prestige allure (definition)
when budget restrictions are stated as $15,000 and suddenly almost 2x that amt, $12,000 additional, is suddenly available and is only $3000 less than previously defined as completely unattainable
I think @KevinFromOC just needs to wait until the acceptances come in and then see what the options are. Spending time wondering about whether they will get enough merit or need based aid at this school or that school is really just inducing anxiety for no reason. Don’t put the cart before the horse. Apply to Princeton if you like, see what happens. His D will have to decide which apps are worth completing with the knowledge that financial aid could be there or could not be there. And then she also needs to be careful to keep her hopes in check and not get too excited about any school until they see the numbers.
But one more thing!! Princeton’s decision will come at the very end of March. So, if you’re waiting for that, you’ll have only the month of April to make a decision. That’s also why we were waiting around to decide where to visit because we were waiting on an Ivy decision before booking travel to re-visit. Believe me because I’ve been there. Making important financial decisions about college with just four weeks to spare is very stressful.
Actually, if she gets accepted to multiple of these elite schools, it’s very possible that all the visits will need to be made in April.
Oh…and flying standby could be an issue as that is huge April public school vacation time in the east…and lots of travel takes place. We tried to make a reservation a couple of years and couldn’t get one…so standby might be iffy.
Agree- Passover,4/9 Easter 4/12,
Start of MLB,
NCAA Final Four Atlanta 4/4,4/6,
Boston Marathon 4/20…
Some of the state schools will probably pressure OP’s kid to commit earlier to get the best (or to guarantee) housing or honors or whatnot.
As shady as that game is, it does go on.
And some places will accept a housing deposit that has nothing to do with an admissions deposit. We did one of those for South Carolina. It was a couple hundred dollars.
I’ll toss out an idea. Since you have now said you WILL pay for a school like Princeton should your daughter get accepted…might applying there Single Choice Early Action be a good option?
https://admission.princeton.edu/how-apply/application-dates-deadlines/single-choice-early-action
This link had the rules and deadlines for this. Read the rules carefully.
Also, you probably should get your 2018 tax returns out, and your current asset info…so you can complete the FAFSA ASAP after October 1. And the Profile.
BUT Princeton uses the FAFSA and their own Princeton financial aid application form…so you will need to do that too.
Applying Single Choice Early Action at Princeton means you cannot apply EA at MIT or other non-restrictive top engineering schools. For that reason I don’t think it is the best course of action for a promising future engineer.
That said if you pick that path, you should consider filling the FAFSA and the CSS Profile before opening the Princeton Financial aid app so that you can directly import the CSS Profile data and not waste time retyping the same information (you will just need to answer a few additional questions).
Finally, while all the Ivies release official acceptance notifications on the same day at the very end of March, you may get an unofficial notification as early as late February/early March letting you know that “you will be accepted”. So you might have two months to decide rather than just one.
I’m so confused. At first, none of the need only schools were affordable. Now they’re back on the table. OP- none of us have transparency into your finances of course. But there’s a difference between “affordable if we put off some maintenance on the house and cut our gym memberships, get rid of HBO” and “affordable if the family takes in boarders and start doing our neighbors laundry” like my in-laws did when they were kids during the depression.
And if money is that tight- I still maintain that spending so much cash (here and now cash, money that’s going out the door) on applications instead of targeting carefully to make sure that every dollar spent is a dollar being spent wisely on a college which is a plausible and affordable admit- well, your money, do with it what you will. But next year when you realize your D could only accept ONE college, you might feel differently about the sums you are paying NOW on multiple acceptances-- money which might be the difference between you being able to afford to attend Parents Weekend or not. Yes- free flights. But you’ll need hotels and meals on the weekend that EVERY hotel within 20 miles raises the price to eyepopping levels.
But that’s me. Money spent sending scores to 25 colleges is money that will be out of your checking account by January 1 of 202. And racing around visiting so many places in April- yikes.
At one point it seemed like only full rides were the aim. Where is it the numbers have landed at?
I agree, it’s real confusing what OP will and won’t pay for. For example, he will pay for Princeton but will make his child live at home all 4 years to attend the University of Callifornia, Irvine (which in my opinion is a huge mistake). Very interesting thread…
In my opinion the OP needs to seriously think about finances before committing to Princeton. He could be looking at $70,000 in loans by the time the four years end ( total COA plus the possibility of summers). This seems like a lot for somebody who wanted to spend $15,000 a year.
Will you be able to pay these loans back? Will your daughter be able to take an unpaid research position if one comes up that she really wants?
I know engineering majors at Cornell who never had an internship…and I know engineering students at “lesser” schools who really hit it out of the ballpark. It’s really up to the student.
Not telling you what to do…every family is different.
What does mum say about all this?
Princeton SCEA restricts early applications to other private schools, but not non-binding early applications to public schools, or applying early to non-binding rolling admission schools.
https://admission.princeton.edu/how-apply/application-dates-deadlines/single-choice-early-action
To quote an old TV commercial, some “Enquiring minds want to know”!
I’ll rehash what I’ve consistently said over the last 773 posts (wow, that’s nuts, and I was originally worried I’d get no replies!)
We are able to contribute $15K per year towards out daughter’s college costs.
We would feel uncomfortable with her accumulating more than $20K total in loans, or about $5K per year.
That puts our cap at $20K.
A few need only schools, such as Princeton, have always not only been on the table but are sure things for us to apply to. Why? Well, 2 reasons :
(1) If our other daughter does go to college half time (I’d say that’s about a 25% chance), then suddenly Princeton drops from $27K down to $18K, and is within our affordability window. And, to head off another comment at the pass, yes, there would be additional expenses for our other daughter to attend school, but those would be mostly covered through other means.
(2) If our other daughter doesn’t end up going to college, then I don’t know exactly what Princeton would come in at. Their NPC shows around $27K. If I bound that by ±10%, we get a range of about $25K to $30K. Suppose they came in at $25K. Maybe then we’d think long and hard (quiet Michael Scott!) about whether or not its worth it to either take out more from our HELOC (which would no longer be tax deductible), or maybe I cut my 401K contribution in half or take a loan from my 401K to cover the extra costs. But even if Princeton came in at “only” $25K, if she ends up getting a full ride at some other good school, then chances are we’d go with the other school’s offer.
Thing is, I don’t want to run a bunch of “what if” scenarios until I know the actual numbers from Princeton and all other schools. It’s worth it to me to pay $100 to get that actual number from Princeton. Therefore, we’re also applying to at least Princeton, and maybe 1 or 2 other elite need only schools. And yes, maybe some school comes in early and gives her a full ride, and we may not even have to apply to Princeton. Lots of things could happen and which causes plans to change.
I’d rather not get into analyzing finances to get opinions of what some may feel is and isn’t affordable or why I may be crazy to apply to a few schools that may be > my limit of $20K. Me being crazy has been proven long ago!
But I don’t think it’s crazy to have a “just in case everything falls through” risk mitigation plan of having my daughter live at home and attend UC Irvine. I’m an engineer - I’ve been taught to plan for the worst case scenario and have a way to handle it. So, to answer the above quoted comment, yes, if the price is right, we will pay for Princeton. And yes, if absolutely nothing works out then our daughter could very well live at home and attend UCI. I don’t see why planning for the possibility of either of those two scenarios is “real confusing”!
The original intent of this thread was to tap the knowledge of those out to “get advice from folks who have gotten merit aid and/or can offer suggestions on schools to target.”. And of course I’ll certainly take advice about things to look out for or things that I may not have considered.
And to that end, I have gotten tons of great advice and suggestions from experts that has been immensely helpful - thank you all! I’m sure I’ll have many more questions over the next few months…
Great reasoning and analysis, @KevinFromOC. If your daughter would at all feel comfortable at a place like Harvey Mudd, be sure to include Caltech on the final application list.
If those “other means” mean not being paid directly by you, you might want to call Princeton’s FA office and inquire as to whether or not there would be any reduction in parental EFC.
Gee, my kids’ schools just believed us when we reported a sibling in school. Neither school asked how much we were paying (nor does FAFSA) to the other school.
I agree with the above post. There are colleges that do ask what the cost you are paying for siblings enrolled in college is. If your actual cost is nothing…then this very well might not reduce your family contribution at these schools. You need to check that.
Also, remember, that for financial aid calculation purposes, any pretax retirement contributions you made in 2018 will be added back in as income. So if you and your wife each contributed $20,000…that would be $40,000 additional income. Did the net price calculators ask for your pretax retirement contributions? Because the financial aid application forms definitely do.