<p>Thank you all for your great comments! It has got me thinking! I will go back and explore several SUNY options. I also agree with many on this board that the difference between a GW, AU and SUNY is not enough to take on unnecessary debt! Thank you again!</p>
<p>@Gobith </p>
<p>oh wow…that is WAY TOO MUCH DEBT.</p>
<p>Being an immigrant should not mean that you should take on such debt. I agree with @twoinanddone </p>
<p>I can understand doing the private K-12 …but to take on such debt for undergrad is soooooo not necessary. Public K-12 does have issues, and people often want to avoid. You don’t have to worry about such things with either public univs or less expensive privates.</p>
<p>You have already given your child great gifts. Dont’ take on such CRAZY debt. </p>
<p>Tell us more…what is your child’s major and career goal (if you say Engineering or Medicine then that debt is TRULY crazy.)</p>
<p>I doubt any univ is going to consider a 3.0 GPA as being much “higher” just because he went to a private. It may get looked at like a 3.2 or something, but it won’t’ overcome schools that will expect a much higher GPA.</p>
<p>You’re looking at OOS UCs…they won’t accept that GPA. </p>
<p>I am curious. Do you have any other kids? do you have both parents’ retirements fully funded. How did you pay for elite private K-12? Out of current income? If so, then why do you need to borrow so much now?</p>
<p>mom2collegekids: Thank you for your inputs. We have another kid in private school. I am an entrepreneur and was able to make a lump sum of money to support the kids through private school. However, that well has run dry and we are looking to borrow for college.
A few points:
(i) I do believe that my current entrepreneurial venture will yield results and I think I will be able to take on the college payments eventually. I don’t expect the cashing out events to occur for 3 or 4 years though. So, I need to fund the colleges using loans in the meantime.
(ii) My son really wants to look at Foreign Service and International Affairs. Hence the DC area focus. </p>
<p>However, based on your comments and others on this board, I will look seriously at SUNY as an option. </p>
<p>Best Regards,</p>
<p>Gobith, do be aware that if you own a business, the NPCs are often times not correct. A number of schools add back deductions, depreciations and do other things that make it difficult to figure out how a business will be assessed by any given PROFILE school.</p>
<p>If you want to give your kids the American dream and you think your financial situation is temporary, then perhaps if your kids go somewhere with significant merit aid you and your wife could gift them the down payments on a house. </p>
<p>Tempemom, Thank you for your inputs. Yes, you are right! There is so much more we can do that might be better for our kids. I am going to look at SUNY more closely now. Thanks…</p>
<p>@gobith I so agree with these other posters. Your student will continue to be a ‘high achiever’ in college based on really solid academics and hard work. My two kids are in state universities with scholarships and honors programs. Getting a great education. Will come out without debt. They had mostly private schools - both had almost all of high school in private school. </p>
<p>You are catching on very quickly with this. I believe you just had to have a mirror held up for you to really see not to overlook a so much better financial plan on college. </p>
<p>Try to see the public schools or schools with merit that would offer what your student is wanting at GWU. I cannot imagine GWU passing the cost-effective hurdle. See what schools really want your student and what scholarships are worth applying for - and include in-state public schools that match academic offering and have honors programs.</p>
<p><<<
(i) I do believe that my current entrepreneurial venture will yield results and I think I will be able to take on the college payments eventually. I don’t expect the cashing out events to occur for 3 or 4 years though. So, I need to fund the colleges using loans in the meantime.
(ii) My son really wants to look at Foreign Service and International Affairs. Hence the DC area focus.</p>
<p>However, based on your comments and others on this board, I will look seriously at SUNY as an option.
<<<</p>
<p>Oh yes…especially when you have another child to put thru private K-12 and thru college (and likely you need to fund your retirement.) You’d end up with $500k+ in debt for two kids’ college costs!</p>
<p>Ok…so now we know why G’town was in the mix…SFS. </p>
<p>Hopefully, there are folks here that are familiar with that career path and can suggest some less expensive schools that will get your child educated. </p>
<p>Also, consider this…Schools like G’town may not be affordable as an undergrad, but do people in that career often get grad degrees? If so, then could a school like G’town become a goal for grad school. (frankly, I think his GPA would keep him out of G’town and similar anyway.) </p>
<p>Is his career goal to become a diplomat? if not, what? </p>
<p>there must be other routes other than pricey unaffordable schools. Would any of the universities near the United Nations offer related majors?</p>
<p>Do people with FS interests ever create a major? A mix of foreign languages, foreign relations, econ, English, sociology, and business?? Do these folks go to law school?</p>
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<p>Um…there are thousands of schools where this student can get educated.</p>
<p>Re: foreign service. One needs to do very well on the foreign service exam…and the interview…to become a foreign service officer. So that should be the goal. Also, fluency in a language other than English, and experience outside OT the country. We know a gaggle of returned Peace Corps volunteers who became foreign service officers.</p>
<p>Thumper1 and mom2collegekids, Thanks for the inputs. Yes, he is FS oriented and wants to take the FS exam eventually. DC schools will definitely have an advantage here geographically. But, maybe this is a grad school option for my son later. I need to explore SUNY for international affairs types of programs. Thanks for all your inputs. We meet his college counselor today. I will bring up some of these discussions with him. Thanks. </p>
<p>Gobith, it’s a personal decision, as well as a family decision as to how much one wants to spend on a name school. I’ve seen it go either way, both ways. I do think you should look at what your options are. </p>
<p>On a sobering note, I 've seen some families truly brought down to their knees because of unrealistic commitments they made in college costs. </p>
<p>Cptofthehouse, True! It is a personal decision. A tough one. But, not so difficult either given that there are so many great colleges!! Thank you. </p>
<p>@thumper1 </p>
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<p>I hope so. But for Foreign Service, what are the other majors that would work? I’m thinking majoring in a Foreign Language, but what else?</p>
<p>A decent liberal arts eduction might be a good alternative. </p>
<p>My FIL was a career FS officer. He majored in history and economics. He was not fluent in a foreign language when he applied to,the FS…but did do language training during his career.</p>
<p>@thumper1 </p>
<p>Thank you. It totally makes sense that a degree in history and econ would also be good. I do wonder if nowadays, being fluent or near-fluent in another language is expected.</p>
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<p>Does he have a 34 composite from one sitting and a 36 composite from another? </p>
<p>Why is his GPA only a 3.0? Was he not turning in homework?</p>
<p>Thumper1 thanks. Yes, history or Econ could also be considered.
Mom2collegekids, all his scores are from 1 sitting. He is bright. But, lazy. Having said that, he fights for what he cares about. He decided a year and a half back that he was too skinny and too unhealthy. Once he decided his health was important, he got himself moving and is now on his high school football team! Having never played any competitive sports before, it is quite an achievement! I feel like he’s got religion now. He tells me that he is going to score A- in this quarter. I think an upward trend will help him a great deal. Part of the reason for his low grades is that he took tough courses: Adv Math, Chem II, Bio adv, CS advanced, History II (world and US), Literature (Russian, American). </p>
<p>I am not worried about him succeeding. Therefore, it makes sense to look at low cost alternatives. </p>
<p>He sounds like a bright kid. I agree…with that ACT score, he is going to look like an underachiever in high school. His course load in college will be challenging as well.</p>
<p>That being said…cast a wider net…look for affordable schools for your family. Find many many options. </p>
<p>Gobith, I also suggest applying to Cornell ILR. My sons got into Cornell,one off waitlist to ILR with numbers similar from rigorous privates.</p>