Millersville seems very nice and they have the majors she is interested in.
I should check the scholarship charts at WVU, too, especially if she seems more interested in bigger schools.
Thank you.
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I don’t think Allegheny is that intense based in the kids I know who have gone there. If that was the only thing worrying you, it might be worth digger a little deeper.
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If you are going to Etown, Lebanon Valley is only about 30 minutes away. LVC fits the profile of some of the other smaller private schools that have been suggested.
I actually had a great visit to LVC with D18 several years ago. I still clearly remember our tour guide and the professors we met because they were so friendly and seemed like genuinely good people. I will have to look into their programs again. They have a great actuarial program from what I’ve heard.
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LVC flies under the radar. Stockton has come a long way also with its Marine Sciences and the dedicated field station Marine Field Station (MFS) - Marine Field Station | Stockton University. Also, take a look at Stockton’s dual degree Environmental Sciences program for a five-year master’s.
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Any thoughts about Millersburg?
Do you mean Millersville?
Oops! Yes! Millersville! That’s not the first time I’ve made that mistake!
Is your student currently covered under your family’s plan? If so, that won’t change until they are through college, possibly graduate school.
Your college might have an annual “opt-out” waiver where you have to show that your family’s plan is equivalent to the minimum coverage they require students to have. Once they get the form with all your plan info, the insurance charge is taken off the bill.
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Re: health insurance…if you have an HMO plan, please make sure there are providers and coverage in the state where your student attends college if OOS to your home. Unless,the student is close enough to come home for any medical,care.
Or check the college insurance plan. Sometimes these are actually a decent value.
There are a lot of good college suggestions on this thread. It might help if you said which ones you are considering…and which not so folks will know.
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My kids are covered under my plan. That said, we’ve had instances where due to timing or perceived quality, we’ve spent - yes, under my plan with a $7K deducible.
But on things that frankly should be available through the school. They might be available through the school - but for things that are now, you often need to wait weeks and / or the quality isn’t deemed well.
It’s a surprise expense - and one of many reasons people should budget many thousands more than they do for college expenses. I always think $3-5K but even that’s probably understated.
Millersville is, I believe, one of the better PASSHE schools academically. The fact that it is so close to Lancaster, an interesting and culturally diverse small city (large Hispanic population in the city, many Amish in the county, a thriving art, literary, and music scene) is a big plus and sets it apart from many of the other PASSHE schools. The only somewhat comparable PASSHE school is the much larger West Chester.
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We have a high-deductible PPO plan (with HSA) as well. We opted out all 4 years.
The school’s health clinic took care of basically all “walk-in” needs, and the occasional visit to CitiMD would have gone towards deductible anyway, even if she was at home.
For annual check-ups, vaccinations, dental maintenance, etc. she was home anyway.
But yes, we did make sure that our Network did have sufficient choices at her college location. It certainly would have changed the equation, if not!
In fact, that became more of a factor for (essentially) full year graduate school. I would have dropped her from the family plan (company would have paid out much of the incremental) and applied that towards the University’s plan. But after checking with the broker, the network options of our family plan were sufficient.
That’s what I have - and my deductible is $7K. But on visits I would have hoped would be walk-in and free - I end up paying the “negotiated” insurance rate - sometimes $70 and sometimes $300.
Understood. I don’t think I ever saw any bill from the Barnard’s own health center - but she only ever went there for basic assessments, seasonal ailments, etc. It was convenient, because it was literally in the basement level of the quad - so you could just take the elevator down in your PJs.
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She is covered by our family plan but our plan does not include any benefits out of state. So if she goes to a NJ school, she’s covered. If she goes to UMaine, their plan for undergraduates is $3,600 per year. I looked into options online and they aren’t all that great. They best I saw was one available through the marketplace for catastrophic coverage with a deductible of about 8,000. I also looked into short term plans but she isn’t eligible for one in Maine.
I’m still thinking.
She seems focused on Maine.
Best value would be Rutgers, so she should at least apply. I don’t know if she will get in. And I don’t have great confidence that she’s suited for such a large, spread out university. I went to Rutgers so I know the challenges, and in my mind I compare it to Elizabethtown or even Rowan where my older kids went where there was so much more attention given to students.
I would like her to go look at Ramapo and Montclair. She should also go back to Stockton when the weather is nicer and school is in session.
And I want her to do a tour at Rowan and see the new environmental studies building and hear about the math program, even though she’s been there many times before visiting her sister.
I think she also look at a couple of small schools like McDaniel and maybe Roanoke if we want to go that far.
Millersville would be worth visiting. If we go there, we could also check out LVC, Etown, and York.
F&M is a school that seems so nice but maybe a reach and I also have heard it’s intense.
In terms of further out, there’s Allegheny, Ohio University, and WVU.
Shippensburg is another school that was on my radar, but only because it offers instate rates to everyone.
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No, my daughter has had to not use her schools…no way to get in quickly, etc. That’s the issue.
In theory, the school’s medical services is all you should need!!
F&M is need based only - just in case that’s an issue. No merit aid.
We haven’t done too well with most needs based schools, but the net price calculator was a little better with F&M compared to other Profile schools. I think they might limit the impact of home equity.
The Rutgers and the new NJ state fa programs use the fafsa and adjusted gross income for NJ residents so we get the best deals that way.
Long story but we lived overseas and saved money for retirement in regular accounts, not US retirement accounts. Because of that, what we think of as our retirement money is taken into account for fa. We have slowly been funding IRAs but once we figured things out it was too late too help much. But we have been fortunate that our kids so far have had either really good merit scholarships and/or fa. D23 is our last and won’t get great merit and will probably only get great fa at Rutgers or the last two years at another NJ public college. Because she is our last, for the right school, I might consider going up to $30K including health insurance… 