Ivies and Stanford (at full cost) vs. UIUC and USC (full tuition scholarship)

Go to stanford admit weekend to see if he likes it.

@mom@2022, congrats to your student and to you as parents whose support no doubt played a part in her/his successful application process. Our S applied to Stanford and USC, but did not make Stanford and got the Presidential half tuition at USC. In our case, we had decided in advance that had he gotten Trustee at USC and Stanford as your student has, he would have chosen USC. Unless your family qualifies for financial aid from Stanford, I agree with others that it is not worth $300k for the Stanford option. Do well at USC and go to Stanford for grad school! All the above is based on your student feeling that USC is a good fit! As far as the Marshall Business school, it’s decent, but not comparable in my view to Wharton, Michigan Ross, MIT and other top ten business programs around the country. As I recall, Stanford does not offer business as an undergraduate degree.

I think money matters the most if it’s even a slight concern, because all these colleges offer a comparable education and their pros and cons. If your student has a strong preference towards a single college, that should trump everything else, but if not, I think money could be important.

@“mom@2022” Congratulatiin on such wonderful choices. I am trying to figure out if UUIC gives out of state applicant any scholarship. Are you in state or out of state applicant to Illinois. Would appreciate this information. thanks

@ultapradesh - According to their FA info, approximately half of the aid given at UIUC is based on merit, and half based on need:

http://admissions.illinois.edu/Invest/financial-aid

It looks like they don’t give aid to international students, but they don’t indicate that OOS students are not eligible for FA or merit scholarships, other than one or two scholarships specific to Illinois residents.

Here’s a list of merit scholarships:

http://admissions.illinois.edu/Invest/scholarships-all

@LoveTheBard Thanks. Under Illinois Residents & Non-Residents category there is only $2000 award. It seems that UUIC not a good fit for OOS student looking for merit or need based aid.

We are in state. For UIUC received a merit tution funded part by the school and part by private scholarship fund. I have no knowledge for outof state. Good luck to you.

Thank you to everyone who posted. In the end we let my senior make his decision (after many family discussions). He will attend Havard in the fall. For him this was the best fit. Believe me it was not easy to give up scholarships at some great schools but the reward and investment into my son’s education and future we believe will be worth it!!!

Congratulations!
And thank you for letting us know.

Congratulations! It must have been very hard making the decision. Thank you for the update.