students or even the professor him/herself. The faculty are plenty approachable if you just get brave and turn up during their office hours. AND just like at that cozy little LAC, what you get out of the class is mostly up to you. </p>
<p>When you have all of your aid packages, run the numbers. Maybe UTK will end up being your only viable option. Maybe it won’t. But please be assured that you can be fully successful there if you choose to be.</p>