<p>My daughter is a junior with excellent grades and stats, and her dream school is Villanova. However, with the downturn in economy, my husband and I are insisting that she apply to a public (in state) university. Like everyone else, we lost a bundle in our 401K, and we would like to retire before we are in our 70s. We can afford to send her to UNC or NC State without taking on any student loans. </p>
<p>I wonder if other parents are thinking the same thing, and insisting that their kids go to public universities.</p>
<p>wolfpackmom -
Well, we have a student who is a junior at a public now. He got multiple scholarships there and it’s a quality school -so the decision wasn’t so hard. We’ve taken a beating like everyone else so we’re happy not to be on the hook for huge dollars.
Now, if your d has excellent stats, she may qualify for generous merit aid at some privates and OOS publics. I know my s could have taken free rides at a number of OOS publics.
So sit down and talk $ with your d, do some research, and come up with some realistic options. Not sure if Villanova would offer merit aid but you could look into it. Personally, I would NOT pay full price for Villanova. UNC or NC state are both good choices - but I would see if you could extend the choices a bit further and stay within your price range.</p>
<p>We’re going private with full scholarship. DD didn’t want a large school which most state schools are. We specifically looked at privates who might give her merit money to at least make it even with the public and luckily we succeeded. We used rolling admissions Tulane as her safety and she was granted a large scholarship there so we had a backup plan early on. I have to tell you though that this approach is a nail biter because you never know until the end if the schools you have picked will value your child for their accomplishments or would prefer someone else.</p>
<p>Absolutely! My daughter applied to 8 schools (7 private, and 1 in-state public). She got merit aid from all the privates ranging from $10,000-$17,000 per year. We got no federal need-based aid, and only a couple of the privates offered any grants. Our out-of-pocket was just going to be too high to do the privates. She is the oldest of 4, so I didn’t want to overextend on private loans for her and not be able to help the other kids. </p>
<p>She is going to attend the in-state public. The great thing is that she does not feel like she is “settling” at all. She liked this school as much as the others and is so excited. They offer great program in her majors, have a great study-abroad program and a solid committment to undergraduate education, which isn’t all that common with the in-state publics. </p>
<p>As for funding this… it will be a combination of loans, scholarships, jobs and parent contribution. She will take out the maximum Stafford, and she is getting a scholarship through her high school (we will find out the amount on Thursday night!). We will fund the remainder out-of-pocket. We are also expecting her to get an on-campus job and work 10 hours per week. This will be her spending money.</p>
<p>We looked at privates and publics. Financially, our latest college kid would have done the best financially with an in state school, but he really preferred a private out of state option that was not the most expensive one, but higher than the average cost of his alternatives. Given what he wanted and the benefits and drawbacks, we went with his choice. We made the decision that we would take on the financial burden. This is a family issue and something that really is a case by case thing. </p>
<p>My older son looked at his alternatives and went the state route. It was not altogether a financial decision but the money did play a role in it. At the time, I felt that one of his private choices was a better pick, even though it would have cost far more. However, given his input and looking at the situation, he went to the state school and has never looked back. I’m the only one who does. Now, that he is graduating, I have to say, that he made the right choice, as events unfolded the way they did during his four years there. </p>
<p>Sometimes, however, a kid is truly unsuited or really does not want to go to a particular school, and that is when the heartache and hard decisions come into play. Of course we want the best for our kids and to give them what they want. But the financials are important too. THis is not something that anyone can really give you definitive advice about unless the situation is so extreme that the solution is clear.</p>
<p>I am currently in this tight spot. My son was accepted to the instate public honors program, scholarship plus it is free since I teach at another campus of the same university. He applied to a number of privates, got into a couple, but no aid at all. We should be able to afford it, but would need to rely on loans at this point in time. He has decided on the instate public, but is not happy about it. The main issue with him is that he is not sure what he wants to study and doesn’t want to “waste” our money at NYU trying to decide what he is interested in. And why NYU - because he wants to live in NYC. Not a great reason. But I feel so guilty about his feeling that the money is determining the choice. Also I have another son who will be a senior next year so we will have 2 in college. The issue with the second son is that he really knows what he wants to study, which is film, and for that NYU is very good.</p>
<p>My dd only applied to public universities. That is what she wanted. We do not qualify for federal financial aid and my dd is great, but she would not be getting scholarships at top private schools. We cannot pay more than public tuition out of pocket. She would qualify for merit aid at lower ranked privates and got some of those letters in the mail, but she wanted a big school. So she applied to a number of state universities-one in-state, the rest out of state. She got merit aid at one of the out of state schools. She is attending the best one for her and is very happy about it. No loans and a good reputation university which was her first choice since she visited in October.</p>
<p>names matter to grad schools and employers (whether they should or not idk), maybe you should look at out of state publics (not cheap, but cheaper than most privates).</p>
<p>No … the current situation did not change the private/public decision in our house … however it did push out the timing of when Mom3togo and I can switch to “jobs for fun/fulfillment” as opposed to current jobs that pay for life’s big ticket items.</p>
<p>I don’t think you should feel guilty at all. However, not sending one kid to NYU but sending the other sounds like a perfect recipe for lifelong resentment between two brothers. As for deciding it based on second son, the average college student changes their major twice. </p>
<p>If it’s important to pick a ranked film school, you could send your second son to Florida State University film school, which is highly ranked and where out-of- state tuition, room, board and books will run you 10K less per year than NYU’s tuition alone.</p>
<p>Some people take the approach that they haven’t actually lost anything in their 401K since they haven’t taken any cash out yet and there’s still time to recover. If the parents still have about the same income and similar savings (actual savings - not 401K) and would have been able and willing to afford the private before, I don’t know why they wouldn’t now. If they were planning on using 401K money directly to pay for the school or heavily leverage home equity, it might not have been a good idea to go the expensive route regadless of the economy since it would jeopardize one’s retirement and liquidity. I can understand the desire to be cautious now that one has seen their 401K paper value drop but in reality they’ve always had that exposure.</p>
<p>I don’t view list as it’s in the university name that matters for Harvard law. There were some “average” undergrad schools on that list. I merely believe they were trying to show that their LS enrollment wasn’t strictly from the Ivies.</p>
<p>My son applied to private and our flagship public. He received scholarships at most of the privates, which make them $10 - $15k more than the public, but the funding cuts to the public school are scary, so we’re going with one of the privates. So, in a way, the economy is steering us AWAY from the public school.</p>
<p>The economy is a a big factor in selecting which private, though. The one that offered no aid is off the list. We just can’t commit to that much money for four years with things so uncertain.</p>
<p>There’s no need to drop any schools from the wish list until the student is accepted and a financial aid package is in hand. Both my kids pay less at their private university than they would have paid to stay at an in-state public. But in this economy, it would be a good idea to actively encourage your student to not “fall in love” with any of their schools until they know the bottom line. There are a lot of heartbreaking stories on CC this month about kids who went from elation on April 1 when they got into their dream school to the dumps by mid-April when they realized that the finances are not going to work out.</p>
<p>Thanks for the information about Florida state. I am hoping second son gets into an Ivy as that is something we would pay for without question. First son was wait listed at 2 Ivies.</p>
<p>But even state flag is chancy. Neighbor’s d heading into CS was accepted at RPI with scholarship, Smith with no FA, and State flagship. She did not get into the state schools Honors college due to senioritis/grades. She is heading to the state school anyway.</p>
<p>How does someone get into Smith, RPI, but not into state honors? I’m still trying to figure that out. Could it point to a serious upswing in the competition and admit quality at the state schools.</p>
<p>^^^
Some honors programs are really tough to get into - and getting tougher.
At PSU, last year, friend’s son was rejected from honors and accepted into JHU. Another who was rejected was accepted at Cornell. Very few spots, and LOTS of applications allows them to be very picky. And they look at more than scores…
I still think a school like PSU is a good deal for instaters…especially for certain programs. Honors college is nice but not a deal breaker, IMO.</p>
<p>We had a limit on what we could spend to start with and so we just waited until the schools and FA offers came in and then let my son decide among the contenders. Every school met our EFC or more, but when it came down to it my son picked the very best offer (Pitt-a full ride + research money) over the very best school (Chicago-14k out of pocket, 5k loans annually) because HE didn’t want debt when he graduated.</p>
<p>I think HIS decision was influenced by the recent economic downturn because he realized that times aren’t always good and debt is a huge burden. He might not have been so aware if the economy wasn’t in its current state.</p>
<p>Both UNC and NC State are very reputable in the world of employment and graduate school. Not many other public colleges can claim the prestige that these two have.</p>