<p>I had a colleague whose daughter was going to Wake Forest, and what they say is pretty much what they mean. They have a decently-sized endowment and they work with admitted families pretty extensively to make sure that holding together enough to make it reasonable. </p>
<p>HOWEVER, and this is a big IF, its’s is possible that, while the aid stays the same, the actual **COST[/]b of the college falls up and you end up having to take out larger loans or spend more out of pocket because of an icnrease in tuition, room, and board. There is nog aurantee that this will happen, but there is no gvarantee that it WON’T and that’s what u have to take into consideration when making a decision to return to college each and every year.</p>
<p>One thing that you MIGHT have to consider is to do 2 years at Wake Forest then transfer to a cheaper in-state college to finish your 2 years. While you haven’t gotten the Wake Forest degree, you will have that expeirence at a well-regarded university and hopefully that will be enough to tide your progeny over even at a lower-ranked school for junior and senior year.</p>
<p>Conventional wisdom is that it’s not the FIRST school you attend that is most notable…it is the last. That doesn’t help a student who is already a matriculated student at Wake…but for others…go to the less expensive school FIRST and then get your DEGREE from the more expensive school should you be able to transfer there.</p>
<p>I will say…don’t fret yet. At my DD’s school, her tuition increase was about 3% a year (very low compared to other schools). Her grant went UP that amount EVERY year. Also, her Stafford loan amount increased every year as well. Our out of pocket expenses didn’t rise a nickel.</p>
<p>*
One thing that you MIGHT have to consider is to do 2 years at Wake Forest then transfer to a cheaper in-state college to finish your 2 years. While you haven’t gotten the Wake Forest degree, you will have that expeirence at a well-regarded university and hopefully that will be enough to tide your progeny over even at a lower-ranked school for junior and senior year.*</p>
<p>Who would want to take out loans for lower division classes at a big name school and then transfer to a lower-ranked state school for the last 2 years???</p>
<p>If anything, do it the other way around. Go to the cheaper school for the first 2 years (of basically Gen Ed classes), and then transfer to get the DEGREE from the higher ranked “name brand” school.</p>
<p>Can you imagine the scenario? The kid would forever be saying, “I got my degree from Lower-Ranked U, but I did go to Name Brand U for the first two years.” Ugh.</p>
<p>That’s the conventional wisdom, mom2, but if the student is already at Wake Forest (that’s what rockvillemom said, right?) then it wouldn’t really be possible to start at a state school over again and go for 2 years, then go back to Wake Forest. Tat would add up to approx. 5 years at undergrad, and that would be even more as expensive than if her son or daughter had did 4 years at Wake Forest.</p>
<p>last year, I spent quite a bit of time with WF finaid going thru their calculations line-by-line. The rep was extremely helpful and forthcoming on their policies and even second year math. She assured me then that the numbers would be similar if nothing else changed. Thus, if you were ‘happy’ with finaid in year 1, you should not be concerned that they would pull a bait-and-switch in Year 2.</p>
<p>thumper1 and bluebayou - I am praying you are correct. Our EFC went up slightly, but so did the COA at Wake, so hopefully it evens out. I just get so worried when I read all of these negative posts about Wake’s FA.</p>
<p>Bedouin - I sincerely hope it does not come to that. I would do anything possible to avoid that scenario. But, it happens. One of my son’s best friends is leaving Wake after only 1 year for financial reasons and transferring to Ohio State, where he is in-state and the cost will be minimal.</p>
<p>Okay yes, my FAFSA EFC is 0 because my dad is a dislocated worker and we currently have a family income that is approximately 15k annually. However, we own several properties which makes our Profile EFC 99,999. This is what my parents told me, I assume it is because they plugged our numbers into some sort of calculator estimate that said we get 0 aid. Luckily my family has a lot of savings and we certainly can afford more than 0$ per year for any college. I suppose my family theoretically qualifies for Pell but that would really just be unfair if we took that money from somebody who actually needed it.</p>
<p>With an EFC of 0, you should get the maximum Pell grant plus a subsidized Stafford loan. Maybe some other federal grants – those aren’t dependent on the school. Also, they are entitlement programs – if you qualify, you’re entitled, and you getting them isn’t preventing some other kid from getting them. You should get them at any school you go to.</p>
<p>But it still sounds like this may be too big a gap. What are your other options?</p>
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