Flagler College- oos financial aid

Paying for College
21

Hi,

You need a four-year plan on how to pay for college. Knowing that Flagler is not a financially feasible option and trying to solve it would be taking a HELOC, what is the plan for repaying the $160k of debt that you are talking about taking on?

A dream school should not be a financial nightmare.
There is more than one way to fund college, but how will you fund your retirement if you are exhausting all of your resources for one college?

It is time to move on from Flagler, they do not have enough money to make the school affordable. You need to sit down with your daughter and tell her realistically how much you can afford to pay or borrow for school.

If you have a house in Florida, that is going to throw a wrench into any need-based aid you are going to receive. Schools are not going to give you need-based aid so that you can keep your Florida home.

Your daughter is a solid B student. You are fortunate that you have SUNY, which can be an affordable option. There are 64 schools in the SUNY system (the second-largest public university system in the country) and I am sure that she will have more than one option.

If you are in the city, you also have CUNY (the 3rd-largest public university system in the country and the largest urban public university system in the country).

Your 2 favorite words may be articulation agreement.
While New Paltz is not on the table at this time, she can look into attending SUNY Dutchess, and transfer to New Paltz or any other SUNY.

SUNY Has made it easier to move from school to school within the SUNY system through the SUNY transfer paths

https://www.suny.edu/attend/get-started/transfer-students/suny-transfer-paths/

Don’t look down your nose at the SUNY CC’s as they have articulation agreements with all of the 4 year SUNYs and the land grant colleges at Cornell

https://www.human.cornell.edu/admissions/transfer/articulationagreements

Even the CUNY CC’s have articulation agreements with the 4 year SUNY schools, Cornell and NYU (through the CCTOP)

The Corning Express: Corning CC to SUNY Bing
https://www.corning-cc.edu/academics/transfer-agreements/binghamton-university.php

I would recommend looking at Mount St Vincent, that can be affordable with merit money (she could probably get about 21K with an additional 5K as a residential student). She would need to maintain a 2.75 gpa to keep her merit.

You are going to have to take a bottoms-up approach and start trying to find a true safety; a school where your D can be admitted, a school that is a financially feasible option, and when the dust settles will be a school that your D will be happy to attend.

5 Likes
22

It is always worth the conversation with admissions (merit) or financial aid, but having a second home does not help your case with most admissions and aid offices.

Definitely run the net price calculator again to see if the offer is close. If it is showing a lower number that helps.

Mention the cost of the sibling at Embry Riddle (also not known for great aid) and your pending retirement plans. They may be able to help a little more.

Also, look at the residency requirements if she does stay in NY at a state college, but you no longer live there in another year.

If you have paid for the other sibling without these questions, this may be a tough conversation about not being able to afford college for this child.

1 Like
23

What is the budget for this child? If we know that, we can help come up with additional suggestions. I’d also check on Oglethorpe, as @tsbna44 mentioned, as she may get a flagship match there, and it’s significantly closer to Florida than New York is, and you won’t have the concern about losing in-state status in New York when you permanently move to Florida. All the Atlanta schools are part of a consortium, so she could take classes at other Atlanta-area schools, too.

1 Like
24

Great advice. Thank you. I managed to negotiate a bit with Riddle and they assisted with travel award and such. My riddle student got some scholarship too. It doesn’t hurt to try. For the record for those who don’t live in NY, CUNY schools are deep in the city and some in not-so-nice neighborhoods, hence the price tag. The SUNYs are full of kids with free aid. Middle class families tend to get more aid here if they apply to private schools. We don’t get the perks Florida folks get. It’s a sh-t show here.

Thank you all for your assistance. It’s appreciated!

1 Like
25

Actually I’m wrong. You need a 3.8 or 30 ACT to qualify for Flagship 50. They match u buffalo at 10,856.

Check out W Carolina though or a two year school if she doesn’t get into SUNY.

Even when you move to Florida she won’t have resident tuition. So she will start and finish in NY or you will pay more.

1 Like
26

Below are some schools that your family may want to consider. They were included either because they have a lower COA than what you indicated it would be post-aid at Flagler, and/or because they were listed as a buyer or extreme buyer by Jeff Selingo (for more info…) and the Excel spreadsheet I downloaded from his site seemed to indicate that the net price would come down a very significant amount (there were some extreme buyers who had higher net prices than other buyers, for example). I tried to stay in Florida or not too for away from there:

  • Bethune-Cookman (FL): HBCU, COA $31k, 2500 undergrads, residential campus
  • Birmingham-Southern (AL): A Colleges That Change Lives member, COA $37k and extreme buyer, 1k undergrads, residential campus
  • Converse (SC): Predominantly women’s college, COA $37k, 800 undergrads, residential campus
  • Dalton State (GA): COA $22k, 4500 undergrads, commuter campus
  • Florida Southern: COA $55k and it’s a buyer, 2800 undergrads, residential campus
  • Millsaps (MS): A member of the Colleges That Change Lives association, COA $60k but it’s an extreme buyer and will likely give a significant discount, residential campus
  • Nova Southeastern (FL): COA $56k but a buyer so price is expected to be significantly better, 6600 undergrads, commuter campus with 40% of first years living on-campus
  • Savannah State (GA): HBCU, COA $23k, 3100 undergrads, residential campus
  • Spring Hill (AL): Jesuit college, COA $37k and a buyer, 1k undergrads, residential campus
  • Stetson (FL): 3700 undergrads, residential campus, $70k COA but it’s an extreme buyer, residential campus
  • U. of Southern Mississippi: COA $27k, 11k undergrads, commuter campus but 80% of first-years live on campus
  • William Carey (MS): COA $29k, 3400 undergrads, commuter campus but 82% of first-years live on-campus
1 Like
27

Flagler is a private school. In Florida, there are a bunch of grants and scholarships that can be used at private schools but the student has to be a resident to qualify. This helps the instate students who want to go to a private school keep the costs down and the schools know this so have their scholarships and grants set up with this in mind. Graduates of Florida schools can use their bright futures awards (between $3000 and $6500), the EASE grant (used to be called the Fl Resident’s grant, and it was about $3000 but I don’t know what it is now), there is a Florida version of SEOG. There are also a lot of local scholarships available to hs students that can only be used instate.

I don’t know if your child would be eligible for the EASE grant once you become a resident. To qualify for BF, she has to have graduated from a Florida hs so she wouldn’t get that after you become a resident.

I think it is worth it to talk to Flagler about grants they can give her.

I’m a big fan of Flagler and love St Augustine. I also love Rollins and Winter Park, but it costs a lot (more aid however). I did not like Stetson or Jacksonville. Florida Southern is a beautiful campus but I’m not a fan of Lakeland. Florida Southern also gives a lot of merit aid, but it is inland and hot.

If she doesn’t mind religious schools, she could look at Palm Beach Atlantic (very religious), Barry (Catholic), or St. Leo’s (Catholic and bigger than the other schools you’ve mentioned.

Some of the Florida public schools are pretty inexpensive, even for OOS students. North Florida (Jacksonville) is on the smaller size. My kids had friends at FIU and FAU and all seemed to like those schools. I think she could qualify for instate tuition at a community college pretty quickly once you move to Florida, and after that transfer to a 4 year school with instate status. Florida publics are NOT test optional.

1 Like
28

@yomiss2018
I am sad and disappointed at the level of misinformation that you provided regarding the CUNY/SUNY system, especially when it comes to
CUNY schools are in bad neighborhoods (UES, Gramercy, Hamilton Heights, Flushing, etc) which is why the cost is low, and SUNY is full of kids with free aid (NYS families making $125k with normal assets are eligible for the Excelsior scholarship which puts a big dent in tuition costs at both SUNY and CUNY, but there is still room, board, fees, and indirect costs).

You are wrong on both counts as many of the SUNYS; UB, Bing, Geneseo, New Paltz, Purchase, Stony Brook, Albany, etc have plenty of full-pay students from Long Island and Westchester counties and punch way above the weight than many of the schools that you are considering.

The real challenge is that a student with an 85 average is going to have a hard time getting into Baruch, Hunter, Queens, City College, and Brooklyn at the CUNY level and the SUNYs listed above.

If your preference is for your child to attend school in Florida, there is nothing wrong with that - it is your kid and your money. But it is wrong to malign a whole university system because you said yourself that your D may not be admitted at the in-state options where you would like for her to attend.

Have you met with your school counselor? What are his/her recommendations? I see from your post that your D has an IEP (which will expire when she graduates), what recommendations has the transition team made?

The great thing is that there are over 4000 colleges and universities in the US and your D will have a number of options. She can attend wherever her grades and your money will take her. This is what putting together a college is about; finding affordable options where your child is likely to be admitted and will be happy to attend. All the best

4 Likes
29

It was just an opinion. Thank you for your long response. Have a great day.

30

With this…you need to be sure your child will get any necessary supports she might need in college. Number one criteria should be how disability services can help your daughter.

2 Likes
32

If you can’t afford it, you shouldn’t send him there. Sometimes they give good financial aid, sometimes they don’t.

33

Couldn’t agree more with @sybbie719! I also believe that your interpretation of the SUNY’s appears to be based on unknowns. We reside in San Diego County and are full pay. Our daughter had never experienced seasonal weather other than hot sun, Santa Ana winds and sun, occasional earthquakes and sun, and dry weather sun. (So she wanted to spend time flying Southwest to the snow land.)
She attended SUNY Buffalo because she thought, at the time, that she would be attending medical school via Buffalo’s affiliation with several medical schools in the area. She received a full ride from UB and Honors college, even though she was a non-resident. She ended up majoring in Electrical Engineering and Computer Software and got a great education there.

This is a child who got into Yale, Johns Hopkins, the UC’s and USC. I believe that the SUNY’s are grossly underrated. She has performed extremely well here in SoCal and her degree from UB was just a stepping stone.

Your daughter will make her career choice wherever she advocates for herself. If you have to go into debt for a school that you cannot afford, then you are risking your retirement and financial future on a large debt.

3 Likes
34

SUNYs are really good state schools and offer excellent value. Beside Cortland, what about Oneonta or Oswego?
Those would offer an affordable option “just in case”.

Now, on to Florida: if she got into Lynn and Flagler, have her apply to Eckerd, Stetson, UTampa, Barry, and St Leo, then either compare packages or use one to bargain with the other (although Eckerd may only bargain if you got an offer from Rollins and the solid B average makes Rollins very very reachy. Still, worth a try).
Flagler may be nice but is not worth getting into debt for.

Is there any FL CC or state university near your 2nd home in FL? IF she could live at your 2nd home and commute it’d decrease costs significantly.