<p>the important thing is that your child goes to a place that they will be happy and productive in. If it's a few thousand a year more than you intend to pay, so be it. IF youre efc is 30 grand, why can you only pay 15?</p>
<p>Curmudgeon -</p>
<p>I generally agree with most of what you post, but I disagree with your post (#33), where you say that Rice is a merit aid nightmare. Rice does give out quite a large amount of merit aid, and I think the OP rightly recognizes that her son has a small but significant chance of getting some. Rice gives out several 12,000/year scholarships, as well as a number of others. Many kids on the Rice board this year recieved merit scholarships. They also have an ROTC program, which the OP had mentioned was an option. Like all schools, most kids don't get merit aid. However, I think it's worth applying because there is a possibility that it could really work out.</p>
<p>Is Wash U in St Louis a possibility for your S?</p>
<p>Also: My D with 1350 & 3.87 w was offered $10K at both Beloit and Allegheny, which are not $40K to begin with BTW.</p>
<p>I spose I'm going against type here but based on our experience, I think your S should apply -- along with the "affordables" to one or two schools that he loves even if they are out of his/your financial reach - miracles do happen p particularly if your son plays the diversity game with savvy (in this case, geographic, political persuasion, etc.)</p>
<p>I suggest this because it worked for our S who got decent money from three schools but the biggest came to over $36,000 - and all he needs to do is maintain a C minus average. </p>
<p>Nothing ventured nothing gained. The lessons here are 1. keep your options open. 2. hedge your bets 3. and remember, nothing ventured, nothing gained.</p>
<p>jenskate, I used words very poorly in that response. Rice wasn't the nightmare,nor was Rice FA. The nightmare was his chances at getting out of pocket total costs down to $15K at Rice, which would mean over $20k in merit. Do you think his chances are good at $20k of merit at Rice? You'd know better than I, and I will certainly defer to your experience there. But based on the fact that our Val from last year with a 4.0/4.7, 1520 was denied admission last year, while accepted at Chicago-I'm thinking y'all are getting a might picky down there.</p>
<p>Curmudgeon,</p>
<p>If I remember correctly you are from TX. The val from last year's class could have been caught on the wrong side of Rice's geographic diversity objectives. With 52% of the students coming from in-state they may be really pushing that requirement. I'd be surprised if a similar out of region school rejected that student.</p>
<p>For us we will be looking both in region and out of region this year to see what kind of difference it makes.</p>
<p>I love this web site! What great insight from very knowledgeable people.</p>
<p>Mini- Where is Berry College? I've never heard of it. Wasn't in my Princeton Review Best 3XX</p>
<p>SBMom-Yes, WUSL is also on his reach list. Hoping geographic diversity may help.</p>
<p>Crash-I like how you think. Gotta throw in a flyer or two as Crumudgeon mentions. I've always told my kids, "if you don't ever ask, you'll never get." Which school gave your kid 36K?</p>
<p>Thanks to all!</p>
<p>Lukester , Berry is in Rome, Georgia. Very big on work study. The campus is huge, thousands of acres. Their own farm and dairy, I believe. Bad girl/guy ratio-way more females so D is not too interested. Wants more favorable odds. But for a guy? works for me.LOL.</p>
<p>My usual advice (take it or leave it) re: loans:</p>
<p>A student should not graduate with more than $15,000 in debt. Anything more than that cannot be comfortably paid off within 10 years on a college grad's salary; if he does grad school, anything more than $15k will be too much to add to the grad loans.</p>
<p>If he can get work-study, he can probably earn about $2,000 per year, which is spending money and maybe some for tuition. Summer internships vary widely - as an engineer who got lucky, I made $8k during my junior year. Temping after freshman year can be lucrative, for about $10-$12/hour, 40 hours per week. </p>
<p>Do the math, but don't to it optimistically. Assume $40k/year, minus the $15k - so he needs to come up with $25k/year, or $100k total. Subtract $15k in allowable debt, and that's $85k. Over four years, he could certainly put $10k towards the debt if he's careful with his money - so that's $75k, or about $17,000/year in merit (as stated above, merit reduces need-based aid). That might be closer to $20k if parents don't adjust the $15k for inflation or if he goes to an expensive school.</p>
<p>Finally - congrats on having this discussion with him (and getting advice) now. Every year, there are posters (kids & parents) who deal with huge problems because the parents don't want to pay and the kid is disappointed. I'm nominating you as the poster parent of How it Should Be Done.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Every year, there are posters (kids & parents) who deal with huge problems because the parents don't want to pay and the kid is disappointed. I'm nominating you as the poster parent of How it Should Be Done.
[/quote]
ariesa - I have been thinking the same thing, but you said it much better.</p>
<p>Just a thought here...DS did not qualify for work study. BUT here is something he found out. On-campus jobs that are NOT work study pay more per hour than those which are work study. ALSO there is a limit on work study hours depending on your dollar WS award. SO...you might want to look for on-campus (not work study job) and compare to work study. DS said he had some friends who found that their WS award didn't allow them to work the full year...and that the pay was less than the other jobs. This might vary from campus to campus.</p>
<p>Lukester, we talked before, my D has identical academic stats to your S, and is from the lowcountry. Furman really did put out good merit money and added to the state lottery money provided full tuition. Wake provided zip, zilch, nada in merit money. Emory made a good offer of $15K merit (considering the quality of students there). We got the Clemson bill for the first semester - total due $19!!!!!! We're saving for grad school. The honors program has been very helpful in getting her fall schedule, etc. She's happy. PM me late this fall if you want to and I will let you know if the picture is still rosy.</p>
<p>Lake Forest offerred my D some decent scholarship money, it is near Chicago and there are several members of this forum who have visited it withing the past year.</p>