A 1420 CR+M would’ve gotten a full tuition scholarship + 8k in stipends at Temple. I don’t know how that will work for the new SAT, but would your son take the SAT again in the fall to get a slightly better score?
Thank you @thumper1! I appreciate that. Fortunately, the severance package gives us a little cushion. My worry is the industry and his age.
@class0f2017 Yes the plan was to get the SAT up for the Presidential Scholarship for Temple (or Charger Excellence at UAH.) If husband is able to secure similar employment, we are very interested in Temple but even with the full tuition because housing is more, we end up being better off with a state school if employment is sub optimal.
Up until today, we’ve been pretty fortunate finance wise. Unfortunately, a combination of sketchy knowledge and his brothers special needs means we didn’t quite save enough to cover our EFC even before the layoff so merit has always been pretty important. Now it’s vital.
UCF’s top in-state merit scholarship (other than FIS) is the Provost award, which, this year, was $30,000 over 4 years (compared to UNF’s $24,000 over 4 years).
If you live in Jacksonville, you can try to get a waiver for the mandatory UNF freshman housing/meal plan (I have a few relatives that got the waiver) and have him live at home.
@Gator88NE Thank you for that information - I could never figure out what the award amounts were on their website! We had initially dismissed UCF since their science education major did not look strong but now that I know they offer a professional teaching option minor, I think we need to give it another look.
I know of NO ONE who got a waiver. My friend lived about 2 miles away and had FIVE sons and they wouldn’t give her (a single mother, trying to pay for FIVE kids in college) a waiver. She was so angry she wouldn’t let any of them go to UNF. None of my daughter’s friends got them either, although we lived more like 15 miles away.
Everyone I know who attends UCF loves it. I don’t get it, but I’m not a big Orlando fan either.
I do think the OP and son need to reevaluate the schools now that things have changed for their family. There are so many good schools in Florida and all kinds of funding available for top students. If he can qualify for Pell (thru professional judgment?), then he’d probably get a state grant too.
We are not local to Jacksonville. Our closest university only offers a science education major. My son wishes to major in physics and minor in education which limits our in state options so we are focusing on schools that offer both his desired career path and significant merit aid (which is why UF will only happen if he gets NMF/Benacquisto Scholarship.)
Also, that is nuts about the waiver. Our local gives waivers within in a certain distance. I had no idea that wasn’t standard.
Did you have other suggestions @twoinanddone? I am not aware of any other state schools that offer high merit and physics with an education minor.
I did not know about professional judgment prior to the thread so I thank you all for telling me about it.
And I’m sure my husband thanks you for keeping him out of his hair today 
You might look into the education requirements closer. My daughter attends Florida Tech and they do have STEM teaching programs. I do think most students would only attend if they were also majoring in one of the secondary education subjects like physics or math. I’m sure other schools also have affiliated teaching programs.
You’d be surprised - major and minor programs for secondary education vary hugely by school. I was really stunned when we first started researching how different the options were at each school.
Florida Tech is a great school. He’d have loved to go there if it weren’t for money.
I actually got married in the chapel there. My husband and I were both in the choir.
I can’t add much to the discussion that hasn’t already been said. Just wanted to let you know that my 60yo H lost his job in January of this year. he is a networker and involved in many technical groups. I thought for sure he would find a job quickly. Although it took a while, I am happy to say he was offered 2 positions last week, both at the salary he wanted. So tell your H to not get discouraged, keep working it.
Just wanted to offer support: H was walked out the door along with 300 other engineers when D was about to enter high school. His job hunt did take 6 months and then the company that hired him closed their doors after 5 months so he was back on the hunt. His next job offer did come in 20k under his previous salary but he did negotiate this significantly until everyone got to a happier number There were many blessings that came out of him being off work for awhile…including some time with our daughter and time with his elderly dad he would’ve never been able to have.
Hang in there and feel free to vent any time!
Would Eckerd be an option? Chance for merit or need based aid?
Another way to help fund school is to look at teaching programs that give students loan forgiveness when they teach in a area of need or in some poorer districts. Our state also has a teaching fellows program that gives some money to students majoring in education. Not sure if Florida does anything like that, but worth looking into.
Just thought I’d post an update. DS got his June SAT score in and it was much higher than expected - 1550. Because this will qualify him for Charger Excellence at UAH he is now comfortably taken care of for college. Especially since this scholarship is not residency based and husband is still job hunting so counting on any of our in state options is risky at this point. There may still be other options that will present themselves but it is a huge sigh of relief to know that he has at least one solid option that will require little to no debt.
Congratulations @delilahxc ! Good news for you. We’re in a similar situation. Fingers crossed.
Great news. Congratulations.