<p>I need advice on how to best persuade my daughter to "fall in love" with a state school to save $. We are in NY (dah) and have awesome SUNY schools. She would most likely be admitted into the most difficult (fingers crossed but prob.). </p>
<p>She has eyes on a few privates. Wanting to study biology, she plans to attend med school. Has anyone been through this already and have any advice?
Thank you!</p>
<p>Cornell CALS … instate? There’s a good one to fall in love with …</p>
<p>From one NY’er to another, I’ve got to say, it’s a hard proposition. We have no designated flagship, as you know, and the SUNY schools are in the snow belt except Stony Brook which is only five minutes from us so off the table.</p>
<p>DD was accepted at Binghamton, but once the private acceptances came in it went off the table.</p>
<p>DS didn’t even apply.</p>
<p>I don’t think kids “fall in love” with SUNY’s. I think they bow to practicality. If your daughter is a practical sort she may be enticed that way. If not, and you are set on her going to a SUNY, you may have to just tell her that your pocketbook mandates it.</p>
<p>One possibility is the state supported parts of Cornell – halfway between a private and a SUNY in price. At least two of the schools have biology majors. And you can apply into two of the schools when you apply, thus doubling the chances for acceptance.</p>
<p>Good luck.</p>
<p>As you can probably gather, both of mine ended up in privates. One in NYS, one in MA. My D just graduated and S has two years to go.</p>
<p>Cross-posted with above poster.</p>
<p>Maybe if she plans on attending med school, you can tell her that you will pay for either undergrad or med school; she can decide which one…if she’s a smart cookie, she’ll pick the SUNY for undergrad and save the $$ for med school (like SUNY kids have been doing for decades)</p>
<p>and I agree with mathmom: the College of agriclture and life science at Cornell is a state chartered school (or something like that) and costs inbetween a SUNY and arts and sci at Cornell…</p>
<p>Why should it not be your idea? You, I assume, are paying?</p>
<p>Another NYer here. I know that some of my S and Ds friends really did “fall in love” with specific SUNY schools. Mine did not and both will be attending private institutions starting in the fall. I think if the school has a strong program in what they want to study that is a plus that you can talk up. S wanted international studies and none of the SUNY schools have I good program for that. D is going into biology and SUNYs are strong in that but the school size is just too big. She will be attending a college that is smaller than her HS. I would look at a SUNY school that has a location that your D is interested in, has bio, and a place where you think she would “fit in”. Don’t totally take privates out of the equation though. S got a scholarship that covers almost all of his tuition at a private college for 4 years as long as he keeps his grades up.</p>
<p>UB has an early assurance program for med school…and a strong bio program with research opportunities which may pique her interest. Take her out to the fall Discovery Day if you can. She might be pleasantly surprised, as my D was (with the pharmacy program). </p>
<p>You might also point out the financial realities of going into significant debt as an undergrad, when expensive graduate ed is likely. If she’s a practical soul, she’ll see the benefit of at least applying to a financial safety! If not, it’s perfectly okay to insist upon it…I did and it was a relief for both of us to know there would be at least one offer we could actually afford!</p>
<p>Former NYer here. I agree with above. Don’t take private schools out of the equation. A really good student can wind up spending less than at a state school. You can do what DH did: told our DD that she could not apply anyplace else until she put in the applications to at least one state school. She applied, as I recall, in September or something like that. Then she started doing her other applications. It gave her a good sense of perspective. When the other acceptances started rolling in, she put the various offers on a spreadsheet. Etc.</p>
<p>When I applied to colleges I was an emancipated minor. I really did not believe I could ever afford to go to any but the cheapest possible school. I did not believe in ever taking out loans. But I wound up going to a private college I had many many opportunities I would not have had otherwise, just because a friend suggested that I apply. Scholarships covered my tuition and I worked and lived in an extremely frugal way.</p>
<p>Not all private schools are equal of course. There are some really great SUNY schools. Keep an open mind. I’ve read on this board of people getting offers from OOS publics and/or private schools that wind up costing less than in-state publics. It can work out right for a hard-working and talented student. Worth a shot.</p>
<p>Also do not forget the other OOS schools. Many other state flagships will give very generous merit scholarships to OOS students for their honors programs. DD found one of those that was cheaper than in state for us. It was an excellent program and it had the alure of being out of state…</p>
<p>I would suggest that instead of deciding which schools to which your daughter can apply that you decide and communicate a limit on how much you will provide for her college education … and if you will co-sign for loans or not. SUNY schools would be a great option however in additional many outstanding private schools provide merit scholarships and/or financial aid so the cost of attendence could end up being less.</p>
<p>I should have made it clear- with both my kids, we do 2/3, they pay 1/3. I have no idea why, it has just worked that way with son! We try to pay as they go, whenever possible, thus a SUNY is ideal!</p>
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<p>No you don’t. </p>
<p>You just need to tell your daughter that you can’t afford to pay more than the COA at SUNY. Make a list of the costs on a piece of paper (tuition/ room & board) – write down the SUNY totals, the amount you are able to put into your daughters education – and tell her that is her budget for college.</p>
<p>She doesn’t need to “love” her choice – any more than you had to get her to love broccoli in order to eat it. Her whole life she has had to settle for what you or she could afford rather than what she wanted, whether it was a prom dress or a pair of shoes or the form of transportation she used to get to school and back. She survived.</p>
<p>She has a lot of choices and the freedom to structure her own choices. In addition to the SUNY’s, there are colleges all over the country that might give her merit aid – and you should use online calculators to get a ballpark of what your family’s FASFA EFC will be.</p>
<p>“Honey, private schools have no monopoly in placing kids in med school, and once you become a doc, <em>nobody</em> knows or cares where you got your undergrad degree - just look at Dr. Smith, Dr. Brown, Dr. Doe down the street, all highly successful docs who didn’t fork out private school tuition …”</p>
<p>Having said that, I do have to say that our D is going to Northwestern, but we were incredibly fortunate to be able to afford it and let D pick the school she wanted. Otherwise, she would probably have headed to Pitt, and like many of her schoolmates before her, had as good a chance at med school as any.</p>
<p>Dont forgert the combined BS/MD program at CUNY – Sohie Davis. Dont know about next year, but this year they did have adequate housing for all honors students.</p>
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<p>So, if your D attends a 45k/year school, you’ll pay 30k, but if your D attends a 18k/ year school, you’ll only pay 12k?</p>
<p>What calmom said. </p>
<p>A number of my friends have told their kids they’ll pay for college up to the amount of the state flagship or its equivalent. In some cases, the kids picked the state school; in other cases, a private school with merit scholarships (which were no more). Had the kids chosen differently, they’d be on their own for loans, etc.</p>
<p>But let her know ahead of time just what you can or will do. I’d never even heard of kids’ “falling in love” with a school until I started reading CC. Other kids just go to college it seems!</p>
<p>Agree with calmom also. We took the tactic of telling the kids the budget – what we were willing and able to pay out of pocket. We told them they had to pick one in-state school to apply to as a financial “safety” and went from there. Our budget would have covered costs at the state flagship, but we did not stipulate which state school they had to “pick.” Ultimately S1 picked an out of state public that met his and our criteria. We will see what happens with S2.</p>
<p>The kid who graduates first in the class from medical school has the same title as one who graduates last- Doctor! That being said, you can’t make her “fall in love” with any particular school. Sit down and talk to her about finances and listen to her thoughts. If she is willing to sign for the loans and can pay for a school with a combination of loans, grants and scholarships, then the final choice should be her’s. Make sure she factors in the cost for transportation, living etc so she is comparing apples to apples, not to kiwi!</p>
<p>Well, I’m a bit of both I guess. I have a guaranteed transfer to my favorite choice at Cornell (ILR) and a full ride to Hunter through the Macaulay Honors College. I’ll probably stay at Hunter but it’s nice having the GT to Cornell just in case. As the others said the contract schools at Cornell are all top notch in their fields. Also if she wants to be in the city do what I did and apply to Macaulay. Full tuition, $7500 stipend, free macbook, free room on 25th street that’s a single! (only if you apply to Hunter), a cultural pass to tons of museums and exhibits, plus more. You really can’t beat it. The program is absolutely amazing and is becoming stronger and more competitive each year (This year at hunter the avg gpa was like 95 and avg sat was 1450+ so its pretty darn competitive).</p>
<p>Hope that helps,
Mike</p>
<p>Regretably, I also do not know anyone who has fallen in love with a SUNY school.</p>
<p>They are practical options for New York State students, and students will get a good education at most of them. But…most are in the middle of no where, have no Football or basketball D1 teams with any kind of sports heritage (some have D1 heritage in Hockey…that’s about it for classic “rah rah” sports) and have fairly awful 50’s, 60’s and 70’s architecture. So…for a kid looking for a “classic” Michigan, Penn State, Cal, UVA or UNC-CH type of atmosphere…they’re not going to find it at a SUNY school.</p>
<p>They will likely get a top rate education at most of the schools, make great friends and have a wonderful experience when they look back on it…but asking a high school student to “fall in love” with a SUNY school is a tall order!</p>
<p>I hope you will offer 2/3 of SUNY expenses to your child, make it very clear that’s all you’ll pay, and let her take on the responsibility for finding the rest. If you think she will easily get into the top SUNY schools, it’s likely she can find merit money at some other places.</p>