<p>Saratoga - Congratulations for your son! What was the deciding factor that made him choose BoCo despite the merit awards at his other acceptances?</p>
<p>He chose BoCo based upon the overall fit for him - his view of the strength of the program, the supportive yet challenging environment, the Boston location, his knowledge of the program from upper class men who participated in the same theater company he participated in, the small size of the school (very personal - everyone, including administrators, teachers, and students know everyone), the strong sense of community on campus, etc. In the end, it was the place he wanted most to spend the next 4 years.</p>
<p>This doesn’t relate directly to the questions in the OP, but I want to mention it here for others to whom it may be important.</p>
<p>For those who will have more than one child in college simultaneously, research how/if a school will take that into account.</p>
<p>Our second child started college 2 years after our MT, so they will have a 2 year overlap. At the public schools they considered (oos tuition) this would not have impacted their tuition. However, with the (more expensive) private university the MT chose, having both kids in school has resulted in ~$120,000 additional scholarship money over the two years both are enrolled.</p>
<p>This is NOT something that initially occurred to us to consider, but it is making a huge difference to our family so it may be worth researching.</p>
<p>Such a good point in so counter-intuitive. Twins in school at the same time saves money. This is all so weird. Good luck to all!</p>
<p>Both kids did not need to be enrolled in the same school, but we found that most public schools with oos tuition did not offer any break to our younger child based on having an older sibling in college, while most (more expensive) private schools did. </p>
<p>Our older (MT) child would have (presumably) gotten the same additional scholarship money from her private school wherever the younger (non MT) child had gone – based on having a sibling in college – but if the younger had opted for Berkeley and the older for UMich (for example), we would have paid an extra $60k per year during the two years both were enrolled.</p>
<p>We somewhat gambled on this when our first child decided where she wanted to go, but in our case the gamble is paying off.</p>
<p>MomCares, great point, but this is another way of saying that in general, private colleges give larger need-based scholarships than public universities. This is a good point and something to consider for everyone. Many people overlook expensive privates because of the sticker price, but it’s good to keep in mind that if you are accepted, many of them are able to give generous need based scholarships so that they are actually cheaper than in-state tuition at a public university.</p>
<p>If you are in a certain income bracket, need may not play into need-based scholarships when your first child is attending, but will if your second child is attending at the same time.</p>
<p>But in our own case, both my D’s already have generous need based scholarships from their private schools regardless of whether another child is attending. In our case, I actually didn’t notice much of a difference in scholarship amount when the second child attended–maybe a few thousand.</p>
<p>Just to tag onto uskoolfish’s comment about applying for local scholarships, and finding scholarships in general. My D is my second child to go to college. I remember when my oldest was applying to college searching the scholarship websites in the fall of his senior year to find potential scholarships. I didn’t really find much for him; in hindsight I think I should have done more research in the winter/early spring.
But in the meantime our school’s guidance department has gotten more communications savvy in the past two years and they are now tweeting information about scholarships. They mentioned recently that many small, local scholarships are just coming in now and students/parents should check back every couple of weeks for new scholarships. And I am finding more scholarships to apply to than I did with my oldest. Some aren’t even due until May or June, so there is still lots of time. I am watching particularly for scholarships that require essays on a topic she’s already written about! Since most of our kids applied to a lot of schools, they have quite a few essay topics already covered. 
Recently I even found a scholarship from a greeting card company that requires the student to create a greeting card cover. My D is taking digital imaging right now so I emailed it off to her and said “do this in digital imaging class!”
I will let you know in a few months if this approach pays off for us as it did for uskoolfish and her D!</p>
<p>How close do the cost estimators come to the actual final cost and aide? I used cappex and was wondering how far off it is?</p>
<p>I would not give the advice to anyone that no one pays the sticker price. It is a totally false statement. If your EFC is above the cost of a college, you are paying the sticker price unless you get merit aid that does not have a financial need component.</p>
<p>If you begin to research schools using the common data set you will find that at some schools, upward of 40% of those attending can be paying sticker price.</p>
<p>Need based award varies tremendously from school to school and student to student. There is just no way you can predict it. MTMajorCook, honestly, I don’t bother to submit my numbers into the calculator; they are not accurate on an individual basis. They may be accurate as an average, who knows.</p>
<p>Here’s the thing:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Your financial aid can be loans or grants. Grants/scholarships mean you don’t have to pay back anything. Loans are loans; they can be gov’t and lower interest with option to pay afterward. When colleges talk about aid, they are including both loans and grants. I use this example all the time, but my D once got a letter from RISD saying basically, “Congrats, you can now borrow $50,000!” That was their financial aid.</p></li>
<li><p>YOu cannot predict what percent will be grant and what will be financial aid. It will depend on the school’s endowment, their ability to pay, and their desire to have you. Their desire to have you is very individual. </p></li>
<li><p>I agree with uskoolfish. Many people pay full price. However, if you are told full price and you feel you cannot attend or it would be an extreme hardship, bear in mind that it never hurts to negotiate. Worst case scenario is they’ll say no. This would be at the end, when you have all your acceptances and offers, in April or May. I have seen people be very successful with this, but that is something that can only be done at the end, and you also cannot predict which colleges will be able or willing to adjust. Some colleges are simply not able to adjust, even if they badly want your child; they simply don’t have the money. </p></li>
</ol>
<p>In general, public universities are able to give much less need based grants than well-endowed privates. However, well endowed privates cost more.</p>
<p>We have been very fortunate so far, and our cost, with grants, is less than our public universities, so it does work. But I <em>never</em> can predict which college will be able/willing ot give grants. I had years when my EFC was 0, and yet I had public universities not giving any aid at all, and private colleges offering $2000 grant; while the same year, another college gave $45,000/year grant. We just view the process as two main hurdles: getting in, then affording it.</p>