<p>Heltonmom, you are obviously a little emotional. Just try to answer this very basic question:</p>
<p>Given that a co-op salary will more than cover your son’s entire cost of living at Georgia Tech, and your son is receiving free tuition and fees, how can you not afford to send your son to GT? </p>
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<p>Your son has no need.</p>
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<p>There is no need. You do not have to give him anything. The State of Georgia is paying for his entire college education and he can pay for his own cost of living (which he would have to do anyway - no matter what happened, he would still need to pay for food and housing, right?)</p>
<p>You have to realize how you sound. You’re complaining about a free college education and you’re essentially upset that your son is receiving a 100% free college education but no stipend to cover his living expenses.</p>
<p>It’s like going to a church and getting a free meal, then complaining that you had to take the bus to get there and should have your bus fare reimbursed.</p>
<p>I guess I have totally misunderstood how the aid at Ga Tech works. I knew that you could apply for co op but I didn’t know he would automatically get the job and be able to use that money for the living expenses. That sounds great. So if he accepts the offer for the tuition to be paid, are you saying that the cost of the housing and meal plan can be paid from his co op money? I would think it would have to be paid in advance, especially since he can’t co op his first semester. Also if he chooses to work a job on campus as you suggested, are you saying the housing and meal plan cost can be paid from that income? If that is the case then I apologize. I did not realize he could pay these expenses from a job that he works on campus and doesn’t have the money from the job before the semester begins. Would he have to take out a loan and then repay the loan with the money from his job or co op? Just trying to get it straight since I have obviously misunderstood the whole process. I do know that his other financial aid packages showed the amount of loans he could apply for but Ga Tech’s did not list any loans so I would think that meant he doesn’t qualify for loans.</p>
<p>If full tuition is covered then you aren’t offered any loans from the Gov’t because loans are supposed to only be used to cover TUITION FEES. Those types of loans are paid DIRECTLY to the school from the Gov’t to insure that the money is used on tuition. Since you’ve already received a free ticket on TUITION, you no longer have any need. </p>
<p>Furthermore, did you seriously expect the Gov’t to just credit you 15,000+ dollars for free use, per annum? Does anyone in this country even understand how the aspects of banking work?</p>
<p>Wow…GP…will you read my post and then please explain in stupid (me) peoples terms to me how my son can work and pay for the housing and meal plan. Will we not have to pay for it before the semester starts? This will be my last post about Tech…I promise. Just trying to understand.</p>
<p>Veracity…Tech has an opening…my son is not attending and has already notified them. You were waitlisted…right? Maybe you have a chance now. I have no reason to discuss Tech so you can remove your face from your palm now.</p>
<p>Yes, he is considering both Tulane and Emory. I refuse to discuss anything else about it because it turns into me wanting my son to get a free Tech education and Veracity trying to talk to me like I am an idiot. It is my sons choice to not attend Tech, not mine. It was his number 1 choice at first, but not since he has visited all of the colleges he was accepted to. The financial aid opinions are mine, not his. If we could have a discussion without you or anyone else reading more into what I say I would be glad to explain why he would be considering Emory and Tulane, but I don’t think that can happen. To all of those of you that are going to be attending Tech, congrats and best of luck.</p>
<p>My intention was not to demean anyone, and if I have, I’m sorry for that…</p>
<p>My intention was also not to influence anyone’s decisions, and if I have, I am also sorry for that…</p>
<p>I’m just in a very cynical state as of the moment.</p>
<p>(Addendum: No one from OOS has that much of a shot at any of the state runs schools this year. I wish I lived in a state that had a decent state university, but unfortunately I don’t. If you are getting full tuition payment on scholarship at GT, it is definitely a road you should consider, no doubt. Living expenses only add up to maybe one or two thousand dollars at most, per annum. Maybe less if you know how to stretch your dollars in the right places.)</p>
<p>Veracity…I can only speak for myself, but as far as influencing our decision about Tech, you did not and could not, but demeaning, yes, very. I do not know if this post includes me when you say that you are sorry, but I do accept. I understand that everyone, parents and students are at wits end. I am sorry that your state doesn’t have a decent state university you would like to attend and it is very expensive for OOS, even if you get accepted there is not much aid for you. </p>
<p>Total Cost of Attendance (COA): $19,476.00 (in state)</p>
<p>Even for an in state student receiving full tuition and $300 book allowance and fees paid by HOPE, we still have to pay about $4500 each semester. I agree that is a very low cost for a Ga Tech education and we are fortunate to have the HOPE Scholarship. We really do appreciate the offer, my point from the very beginning wasn’t that my son wasn’t getting a great deal at Tech, it was that Tech offered nothing other than what has to be given to him from any state school. I was not saying $4500 is too expensive for anyone to pay for Tech, just that Tech has the money to offer some type of aid from the school to in state and OOS students also. My comments were intended to be against Tech’s financial aid that has been offered to everyone that has posted on CC. It sounds as if Tech is offering in state students a lot of money and OOS students nothing, when in fact, that aid is not from Tech. I never meant to imply and never said my son should get a free education(even though it would be great)That was my only complaint. $4500 a semester is a great deal for us but my son chose not to accept Tech’s offer of acceptance, not based on the financial aid but based on the whole package…money, academics, class size, professors, campus…many things just like everyone will base their decision on. The problem with the “conversations” on CC, just like with anything where we post discussions or send emails is that everything about someones situation can not be stated and how someone is speaking is lost when it is written, not spoken. My son has some different circumstances from many students that plays a role in his college choice. The whole disappointment in aid comes from me and I still think Tech can do more for everyone. We would have to have that money to pay for his housing and meals when he begins the semester so any job that he can get at Tech through co op or just on campus would put money in his pocket but that doesn’t pay the money we owe by any due dates that Tech has. I am sorry if I offended you or anyone else by stating my disappointment in Tech’s lack of institutional aid. I hope you can find a school that fits all of your needs, which is what we all are wanting as students and parents. I do still think that Tech is a great school and anyone should be proud to attend, but it is not for everyone. Good luck to all of you. All of the students that have been accepted or waitlisted at Tech should be very proud…and yes even waitlist is something to be proud of at a school like Tech. I hope everyone has a great day…now…big smile everyone! : )</p>
<p>I am truly sorry that Tech’s inability to be more generous has caused you and your family so much stress. As a public institution with limited resources, Georgia Tech is unfortunately not able to give everyone the aid they may like to. However, each year Georgia Tech awards nearly $150 million in aid to its students, and there are many students from both OOS and in-state that get very generous grants. I have seen OOS grants exceed 10,000 yearly on numerous occasions. Each department also offers several scholarships to its top applicants. Unfortunately, Tech makes some of these scholarship decisions based on merit as well as financial need, so that means just having a comparatively low income is not going to guarantee you get enough aid to make Tech free, even if you have an EFC of 0. I can speak from personal experience when I say that Georgia Tech can be very generous with aid and is not trying to insult anyone by not offering you as much financial assistance as you would like. They simply have limited funds, and for whatever reason, your son, although obviously an exceptional applicant, did not qualify for more than he was offered. Please keep in mind that this years applicant pool was the most competitive in history, with the AVERAGE admitted freshman having an SAT of nearly 2100 and over a 3.9 GPA. Naturally, this means people who would have been exceptionally qualified in previous years for some merit aid did not receive any this year.</p>
<p>I would encourage your son to look into outside scholarships and loans if you need assistance paying for some of the up-front costs. Many loans will allow you to defer payment (sometimes without interest) until graduation, and by that point your son should be able to earn enough through co-op or other means to graduate from Tech without any debt.</p>
<p>InPursuit…very nice and polite post, but my son really did not turn down Tech because of the award. I am sure that everything you are saying about Tech’s generosity is true. I was only stating my opinion and wish now that I had kept my mouth shut. If nothing else I have learned to not voice my strong opinions on CC. My son has received some outside scholarships and I am sure he will be very happy with his decisions and I hope everybody else will be with theirs. If he was offered a free education at Tech, as some think that I expected, he would still have declined their offer. Don’t get me wrong, a free education sounds great to me and everyone. I do not want to go into all the details about my son, but other things factor in his decisions and the advice we give him, but I would never advice my son to decline an offer at a school such as Tech because we would have to invest a few thousand dollars in it. But with that being said, I can still think that the financial aid package was a bad one. I think I have posted somewhere on here info about my son or you can find his post and maybe everyone can understand that money is not the only thing we are looking for. I think he logs in under stefanhelton…I think Tech is a great school, but not for my son. My sons stats…ACT 32, SAT 2020, GPA 3.98, top 10%of his class, only a couple of AP’s…his school doesn’t offer many, not many ec’s but has worked since he was 14…and has Asperger’s Syndrome.</p>
<p>Heltonmom, I think you are just mad because your son didn’t get presidential scholarship which gives full package coming to Georgia Tech but I believe with his SAT score, he would have gotten his presidential scholarship unless there were so many students with outstanding records this year. Well when I got into Georgia Tech, 1450 out of 1600 is the cut for presidential scholarship so probably weren’t enough. I am sure Georgia tech gives out more presidential scholarship to out of state students to give some incentive to come to Georgia Tech but I could be wrong. </p>
<p>What your son have to decide is what he wanna do with his career. If he wants to be engineer, I would advise him to go to Georgia Tech. But if he wants to become a doctor, lawyer, or business manager, I would strongly advise him to go to Tulane or Emory instead.</p>
<p>In state tuition for Georgia Tech, with hopes and pell grant, you will only have to pay housing and living cost to your kid… I don’t think that’s paying alot. If you just can’t afford those, I suggest your son to take loan which can probably be about 6~8k a year and when he graduate, he can pay it up with his first year salary.</p>
<p>gtgblows…Wow…this gets crazier as the day goes on. I have not even mentioned Presidential Scholarship. Those notifications went out a long time ago. Who are you to assume I am mad. I was sorry for posting anything about my feelings about the financial aid package but now I have changed my mine. This has been a real eye opener for me. I have never had so many people assume and put words in my mouth than on this post about Ga Tech. I do not need anymore advice or assumptions about my sons educational choices. Just in case anyone else misses what I am saying here it is again…MY SON IS NOT ATTENDING TECH…NOT BECAUSE OF THE FINANCIAL AID…HE DID NOT HAVE A PROBLEM WITH THE AID…I DID VOICE MY OPINION ABOUT THE AID…I NEVER SAID I WANTED HIM TO RECEIVE A FREE EDUCATION…I NEVER MENTIONED PRESIDENTIAL SCHOLARSHIP…I AM NOT MAD…IF THE ONES POSTING ALL OF THESE RESPONSES TO MY POST ARE TECH STUDENTS I AM GLAD HE IS NOT ATTENDING BECAUSE OBVIOUSLY I HAVE A HARD TIME COMMUNICATING WITH ALL OF YOU. TO SUM IT UP…HOUSING AND MEALS IS NOT TOO MUCH TO PAY IF TECH IS YOUR FIRST CHOICE…SON DECLINED OFFER NOT BECAUSE OF FINANCIAL AID…IS NOT PURSUEING AN ENGINEERING DEGREE…DID NOT EXPECT FREE EDUCATION…KNEW HE DID NOT GET PRESIDENTIAL SCHOLARSHIP SEVERAL MONTHS AGO AND WAS NOT MAD THEN AND NOT MAD NOW…I HAD NEVER MENTIONED IT. I don’t need anymore suggestions on how to finance a tech education…he’s not going to tech…</p>
<p>Heltonmom- I, too have a son with Aspergers. I applaud your son for getting accepted to the likes of Tulane, Emory and GT. My son is choosing to attend the local community college instead of the U of Washington b/c of smaller class sizes and less people in general. His twin has been offered a fairly decent package from Tech (OOS), but still $20K on us. The UW would be free for him, but he wants to go to Tech.
I really wish your son well wherever he decides to attend.</p>
<p>Geekma92- Thanks for the words of encouragement. We started the college discussions in our house a long time ago and made sure my son applied to several different types of colleges, small and large campus, class size, distance from home which Tulane is the only one that is more than a 2 hour drive from home. We talked with him about starting out at Dalton State and living at home the first year but he says he wants to have the complete college experience. I know there are big differences in Oxford/Emory and Tulane but those are the 2 he has narrowed it down to. Start out at Oxford, small school, small class size but not much social life until he goes to the Emory Campus and social skills is one of the things his Asperger’s affects. That is why we think on the other hand Tulane would be a great place for an education but also give him the resources to work on his social skills. The people in New Orleans and at Tulane have been so great working with us and me and my husband both, along with my son fell in love with the city and the school. I really think his social skills would improve…maybe too much…LOL…but I don’t think that is a bad thing for someone with Asperger’s. Most people have to look at where they can receive the best education but as a parent of someone with Asperger’s I have to look at where he can get an education and work on social skills. No matter how great of an education he receives without being able to communicate with people will hold him back in life and he will miss out on many opportunities if we keep him sheltered. I know he can handle the academics at either school but I don’t want him to end up somewhere,sitting in his room alone because he is not able to initiate the friendship and Tulane students seem to be very outgoing. We have a lot to think about and hope we can help him make the best decision for him. I hope we dont’ regret not taking the route your son is taking and starting out at a community college. But I do appreciate your post and wish both of your sons the best of luck. Keep in touch and let me know how the one with Asperger’s is doing and coping with his transition to college and I will do the same.</p>
<p>Heltonmom, you could just call the financial aid office and ask if it’s possible to get federal aid such as grants and sub/unsub loans. Many times, they can be more than accommodating. The number they give is not necessarily final. One year, I received much less aid than I thought I should have, so I went and talked to them. Turns out, I was eligible for more aid, and they put it on there for me. Just one thing, though: speak in as much of a pleasant voice as possible, as calm, etc… It goes a long way many times, I swear (I’ve been a bureaucrat at that school on many occasions, and pleasantness made me budge quicker than yelling).</p>