Hi there! My name is Julia, I’m a high school Junior from Pennsylvania. One of my parents has worked at Villanova University for 10+ years so that me and my sister could go there for (mostly, obviously there are exceptions) free. I’m so grateful to him for putting up with his commute and working hard so that we can have this opportunity! My sister is a freshman there and she adores it.
However… Villanova does not fit any of my college requirements. I’m not a very academic person, but my parents want me to go to college, so personally I’m looking for an experience rather than academia. I want to go to college in a very big city, preferably someplace warm or mild. I have a 3.4 GPA as of right now, and I’d like to study German, Linguistics, or Entrepreneurship.
And honestly? Villanova hits none of it. The campus is really cool and I know a lot of people that work there now but… I’m really looking into the University of San Francisco. Since my dad works at Villanova, there is a big list of colleges that being to this tuition exchange program, and when I apply I may receive a similar tuition cut to going to Villanova. But I also might not… and I don’t know what to do. It feels like I’ve been spending all of this time researching college - and essentially wasting my time getting my hopes up about going to schools that might not even offer any tuition exchange. If I apply and they don’t offer enough money, I’m not allowed to go.
I feel very VERY guilty writing all this out - I know other people would kill to have a parent working at a university. I feel that guilt every day at school - I’m just not academically wired, and everything I enjoy in life is outside of school. I feel awful that my dad put so much time into working for this university… and I honestly don’t even like it. Do I just suck it up and choose a major I’m not interested in so I can get college over with?
Thanks to anyone who reads this big mess, I really appreciate any advice (and I understand if you kind of don’t like me, I’m not a big fan of me right now either, lol.)
Philly is a big city. San Francisco isn’t particularly warm.
You need to do the work to find other schools you can be accepted to with the tuition exchange (and there may be a couple different programs your father is eligible for, as there is one just for Jesuit schools, one for many more private schools, sometimes a program for the schools in a state).
What majors are you interested in? It makes no sense to go to USF and major in history when Villanova has history.
It doesn’t sound like you want to go to college at all.
Are you guaranteed admission because your parent works there? If not, with a 3.4 there’s a very large chance you won’t be accepted. You should talk to your parents now about options and work out a plan.
@julesbphoto: Your feelings are reasonable. How many colleges are on the tuition exchange list ? You may be able to get accepted on an exchange basis as Villanova’s business school is very popular now.
For example, is the University of San Diego on the list ? Is the list made up of primarily Catholic & Jesuit schools ?
Probably a good idea to sit down and talk to them. If there are other reasonable options with tuition exchange, etc. you should be able to explore them. On the other hand, a free education from Villanova ain’t to shabby.
I get that you want “your” experience but your experience will cost money. If your father has been working his tail off, trying to provide a place for you, I would respect that and appreciate his efforts by taking advantage of EVERYTHING he has earned for you.
Now, here’s the issue with wanting to come out to SF: You couldn’t have picked a more expensive state and city to want to go to school in. @twoinanddone is absolutely correct: SF isn’t exactly warm. Take a look at a map. It is in the Bay area of Northern California.
My dd has gotten used to the weather, but it took her a while to realize that weather in the Fall and Spring is chilly requiring jackets, gloves and hats; it’s windy, rainy, foggy. There’s a reason Alcatraz was hard to escape from.
It’s not Southern California, which is where we are from. SF is culturally rich and has good transportation, and it is very expensive; thinking it’s warm, isn’t accurate. Groceries are expensive, as is everything else.
I am paying through the eye-teeth for my dd to reside in SF while she goes through school. Her current rent for a SHARED 1 bedroom is $2500, and that’s considered cheap!!!
How do you think your parents will afford a very expensive cross-country education?
Oh, and as for offering funding, not gonna happen with a 3.4. California is a popular place so the universities get hundreds of thousands of applications up and down the state by kids with perfect GPA’s and test scores. Funding would have to come from the Bank of Mom and Dad.
I’m really sorry for all the things I hadn’t taken into consideration. I’m incredibly thankful for everyones advice and comments. I have a lot to think about and I really, really, really appreciate the feedback.
You aren’t going to do better than free. The best option for kids whose parents can’t pay much is to chase merit, but you said you aren’t academic so your options are limited. I know this must be difficult. College admissions is a learning process for most people. If you get accepted to Villanova, I’d attend. One of the advantages of a low cost school (besides no debt on graduation, which is huge) is that you’re not working all the time to pay tuition. You have the time and money to enjoy your college experience and you can travel during breaks.
I think you need to check the acceptance rate of Villanova. Are you competitive for admission? I agree that you need a backup plan. If you don’t want that to be your local cc, you may want to buckle down and focus more on your academics. If your sister worked hard to get the stats needed to attend Villanova while you’ve coasted along because you’re not interested in academics, your parents may think it’s unfair to your sister to reward your performance with an OOS residential college.
Hi @julesbphoto
I understand your predicament, from the parental side. I am the parent doing the commuting and working at the university to take advantage of the tuition benefit. Unfortunately, for my second child, the university I work at does not offer the program that the student wants! So, I printed out the list of tuition exchange schools (we are also on the exchange, with villanova and hundreds of other schools) and gave it to my student. We found about 10 schools on the exchange that also offer the desired academic program. Now the task is to keep grades high and apply to those, and get at least one tuition offer.
Be ready to tell Villanova early in the fall (at my university we must notify HR by sept 15th) that you plan to apply to some exchange schools and name them. The tuition exchange schools also prefer to get applications by their EA deadline, if they have one. Then see what offers you get. If your parents are like us, they will ask you to apply to the home school (Villanova) first, then the exchange schools.
let us know what interesting exchange schools you find…there are many in SoCal and Florida on that list…you could find yourself somewhere warm. But yes, agree with other poster, USF is NOT warm. Not even close.
Note that many of the Tuition Exchange schools do not automatically give the discount to all eligible admits, nor do all of them give full tuition discounts. You can search by criteria such as discount amount and percentage of eligible admits getting the discount at https://telo.tuitionexchange.org/search.cfm .
You’re not a very academic person. You are going for an experience.
While I appreciate your honesty, with your less than ambitious and less academically motivated attitude, it may not be a terrific investment of someone else’s money, no disrespect intended.
Perhaps your options are to see which tuition-exchange schools might be a better fit,. but in the absence of a tuition waiver, go to Villanova with a positive attitude more focused on the experience and extra curricular life, and less concern for the particular major. Choose your major from among the easier ones of those offered and enjoy these times.
When you graduate, you can experience big city living by moving to a big city.
I agree with the people who say work the TE list. H has worked at a university for 30 years. He could have chosen a different path that would make more money - but TE was an offsetting factor. One kid received 80% tuition at her target school, the other 100%.
Problem with TE is - will your parents cover room and board and potentially transportation costs? There are a very few schools that offer room and board - most are tuition or part tuition. Talk with your parents. We had other savings, but some people bank everything on tuition remission and don’t save for other costs.
If they will cover room and board, then find out what this year’s TE minimum amount is. Then look at schools that cost less than that (by default offer 100% tuition) or schools that typically offer full tuition even if their cost is above the set limit. Also look at the % of applicants receiving the award - but only as a guideline. Some schools don’t update information very regularly. And it depends on the applicant pool you are competing against - at some schools TE can be very competitive. Identify some schools, then reach out to the TE coordinator at those schools to find out specifics. Make a good solid list of schools - yes, if you apply and they don’t offer enough money you can’t go, but if you don’t apply anywhere then you have no other option than Nova (provided yiou’r.
Your parents may not agree since you would most likely need to look at schools with much less national name recognition than Nova has - but it’s worth a try.
If you really aren’t feeling the academics, you’re unlikely to succeed at Nova or anywhere else. Find out if you can still apply for tuition remission or TE at Nova if you take a gap year. You might need that time to figure out where you want to be, rather than starting at college when you’re not ready.
I don’t know if I would go that far. There is value in getting a BA - it is a requirement for many jobs - regardless of the major. You will meet people who are ambitious, and they will be your friends. There is potential value in the college experience in terms of maturing, in terms of some of the extra curricular stuff one does. My D2 was in a sorority and she received terrific leadership training and she even let some of her academics suffer because of sorority obligations. She got into a grad program that she wanted to anyway.
What I meant was that if you are not feeling the academics, the choice of major really shouldn’t be a huge factor in where you go.
I was in no way implying that you won’t succeed. It just didn’t seem like what you majored in was going to have a huge impact on your life, so walking away from free tuition and spending a lot of your parents money to go somewhere more expensive doesn’t seem like a great investment.
Getting the urban experience can happen on your own nickel just by getting a job in a city.
Have a talk with your parents. The first consideration really is cost. If Dad works at Villanova, it’s by far your cheapest option. Most parents don’t have the kind of resources to send kids away to college. What ends up happening is a bachelors degree and $100k in debt. That’s enough to cripple or even kill a career before it even starts.
Use the TE list and choose colleges on the list that 1° will offer a tuition remission similar to Nova’s and 2° are likely to accept a student with a 3.4.
Talk with your parents: have they considered you might not get into 'Nova? Would they be okay if you went to a university from the TE list? Do they have savings to pay for room&board?
Do you have a job from which to contribute to your education costs? If not, look for one - it may help convince your parents.
Important: do not speak about “going to college for the experience” with your parents. They’re not going to pay thousands and thousands of dollars for you to have fun somewhere.
(Read the 5-year study Paying for the Party and see what happened to the party floor’s girls whose parents weren’t rich and connected.)
Are UDayton, UScranton, SLU on the list, for instance? I’d recommend St Michael’s (Burlington is an awesome town and you get to ski, kayak, etc, through a special program they have. They even offer a shuttle to the slopes.)
I’m not sure you’d get into USD (which fits your goal of large city and warm weather better than USF, which would be chilly and humid) but it’s worth checking out, too.
Be aware that often a college in a big city is actually less good than living in a college town: because the college is in the city, it doesn’t provide as much entertainment on camps, so you have to pay for it or be 21+ to access it in the city. It’s much easier to find entertainment and fun in a college town where the campus serves as the entertainment hub for students.