How are you approaching the college search? We live in a state with a good flagship (Wisconsin) but UW-Madison doesn’t give much merit aid or meet financial need. My kids are still young but we have a modest income, so we need to plan ahead. I ran the NPC at UW with our current and projected income and it was dismal. Given our poor chances for merit or need based aid at our flagship, what would you all suggest as a general search strategy? Will chasing merit at a private college/university or OOS public such as Alabama likely be our best bets?
I know the landscape may change by the time my kids are juniors/seniors, but I am wondering if there are other obvious ideas that I am overlooking.
I’m not assuming UA will still have its auto-merit, just using it as an example.
Yes, do that. Our state flagship isn’t generous with either kind of aid either but some of the other campuses are, so those are options too. My kids have done better with private schools though.
Can you get good reciprocity pricing at Minnesota? I remember hearing that UM can be a good deal.
I feel for you, though. Our state (Washington) has lousy merit aid and need based aid only for the most needy. They award more grants than they have funding for.
Look at some of the other publics beside the flagship in Wisconsin. You may find them more generous.
What is your AGI and the ages of your kids and the amount you have currently saved for each child?
And how much do you feel you could pay each year, how much can the kids earn each year starting at age 16, how much do you currently spend each year on vacations?
And could the kids commute to a UW system school?
You look around at the possibilities when you have an expensive flagship. Michigan’s two flagship are expensive and we are full pay so I knew no matter what that at least around 30000 was “the budget.” Two of mind went OSS with merit scholarships and one stayed instate for engineering.
This may be one of those cases where it’s better to look at private colleges with good merit and need-based aid. When the time comes, your kids may qualify for scholarships based on their test scores, and may receive financial aid based on your assets and income. You are wise to think of this before you need it, but don’t worry about it, just plan and consider the options. You have no idea what your kids will be like when they are applying to college. My daughter, who didn’t qualify for any need-based aid, received some very generous scholarship offers based on her test scores alone. This was a very nice surprise!
[QUOTE=""]
Can you get good reciprocity pricing at Minnesota? I remember hearing that UM can be a good deal.
[/QUOTE]
It sounds like the problem isn’t pricing…it sounds like the problem is aid. They’re not going to get state aid from Minn if they’re Wisc residents.
@LizHolt
what grades are your kids?
Do you have an idea of how much you can spend per year on college?
I would not necessarily say tuition at UW-Madison is expensive, currently at $10,640 per year. And if EFC is $12000 or lower, there is automatic grant aid of $3000.
Tuition at other UW System schools:
UW-Whitewater $7600
UW-Eau Claire $8750
UW-LaCrosse $8902
Thank you for all the helpful replies. I don’t wish to post our actual AGI but suffice to say we qualify for at least some federal low-income programs and likely will for the next 3-5 years. I think we won’t anymore by the time our oldest hits college.
I can’t believe I didn’t consider commuting. I feel a little silly now since that is a great possibility and would make any UW much more affordable for us. Its a ways, but we are within commuting distance of a 4-year UW campus. We may need to move in the next few years for my husband’s work, but would likely remain within commuting distance of some UW campus.
Our EFC is currently under $12k so the NPC showed the $3k automatic grant (plus work study and subsidized loans) but also a large gap when considering tuition+room/board/fees. Tuition only minus a $3k grant is a very manageable amount. I feel comfortable that kid jobs and savings could cover books, entertainment, incidentals and I think we could continue to support them living at home if needed.
@mom2collegekids
I expect our kids might possibly reach a college fund of about $20k per kid (total, currently funded by grandparents) and we could reasonably pay $8-10k per year out of our own savings/income at that time. Given a strong possibility of 5 years at a UW, I was thinking, conservatively, $4k (fund) + $9k (our income/savings) = ~$13k. Then again, we have 3 kids and 1-2 will not likely overlap, but 2 and 3 will overlap 2-3 years in college. We could not double our contribution to $18k! One of our kids has $$$ medical needs, which adds an element of uncertainty for much of our financial planning. We have good coverage for those expenses now, but that could easily change.
Commuting is a great option to keep costs down. Look at the potential AP or dual enrollment your students can do to prepare to then finish in four at a UW school. The best is to invest in having them be as properly prepared academically. Also discuss career paths in depth, with student looking at aptitude, likes, and career options, so that one doesn’t finish some college courses and then decide to change majors. Look at what students a few grades ahead of them are doing as far as preparing for college - mixing EC and the academic possibilities at HS. It is great for students to really explore what interests them in HS (unless one has a really burning passion that is in a great field). A part time job may help develop skills and put away some money, but best is to invest in themselves with academics IMO.
I suggest that the college funds should be in a 529 with a parent as the account owner (not grandparent). If not currently in a 529, move at least $3000 per year/per kid to Edvest and take the WI Edvest deduction.
The kids’ earned income can also go into Edvest or, a ROTH IRA.
Students ranked at or near the top of their Wisconsin high school graduating class who choose to attend college in Wisconsin might receive the $2250 x 4 years Wisconsin Academic Excellence Scholarship. How many students per high school receiving the award depends on high school size and if the kids ranked higher turn down the scholarship to attend out of state, the award can drop down to an alternate.
Also tentatively factor in the American Opportunity Tax Credit of $2500 on tuition paid out of pocket of $4000. So there’s another potential $2500 in free money you can budget toward COA.
There is also a Wisconsin tax deduction on out of pocket tuition paid (there is an indexed upper limit). This puts more money back in your budget for college at the tax rate x the deduction.
Instead of assuming your children might spend five years in college, I second the advice to learn about AP and other ways of obtaining college credits while in high school. This report is somewhat dated, but it describes district-funded programs allowing high school students to go to a nearby UW campus and other colleges and take classes (Youth Options) and it describes programs overseen by UW Oshkosh and Green Bay where in some areas high school teachers are trained to offer college-level coursework during the regular high school day.
http://youthoptions.dpi.wi.gov/sites/default/files/imce/cte/pdf/dualenrollop.pdf
This is not necessarily a given. However, you can estimate the risk of needing extra time by how well they do in high school. A 4.0 GPA student with top-end test scores is unlikely to need any extra semesters (and may be more likely to have AP or college credit earned while in high school to allow early graduation if desired). But a 3.3 GPA student with just ok test scores may have a higher risk of needing extra semesters, due to having difficulty with full course loads or needing remedial courses. There may be other factors to consider – a student who is undecided on major, and does not have the attention to detail to choose courses that keep himself/herself on track for all majors of interest, may be at higher risk of delayed graduation due to choosing a major late enough that the longest prerequisite sequence requires an extra semester or few.
In regard to Merit awards, word of mouth was much better search than internet for my D.
I have talked to several parents around us who had kids with similar stats and the message was clear. There were 2 standouts in our state in regard to Merit awards to the top caliber students. Also, going to many fairs / info sessions gave us idea. D. ended up applying ONLY to colleges that we knew ahead would give her some Merits and we have predicted correctly which ones would give the most. The 2 that gave her the most were one in-state public and one in-state private (being in-state did not matter in case of private). The other, including flagship (OSU) gave her very small Merit awards. Since she got accepted to the program at in-state public that gave her full tuition Merit award, it was a clear choice. The private actually gave her more, but the program that she applied, rejected her.
So, if you are asking specifically about Merits at flagship, the OSU is not giving out much. It could be explained by sheer amount of applicants. However, D. did not care to be at OSU as much, it is way too big and she did not qualify for the program of her choice there.
We did not quualify for any need based, not even close, so I do not know anything about it.
D. got her largest awards at Miami (OH) and Case Western. She ended up graduating from Miami (OH) and looking back 4 years later still believes that it was the best place for her. Again, just as when she was choosing among several private HS’s, the school that showed the most love happened to be the best place to attend.