@Clueless-in-Indiana In your first post in this thread you asked about a book you could read to educate yourself about the financial issues in college admissions. I suggest you read the excellent book “The College Solution” by Lynn O’Shaughnessy. We used the advice given in The College Solution for our two children and both will graduate with no loans. The author also has a wonderful website by the same name and posts very helpful information under the tab “blog”. Plus on the book’s facebook page you can ask the author questions. Lynn speaks at conferences around the country and I have heard her speak twice and always learn something. new. Educating yourself about the financial picture involved in college admissions is very important especially since you will have three other children after your son. We used the author’s advice to maximize merit awards for our oldest child who ended up with a full merit-ride from Ohio State.
Lynn told me about edvisors.com and I find their information also helpful. They can give you tips about filing out your FASFA and other financial aid forms.
Someone mentioned it and I can’t stress it enough- the money for transfer students is not close to that offered to freshmen so do not necessarily think that you son will get the same amount from the other college. Sometimes transferring colleges gets to be very expensive. Also look at the gpa requirement to keep merit scholarships. I have known students who were academically successful in high school have trouble in college hitting the mark for the necessary gpa for keeping merit money. I usually watch out for any merit scholarship requiring a gpa greater than 3.2.