<p>Thank you Happymomof1 and cptofthehouse. Yes I have started this month putting that money away. I finished paying off a major credit card debt so in all actuality I can save approx 1000 a month providing as we all know… NOTHING MAJOR GOES WRONG!!! However I was conservative knowing as we all do that something will in fact come up one month or 2 months who knows right? SO cutting that money in 1/2 for me is a very good estimate which is why I feel very comfortable saying 500 is about right that I could take on as additional debt and still feel ok.</p>
<p>PADAD14, I’m just posting here to tell you that a LOT of parents are in your same boat. I luckily stumbled on this website a few years ago and got my reality check earlier than you, but a lot of parents have no real idea of the cost of college these days. So don’t beat yourself up and good luck to you and your son.</p>
<p>How do people pay for college? They pay for it with past, present and future money. They save. My brother put away any money he could for his kids when they were little. Less now, in the throes of needing things, but he tries to put a little bit away. In 18 years, he might end up with $20K per kid. even if it’s $2K over that period of time, it’s a start. You are starting now which will give you a base of $5-6K, maybe more.</p>
<p>You cut back on expenses very tightly and that money goes towards paying for college. If you can pay $500-700 a month towards the college bill during the year, that’s a nice chunk of change. That’s the current income part. Then you borrow for the future income portion. I don’t recommend borrowing more than you have saved and what you are paying in a year. It stinks worse than old sushi to have to pay for old college bills.</p>
<p>Then you have the kid do the same. My niece and nephew have their college money, they stash. Not much but they are taught to save for college. as mine were. Mine also worked summers in high school, and they also stashed any gift money, anything they could into the college fund. My oldest had quite a stash as he worked three jobs during the summers, as lifeguard, private swim lessons, and bussing tables at a club. Worked 80-90 hours a week. And they can borrow. </p>
<p>So it’s what you and the kid can do together, past, future, and present. Today will become the past when that first Payment is due, so start building now. </p>
<p>Then you hope, hope, hope that some of the schools come up with some money. SOme financial aid, some merit money. Some schools do have band scholarships. Pitt’s marching band members are considerd athletes but I don’t think they have money for them, though you don’t pay or fund raise like one often has to do in high school band. </p>
<p>Any award is great–$5k renewable is $20K towards the cost. </p>
<p>Again, what are his stats, so maybe some of us can give you some other suggestions.</p>
<p>Also Pitt’s COA is about $32K a year, which is more than $120K total. They do not meet full need for everyone by a long stretch. The average award is just that, an average, but you cannot expect to get that. Somoene could get a full ride with all costs covered and others get zip despite need. My cousin’s son gets about $5K a year in grants from PItt with parental income similar to yours. That and his loans and job money pays for about half of that, and his parents pay the other half out of current income and loans.</p>
<p>The state of PA should be ashamed of how much the state school tuitions are. Even the smaller unis like West Chester or Indiana U of Pa cost about $9K a year in tution alone. and they do not meet need for most of their student by a long stretch. So someone with a zero EFC would be stretched financially and have to borrow to go to college even commuting, as public transportation is not all that great in PA. The satellite campuses of Pitt and Penn State charge about $14K for tuition alone. </p>
<p>You, the OP, can afford that. Where the problem comes is for you to send your kid to “sleep away” school and the discretional expenses that come with that option. Who do you think should be paying for your kid’s 3 meals and a cot and more? IF he has to take a plane across the state to get to college, who should pay for that? If he commutes to school, the tuition is very much in line with what you and the kid can comfortably pay and borrow. Though the amount is ridiculously high compared, to what most other states are charging.</p>
<p>We are at a point where most kids can afford to go to local state schools, including communty colleges when communting from home, in this country. The next two years, to get the degree can be a problem for some kids if their familes don’t have the money and if there is no 4 year state school within commuting distance and no public transportation to get to the schools. Buying and maintaining a car is a very expensive move. So there are kids stuck that way with no good alternatives.</p>
<p>Does his HS have a list of small local scholarships he can apply for or a single app through which they process and give out a group of scholarships? I ask because you mentioned the musical talent. Even if his GPA/SAT are not that high, he might be chosen for a scholarship based on talent. My D got one for music from HS last year for $1500. I know that is a tiny amount compared to the gap you are trying to close, but every $ helps. In addition to what the HS has, there may be other local scholarships you can track down, you know- Elks, American Legion, etc. Some of them may have criteria including need, first-generation, talent. It’s a lot of work though, all the essays,and there isn’t much time left. Does he have any writing talent?</p>
<p>Like cptofthehouse, my eldest child paid for all his rm/bd costs in college out of his own earnings. I was amazed that he could manage it, always asking him if he needed money, but he never accepted. We just paid tuition/fees. He is pretty frugal and worked a lot of hours summers and breaks. Also he lived just a few miles away so came by for meals often after freshman year. My current college freshman D didn’t work in HS as she had some really time-consuming ECs, but this past summer she got a couple of low-pay entry jobs, worked constantly and made $3000 in the 8 weeks before it was time to go. Winter break she can clear another $1000. Not working at school yet, but eventually will get a PT job during school year. So I agree, kids can contribute a fair amount.</p>
<p>You guys have all been great with so many suggestions. Mom2collegekids I thank you for the wake up call especially!!</p>
<p>This is rather difficult to swallow but as with anything you have to make the best of what you have and move on. I will keep looking at as many options as we can. I will have my son start looking at other schools, although I know he has looked at some other ones and those schools are not what mom and dad want.</p>
<p>I do know Temple has some very good financial aid however the campus is in a very poor area and I would worry about his safety.</p>
<p>If anyone has experience with Temple please chime in, maybe I am being overly cautious.</p>
<p>As far as what he wants to major in, as I said he hasn’t narrowed that down yet. We have talked about what he likes and such, All he knows is he would like to explore Engineering or some kind of Science Major such as Chemistry or Biology.</p>
<p>Suzy100 thank you!! I do beat myself up everytime I look at our options because I certainly could have made this less painful had I done my homework a little sooner. Unfortunatley it is what it is and I have to suck it up and make the best of it.</p>
<p>cptofthehouse I agree Pitt does offer up more money so I hear from other people. As far as saving your right all those things would have been good to do. My son has not had a job yet. Music in school keeps him very busy throughout the year. </p>
<p>Between all those activities he seriuosly spends another 15 to 20 hours at school every week. And than when he isnt at school his class workload is pretty full. So I have not pushed him to get a part time job. Obviously I wanted him to concentrate on his school work.</p>
<p>He has applied for summer work but with the economy these days even fast food places are not hiring kids anymore because they have more than enough adults to fill those jobs and they dont have to put up with all those pesky labor rules.</p>
<p>So anyways I guess I am getting my wake up call!! Its not what I want to hear but nonetheless its good to hear it now as many have stated. Maybe we can get lucky and he will get a scholarship by some 3rd party. We are starting to look at those now.</p>
<p>I just wish there was more of a break for middle class familys then what there is. I dont feel my family makes a tremendous amount of money but the costs to go to school are almost 3 times the amount when I was in school.</p>
<p>I remember back when I was able to go to college the cost at Penn State was roughly 5 thousand dollars for tuition and for room and board it was another 5 thousand. That was sticker price at the time and included no grants or aid money in the equation. to go from 40k for everything to over 120k for everything in roughly 25 years is shocking.</p>
<p>*As far as what he wants to major in, as I said he hasn’t narrowed that down yet. We have talked about what he likes and such, </p>
<p>All he knows is he would like to explore Engineering or some kind of Science Major such as Chemistry or Biology.*</p>
<p>Well, there’s not a lot of jobs available for those who graduate with a bio or chem degree. There’s a glut. Grad school would be needed, and even then employment could be an issue.</p>
<p>What would he do with a bio or chem degree? Keep that in mind when it comes to taking on debt for your child and for you. </p>
<p>Does he have plans to go on to med school?</p>
<p>Engineers can get jobs right out of undergrad.</p>
<p>I do know Temple has some very good financial aid</p>
<p>What did the Net Price Calculator on Temple’s website indicate that he would get?</p>
<p>Another source of funds I don’t see talked about much, because I suppose it’s dangerous to count on it, is the money parents save in household expenses once a child leaves for college. This can vary a lot depending on personal circumstances and the kid’s hobbies. In our case, for my daughter it is a huge amount of money. Not even counting things like savings on groceries, which are substantial, and all the gas money not spent ferrying her around to myriad lessons and activities, also substantial. Just the direct costs of her music and other activities is WAY more than what we pay for her college after all her various scholarships. We are lucky that have ‘only’ $8,000/yr to pay (not counting travel) since she chose a lower ranked school which gave her 2 large scholarships. But still, never sat down and figured out what she was costing us until a couple weeks ago. Pretty shocking. My H is appalled, since he never followed bills and finances.</p>
<p>When your son looks at the local community college, he should find out about any scholarships that are on offer there. Our community college has a number of different scholarships that cover the full tuition and fees for the two years of an associates degree program. Something like that could mean that if you continue to save diligently for those two years, you will have a good chunk of at least one year’s costs covered come transfer time.</p>
<p>This is an example where NPCs can be deceptive: though Temple U will not necessarily come out with better money with the NPC, if a kid gets into the honors college (and it’s easier to get into honors there than at Pitt or Penn State), the chance are pretty good, that he’ll get grant money. About half the kids get some merit award at Temple, and I believe the average award is about $5K. </p>
<p>My cousins’ son could have gone to Temple for much less. Didn’t want to go. He was accepted to the Honors program and got a nice merit award. Didn’t get into Pitt’s or Penn State’s and they didn’t give him any merit money. Pitt gave him $5K of grants and maybe some work study which he did not take. Penn state just gave him work study, and all schools offered up the loans as though they were theirs to give out, but as we all know, they were pretty much an entitlement. </p>
<p>My husband’s colleague has a DD who went to Temple, again the Honors program. She liked it a lot and there were no complaints or issues about safety. I don’t know about the off campus housing issues there, and what restriction one has in that area. I went to a school that has a rep of a bad neighborhood, and it wasn’t an issue. Lived off campus too. It really depends on the nuances of the area, and you have to talk to those living there now to get the vibe. I don’t think parts of Oakland where Pitt is, is exactly optimal in terms of crime stats, for that matter. </p>
<p>Oh, yes, One can save a lot when they are gone. If you have a kid in band, sports, music, you are paying most likely quite a bit. And when my crew is all home, the house is lit up like Light Up night because they just can’t get those fingers to hit the light switch down. The car has no gas in it each time I get in there. The food disappears into vacuum. I can’t get enough milk or OJ, and when they bring their friends over, I swear DH and would spend less going to a hotel with the electric, food ,drinks flowing out of there. I’m having all 5 next weekend, and it’s homecoming for some of them, and there will be a barbecue at the house after the game, and we’ll drop a lot of money . Just like the old days. When they leave, there will be a ton of clean up too, and requests I’m sure to mail forgotten things there. We’ll hand out money to like tips in NYC but not for any services. They’ll probably get their haircuts and load up on things to take back as well. They come with empty bags and leave with them full. </p>
<p>We still spend a lot going to our youngest, (still in high school) to games, all the donations, chip in for a gifts, school things, travel, food and the SAT prep and college visits, and just everything. I spent a ton of money on my kids. Not much just for DH and myself. So, yes, there will be some savings, unless like my brother you go to the school to watch the kid in marching band and the games each weekend, and treat and get hit up for money. His DD’s school played my son’s a few weeks ago ,so he got hit with a double since he treated her and him afterwards, plus their friends.</p>
<p>In applying for jobs, need to be strategic. Don’t know if you are in a fairly urban area or not, so not sure if this advice is useful. Since he hasn’t had a job before and they’ll guess he’s going off to college soon, many places may be reluctant to hire. One thing to do is have him ask around at school. There must be kids he knows who have worked through HS. Find out from them what places are kind of unpleasant to work. I know it won’t be fun, but he’ll have a better chance of getting a job because of high turnover. My D had many friends who used to work at a local restaurant and many quit when a new owner took over who worked everyone harder and paid less. He hired her on the spot. She charmed him and managed to laugh off the weirdness of the place. She also noted where new businesses were opening up that would need lots of workers, got in to a new grocery store. She didn’t want to have to apply to lots of places and there wasn’t time to do it so she focused her search. </p>
<p>Then S15 decided he wanted a job this past summer, but not as strategic as sis, just applying to random places in the spring, not too far from home. His idea of blanketing the market was applying to 4 places. It’s tiring dressing up and filling out apps when you’re a teen. I told him if he really wanted a job he’d keep applying to several places a week until he found something. I think he applied to 15 places and finally got a job from one. I was surprised actually that it took that much effort. He’s clean-cut, short hair, nicely dressed, good-looking, 4.0, personable soccer kid. All his friends who stopped after 4 apps and waited for someone to call have no job.</p>
<p>*Another source of funds I don’t see talked about much, because I suppose it’s dangerous to count on it, is the money parents save in household expenses once a child leaves for college. This can vary a lot depending on personal circumstances and the kid’s hobbies. In our case, for my daughter it is a huge amount of money. Not even counting things like savings on groceries, which are substantial, and all the gas money not spent ferrying her around to myriad lessons and activities, also substantial. Just the direct costs of her music and other activities is WAY more than what we pay for her college *</p>
<p>This can be true if the child has a lot of expenses in high school that won’t exist in college. We didn’t save much/anything when our sons went away to college, but they didn’t have pricey hobbies or music lessons. However, I do have a friend whose DDs each took two music lessons per week. Now that they’re in college, she doesn’t have that expense. </p>
<p>The small amount that we might have saved in food and utilities seems to get eaten up by unexpected college costs…which there will be. </p>
<p>Heck, any parent who’s has traveled with their child to help with move-in will soon learn that that experience can be pricey.</p>
<p>That’s the thing. You don’t want to be budgeted to the dollar. You want to be able to enjoy the college experience as well as your kid. You’ll want to prepare him for move in, you’ll want to visit, He may want to come home to visit.</p>
<p>Plus unexpected stuff happens. We had a really bad year last year in not dire but just pricey mishaps. Both college kid and us. And then College kid got some opportunitiies that were great ones, but pricey, cutting into time from work and costing money. Yeah, this stuff always happens in clumps. I’m so hoping this will be a better year financially. My son ended up taking out a student loan, and he’s been repaying it, learning first hand how hard it is to pay off one of those things. But he had the loan available to take, not already used for paying the tuition. </p>
<p>Also my kids out of college have had some tough times, and not having the loan monkey on their backs has been a relief.</p>
<p>I’m guessing that he has about a 1270 M+CR. If so, then he should get a $5k per year merit scholarship at Temple. That’s $20k over four year.</p>
<p>*That’s the thing. You don’t want to be budgeted to the dollar. *</p>
<p>Not only will there be college-related costs that you won’t have calculated, but the household will have a good number of unexpected expenses over a 4 year period. </p>
<p>A couple of years ago, there was a student here on CC that was supposed to go to Emory. The “family contribution” was about $8k per semester and the parents calculated that they could “just barely” pay. That summer the family had some unexpected major house repair expense and suddenly the college money that had been budgeted nearly down to the dollar was suddenly needed to cover that expense. </p>
<p>No family can seem to go more than a couple of months w/o some weird unexpected expense. My car was stolen a few months ago (out of a very nice hospital’s parking lot!!!). Totally unexpected. Insurance paid, but not enough to buy another decent car…so had to pay some out of pocket. H broke a dental crown a couple of weeks ago, another big expense. My cell phone broke 3 weeks ago, so had to get a new one. My dog has a vet bill. The hits just keep on coming. lol</p>
<p>More re jobs. Apply to places that are seasonal or have a seasonal dept., like home improvement places that run a garden center. They won’t mind that son is going off to college. But for those need to fin time to apply early. My son couldn’t find time to apply in spring since so busy with school and sports. Then when he started going around to the min-golf places and such near end of school year, he was told that they’d already completed their early summer hiring (like I told him so.)</p>
<p>D bought all her own stuff at move-in, but it was a lot of money, especially as she has private room and nobody to share expenses with. -Shower curtain, bathmat, lamp, frig, work table (since desk they give kids is barely large enough to hold open book). X-country, too far to drive, so that meant buying a new bike. So much stuff.</p>
<p>I have thought of that, that summer opportunities may mean not every summer spent making money.</p>
<p>Normally, in-state public schools are a less expensive option for college. However, your state is not normal. Pennsylvania’s public college costs are very high even for in-state, and your son will likely have much more affordable options at out-of-state public schools.</p>
<p>Probably your son could qualify for out-of-state tuition waivers and/or merit scholarships that would make some OOS public colleges half the cost of PSU or even less. The CR+M SAT score is the critical parameter for determining that, which is why I and others asked about it.</p>
<p>If your son were willing to switch from marching band to some other ensembles, you could broaden your search. </p>
<p>For example, a place I just found out about recently and plan to take S15 to visit, South Dakota School of Mines, in Rapid City near Mt. Rushmore, is $17K/yr OOS, not counting books/supplies/travel. In your income bracket you could get a $3K/yr grant approximately, so $14K/yr. If he played in ensembles, could audition for various music scholarships starting 2nd semester freshman year. They have mostly engineering/science majors and place 98% of graduates in jobs with average starting salary $62K. They aren’t tops academically, so maybe not the right fit for your son, can’t know, but an example of what’s out there cheaper than your state schools. I’m all about jobs after graduation these days, having an underemployed adult son with a degree from our high-ranked flagship that he doesn’t know what to do with.</p>
<p>I will find out some more answers when I get home in an hour or so. I certainly love all the information everyone is giving me. Atleast I have some people who have been through it or are going through it to help me look for the best solution and options available even if they are not necessarily the ones we had hoped for.</p>
<p>I will find out the SAT score when I get home since that seems to be a biggie on here.</p>
<p>THANK YOU EVERYONE!!</p>
<p>One last idea. Hope it’s not too much info. Did he prep for SAT or take it cold? Just one sitting, or more?</p>
<p>Asking because if that is an unprepped single sitting score, he might raise it a lot by studying. It’s an awful thing to do to a HS senior. They are so busy. But if you apply to any schools that give merit, maybe even automatic merit for certain grade/test score combinations, it could be very worthwhile to try to get it up. It’s not unreasonable to aim for a 200 point increase. Or try the ACT which is a much different sort of test. SAT and ACT are 12/7 and 12/14. I suppose not much time for prepping between now and then. There is also SAT 1/25 that most schools will accept and could study for that over winter break. Though you would not have results until mid-Feb, after most apps due.</p>
<p>Ok I have his scores. He has a 1290 for M+CR. </p>
<p>Math 660
Critical Reading 630
Writting. 620</p>
<p>This is the first time he took his SAT’s and he did study for them using the practice exams. He felt very good about taking it when he was finished. I will mention to him about taking it again and trying to do better and see what he says.</p>
<p>As far as him switching to something other than marching band, its something I will have him consider. One thing he could do is try out for Drum Corps which he has talked about. My main concern is anything that takes him away from the campus and isnt officially associated with the college will become a distraction that he doesn’t need.</p>