<p>Hi, I was curious how many of you parents are expecting your children to receive full rides to whatever college they attend (i.e: You aren't paying for college).</p>
<p>My parents are against paying for college at all, regardless of where it is to. And though I'm not necessarily mad at them (I completely understand where they're coming from, and it's better for me to not know where to apply NOW than for them to burst my bubble in 2 years), it does put a bit of stress on me, knowing that I'm not aiming for the best school I can get in to, but the best school that would give me a full-ride.</p>
<p>So I'm just curious to know how much you all plan to pay towards your children's education.</p>
<p>Most of us parents recognize that the # of schools offering a full ride is rapidly shrinking, as is much merit aid. Most of us recognize it is our duty having brought kids into this world to help finance their education so they an make a decent living in this world, which to most of us means helping as we are able with college tuition and expenses.</p>
<p>Many seem to have their students take out Stafford loans and work over summers and part time for “skin in the game,” but some prefer to allow their kids to graduate debt free. Personally, I feel it is unreasonable to expect most kids to shoulder the full financial burden of a college education and have seen many students taking many, many years and loans attempting to pay for their educations.</p>
<p>We were happy that our S got significant merit awards, which greatly reduced his tuition for all 4 years. D chose to start at CC and transfer to dream U. Both graduated without debt because we made paying for their college an important family priority. </p>
<p>We know others who have graduated owing up to 6 figures in debt. That seems a very heavy burden to start out with, even for a young attorney.</p>
<p>I’m planning to pay my FAFSA EFC. I’d like to pay less, and under certain circumstances that’s a possibility. However, I can’t imagine any realistic parent expecting a full ride (tuition, fees, room, board, books, and all the rest that goes into COA). Yes, sometimes they happen, but to expect one? Unwise. I’d be thrilled with full tuition.</p>
<p>We paid total cost for an instate public u. for our youngest son.<br>
Older son had a full ride to big state u. because of NROTC and a couple of merit awards.</p>
<p>We were thrilled when our kids received full tuition scholarships from various schools. We were planning to pay the entire amount (in-state school) but with the scholarships our kids were able to head OOS for college. I can’t emphasize how much easier it is without having student loans hanging over your head. The question was: prestige school (taking out big loans for it) versus not-so-prestigious (no debt) versus in-state school; my kids chose the semi-prestigious with no loan debt.</p>
<p>Expect may have been a bad word to use.
Just that they’d have me accept the full ride to a state/flagship/hbcu than pay a lot for a Top 30 school.</p>
<p>In totality there are very few kids that can earn a “full ride” or even “full tuition” resulting in room, board, books, etc. left to pay so I’m guessing very few parents expect this. But in general, it is wise to to avail oneself of an education that minimizes debt and hardship on families. Some parents, and that includes professional parents, do not help much or cannot help much if at all with college costs. It is good that you are discussing this now, rather than during the actual application cycle. And yes, most likely you can get the education you need at a flagship etc…it may not be what you want, but need and want are two different things.</p>
<p>My mom paid for FPP, which I believe was a significant commitment over theses 18 years. She explained to me the burden of debt and made sure I knew what I would be getting into if I took out loans. She showed me what she could afford and said she was willing to help with as much as she could. </p>
<p>I took it upon myself to try not to have her “help”. FPP was more than enough. I went to a school where I was able to get enough merit scholarships so at the end of the first week of school, I’d be getting a check back. So pretty much I got a free ride and more. </p>
<p>Any funds my mom will be giving me is out of the kindness of her own heart. </p>
<p>It certain situations, the free ride is the best way to go. You get added perks and luxuries that just wouldn’t be able to get if you had to keep taking out loans every semester and work.</p>
<p>That’s a very different situation indeed. I expect you to get a full ride vs. I want you to take the full ride. By the way, there’s a whole lot of space between hbcu/state and top 30. Fwiw, I’ve never heard of a student in my state getting a full ride to the flagship, and there’s nothing about it on their fin aid website. If they’re there, they are very tightly held secrets!</p>
<p>My neighbors made their daughter take the SAT probably 5 or 6 times, with the goal of scoring high enough to qualify for a full ride. They could afford probably any school, but their attitude was, “Why pay for something if we can get it for free?” She did get a full ride scholarship, but sadly she is miserable at this school (a commuter school with little campus life) and has been begging to transfer. Her parents won’t let her. While I’m all for saving money, I personally would not go to those lengths or force my child to attend a school where she’d be unhappy, unless that was the only way she could go to college. But there are parents who do that. And I have to admit I’m just a little jealous of their nice new cars and fancy vacations! We can’t afford those things until after our kids are out of college, but that’s okay, that’s what we’ve chosen to spend our money on.</p>
<p>The parents on CC are a rare bunch. In reality, a TON of parents expect their kids to pay the full cost, especially those who slacked during high school. In general these students go to the community college taking one to three courses at a time and hopefully transfer to a directional four year. I’d wager that at least twenty percent of my high school classmates (probably far more, but I isolated myself among the AP kids) were expected to pay for college by themselves.</p>
<p>TheAtlantic – are you a rising senior (HS Class of 2014)? Do you feel like posting your stats (GPA, SAT or ACT scores, where you want to study whether it be the South, the Northeast, or West Coast plus preferred school size, etc.)? Because I bet there are a lot of knowledgeable people here who could make some concrete suggestions for you as to where you could get some really great offers (merit aid, scholarships).</p>
<p>I expect my kids to clean their rooms. They rarely do it. But that doesn’t change my expectation.</p>
<p>Atlantic…what are your stats? Are you a likely NMF or NA?</p>
<p>She did get a full ride scholarship, but sadly she is miserable at this school (a commuter school with little campus life) and has been begging to transfer. Her parents won’t let her</p>
<p>That’s the problem with some full rides these days. If they’re offered by commuter/suitcase schools and your child lives far away, it can be very lonely at night or on weekends.</p>
<p>I’m one of the unusual parents on CC. We did not have the money to put our kids through school (lower middle class, high medical expenses, and ended up 100% financing a house after leaving a parsonage). My oldest daughter had a very small scholarship, borrowed the rest, and had a job for personal expenses - we paid health insurance and she did not have a car. Younger daughter had very large merit undergrad scholarship, along with three generous 4-year private scholarships, and has a very generous government grant for her grad school. She was an RA for one year for free room and board, and also had a job for personal expenses. Both have about 40K in debt; the teacher is having a tight time, but is managing; the younger will be a PA and will have a much easier time repaying her loans. I do throw some money at the older one’s loans from time to time when I have some spare cash.</p>
<p>I’m 2016, so basically it’s not like I had a dream school or anything. (I also dont have many stats besides my rank & GPA, and my URM status)
The main point of this thread was just to see how y’all feel about cost vs prestige</p>
<p>It is highly variable on your intended major. To be honest, for some majors, your accomplishments matter a lot more than the school you came from. Therefore, those $50K+ in loans may not have been worth it. </p>
<p>It also boils down to want you want and don’t want. I decided I didn’t want any student loan debt. I did just that. Am I sill going to a good school that will get me a job? Yes. Do I enjoy there? Yes. It is possible to find a nice medium or even everything you want. It just depends what those wants are. </p>
<p>If you want prestige, go to a prestigious school. If you couldn’t care less, focus on other factors. </p>
<p>Based on how I want to live and what I want out of life, a prestigious school won’t do squat for me. A school where I have everything paid does wonders.</p>
<p>My kid got into a school with a 14% acceptance rate and he got 2 full rides and a full tuition +.</p>
<p>The 14% AR school was just way out of our comfort zone price and would have required loans by both us and him.</p>
<p>He ultimately chose the full tuition plus. It offered many opportunities that he would not have received at a tippy top school. It also was not as remote location as the full ride schools.</p>
<p>I consider him fortunate to have had choices. </p>
<p>The decision does not need to be full ride or bust. Keep educating yourself and your family as to what is available, realistic costs and understand what your personal budget will be in 5-7 years with any compounded interest. College is 4 years; college debt may be 30 years and impact marriage, kids, house and all other “adult” rites of passage.</p>
<p>I’m not sure how prestige matters in this discussion. There are some very highly regarded schools that do give merit aid in some forms. Of course some of those top 30 don’t at all.</p>
<p>Look up posts by curmudgeon and see his daughter’s story. She got a full ride, or near it…to Rhodes College for undergrad…turning down schools like Yale. Guess what…she is now at Yale med school.</p>
<p>Going to a prestige school is nice, but there are a lot of wonderful schools that are not in the top 30 where you can get an excellent education and opportunities you might not get at a top 30 school.</p>
<p>Disclaimer…I’m not saying that those top 30 schools are not worth it…I’m saying that there are other very worthy options to consider.</p>