<p>Note that UDenver is nowhere near UMiami in selectivity and merit awards are thus much less competitive there than at UMiami.
Did you apply RD to Rice?</p>
<p>I know you’ve worked very hard to get the best for your child, and your child has worked hard, too, but you’ve got a wealth of riches because of all your work. Rice is probably just beyond your reach financially. </p>
<p>However, if Rice were to admit your child, it couldn’t hurt to see if they would be willing to pick up some of the cost of flying your child to Houston and providing a tour. They would have to be thinking if they do this that this is an applicant they don’t want to escape for financial reasons. I don’t think they’ll agree to the flight (or the big merit), but perhaps it’s worth a try. Maybe by then they’ll have some idea whether they’re getting fewer high achievers than they had wanted. </p>
<p>There are many smart students that cannot go to dream schools for undergrad. He can go wherever he wants for grad school. There is ALOT of competition at the top schools. Chris sounds awesome and you should be proud. But to put it in perspective, he would not be the top students at our town public school. Maybe, maybe 4th or 5th. And that is just one small town. Sometimes I think we do a disservice to kids by offering them the entire box of chocolates but that is the way of things today. I don’t think a visit will make any difference. He can show interest other ways. You sound like you have done a FANTASTIC job raising him. Really it does not matter if he is at a top school for UG. Just have yīm get the best grades and move up for grad school like many, many smart kids do.</p>
<p>Sorry for typos. How do you edit?</p>
<p>I believe you have 15 minutes to edit OR until the next post appears. In the upper right corner of your post, if it is the most recent post, you will see a black symbol (an asterisk?). Click on that and it will allow you to edit your post.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone. 
This whole process has been really hard. Kids get the idea that just because their grades are perhaps good enough to be admitted at certain schools, like Rice, they should be able to go. That would be great, but we probably just can’t afford it. I personally am fine with him going to ASU, in fact I would love to have him close to home. But he is ambitious and has caught a bit of the prestige bug…I get the feeling all the seniors are bragging to each other about where they are applying, and ASU isn’t getting a lot of points! And a parent of another kid actually told him it was “ridiculous” that he was applying to ASU…gee thanks dude. This is a dad who has gotten all three of his kids into Ivy league schools with lots of financial aid, even though they are quite rich and live in a beautiful gated community. But that’s another story…sigh.</p>
<p>In any event, if he gets good merit offers anywhere it will give him some choice. I’d at least like him to be able to compare two or three schools and make a choice, even if that choice is just ASU, Bama, and Denver, or something like that. (Which is why Denver is on the list!) </p>
<p>I’ve been in the same place, OP, as I believe I’ve mentioned many posts ago. D is thriving at her affordable school. She’s learning to take advantage of the opportunities the school and the city present. No one is throwing them at her, although once you look they aren’t hard to locate. This might be the most valuable lesson she learns as an undergrad. She’s preparing to live and learn anywhere. I’m very happy so far.</p>
<p>Thanks jkeil911, that really helps. I think it will work out fine in the end. :)</p>
<p>Same conversation in the “Am I selling myself short?” thread here. Many smart kids will be making affordable choices. You can’t live your life planning to win the lottery. Not everyone can even afford to go to college. The reality of finances is just part of becoming a man.</p>
<p>I don’t know if your son has allergies along with the asthma, but if so he will want to steer clear of Atlanta – it has record-breaking pollen counts every year.</p>
<p>Yes good point…he has to make an affordable decision. I’m just hoping he has a few affordable choices to choose from. But at least I can count on two affordable choices (ASU and Bama), both of which have really good programs for honors kids. </p>
<p>As for allergies he doesn’t seem to have them too bad, although it’s always hard to say what makes the asthma worse. But he is definitely worse in cold weather. Actually, ASU might have the best climate for him, hot and dry.</p>
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<p>You won’t know for sure until your offers come in (or fail to come in).
$110K with 2 kids and no savings should put you in the running for a significant amount of aid, but maybe not enough to match ASU’s costs (especially if your ex’s income becomes a factor).
What will you do if some of the private schools come in at, say, $5K above ASU’s net? Do you have a limit in mind?</p>
<p>If you are willing/able to stretch for a few thousand dollars more than ASU’s offer, then if I were you, I’d put my efforts into a couple more applications (rather than expensive visits just to demonstrate interest). If your son likes Richmond, for example, he might also like Davidson College (which has merit scholarships as well as good need-based aid).</p>
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I told my son we are shooting for around $15,000 or lower, but we can go as high at $20,000. If a school came in around $20,000, or even if it was a couple thousand higher, I think we could make it work. It would really depend on how much he wanted to go to that school over ASU. One advantage of being at ASU is that there would be a little money left over for things like study abroad, having a car, etc. If the budget is pushed to the max, those things will be harder.</p>
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We looked at Davidson, but my understanding is that they don’t have much in the way of Computer Science. He really should be at a place with very strong computer science/math majors, since he is basically an engineering type. (He’s always been a math guy, and only recently decided not to go into engineering.) I think Rice, Stanford and Georgia Tech are the best matches for him in that regard, but we added the rest of the schools based on the possibility of merit aid and other overall fit considerations. (Except Dartmouth which I don’t really think is a match in any way! That one was pretty much a mistake from start to finish.)</p>
<p>Does your son understand your families financial situation? Maybe if he did he would choose a different option. I thought I had read that you did not have savings but instead had debt. It just seems that you are stretching yourself to the limit which is so risky. And then you’re adding in study abroad and a car.</p>
<p>Yes he knows we cannot afford much. I am pretty much hoping for full tuition merit aid somewhere (ASU already offered that, thank goodness)…even so I will still have to pay for dorm + food + expenses, so probably $13000-$15000 minimum. If I continue to make a decent income, I can afford that and manage my other expenses, but even then it is not super easy. He already has a car (my old car) so I wasn’t referring to buying a new car or anything, just keeping the old one going. ASU gave us a bunch of information about various study abroad options (over the summer, for a semester or for a year) but I actually don’t know how much it would cost. It’s just that if we are paying less for college overall, these things might be an option…but if we are the very top of our budget, even keeping the old car going could be a challenge.</p>
<p>I think you are rather awesome keeping all this going so well. You said that Chris was going into CS. My husband is high up in that field. He has a great salary, patents, goes to the Microsoft conventions where they give the best swag. Truly prestige is not important for that field. It is a vanity choice. Who cares what some guy says to you about going to ASU. Social climbers are impressed with prestige. Old money understands choosing a good value. When it comes time for study abroad there are many, many scholarships available for that. He should plan for it as a freshman in CS to line up his courses.</p>
<p>Chris needs to make an affordable choice for his family. 13k to 15k sounds like your comfort zone. He can work in the summer for spending money. Hopefully with an internship as he rises through his UG.</p>
<p>Thanks gearmom! That is really helpful to hear about the CS industry, and I think Chris is getting the idea that what really matters is doing a good job in his undergraduate years, learning the material involved, and getting good grades. I know he can do that, so I’m really hopeful things will turn out well. I’m grateful that ASU has already given him a wonderful offer, and it sounds like Alabama will come through with something similar. So that gives him two good programs to choose from. It is possible he could get another decent offer from one of the other schools too, though they are all wild cards…In any case it will be an interesting spring!</p>
<p>Whoa. Did not explain that correctly. As a freshman he needs to chart out his courses so that he can go abroad as a junior. I really hope he wins the lottery. Let us know.</p>
<p>Yes, it is going to be very interesting to see how this all plays out. Fortunately, he now has a good attitude about ASU and/or Alabama, so I think even if those become the only two choices he will be happy in the end. He had me scared for a while that he was not understanding/accepting the situation, but he is really getting it now. And who knows, he could possibly get a good offer from one of the others…that’s why we applied to 13 schools, just kind of rolling the dice at a lot of places that are known to give some merit aid. There are a few mistakes in there for sure, but there are some possibilities as well. So we will see! </p>
<p>Thanks so much for all the support everyone! :)</p>
<p>do update us on what he decides.</p>