@socaldad2002… Yea hind sight is 20/20. We started both kids 529 when they were 6 and added to it almost yearly or when we could. But we still don’t have enough for 2 we have at least half and they both got FA and merit so that totally helps. But telling someone what they should of done doesn’t help his current situation.
If my kids weren’t in private schools since elementary I would be retired and driving Ferrari right now (or at least a cool sporty Jaguar ??). At the time we thought that was the best for them with our limited good public schools in Chicago. (now there are great local public schools).
We all make life choices usually for the betterment of our children. But I tell like every young couple I meet pretty much your advice. Those 17-18 years sorta fly by also.
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There's no way their definition of "financially possible" and mine could differ...>>>>>
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Your net income is 120K. There is going to be a cry me a river moment anytime now. The point here is that you are making a choice that many upper earners do, not to be full pay parents, to not save for college, etc etc. Many parents take all full pay options off the table, even (maybe especially) parents that earn twice or triple your take home. You can’t fault Stafford for your choices. When you get admission to the publics you might apply to without the expected merit money, you are going to have to look gracious in front of your child. Have a plan not to sound petulant.
How does your kid’s prep school break down FA? Was her real hook there her sport?
Hey @KevinFromOC I’m fluent in sarcasm too! LOL
Glad to hear! I guess I just wrongly assume more people are also, or else I don’t make it obvious enough. It gets me in trouble a lot.
Perhaps instead of Spanish, French, or Latin, schools should offer sarcasm. Maybe even have an AP test for it!
But would that be the choice over some of the other sleep away colleges that have been suggested and would come in under the $20k budget - Nebraska, UWV, Alabama, Wyoming, UN-R? It might be, she might really want to go to UCI and move back to California and live with you, but that isn’t her only choice.
My experience is my minority, athlete daughter got no extra money for being an athlete or a minority. She got a less than some of the other athletes because the coach didn’t think she was as good (the coach was wrong and admitted it but still didn’t cough up extra money), she got the merit aid off a stats chart, she got the state merit aid off the stats chart, she did not get any special engineering awards or URM awards or awards for being a female.
Try Univ of Alabama, Univ of AZ, TCU, Univ of Utah, and Baylor. All of these schools should offer a full tuition scholarship.
And University of New Mexico.
@KevinFromOC - I’m late to this party, but I do have some experience with having a high-stats, URM (Latinx) daughter who was seeking both institutional and/or merit aid. She was not an athlete and was not interested in pursuing a STEM field, but she had very strong ECs, leadership, a solid history of community service and was very active in a number of diversity-related projects at her school and in her community. She was in the same cohort as @Mom2aphysicsgeek and @itsgettingreal17’s daughters; I can vouch that they know whereof they speak.
My first comment, as you have heard time and again, is do not underestimate the amount of work required to apply to –– and compete for –– some of these scholarships, and do not overestimate your D’s chances of getting them. At competitive schools like USC, full tuition scholarships can be harder to get than acceptances to HYPSM. To use USC as an example, while they do indeed award ca. 115 full-tuition scholarships (ca. 100 Trustees, 10 Mork, 5 Stamps), you have to bear in mind that 40,000 freshman applications are received by the Dec. 1st deadline for merit consideration at USC. Not great odds. The Trustee and Mork awards are generally distributed among the various schools and departments (there are 14 schools and programs among which these scholarships are shared, including Dornsife, Thorton, Viterbi, SCA, SDA, Iovine, etc.), as well as at departments within the schools –– many of these are allocated to students that are being specifically recruited by faculty for specific institutional needs (i.e., the orchestra needs a piccolo player and the student is being recruited by music faculty at Thorton). Since Viterbi enrollment accounts for under 20 percent of the freshman class, you can probably fairly safely presume that it will likely account for under 20 percent of the scholarships, shared among the various subspecialties (e.g., biomedical, mechanical, chemical, industrial). Not great odds.
The mission of foundations like the Jefferson and Stamps is to find and fund future leaders –– students that have had and will continue to have a significant impact in their schools and communities, have won national awards, etc. Merely having high stats and being an athlete is not going to suffice. Stats are necessary, but not sufficient.
As a woman and as a URM interested in STEM, your D should try for schools like Mudd and USC, but she wouldn’t hold her breath for full tuition at either (getting admitted to those schools will be difficult enough; getting full tuition merit will be even more difficult).
You have been well advised to look at schools with automatic merit scholarships. To get significant merit, it is probably going to mean going down a rung or two in terms of selectivity and in terms of geographic desirability (subjective, I know, but it’s safe to say that it will be easier in the midwest, desert areas, and in the south than it will be in CA or in popular East Coast urban areas.)
Also, have you looked into the residency requirements for in-state UC tuition? You need to clarify what “physical presence” means if your D is away at school. She will need to comply with both “physical presence” and “intent” to remain in CA. (As an aside, those “screw-you California State taxes” you bemoan are what support the superb CA public universities and college system, so there’s that…) Assuming she does meet residency requirements, I agree that living at home and commuting to UCI would not be ideal.
Many outside scholarships have a need component and will lower the amount of FA your family will receive. There are a handful of full-ride merit-only scholarships out there, but the train left the station last year for those. Again, many private scholarships are looking for leadership, community and public service, etc.
@KevinFromOC… You gotta use the emojis ?. Then people will know your having some fun at your expense. This is a very serious group here…lol ?.
If your sarcasm tends to get you in trouble, as you’ve implied, not sure more emojis will help all that much. Plenty of info out there about overuse of sarcasm and how hurtful it can be to the targets of it. But that’s another “serious” discussion, 
Best of luck to you and your daughter!
So many very nice people who usually are so kind leaning in the direction of pure judgement and sarcasm on this thread , it’s a bit sad. OP’s daughter has done great, a near Div I high level athlete, a top scholar, a top standardized test taker and a URM. That combo is powerful. He and She should be very proud.
Many parents have saved the whole cost of college tuition (not!) and many folks have saved millions for retirement ( not!). Check the real stats folks. Most in fact, have some savings and have done the best they can along the way. I love it when folks chime in that they have saved the entire cost and live in a house that cost as much as my parents paid in 1962 for their first house. Some people like the OP, live in high cost states. And honestly money goes further in some places than others.
OP, I think you have gotten great advice on specific schools. A STEM female with those stats who is also Hispanic IS pretty rare. She’ll collect some very nice scholarships. I hope that she’ll end up with a great fit and education at an affordable price. Good luck.
I just saw an article today by Teresa Watanabe from the Los Angeles Times related to “Women’s STEM programs under fire.” There is a growing legal position re: possible discrimination against men in regard to STEM scholarships, programs, admission, opportunities. that are alleged to favor girls/women. UCLA, USC, UC Berkeley, Yale, Princeton, Rice, are among the schools mentioned.
You’re asking me, a software engineer, to figure out how to insert emojis? There’s no button for that! I just barely figured out that DD doesn’t mean “Dumb Daughter”, although in my case it should at least half the time!
@KevinFromOC you said in one of your replies above that her attending UCI and commuting is ‘better than nothiing.’ Really? One of the things that has frustrated me (and you) is her extreme need for aid. Getting down to almost the nub over just R&B is extraordinarily restricting. Being able to pay $10 k or so in tuition would open things up so much for her. I don’t know your daughter, and forgive me if I am way off here, but after attending an exclusive prep school for 3 years, where she was a star athlete…then living at home and commuting to college? It seems so demoralizing. And. Four. Years. To an 18 year old, that is an eternity. My S20 would do pretty much anything to avoid that.
What about a gap year? Or two? My daughter works as a waitress three nights a week in a high end restaurant and earns $30k a year. She could really make bank if it was full time. What if she lived at home, put her head down and gut out a year which is all about making money? I am unsure how this would impact her application process (is a year of making money a black mark for applicants???), though.
My D20, also aiming for chem engineering, rejected the notion of applying to schools like Alabama, etc. His safety happens to also be his #2 school and very affordable for us, but if lightening strikes and he doesn’t get in there, he’d opt to take a gap year before going to college just to go. He would work a year and try again. Does she HAVE to go right from HS to college? I don’t mean to second guess you. But I have never understood the idea of going to just any school is better than nothing.
I know you said she doesn’t care where she goes to school…really? My son said the same thing at first, yet fell in love with two schools and walked out of the info session of more than one. Perhaps she is the most resilient kid in the planet, but I can’t believe she doesn’t have preferences. Life at Harvey Mudd would be night and day different than U of South Carolina.
Make the emojis from your phone. It will appear on here ???. Got it?
@cypresspat. Totally understand what your saying and don’t disagree but… At least in Illinois, I know plenty kids going to places like Alabama for the engineering scholarship and actually liking it, getting good internships and being offered good jobs on or before graduation. One parent told me “” It’s hard to turn down a free college education these days ". These are kids that were accepted to UIUC and Northwestern etc for engineering. Yes, it’s becoming a thing to go there.
I’m from the northeast where this kid goes to prep school. There are plenty of kids from our area of the state who go to Alabama or University of South Carolina. Both good programs with nice facilities, and opportunities. AND excellent merit scholarship potential!
As the parent of kids who attend(ed) Alabama and USCarolina on full or close to full scholarships, I can state with absolute certainty that these schools are not “settling” or consolation prizes where “going to just any school is better than nothing.”
My ds who graduated from Bama with his double in physics and math had a fabulous UG experience and is now at a very top grad program for theoretical cosmology. Bama didn’t hold him back at all. He excelled there and had great mentoring professors. He has landed in a program where he is surrounded by grads from elite schools and non-elite schools. The grad school cared about what he (and his fellow grad students) did while he (they) was (were) an UG(s) (UG research, top GPA, coursework, etc).
Our dd is at USC. She is surrounded by wonderful peers and professors. She loves it there. Her dept is very supportive and one of her professors especially is such a caring mentor. No disappointment at all.
@knowstuff I had read about the huge numbers of Illinois students at U of Alabama. Interesting.
My point was more that there has to be some schools which would be undesirable for the OP’s daughter. And I know they don’t have the luxury of paying much more than nothing but R&B. But…with her working for a while and banking a healthy chunk of change, her options would open up a lot. I THINK getting a COA to $25k would be much easier and likely give her options which she would love. I think the odds of that are lower if they must take a full discount. Or, maybe she truly doesn’t care where she goes to. (Shoulder shrug).
But, if not, isn’t $5k more a year worth it to see her go off to someplace in two falls which she is really excited about? I know MY price differential for that is more than $5k. (Apologies if that sounds horrible and elitist…I will confess to being VERY fortunate in our current ability to pay for college).
My s20 is not an exuberant kid. He is quiet and generally sullen. The only time we see joy on his face is on the ice playing hockey or on he soccer field. Or when he gets his report card. Or is busting on his sister. Other than that, stone face man. He is beyond psyched that he has two schools he is excited about and we are beyond psyched that one is tOSU and is relatively inexpensive. Would we pay more to have him go to a school he is excited about vs. one he is just ‘meh’ about? You bet. Easy for me to say since we happen to have the $? Yup.
If the ‘free’ option is perceived as the not free option, heck ya, go for it. But free is only only factor. The other features of a good school are worth more to me. Last kid. Older kids didn’t use their college money. So…kid #3 wins the college financing jackpot. He can select on features other than price. Few of his friends are. He is grateful. But still doesn’t smile.
Welcome to CC @KevinFromOC . Most people are nice, knowledgeable, and considerate. Others sometimes not so much. As you know, $120k a year in Orange County is not a lot. According to 2018 US Housing and Urban Development, a family of 4 in OC making less than $87,450 a year is considered low income. Crazy, but so are housing prices here. Median housing price is approx $750,000. I could sell my 1500 square foot house in a not-no-desirable city for that. We put away $100 a month initially in a 529. After 16 years, we had enough for one year at a UC. We quadrupled our contribution last year trying to play catch up but knowing we couldn’t really. Luckily D got a substantial scholarship and we can afford room and board without touching her 529 (we’ll continue to contribute to this for grad school). Listen to those who offer you heartfelt advice. Ignore those who don’t. Your daughter will go somewhere amazing and you’ll find a way to make that work. Good luck to you.