<p>Sorry, I'm actually a student, but I thought it would be good to post here. I am thinking about Northwestern, Minesota, and Madison. I can go to Madison and MN for 20-25 k. If I make Northwestern, I can go for around 50k. My parents make around 200k, so financial aid is probably almost impossible. Should my parents pay 50k or should they make me go to the still very good schools of MN and Madison? I know it depends on my parents, but does anyone have experience with this type of issue?</p>
<p>With an income of $200K, schools will assume that, if you are accepted, your parents are able to afford the cost of your attendance.</p>
<p>Whether they are WILLING to pay is another issue, and will depend on the individual family and family circumstances.</p>
<p>Well, there are a few aspects to your question below. Here was our experience:</p>
<p>We live in MN, and D1 was accepted at Madison. She did not apply to Minnesota, honestly because Madison is generally a stronger school academically. We considered Madison her “financial safety”, because as you say, it is significantly cheaper than out state (non-reciprocity) or private colleges. She also applied to a variety of other schools, almost all LACs (except U of Mich, she comes from a long line of Wolverines, so she applied there as well). She was accepted at 4 schools, waitlisted at 2, rejected at 1. I assume you will apply to more than just these 3 schools as well.</p>
<p>D1 ended up attending a LAC (comparable to St. Olaf, which I assume you are familiar with) on the East Coast. She was awarded merit money worth about 1/3 of her tuition, room, and board, and also get a couple of other small scholarships that were not need-based. All she got from financial aid other than loan offers (which we have not used) was work study, which she has done. Just an FYI, she probably got more merit money than a student from the East Coast with her stats and ECs would have gotten because of geographic diversity – being from our fair state of MN, you could possibly do the same, especially if you have the stats to get into Northwestern.</p>
<p>Because of the merit aid, her LAC choice was still more expensive than Madison, but not double-plus (like you are likely talking about with Northwestern if you get no merit scholarships). About $10,000 a year more than we would have paid for Madison.</p>
<p>I do sense a whiff of entitlement in your post, though. Regardless of your parent’s income, they are in no way obligated to pay for your college at all. If you have siblings, they probably need to consider their educational expenses as well. And they need to fund their retirement so they won’t be a burden on you someday as well. I would not consider their willingness to pay for MN or WI as “making” you go to those schools. I would consider it generous on their part to fund ANY of your higher education.</p>
<p>It could be that they will offer to pay up to the instate/reciprocity amount, and you could take out loans, apply for non-need based scholarships, and work to make up the difference. My suggestion, though, is to look further afield than Northwestern. If you don’t have the Fiske college guide, it is a good starting place. Visit schools with a range of sizes and environments. My D adores her LAC, which couldn’t be more different than Madison. It wasn’t even on her radar when we started looking at colleges. The merit aid was a bonus, she actually liked it best of all the schools she was admitted to. Keep an open mind and look beyond the obvious choices.</p>
<p>Thanks a lot. The problem I have is finding a school that is better at engineering than Minnesota or Madison. When they are better, they usually are way more expensive. So its hard to take that risk if you have great schools really close. I also would prefer staying in the midwest where all of my family is. And I do know i’m lucky to have them paying all of my college. Is there anyone who payed different amounts for seperate children and who could tell me the value of the college for each seperate child?</p>
<p>My son was in your situation this past year. He applied to some highly selective, very expensive private schools that only give need-based aid, for which we didn’t qualify. On the other hand, we are not wealthy enough to cough up 225K or so on his undergraduate education, even though we have saved diligently since he was born. The stock market crash took its toll on both our college fund and our retirement funds. The FAFSA form considers all the money a family has saved as available for child #1 even though child #2 is coming along in a couple of years–I guess the idea is that child #2 might then be able to get need-based aid–but we were not willing to take the chance and ruin the college prospects of little sister.</p>
<p>We calculated that we could afford something more than our state flagship but something less than expensive private university for each child. We told S that that was what he could have from us. He could choose whether to spend it all on an expensive school, and take out loans besides, or attend the flagship and have money left over for grad school, for travel, or for starting out in life. He decided to attend the flagship, which is an excellent fit for him (he took several courses there in his senior year of high school, and loved them). However, his friend, whose family is about in the same financial circumstances and made him the same offer, decided to take out significant loans and go the more elite route. They’re both happy with their choices. They are both majoring in a high-demand field and I am sure they will find employment when they finish their education. However, I’m still relieved that my son won’t be way in debt when he graduates.</p>
<p>Have you checked out University of Illinois-Champaign-Urbana? I believe their engineering programs are very highly rated. Olin is also worth checking out although it’s EXTREMELY selective and not in the midwest. Take a look at Cooper Union too.</p>
<p>OP, do you have a hook? Athletic skills, minority status, national merit scholar/really high test scores & grades? Also, I get the impression you are not a senior yet, is that correct?</p>
<p>Regarding paying varying amounts, I don’t know what good it would do for you to hear specific amounts from parents on the internet. Your parents are not going to be swayed by our stories. There are as many variations on how families have handled college costs as there are familes. Some provide roughly the same amount for each kid, and it is up to the kid to decide how to spend it. Some pay for schools that vary widely in cost for each kid. Some pay for grad school, summer abroad, and things like that. Some pay books & spending money, some don’t. Some, as we discussed, don’t pay for any of it or help out only minimally. I can’t see how hearing examples out here helps solve your problem.</p>
<p>In my opinion every kid should have the following types of schools on their college list.</p>
<ul>
<li>A financial safety that you would be willing to attend if necessary (I think of this as the “if things go south for your family” school)</li>
<li>An academic safety or two, preferably ones that offer merit money. These are schools where you are in the top 50% of statistics (ideally in the top 75%). I can’t emphasize enough that you should visit these schools – you really have to be willing to go there, and if you look hard you can find some that you may really like.</li>
<li>A “close to home” school. Some kids get cold feet about going away at the last minute, and it is awful if all of their choices are far away.</li>
<li>There is a lot to be said (other recent threads discuss this) about letting your parents put a school on your list that might be something you wouldn’t necessarily pick. Sometimes they are right… and it doesn’t hurt to apply.</li>
</ul>
<p>Don’t apply to:
- Schools that you can’t pay for, and that also don’t offer any merit aid.</p>
<p>But the clincher in this is that you need to (1) visit schools if you haven’t yet. In the midwest, you might add Purdue, U of Ill - Champaign-Urbana (as Jingle said), and U of Michigan. But use Fiske to find schools with good engineering programs, and consider looking a little further afield for those schools that might consider your geography a “hook” (2) have a conversation with your parents about college costs and what they can cover. Again, you are in no position to tell them what they SHOULD spend. Just to find out what they can and will spend, and what they expect you to provide (books? spending money? difference between state colleges & more expensive options?). If you are the first kid, they may not have even thought about it. If they haven’t, work together with them on a list of schools and identify the cost of each, then discuss it. If you approach it in a mature and responsible way, and work with them to make a list showing the various criteria (cost, test score ranges, location, size, merit aid availability), that will impress them (whip up an Excel spreadsheet, they will like that).</p>
<p>Sit down and talk to your parents. Do they know your options? I am impressed that you are thinking all of this out. My kids did not. We had to sit down and go through the financial scenarios with them. They were great. They understood and were happy to work with us.</p>
<p>Our family income is similar to yours. With one child in college at a time, no financial aid is forth coming. Our life styles and commitments makes it difficult and really unwise for us to pay $50K+ a year for college for each kid. We were foolish with our first one and tried to pull it off. Now we know. So we had to run the numbers and come up with a budget that was doable. This is something your parents have to do as you probably don’t know the details.</p>
<p>If we just had one, maybe two kids, we would have been able to swing it and would have loved to have done this despite the austerity regiment that would be needed in doing this and the loans we would need to take. But with a larger family, and some other issues that arose, it was not the way to go. </p>
<p>So getting feedback from your parents is important. Again, I think you are doing a great job thinking about this. I congratulate your parents for raising a wise, thoughtful young person.</p>
<p>This will be something that you should talk to your parents about. A lot of us in CA are in that same boat–$20-25K for UCLA or Berkeley vs. $50K for a private school. Depending on which private school you are talking about, your parents could be more or less amenable to paying that differential.</p>
<p>Both of my kids went to the private schools.</p>
<p>OP - Keep in mind that many parents today worry about layoffs (lost income, and sometimes lost pension too). Try to be patient with whatever financial limits they set.</p>
<p>^Absolutely true, colorado_mom. The financial landscape today is a lot different than the one before the financial meltdown.</p>
<p>It is easy. A parent should pay 100% of what they want to pay. No more, no less.
A parent is not required to pay any $. After 18, all help, advice, encouragement, money, etc is a gift. Parent can choose to give 0% up to 100%. Remember all those times you said treat me like an adult?</p>
<p>Well said, younghoss.</p>
<p>We choose to continue to support our son’s education, even at the graduate level.
BUT he never expects it, he realizes it is a gift.</p>
<p>The only posts that are helpful are parents that tell me how they felt about paying 50k vs. 25k or vis versa. I know I’m lucky. My parents are still undecided about what they want to spend and i will be fine either way. But thanks, a lot of these posters are in the same situation and gave great advice.</p>
<p>
You probably won’t find find this one helpful, either. 
I’m just wondering who the “we” is in the title? Are you going to have skin in this game in either scenario?</p>
<p>edit: That might well make a difference in how the choice is viewed. Getting OPM (other people’s money) is usually easier when you are invested, too. ;)</p>
<p>We = 100% parents money if college is 25k or anywhere from 50% parents money - 100% parents money (their choice) if 50k. I would rather not go to much in debt (I only have like 5k), so if my parents only payed 50%, I don’t think it would be worth it. </p>
<p>But I actually used we to sound like 2 parents, so I could actually post on this thread.</p>
<p>So, to paraphrase, the difference of $25K/year might be worth it if it was mostly their money, but might not be worth it if a significant amount of it was yours?</p>
<p>And students post here all the time. No worries.</p>
<p>You certainly don’t have to be a parent to post on the Parents Forum. lol</p>
<p>Here’s the thing kids don’t realize and being in that $200K to $300K income range is tough. In that income range, people are paying big taxes, perhaps a third of it. When the news people talk about “rich” people getting tax cuts, they act as if “rich” people don’t pay any already. Although I am certain some have creative accountants, most people in that income range want to stay in their nice houses and not end up in jail–so they pay a big chunk in taxes. When a family makes that much money, it’s great and no one should feel sorry for them. However, often it is not enough to just write the check for $55K a year.</p>
<p>We are a military family, hubby now retired, and we are trying to catch up on retirement after years of employment/unemployment for me. We told our daughter that we would expect her to come up with $10K per year to contribute to her education if she went to Chicago or Georgetown (both near $60K for tuition, room and board, and expenses). She took a merit scholarship and will graduate debt free. Her decision made a great impact on our family and we are very grateful that she made such a mature decision. She wants to go to grad school and her college savings account will be intact for that when she is ready. </p>
<p>So, $200K sounds like a boat load of money and it is a great family income. However, as above posters have mentioned, lots of things are being paid for out of that amount.</p>
<p>Oh, and we are paying just room and board.</p>
<p>
There aren’t many. The US News rankings have their flaws, but they seem to measure general reputation pretty well. Wisconsin is ranked #12 for undergrad engineering and Minnesota is #19. These are excellent schools.</p>
<p>I tend to come across strongly on this point because I do not live in a state with a flagship on the same level as MN or WI. However, I really feel that it’s somewhat crazy to pay well over twice as much for schools that just aren’t all that much better. You are not just lucky to have well-off parents; you are lucky to live in states where you can get a great education at a low price.</p>
<p>With all of that said, you don’t have to commit to anything now (unless you apply ED, which you shouldn’t). Unless you don’t think you can handle the emotional strain of being accepted to Northwestern but turning it down for UW, why not apply? As long as you have financial safeties on the list, it doesn’t do any harm to keep your options open and apply to other schools as well.</p>
<p>Really, only your parents can tell you how much they can and will pay. There are lots of variables - how much they have saved for retirement, what the mortgage on the house is like, and how expensive your area of the country is.
Figure out your costs for the schools you are interested in, and then talk to them. Do it now, so you don’t waste effort (and money) applying to schools that you can’t afford.
Avoiding debt is a good thing - you should not come out of college owning more than around $20K, give or take. Think about how much you might earn in the summer as well.
There is some merit scholarship money around too. If you do/have done First Robotics, you will be able to apply for some money through them.</p>