Is this economy affecting your choice.

Applying to College
1

<p>We're just another family caught up in the "middle class squeeze" and projections of economic uncertainty. As business owners we're feeling the pinch and will undoubtedly have less to spend on college next year. The idea of making a four year commitment of 40-50K/yr. is more than a little daunting, yet at this point we're not eligible for FA.</p>

<p>Our S has received a bunch of acceptances and some very good merit awards. He would be happy to study at any of the colleges, although would ultimately like to attend a university that would best prepare him for graduate/professional school.</p>

<p>What's a family to do? Do you think the luster of a top 10 school dims with tens of thousands of dollars of debt?</p>

2

<p>Yes, it's a big problem right now. Most of the highly selective schools are more than willing to give aid, but this mainly benefits people who are in the brackets where they'll give you a full ride. If you have an income that's between the "we conspicuously need lots of aid" bracket and the "we can pay for 50K a year" bracket, there's not a lot you can do. </p>

<p>Even if I get into one of the highly selective schools, I might not be able to go because I don't know if I can pay, so yes it may affect my decision.</p>

3

<p>I think it's going to be really tough. For people like myself who are looking at taking out loans to pay for my childs education, the loans are getting hard to find. Same with home equity. I'm getting very worried about the effect of the economy on education. I don't want my child to graduate with a huge amount of debt, and <em>I</em> sure don't want to squander my own future to get her through, but now it's looking like some kids might just be told 'sorry, no', because they CAN'T get the loans.</p>

4

<p>My daughter and I attended an accepted student reception on Saturday, the admissions director advised anyone looking to take out loans better do it asap, as they are hearing loans are going to be harder to come by, that many banks are pulling back.</p>

5

<p>We've decided that $ is a significant factor in deciding which school to choose. If the economy were flourishing we might feel differently.</p>

6

<p>My guess is that it does affecting many people's choice this year. A lot will come of waitlist.</p>

7

<p>It definitely is affecting mine. I'm not even applying to schools with more than 30k tuition. I don't have enough money to pay for it, but my parents are middle class, and we just moved, so we have zero money. It's going to suck.</p>

8

<p>We always felt that we didn't want $ to enter into the admissions equation; </p>

<p>what has ended up happening is that merit $ has been offered to my daughter at all the schools she has been accepted to so far; she has not been accepted to any full fare schools as of today....this will make decisions easier if this pattern continues....
If, however, she is accepted to a full fare later on, we would be stupid not to reconsider our original plan.......</p>

<p>Columbiastudent: I totally agree; it is going to make waitlists a veritable nightmare....Can you actually imagine kids accepting to schools and then not being able to get the loans in their FA packages? People will end up hearing from waitlists in August.....</p>