A 5th year was not an option for DD, or at least a 5th year at her college. She knew that going in, that her merit scholarships were for 8 consecutive semesters, that her athletic scholarship was used up after 4 years of playing (there was a way to stretch that by red shirting, but that wasn’t happening). Some of her other aid was also ‘used up’ after 4 years/120 credits.
There wasn’t a way to come up with$55k for an extra year at that school.
It’s nice to say people should have a year of living expenses saved up and tuition all in cash for the next 4 years and top medical insurance and life insurance and disability insurance, but the reality is that most people can’t afford that.
I plan to lay it out as “this is not an option”, but I can easily foresee things happening. Struggling with some classes that need to be retaken, switching majors, maybe an illness or injury. Certainly quite a few students don’t finish in 4.
We’re in the same boat with lots of scholarship/grant money making a couple out of state schools affordable…for 4 years. But would I really make him transfer to the local school and finish with a degree not in what he was going for if he needs 9 semesters instead of 8? I don’t know. That would be a tough one. Part of me is thinking going with the sure thing can easily handle 5 years and maybe even a study abroad semester option even if it’s not top choice.
I think most schools would allow the scholarships to continue if there was a major illness and the student had to take a semester off, but both my kids had merit awards that were for 8 semesters, period. My daughter also had the option of doing co-ops through the school but the merit money was only for 8 semesters.
She had two teammates who did need an extra semester to graduate. They had wealthy parents who paid for that extra semester because their athletic eligibility/scholarships were used up, and if either had a merit scholarship (I think one did and one didn’t) it also would be exhausted. My daughter doesn’t have a wealthy parent so she had to finish on time. It’s her reality. She had the flu twice in one semester and had to power through. She had one class she dropped and had to fit that back into another semester.
My other daughter took summer classes at our local university (at instate rates) in order to graduate on time and retain her ‘8 consecutive semesters’ merit award. You have to keep your eyes on the requirements and the limitations ($$$).
A totally unexpected parent job loss. New job quickly found in the same field, but at a substantially lower salary (the salary decrease was more than the bill for a year of kid’s college). It also ate into the emergency fund which then needed to be replenished, while living on the lower salary and while the last kid was applying to college. COBRA for only two months was several thousand dollars by itself.
More recently, unexpected expensive dental work. Thousands in costs past the limits of the dental insurance.
We also had a kid get really sick while studying abroad. It came within a couple of missed classes (after being ordered by a doctor to stay home) of costing her the entire semester.
We’ve seen others have a year added to the degree because of a low passing grade in one junior year class that required a high grade as a major prereq. for several senior year classes and was only offered once a year. That added year was not covered by the student’s academic scholarship. Strong student, difficult major.
I plan to lay it out as “this is not an option”, but I can easily foresee things happening. Struggling with some classes that need to be retaken, switching majors, maybe an illness or injury. Certainly quite a few students don’t finish in 4.
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Note that a common reason for needing an extra semester of college is academic difficulty, whose risk is inversely related to the student’s academic strength. I.e. a student who was a B student in high school is at higher risk of needing an extra semester of college than a student who was an A student in high school.
Of course, a late medical withdrawal could result in loss of a semester of costs, even if there is no academic penalty.
I think Freshman year will reveal a lot. Being on his own in a completely different environment with a roommate in a tiny space when he’s used to solitude in a large living area… He’s going to sink or swim.
When D19 went off to school 5 weeks ago we told her straight out. No money for a 5th year. Lose your merit scholarship and you will be back at home going to one of the local schools where you can live at home. That is life in the big city kid.
Building an emergency fund is important for everyone. And it is a great lesson to pass on to your kids. I am not here to preach to everyone, but having cash on hand to pay for unexpected expenses feels good.
We were full pay and paid tuition insurance every semester. I have no idea if it would have paid out but we felt better knowing it was there. (We’ve had a serious injury and a concussion…)
For both Ds, I was pretty insistent on finishing in four years — but they could also take extra courses in the summer on the family budget. They each had a couple extra credits at graduation.
When they were quite young (in the summer before 9/11) we bought life insurance policies large enough to put them both through college.
Truly, I get that not everyone can do these things.
Mostly my point is that you can’t budget every last dollar for college. Something else will come up in the duration.
If he is not an A student very strong in math and science (especially physics), then you may want to set the price limit with a 9 or 10 semester assumption (and be aware of FA and scholarships often running out after 8 semesters).
Summer classes at local colleges are only likely to be useful for lower level courses or loosely specified general education. Upper level courses are less likely to be offered in the summer,band transferability may be less likely due to curricular differences.
Of course, a summer session is really an additional half semester of courses (though can be cheaper than half of a regular semester), and can prevent having a useful summer job or internship (commonly paid for engineering).
This is a somewhat different but nonetheless unanticipated situation. Our son graduated in 4 years from private university. No problem; no debt, since we had saved for this.
Our daughter also graduated from private college in 4 years (1 year overlapped with her older brothr). No problem, since we had planned on this.
BUT about 4-5 years after graduation, our daughter determined that she needed another degree, specifically an MBA degree. We had not planned on this. She got out of the employed category and prepped like crazy for the GMAT, writing essays, and so on. Got excellent GMAT score, got into a top 10 B school, and combined that with a masters degree in sustainable systems. This cost a ton of money. Far more than her undergraduate degree. We had not planned on it. Her Federal Direct Loans were given to her at a usurious interest rate. How could she possibly pay it off in a reasonable time?
The Bank of Mom and Dad came through. The cost was twice the cost of her undergraduate degree. It was worth the effort – for HER.
I don’t think the folks who lecture here about planning understand how difficult life can be. There are people who go through serial horrible things, in the space of a few years, through no fault of their own.
I would not judge anyone for struggling financially, ever. Just be aware you are lucky.
@compmom Sorry if my post made you feel that way. I am not judging anyone for struggling financially. While I am lucky to be doing OK today, I have been laid off a couple of times in my career and I know what it feels not to get a paycheck at the end of the week.
My intent is to remind people doing well today that they need to properly manage risk. I see people with similar income to mine making surprising decisions when it comes to picking a college. They stretch to a point that would prevent me from sleeping at night when less costly options were available, and they don’t have a backup plan if something bad were to happen. My point is that one should always consider the worst-case scenario when making a large financial decision like picking a college.
Just to add lots of engineering programs are 128, credits not 120. So if coming into college with no AP credits or the like then graduating in 4 years becomes harder. Taking some classes freshman summer is a good idea but some colleges don’t accept some community College credits. You have to know what transfers ahead of time. This is only for core prerequisite classes like calculus, Chem, physics and the like. Once your taking your engineering classes don’t think there summer school classes.
Some kids have to retake classes, many change out of engineering so that could cause an overage.
But many schools are coop schools that you work and take classes. This might work for you since the kids makes decent money that could be used for college at the coops. It’s a way to pay for college and gain experience. Think, that’s a win.
DD needed 131 credits. She had not ONE credit going into college. She started at Calc 1, chemistry 1, had to take the dreaded English classes (TWO of them!). She just slugged through, went to study tables, took 16-17 credits per semester (as suggested by the department). She didn’t do internships or co-ops.
It can be done, but you have to really want to do it.
She wasn’t miserable in college at all. She has a boyfriend, she was on a varsity team, was in a sorority, in the engineering society, etc. She doesn’t play video games or watch much TV (football games on Sunday evenings) and is really organized.
My nephew was similar at a very different school, a large flagship. He didn’t do well in Calc 1 so had to repeat it, took Calc 2 in the summer and was back on track. Graduated in 4 years.
I agree with others that a 5th year of university is something that we as parents should prepare for. Some common reasons are a late change in major or a double major. In difficult majors it might also be needed to take 4 courses at once rather than 5. Kids can get sick in the middle of a semester or have a bad breakup just before finals. One good thing about an in-state public school is that you will probably still be in-state for the 5th year.
We had our septic system fail while both daughters were in university, and also had one car start to fall apart (major oil use after 175,000 miles) and needed to replace it. Of course pretty much anything can go wrong with the house or with careers or with the stock market.
One daughter needed a car to get to a major-related off campus job. The other needed a car to get to a research internship. Both were academically very valuable and for us worth the cost of a car (used, but not too old).
A loss of merit scholarship due to not keeping grades high enough is another possibility. Fortunately we have not run into this one.
No question “it” can be done. But as you say you need to be organized. Just pointing this out to the poster. My son’s a Junior now in engineering but took 17/18 credits a semester plus had some credits and took one summer 2 classes. His pay off is a semester ahead so he can take 15 credits this semester and feel bored… Lol. Also works, created a club, did study abroad and internship this summer etc etc
But we are lucky… For many kids taking this many credits is an overload and many can’t handle it. As you know, engineering is tough. Just an FYI
H changed jobs. Then the recession hit and we couldn’t sell our house for 13 mo. (H moved to another state while I stayed behind with the kids.) Lost all our equity and had to start over.
For many students, regardless of major, the need to work a lot to earn money to pay for school can prevent taking even full (15-16 credit) course loads (as opposed to the 12 credit semesters to stay “full time” for FA purposes), resulting in needing more than 8 semesters to graduate.