<p>I've never actually started a thread on this board, but this year, as the college acceptances came in, I was really horrified to watch as kid after kid could not afford the school of thier choice or was about to go into massive amounts of debt for an undergraduate degree. I was wondering if people who had experience with this would want to post the best advice and stories for the kids and parents who are starting the journey now, before they end up in this situation. Probably it's been going on for years and maybe that thread already exists....but I think the advice of the parents here, regarding how to find the right kind of affordable schools and how the aid situation really plays out might be helpful.</p>
<p>This would be helpful</p>
<p>I doubt this will be as much in depth as you might like, but a big part of the equation is the expectations one has going into the process. For myself, I had a good handle on this, but unfortunately, I didn’t do a good job of conveying this to DS.</p>
<p>To me, it’s just as important to identify a safety as a reach or match school. A safety is a school 1) you are very likely to be admitted to; 2) you can afford; and 3) you’d be happy to attend. By doing some homework and/or getting advice from a competent guidance counselor, you should be able to determine where you’re likely to be admitted.</p>
<p>Where you can afford depends on your financial situation. For some, it might mean the local community college. For others, your state’s public university system might fit the bill. Others have more options, but even with some work, there’s usually uncertainty about what sort of financial aid (merit and/or need-based) you’ll get from most schools, public or private. This is part of why even very qualified applicants apply to multiple schools (safety or no), as the financial component of the equation can vary widely.</p>
<p>The third component - liking the school - is often where families make a mistake. By that, I mean the student figures out where they’d like to go first, THEN determines safeties using only the other two criteria later. That’s a recipe for disappointment and resentment if “forced” to attend the safety because they either weren’t admitted or couldn’t afford their desired school(s). This is why I recommend determining a universe of schools which meet criteria 1 & 2 (be realistic about these criteria, or they’re not really safeties), then figuring out a couple you’d be happy to apply to and attend. ONLY after having safeties in place should you move on to reaches and matches.</p>
<p>In this way, you’ve established a baseline which will satisfy the prospective student. Any acceptances beyond that (thus meeting the first criterion, and I would hope by definition when applying, the third) will have the family balancing the affordability vs. the greater desireability of the new option. Note that it’s VERY important that the parents share what they are and are not willing to pay for college with the student ahead of time. That doesn’t mean that financial circumstances won’t change, or that parents can’t be more or less generous when decision time rolls around, but it does lay out what is likely to be possible financially for a family if a fat envelope shows up.</p>
<p>Hopefully, students can “trade up” if a reach or match offer arrives, but at worst, they’ll have an option they won’t hate if circumstances force them to attend their safety. As the OP notes (and as occurred with us), students may have to reject a school because of finances, but if explicitely forewarned of this possibility, having the acceptable safety in hand will soften the blow.</p>
<p>Perhaps not exactly what you were looking for, and certainly longer than I expected - hope this helps!</p>
<p>That’s exactly what I think people need to hear about!</p>
<p>Run the numbers, both fafsa and Profile. Then search the college’s common data sets and IPEDS to see what % of need is met. Even schools that offer generous scholarships (such as Miami, Tulane, Wake Forest) do not meet 100% of need without cosigned loans.</p>
<p>^</p>
<p>Well I know ( and probably many others) that universities tend to not meet 100% need without loans, but what are those that will meet a reasonable need without loans and ones financial situation ( considering the student is out of state need base aid).</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Poetgirl, my sister and I were just discussing this. One of her co-workers has a child who will graduate with my D. The parents haven’t saved anything for college and didn’t intend to contribute. Neither of them finished college or apparently did the slightest amount to help their kid figure it out. I tried to, as did my sister, and starting in her junior year we both advised her to apply to some instate publics as she’s also intending to go to grad school. Apparently she didn’t heed this advice and her mom has been stressing about how to come up with $20K for her child’s unmet need next year at a private LAC. Not only was this not a good choice for financial reasons, but several of our state schools actually have superior programs!</p>
<p>I recently suggested they try appealing for more aid based on high med expenses and/or start calling some of the state schools to see if anyone had spots left, or starting at CC and transferring in January or next fall. They did none of this. Their solution was to take a $20K loan, which they clearly can’t afford. Sis and I are scratching our heads trying to figure out what they’ll do for year 2! I’m afraid the outcome will be they run out of money/credit and the kid never finishes college, but is left with massive debt anyway. Guess the moral of the story is you can lead a family toward rational decisions, but you can’t make it for them.</p>
<p>When I first started hearing this this spring, I was really appalled. I couldn’t believe I was hearing about kids going into 50K plus debt! Or even kids who had been under the impression they could go anywhere finding out that they actually couldn’t. But, then, there is this myth that there is so much money out there for school, and I think a lot of people don’t understand that that means loans. I really love the suggestion of finding “financial safety schools” first of all, maybe even visiting them first and getting excited about them, first, as well. But, then, when I hear your story about this family…:(</p>
<p>Yeah a horrible story to know, and for those taking out 50k for undergraduate. At the moment it may sound easy, but eventually the debts will start pilling up and after college affecting the student. This is one reason why I will have to start eliminating universities that are likely not to assist myself, and perhaps replace them with private universities that likely will. This is likely to make my list a lot smaller.</p>
<p>poetgrl,</p>
<p>You are way ahead in the game by learning from your friends’ unfortunate experiences. You have to be just as realistic about the affordability of a school as you are your chances for being accepted. The problem is you really won’t know how good or bad a school’s fin aid is until you are accepted and get a fin aid letter. Here are what I think are the critical factors:</p>
<p>1) % of need met. Meeting 100% of need is usually a good indicator of schools with strong financial resources - but not always.
2) All schools meeting 100% of need are not equal. HOW does the school meet the need? Grant, loan, work-study? A school that meets 100% of need by offering $6,000 of loan may not be the most affordable. (In my mind loans are not really financial aid; they are just a deferred payment plan.) Common Datasets have financial aid information in section H. This provides data on average grant, loan, and self-help amounts. (I don’t think IPEDS provide this data.) This should help you get an idea of what to expect in your aid package for a particular school.
3) How are outside scholarships and other sources of aid handled? Do they reduce loan or grant aid?
4) The cost of attending the school. I put this last because expensive private schools with excellent financial aid can be among the most affordable. That’s how it worked out for my son. He had to turn down his top-choice school due to poor Fin Aid, but loves where he is now and is on track to graduate without any loans.</p>
<p>Realize that small differences in aid between colleges can become large when considering all 4 years of college. An $1,800 difference become $7,200, perhaps more, over 4 years.</p>
<p>Above all, make sure you graduate in 4 years or less. Fifth years are expensive.</p>
<p>Edit: A word about wait lists. Unfortunately financial need may make getting accepted off a wait list harder. Even if you do get an offer, the financial aid package may be greatly reduced.</p>
<p>StAndrews–My D is actually starting college next year, but I found such fantastic information on CC during the application process, I just thought something about financing your education would be really helpful for kids and parents who face this as a significant issue. Coolbreeze–I’m not sure, as you can see from StA’s post, that narrowing your applications would be best. It may well be, though I could be entirely wrong, that you might want to apply to MORE schools to see what kind of aid you are offered. Just a thought.</p>