<p>Thumper,</p>
<p>I made the error of looking only at fees and tuition when I first started studying this private. That showed $36,000, so $18,000 scholarship made it look well within the range. But there’s another $10K to 15K in room, board, transportation, etc.</p>
<p>Thank you for the help.</p>
<p>I think it’a a valid question. We have been able to get away with privates for less than the public by seeking merit money and and using a tuition benefit. Many years ago, as a student (and granted when prices were close together), merit made my private far less than the public.</p>
<p>For us, those big merit/tuition exchange privates are NOT standard CC fare. They don’t have boards here. Admissions aren’t all that selective (although grad and retention rates are). My in state options would cost us 16-20k. Private will cost less than 10k.</p>
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<p>Depends on the family’s finances, and what state that they live in. For example, a low to middle income family living in Pennsylvania will likely find the in-state public schools to be unaffordable, while the same income family living in California will likely find the in-state public schools to be affordable.</p>
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<p>Has she looked at these threads?</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1348012-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships-20.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1348012-automatic-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships-20.html</a>
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1461983-competitive-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships-4.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1461983-competitive-full-tuition-full-ride-scholarships-4.html</a></p>
<p>Tada! Thank you UCBA for those links!</p>
<p>We have a friend who lives with parents. Her kids are excellent students with high need and great grades. They applied to about 14 schools each and ended up attending a private U which actually WAS among the lowest cost out-of-pocket to them with the combined merit + FAid package. They got substantial amounts for both. The oldest attended an OOS private and then came back to attend in-state med school. He’s now a practicing pediatrician. The middle child received a very nice package from a different OOS private but ended up attending in-state flagship. Youngest went to same OOS private as oldest and also got a great package. So much depends on the student AND the college, family’s calculated need, funds available at the U, an other factors.</p>
<p>UT Austin would have been roughly 25K total and our son received a one year, $650 scholarship from them. He received a full tuition scholarship from a private university, leaving us responsible for room, board, books and transportation which totals roughly 15K a year. </p>
<p>It was a no-brainer for us. My son is in his senior year at his university and it has been a great experience overall.</p>
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Part of it is the relatively reasonable cost of your state flagship. Here in California, our UC system costs about $32,000/year for instate students, which is approximately double the cost of your flagship. We also have our CSU system, which is more affordable at approximately $24,000/year, but which still exceeds the costs of your flagship significantly.</p>
<p>In the application process, we encountered many California privates that offered scholarships to top students that brought the cost down to approximate the cost of the UCs. In some cases (lower-ranked privates) students qualified for the scholarships just by showing they been accepted to a UC. Again, however, the cost was brought down to approximately $32,000/year so the success of that is relative.</p>
<p>Other enticements we noted were privates that offered to match the main State of California financial aid component, the Cal Grant, for eligible students or academic scholarships that just happened to be in the $25,000-$30,000/year range, which brought overall costs down to approximately the cost of a UC. Many lower-ranked privates (not in the top 50 or 100, for example) offered full-ride scholarships *to top students<a href=“see%20the%20linked%20scholarship%20threads%20in%20UCBalumnus’%20post%20for%20many%20examples”>/i</a>.</p>
<p>In the end, for our family, an expensive private (USC) ended up being slightly less than UC Berkeley or UCLA (though it is important to mention once again that instate costs for UC Berkeley/UCLA are about $32,000/year) due to generous academic scholarships.</p>
<p>Here in California, our UC system costs about $32,000/year for instate students, which is approximately double the cost of your flagship. We also have our CSU system, which is more affordable at approximately $24,000/year, but which still exceeds the costs of your flagship significantly.</p>
<p>I think the mom is only counting tuition room board books. I think if she added personal expenses, travel, etc (the full COA) her costs would be more like a CSU.</p>
<p>But, you’re right…her instate flagship is lowish in cost.</p>
<p>Moneymom…what state are you in?</p>
<p>We’re in Oklahoma. It’s cheap to live here. Of course, salaries are less than many places too, so…</p>
<p>Our family is one that did better at privates than publics. Our EFC is around 18K. Our state schools don’t meet need and are close to 30K. Three kids overlapping in college at the same time meant privates were MUCH cheaper. It really depends on the family situation. Also, there are not that many private schools which fully meet need (without excessive loans), so not every family can count on their kids being admitted to those schools. The more typical example would be a coworker of mine, a single-mom of a not so great student. She makes 45K/yr and he is attending a lower level state school with 17K in loans per year. I suggested community college first to save money but she wouldn’t hear of it.</p>
<p>Our family is one that did better at privates than publics. Our EFC is around 18K. Our state schools don’t meet need and are close to 30K. Three kids overlapping in college at the same time meant privates were MUCH cheaper.</p>
<p>This is a prime example. Even with three in college, they don’t qualify for Pell…which seems to be the threshold for “free money” and sometimes work-study at many state schools. Many automatically are “full pay” at publics if they don’t qualify for Pell or don’t get merit.</p>
<p>We’re in Oklahoma.</p>
<p>OU is super generous to NMFs, but I dont’ know how generous they are to those with “just” high stats (ACT 32+).</p>
<p>Did your D2 apply to Alabama? It would give her free tuition, but she’d need to apply by Jan 6.</p>
<p>Our state flagship is 28k. D did not get any scholarship or need based aid from them, despite my efc of about 10k. Private college at 60k gave 5k scholarship and 30k need based aid. She also received a 4k renewable outside scholarship. With D taking 5,500 in Direct Loans, the private net is 16.5k and the state net is 19.5k.</p>
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17K x 4 years = 68K total. Too much!</p>
<p>The more typical example would be a coworker of mine, a single-mom of a not so great student. She makes 45K/yr and he is attending a lower level state school with 17K in loans per year. I suggested community college first to save money but she wouldn’t hear of it.</p>
<p>oh wow…unless her son lands a really highly paid job, she’s going to end up subsidizing the repayment of those loans on her lowish salary… $70k in debt for a lower-level state school? Oh my. She may find that she won’t qualify for those loans before he graduates.</p>
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<p>They probably offered you/your child $18k in loans, work study, other aid, so the did meet the EFC expectation of your paying in $10k</p>
<p>I received one early NPC (from the school my daughter is actually going to) and it listed the costs, the merit aid, then all the loans, workstudy, etc. and at the bottom it was announced in big letters and numbers “Your Out of Pocket - 0” Sure, but that was after $30k in loans! so not exactly my idea of OOP being zero.</p>
<p>Some people really think their needs have been met with loans, but I’m not one of them. Show me the cash!</p>
<p>Twoin…actually that might NOT be the case at a public flagship. The ONLY guaranteed aid at a public flagship that does NOT meet full need (which is ALL except UVA, UNC-CH, and UMich for instate students) is the Direct Loan which is $5500 for freshman year. No guarantee for other grants, or work study. The other flagships do NOT guarantee to meet full need in any way shape or form.</p>
<p>It is very possible that this student didn’t receive a NICKEL of aid above that Direct Loan.</p>
<p>There’s no one answer for everyone. Different schools and states have different philosophies and it’s important to match a student’s reality (the student’s academic strength and the family’s financial picture) to a school. </p>
<p>Some states do not give much need-based financial aid and instead use funds to reward good students. Florida and Georgia come to mind. So a state like New York (and I think North Carolina) tends to make it possible for poor instate students who are admitted to public colleges to attend. And UVA makes it possible for poor out-of-state students to attend. The opposite is a school like Alabama which will use state money to attract out-of-state students with top scores but may not be affordable to poor instate students. Different options for different students.</p>
<p>Concur with alamemom about merit money at privates bringing costs down to near or cheaper than the cost of a UC for well-off California parents. Or even merit aid at out of state publics. </p>
<p>moneymom, one thing to make you feel better:</p>
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<p>It might seem that way, but it’s not necessarily so. First, if the savings are in your name rather than your child’s, FAFSA will count 5.6% (if I’m remembering correctly) of the total savings balance towards your EFC. 25% (again, iirc) if it’s in the child’s name. The biggest driver for need-based aid is income, not savings, in most cases.</p>
<p>Secondly, most schools don’t guarantee to meet need. Even if you have need, your child will be accepted without necessarily being given scholarships or grants to make attending possible. In those cases, it’s having those savings that makes it possible to attend.</p>
<p>Yes…the FAFSA formula counts assesses student assets at 20% while parent assets are 5.6% above their asset protection allowance.</p>
<p>However, schools using the Profile can assess assets at any %age they choose.</p>