<p>If your parents started socking money away NOW for payment in July, surely they could squirrel away several more thousand. </p>
<p>3K isn't going to pay for much at most colleges. That doesn't even cover a meal plan for my son's school.</p>
<p>have you applied to these other schools on your list. I would do so ASAP. You have already missed a deadline for merit aid at Sewanee
Financial</a> Aid & Scholarships | Admissions | Sewanee: The University of the South</p>
<p>and University</a> of Tennessee: Template (2-Column 760px Width) the deadline for the some scholarships has passed (but this is the cheapest school on your list)</p>
<p>
[quote]
maybe my chances of qualifying for the tuition exchange program if anyone is familiar with that
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Irish....the above is from another post of yours a while ago. Did you apply for tuition exchange with Bucknell? In looking at their website, it appears that they DO participate in the program...but I know that the applications for next year were due in the early fall. What is your status on that? That would certainly impact your financial aid award. If you got tuition exchange, your NEED would be drastically reduced (by the amount of the tuition exchange). Perhaps this is why your need based aid is low. BUT did you GET the tuition exchange award...sometimes those don't come out until later in the process.</p>
<p>Do you have a parent who teaches at a college? If so, perhaps THAT school would be a better financial bargain.</p>
<p>Irish, you need to get rolling on this quickly. I don't know if Bucknell shares ED info. If they do, any of your schools that subscribe to that list is likely to flush your name out of their system because they know that you have been accepted ED. It will be the biggest pain to get back in their systems. A lot of schools do not think well of those who break ED contracts and are not that thrilled to work with such kids. Your financial safety school is now very important since you may not get what you want financially anywhere. It is unlikely you will get more than EFC from a school, and those really big merit scholarships are very, very competitive. My son got some merit money, but from those $50K+ schools, he did not get more than you did. Where he made out was from the state school where the sticker cost was low to begin with.</p>
<p><<the problem="" comes="" in="" that="" once="" admitted,="" i="" need="" a="" serious="" hunk="" of="" financial="" aid="" to="" go,="" specifically="" earning="" the="" tuition="" exchange="" scholarship="" since="" my="" mom="" is="" faculty="" member="" at="" small,="" private="" lac="" (carson-newman="" college)="">>
this is from another post from the OP</the></p>
<p><a href="https://www.tuitionexchange.org/index.cfm?%5B/url%5D">https://www.tuitionexchange.org/index.cfm?</a></p>
<p>I would look into this ASAP, if not for this year, then next year for sure</p>
<p>I sympathize enormously with your situation. I got in ED to a small LAC in the Northeast, but when the FA award came, it was much less generous than anticipated, about $12,000 less to be exact. I'd recommend having a frank, honest discussion with your parents about what you can afford, how you can contribute personally (whether through applying for scholarships, getting a job, work-study, whatever). Best of luck. I hope it works out for both of us.</p>
<p>I haven't seen anyone yet mention the idea of working summers and part-time during the school year. It should be possible to earn $4000 to $6000 a year, which would lessen the amount you and your family need to borrow by about $20,000. It might be hard to find a job right now, with the current economy , but if you qualified for financial aid, didn't they also grant you work-study? Or, is that already figured into the 70% of tuition figure?</p>
<p>My son, who is currently a senior at an expensive LAC, was in a similar situation regarding ED, back when he applied to college. We had told him that our savings would cover the costs at our flagship state university, and that he needed to come up with any additional costs with merit scholarships, loans and employment. His first choice school, where he applied ED, offered him an unsubsidized loan and work study, but no other aid. As much as we would have loved to have him attend his first choice school, we could not take so much of our retirement savings to fund his education. The ED college had also stated that the agreement was not binding if the finances did not work. My son applied to 8 more colleges, and visited 6 of them. He was accepted everywhere, and a few schools gave him generous merit aid. He chose the school he liked best of those offering merit aid. On his list of favorite schools, it probably ranked number three. He's been very happy there, and will graduate this May. His merit award, which covered 2/3 of tuition when he was a freshman, now covers about half of tuition, due to tuition hikes. He has worked part time during the school year, and 20-30 hours a week during the summers, to help fund additional costs. He'll graduate debt free, which is a wonderful thing, especially since he is looking at going to graduate school.</p>
<p>Sueinphilly: Many people had investments that suffered significant losses recently, but they were NOT invested in the stock market. My daughter's 529 college fund, managed by Oppenheimer, lost nearly 40% this year. The money was in the "1 to 3 years until college" portfolio. Their losses were caused by the mortgage crisis. If the financial experts can't manage 'safe' money without huge losses, it's hardly fair to expect the ordinary individual to do better.</p>
<p>Oppenheimer had money where I don't think they should have </p>
<p><a href="https://pa529invest.s.upromise.com/patpl/fundperform/fundPricePerform.do%5B/url%5D">https://pa529invest.s.upromise.com/patpl/fundperform/fundPricePerform.do</a>
these are the investment choices of my son's 529. I'm in the bottom one.
You can only move your money once a year btw funds. I would never invest important money in something that didn't allow me to move it when I wanted to.</p>
<p>I would have put my money in the money market funds. I am COMPLETELY risk adverse. Yes, I miss out on big returns (not that I have that much money invested), but I can sleep at night and I don't have to EVER worry about ending up with less than I started with.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.opp529.com/OFI529/AP/portfolio.do?style=ytc%5B/url%5D">https://www.opp529.com/OFI529/AP/portfolio.do?style=ytc</a>
their 1-3 years till college is 35% invested in the stock market. NOT GOOD and not where money that is needed SOON should be.
I do not understand how the 'in college now' fund could have lost so much if it is all bond funds and money market</p>
<p>Thank you very much for the sympathy. Like I said I will be looking into all my options at this school and others that have already offered generous aid. Either way, I'm sure things are going to work out in a manner acceptable to everyone.</p>
<p>We'll just have to wait until the office is open on Monday at this point.</p>
<p>Hi Irish.</p>
<p>Just a quick caution regarding some of the earlier posts. Yes, you can apply for external scholarships. BUT some colleges will subtract that amount from your aid package dollar-for-dollar.</p>
<p>Yes, ask Bucknell if you can get any more money; but do it first thing Monday! If the answer is "No", decline their offer immediately. When my D was thinking about applying ED to one of her schools two years ago, the Admissions folks made it very clear that there would be no hard feelings or repercussions if we felt she had not gotten enough financial aid. </p>
<p>You should definitely think twice about taking on a huge debt for undergrad, especially in the current economic environment. Keep in mind that financial fit is at least as important as other factors when making your final decision.</p>
<p>Good luck getting this sorted out.</p>
<p>Sueinphilly: There are other kinds of risk besides market risk. For example, there is the risk of loss of purchasing power. With money markets paying less than 3% and inflation at 4%, you're actually losing money in your safe money market. And if it's not in a 529 or other tax favored account, the IRS takes their bite first, causing greater erosion in the value of your savings. There's no way to avoid risk entirely. Not every investment is right for every individual, but it bothers me when people say that a CD or money market account is risk free.</p>
<p><<cd or="" money="" market="" account="" is="" risk="" free="">></cd></p>
<p>But you can't end up with less than you started with. I did liquidate my money market accounts that weren't FDIC insured and put them into FDIC savings account and CDs. Better to earn a little than risk losing ANYTHING. that is my definition of risk, losing initial investment</p>
<p>I realize I could be earning less than the rate of inflation, but as long as I keep earning money and spending less than I make, I feel like I come out ahead.</p>
<p>Early on in Ore's 529, it was managed by Stong Funds with USBank's Age Based Portfolio.
At that time the most conservative fund was USBank, InCollege fund which had a blend of mostly bonds of US Bank/clients (supposition) and lesser funds. We were full pay in 2002 and as I withdrew the money, there was the loss. Fortunately we only had a few $K in the 529 and we were dollar-cost purchasing. </p>
<p>I was kinda upset that this portfolio was losing and by chance we got an announcement that the State Treasurer was giving a presentation at SSHS, son's alma mata. After the Treasurer's presentation, I walked him to his car, and told him, nicely, that this fund had a problem and that the mix was silly, risky, and inappropriate for students that were incollege. </p>
<p>Don't be afraid to voice your opinion, especially when you live in the capitol city. From what I read in the Statesman, the Treasurer and Opp. are making corrections. </p>
<p>I think that fund manager made a decision to buy into the mortgage markets a bit too early and too much.</p>
<p>Thumper-I agree with you concerning the trend to misuse ED. ED should never be used if finances are an issue. It is quite simple to use one of the many financial calculators available on the web to estimate one's EFC. The number the college expects you to contribute need not be a surprise. The idea that there is only one perfect, "dream" college feeds this misuse of ED. In reality, there are many colleges where a student can be happy and intellectually challenged and many of these schools are state schools or private schools known to give merit aid. When finances are an issue, the student should apply EA and RD to up to 12 colleges and compare merit aid packages.</p>
<p>Pay 20K a year for bucknell? No thanks, Id rather go CC.</p>
<p>Irish,
Given the amount your family has to offer toward your education, I would suggest that you attend a state university (UT?). Perhaps with your stats, you can get into the honors program which, in many ways, offers some of the same features of a good LAC.</p>
<p>Our daughter attends a top LAC and our EFC is about what Bucknell projected to you (and D attends a school known for its healthy endowment). We found that all of the schools similar in caliber to the school she attends offered her the same aid in a mixture of merit and grant monies (give or take a few hundred). The schools with lower average student admissions stats were willing to "pay" a lot more to have her (e.g. Hendrix would have cost us 8-10K less per year). I would check into some of the "colleges that change lives schools like Hendrix). These are great schools and would do an excellent job of preparing you for graduate school.</p>
<p>Good luck. We were shocked and disappointed when the wonderful schools with expensive price tags offered admissions tickets outside of what we could afford. Keep talking to your parents and planning like you have been doing.</p>
<p>Irish, if you get the tuition exchange money, your tuition would be largely funded and your costs would be for fees and room and board. Did you apply for this from Bucknell?</p>
<p>
[quote]
I will be looking into all my options at this school and others that have already offered generous aid.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Just curious how you are "comparing" financial aid packages from other schools when you applied ED and were accepted.</p>
<p>Ditto, Thumper's post:
[quote]
Just curious how you are "comparing" financial aid packages from other schools when you applied ED and were accepted.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>How are there offers already from other schools? You applied Early Decision - this usually means you can only apply EARLY from ONE school. </p>
<p>Early Decision is a boost to your college application, but it is one that shouldn't be taken lightly. I echo what others have said - this is a significant trend I have seen on this board - if the FA offer isn't good, a student pulls out for financial reasons. This is something of an abuse of the ED process, and it seems to be getting more common around these parts.</p>
<p>$100K in debt shared between the family and the student isn't that uncommon for a private school education. The school is offering to pay 70% of the tuition costs. They want you and your family to ante up the other 30% of the tuition and room,board, books and fees. </p>
<p>This doesn't seem unreasonable.</p>
<p>Hey, if you have a better financial aid offer, when comparing the apples to apples, you should take the best offer you can get for your own circumstances. But the point of ED is not to apply and then wait around for other offers. This is a CONTRACT with the school that you will go, if selected. If money was a significant factor, you probably should have applied to only EA schools, where you can compare offers with no binding contract (except single choice EA schools, being the exception).</p>
<p>Good luck to you.</p>
<p>You apply Early Decision KNOWING you will not be offered that much money. You should have waited if your family can't afford it. Getting out of an ED decision takes a hit on your credibility, unfortunately. It's like backing out of a promise to that school. You should just go to a state school and come out debt-free. You'll probably be accepted into the honors college at that type of school anyways so you would still come out with a good education.</p>
<p>Most state schools do NOT participate in the tuition exchange program. It seems the OP is eligible for tuition exchange as in other posts elsewhere she/he indicates this. I wonder if the tuition exchange is paying that 70% of tuition. Sometimes tuition exchange doesn't pay for the whole amount, but only a percentage of the amount of tuition. </p>
<p>I would ask the OP...did you receive any institutional aid from Bucknell OTHER than tuition exchange? If so, what was that amount? Did you hear about a tuition exchange award yet (my understanding is that these awards are not sent out until later in the admissions process)? </p>
<p>What is the status of your prospects for tuition exchange at any of the schools?</p>
<p>Tuition exchange is a wonderful program for students who have families working for colleges that participate in the program. There are hundreds of colleges that participate. In some cases, schools will allow you to use merit awards in addition to the tuition exchange awards (which cover tuition only) to cover other costs (room board fees). </p>
<p>I hope that everything works out somehow for this OP, but it seems that the cost issue is one that perhaps could be a non-issue at many colleges if this student receives a tuition exchange award.</p>