If the school is a better fit, 400 miles shouldn’t be a deal breaker. JMO
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It is not a better fit though.
Maybe I missed it…but what is this special major that isn’t at every college…like the college on the train route?
You do know…many many many student careers are not tied to specific majors.
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OK, at this point I am throwing up my hands and joining @dfbdfb and @beebee3 and several others in concluding that you are not interested in any advice we could offer, just in sticking to your original premise, no matter what we say.
I wish you well.
Exactly! One way to save on transportation costs if the kid goes away to college, is to make sure they don’t come home every weekend…
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Exactly
I don’t think anyone should get too frustrated with the OP and storm off. There seems to be some disconnect in his original message and continuing messaging.
While his premise is presented as saying there “No matter what you do, if you are middle class with no extenuating circumstances college costs 20-30K?” it has become extremely clear over the course of this thread that he does not mean that verbatim. What he means is he cannot find a college significantly less than $20K OOP that fits his son’s somewhat restrictive criteria.
What has become become a problem for some responders is the trickling of newly-revealed restrictions that could be misunderstood as constantly moving the goalposts. I don’t think the OP is being misleading in any manner - I think he’s simply constantly providing pertinent information when someone fails to take into account a restriction that he might have failed to make clear earlier.
It may be that the OP is entirely correct. Given his son’s restrictions and the family’s financial reality, it may very well be possible that he will not identify a university that he can attend for less than $20K. That is not to say there are not options that come in at far less than $20K, however none of those options are what this family is looking for.
This happens all the time on CC. A similar but different lament is when a parent/student posts complaining there is not enough merit aid available at T30 schools for an average-excellent upper-middle-class student. The point is, when a family imposes strict limitations on the search (ranking, location, sports participation, $, etc) it can severely limit the available pool of options.
No harm no foul here. Just another parent coming to grips with reality. Let’s be supportive. And if we can’t be, just ignore his thread and allow others to try to be supportive.
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I’m puzzled by this because the posts I’ve read have had the OP go to these schools, plug in his data to get his NPC, and draw conclusions based upon that result also factoring in other real variables like travel.
What he’s finding matches what many kids in my school find TBH.
No one has looked at the other side of it all either - post graduation and finding a job. Sometimes employers don’t care where a degree comes from. Other times they do, and when they do, many prefer something more local that they recognize vs something they’ve never heard of and haven’t had a graduate from. Given two equally attractive applicants, around here the one from the “known” college will get the offer. Known doesn’t have to mean “known on cc.” It’s usually local - like for here - Shippensburg vs anything in Wyoming or Oklahoma.
It’s worth traveling if someone wants to see a different part of the country, or if College B is better for them than College A, or anything else similar like they’re hoping to relocate near the “other” location (same deal with employers liking colleges they know), but when the cost ends up essentially the same (within one or two thousand) after all factors (like travel) are included, I’m not sure it makes sense. If something changed from 20K to 10-14K or better, then it would be worth weighing IMO.
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Rutgers camden does not offer secondary education or education at all for that matter
He doesnt and wont have a car. I would be making the drive out and back 2 or 3 times a semester. That is not worth savng 1000 dollars to me especially if I miss an opportunity to work ot
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Lol a college between like Maine and North Carolina is restrictive. Flying to prarie view. would require at least 2 plane tix and roll the dice that he even will like it there.
A couple of things stand out to me in this thread.
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It seems you have settled on Albright which is a fine college. If that’s the final choice fine.
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You mention education or secondary education. Where does your kid want to teach, and what subject? I ask where, because it’s way easier to satisfy certification requirements if you attend college IN the state in which you wish to teach. Albright is in Pennsylvania. Does your kid want to teach in PA?
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Rutgers Camden seems to offer a combined bachelors/masters program in education. Your son is going to need to get a masters at some point. This might be worthy of your consideration.
Accelerated Degree Program – Graduate School of Arts and Sciences -
Your wife only recently got a new job. Congratulations to her. Is it possible that the bulk of her earnings can help fund your son’s college costs?
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I’m a little confused about the criteria here. I know that cost is important. But then I’m seeing football and an education major as being important. Which is MORE important.
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Does he have a job? He could make $7-10k/year between a summer job and working part-time during the school year; it would reduce the amount you need to contribute. It’s what most of the kids we know do; they work “full-time+” over the summer and 10-15 hours/week during the school year. It’s enough to pay for room and board off campus beginning sophomore year. Granted it’s not the luxury apartments that others choose, but D20 and crew are pretty low maintenance. They chose the least expensive dorm freshman year, went with the lowest meal plan, bought 2nd hand books or rented them to reduce costs the first year.
It’s restrictive in at least 4 ways:
- Has to have your son’s major (which isn’t widely available?)
- Has to allow him to play football on a D3 level, or maybe D2.
- Has to be easy and fairly inexpensive to travel to.
- Has to cost you less than $20K OOP. From your responses earlier, probably more like <$15K unless it’s a perfect match on the other criteria.
None of those necessarily make the search very difficult on their own, but combined they shrink the pool of options. And there’s the somewhat random consideration #5:
- It must appeal to your Son in ways not yet fully explained. We’ve all mostly been there with our kids in the college search.
Honestly, I might end up agreeing with you that you might not find an option that fits all those factors - or at least not more than one or two. But, I’m still ever the optimist.
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Adding…don’t assume at all that an RA job will be available for any college student. At most places these are competitive jobs, and way more people apply for them than actually get them.
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Adding to the point of RA jobs being competitive, it is school dependent on how much the job is worth. At some schools, it is worth room and board, at others a percentage off room and board (50-75%), and at still others it may be a flat fee of $1-3k per year paid to RAs.
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Jobs are hard to come by with covid reatrictions on dining etc. He made 5k flipping stuff he found curbside bulk trash nigjt but that seems to have dried up
He considered Stockton…no football cheapest in state option comes in over 20k
Prior to covid he would have likely received 10 to 12k. Stockton was always the fall back. Now it costs the same as a small LAC
Education along 95 possibly d3 football is restrictive?
They have a masters program for existing teachers or alt track. The BA MA is only stem